Angie, Alex, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss the novel. ‘Haunted by a freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they...
Sandra, Alex, Heinz and Andrew discuss the novel. Schmuel – a young idealistic student – has abandoned his studies in Jerusalem, taking a live-in job as a companion to a cantankerous old man. But Schmuel quickly becomes obsessed with...
‘Story of Your Life’ by Ted Chiang Sonja, Heinz, Thomas, Dee, Sandra and Andrew discuss this sci-fi short story. How does the linguist Louise communicate with the Aliens (‘Heptapods’)? What do we learn of her daughter, who...
Linda, Maria, Sonja, Sandra and Andrew discuss the novel. World War 2 is over and Japan sets about rebuilding its shattered cities. Masujo Ono, an ageing painter, looks back over his life and assesses his career, which coincided with the rise of...
Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to 2016, ‘Three Daughters of Eve’ is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, in on...
‘Every Third Thought’, Robert McCrum, (Picador, 2017): On Life, Death and the Endgame The question is no longer ‘Who am I?’ but ‘How long have I got?’ In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic...
‘The Underground Railroad’ (2016) by Colson Whitehead Alex, Georg, Sandra and Andrew discuss and read from an extraordinary novel. ‘The Underground Railroad’ is about a slave named Cora who grows up on a Georgia plantation....
‘Hag-Seed’, by Margaret Atwood (2016) Brigitte, Maria, Sandra, Sonja and Andrew discuss: the cover-picture of the book, the origin of the title, with extracts from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. The novel a clever...
“A woman arrives in Athens in the height of summer to teach a writing course. Once there, she becomes the audience to a chain of narratives as the people she meets tell her one after another the stories of their lives. Beginning with the...
‘The Noise of Time’ (2016), Julian Barnes a ‘fictional biography’ of Dmitri Shostakovich, Soviet composer In May 1937 a man in his early 30s waits by the lift of a Leningrad appartment block. He waits all through the night,...
A detailed portrait of a marriage, family ties and the community of Crosby, Maine. A penetrating, vibrant exploration of the human soul, with all the joys and grief of a painful journey of love. What sort of town is Crosby? Why is the book called...
We review how the Reading Circle started in Sept 2012 and its aims: to share personal reading experiences; to explore different readings, impressions and insights; to enjoy social company and interaction. How do sessions run? Which books, and how...
Once upon … one day in a life: March 30, 1924. Jane Goodchild, 22, an orphan, a maid in a country mansion, has no mother to visit on ‘Mothering Sunday’. Her relationship with Paul, of upper-middle class, changes dramatically that...
“The compelling, inspiring and comically sublime story of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of Apartheid and the tumultuouis days of freedom that followed.” Questions discussed by Angie, Maria, Sandra, Sonja and...
