2023/24 book list

Here’s our current list of books and venues for end of 2023 into 2024, with thanks to Anne for doing a lot of organising behind the scenes.

10 December 2023: If walls could talk, Lucy Worsley  Venue: Judi

14 January 2024: The Prince of Skies (Antonio Iturbe)  Venue: Sian

11 February 2024: Mr Loverman (Bernadine Evaristo)   Venue: Hilary

10 March 2024: Oxblood (Tom Benn)    Venue: Jayne

14 April 2024: The Word is Murder (Antony Horowitz) Venue: Anne

12 May 2024: Small Pleasures (Joy Chambers) Venue: Chris

9 June 2024: The Magician (Colm Toibin)  Venue: Kate

14 July 2024: Material World (Ed Conway)  Venue: Libby

************* AUGUST 2024 – BREAK. ****************

8 September 2024: Politics on the Edge (Rory Stewart) Venue: Mash

Top books of 2022: a close finish

Thanks to Anne for organising our vote on our favourite reads of last year. The results are now in.

It was a very close vote at the top, with Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees claiming the number one spot by just one vote, closely followed by The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare.

2023 books list

Here’s our current list of books for 2023 – with thanks to Anne for compiling it. Venues are provisional for now – tbc after a discussion at the January meeting.

12 February: The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai) Judi

12 March: A Spell of Winter (Helen Dunmore) Hilary

16 April: The Pull of the Stars (Emma Donoghue) Mash

14 May: Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus) Chris

11 June: Shuggie Bain (Douglas Stuart) Jayne ** CHANGE **

9 July: Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr) Anne

13 August: BREAK – NO BOOKCLUB

10 September: The Golden Mole (Katherine Rundell) Kate ** CHANGE **

9 October: The Marriage Portrait (Maggie O’Farrell) Libby ** CHANGE **

12 November: Agatha Christie A Very Elusive Woman (Lucy Worsley) Sian. ** CHANGE **

Best reads of 2021/22

This set of books was perhaps one our strongest in a long time, as voting was very tight! Thanks to Anne for crunching the numbers.

The outcome was a joint number one for :

Becoming, Michelle Obama

Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell

Books for 2022/23

Hi everyone, here are our next choices for the coming months – looking like another great line-up!

April 10 (Libby) Fall, by John Preston

(Here’s a 15-minute video from the author if anyone wants to watch it)

May 8 (Hilary) The Girl with the Louding Voice, by Abbi Dar

June 12 (Sian) The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

July 10 (Anne) The Girl with all the Gifts, by M.R. Carey

August – BREAK

September 11 (Mash) Grey Bees, by Andrey Kurkov

October 9 (Chris) The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak

November 13 (Judi) Arabia, by Levison Wood

December 11 (Jayne) The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

January 8 (Kate) Death at Intervals, by Jose Saramago

Books from May 2021: UPDATED

CHANGED JULY 21 TO REFLECT NO MEETING IN AUGUST

Hi everyone. Here’s the list of books we agreed last night – some great choices in there!

We’re continuing on Zoom for the time being but the possibility of a garden meet-up was discussed for July – tbc and all depends how comfortable people feel about it.

9 May Becoming (Michelle Obama)

13 June The Dig (John Preston)

11 July Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell)

August – no meeting

12 September The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead). Venue: Libby (restrictions dependent)

10 October Crocodile Tears (Mercedes Rosende)

14 November Calypso (David Sedaris)

12 December Girl Woman Other (Bernadine Evaristo)

9 January The Offing (Benjamin Myers)

13 February All the young men (Ruth Coker Burks)

6 March (earlier date) We are all birds of Uganda – Hafsa Zayyan. Venue: Judi, 7.30pm start

Books for 2020/21

Apologies for the delay in posting this, everyone. Below is the list of books for the current year (and at the bottom some links to background reading/watching re The Testaments).

All meetings by Zoom until normal life resumes!

9 August Natives (Akala)

13 September Wilding (Isabella Tree)

11 October The Testaments (Margaret Atwood)

8 November Normal People (Sally Rooney)

13 December The Walls Have Ears (Helen Fry)

10 January Seven Days of Us (Francesca Hornack)

14 February The Salt Path (Raynor Winn)

14 March Queenie (Candice Carty-Williams)

11 April The Dutch House (Ann Patchett)

Extra reading/background

CBS interview with Margaret Atwood on the Testaments

Guardian interview with Margaret Atwood

2019/20 books and venues

We have another great list of books to look forward in the coming 12 months.  Here is the list as it currently stands:

• 10 Nov               Libby             The silence of the girls (Pat Barker)
• 8 Dec                  Anne              The lost man (Jane Harper)
• 12 Jan                 Hilary            * CHANGE Once upon a river (Diane Settlefield)
• 9 Feb                   Jayne             Milkman (Anna Burns)
• 8 Mar                  Sian               * CHANGE Becoming (Michelle Obama)
• 5 April (early)   Chris              The heart’s invisible furies (John Boyne)
• 10 May                Judi                I am I am I am (Maggie Farrell)
• 14 June               Mash              A fine balance (Rohinton Mistry)
• 12 July                Kate                A long way from home (Peter Carey)

 

 

 

Book of the year Jan 2019-Oct 2019

The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller was overwhelmingly voted our best read of this year.  Three books came in joint runner-up position: Educated by Tara Westover; Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall; and In Extremis the life of war correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum.

2019 reading list and venues

This is the list of books and venues for 2019 – a fantastic set of choices!  And at the bottom of the list, a link to a video with Robert Webb about our next book, How not to be a boy.

• 13 January (Anne): A dictionary of mutual understanding, Jackie Coppleton
• 10 Feb (Libby): How not to be a boy, Robert Webb
• 10 March (Hilary): The song of Achilles, Madeline Millar
• 14 April (Chris): The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton
• 12 May (Jayne): Educated, Tara Westover
• 9 June (Judi): Reader on the 627, John Paul Didierlaurent
• 14 July (Sian): Prisoners of geography, Tim Marshall
• 8 September (Margaret): The overstory, Richard Powers; Sincerely collection of poems, Carol Ann Duffy; Armistice A collection of war poems
• 13 October (Kate): In extremis the life of war correspondent Marie Colvin, Lindsey Hilsum
• In reserve: Kate Atkinson Transcription