Book Group

I joined the book group back in 2004 and it had already been going for a few years even then – it’s never had a name. Listed below are all the books we’ve read since I joined – those that provoked particularly good discussions are starred accordingly and books are listed in the month we discuss them, (links to my report backs in brackets).  We try to read a really wide variety of books including occasional non-fiction.

Nothing scares us except poetry!

2012
J: Selections from Complete Ghost Stories by M R James
F: Riders by Jilly Cooper
M: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder
A: The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer

2011
J: Moby Dick (Oxford World’s Classics) by Herman Melville ***
F: All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills **
M: One Day by David Nicholls **
A: True Grit by Charles Portis ***
M: The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
J: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. (Report)
J: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Report) ***
A: Themed reading month – ‘Dystopias’. (Report)
S: The Radleys by Matt Haig (Report)
O: Candide by Voltaire
N: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
D: Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch

2010
J: The Moonstone (Oxford World’s Classics) by Wilkie Collins **
F: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler **
M: The Death of Grass (Penguin Modern Classics) by John Christopher ***
A: My Shit Life So Far by Frankie Boyle. (Report) ** (ironically!)
M: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. (Report) **
J: Alice in Time by Penelope Bush
J: The Junior Officers’ Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars by Patrick Hennessey
A: Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell. Report
S: The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl by Belle de Jour
O: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. (Report) ***
N: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin Modern Classics) by John Le Carre ***
D: Don’t Look Now and Other Stories (Penguin Modern Classics) by Daphne Du Maurier

2009
J: Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
F: Poetry night! cancelled due to snow!
M: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
A: Marching Powder by Rusty Young
M: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban  ** but a difficult read
J: The Secret Ministry of Frost by Nick Lake
J: As You Like It / Julius Caesar / Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
A: Bad Science by Ben Goldacre ***
S: The New York Trilogy: by Paul Auster **
O: Me Cheeta: The Autobiography by James Lever **
N: What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
D: Dead Until Dark: A True Blood Novel by Charlaine Harris

2008
J: Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta *
F: Beowulf (Bilingual Edition) by Seamus Heaney (trans) **
M: The Crystal Cave (Coronet Books) by Mary Stewart
A: The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth
M: Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
J: Boy A by Jonathan Trigell ***
J: Mutant Message Down Under: A Woman’s Journey into Dreamtime Australia by Marlo Morgan ** for its awfulness
A: Kim (Oxford World’s Classics) by Rudyard Kipling
S: The Player of Games by Iain M Banks
O: Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
N: 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell **
D: Blindness by Jose Saramago ***

2007
J: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins **
F: Angels and Insects by A S Byatt
M: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver ***
A: Old Filth by Jane Gardam
M: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
J: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
J: The Observations by Jane Harris
A: The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella *
S: The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson
O: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
N: Under the Glacier (Vintage International Original) by Halldor Laxness ** but a difficult read
D: Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises (Arrow Classic) by Ernest Hemingway **

2006
J: The Crow Road by Iain Banks
F: Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
M: The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad **
A: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
M: Watchmen by Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons **
J: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger **
J: Snow by Orhan Pamuk *
A: The Master and Margarita (Penguin Classics) by Mikhail Bulgakov **
S: Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
O: Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
N: A Town Like Alice (Vintage Classics) by Nevil Shute
D: The Prestige by Christopher Priest

2005
J: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain *
F: Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor
M: Changing Places by David Lodge
A: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming ***
M: Cocaine Nights by J G Ballard
J: Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) by Philip Pullman
J: Cheri by Colette
A: Flashman and the Dragon (Flashman 10) by George MacDonald Fraser
S: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling
O: The Portrait by Iain Pears
N: The Comedians by Graham Greene
D: The 100 Minute Bible

2004
J: The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
F: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
M: Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard
A: The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
M: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebbold
J: Morvern Callar by Alan Warner
J: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
A: Disgrace by J M Coetzee **
S: Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald **
O: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
N: Major Barbara by G B Shaw
D: A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings (Penguin Classics by Charles Dickens