19 years and counting
Our book group started in November 2001 with much the same personnel as we have now (lost one or two along the way with moves out of town etc., added one or two to bring fresh blood). I’ve ended up being the one archiving the titles read so here is the last two years’ worth since I last made a record in December 2017.
- Fire & Fury by Michael Wolff – Feb 2018
- Hard Times by Charles Dickens – Mar 2018
- Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie – Apr 2018
- How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid – June 2018
- The Sparsholt Affair – Alan Hollinghurst – Sept 2018
- Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor – Oct 2018
- Arno Geiger – The Old King in his Exile (Oct-Nov 2018)
- Ann Tyler – Back when we were grown-ups (Dec-Jan 2019)
- Crudo – Olivia Laing (Jan-Feb 2019)
- I Served The King of England by Bohumil Hrabal (Mar-Apr 2019)
- Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Apr-May 2019)
- Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer (June-Aug 2019) [my choice]
- To Calais, in ordinary time – James Meek (Sep-Oct 2019)
- The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich (Nov-Dec 2019)
- Karoo – Steve Tesich (Dec-Jan 2020)
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam (Feb-Mar 2020)
- A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke (March 2020)
- Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (April 2020)
A fine plague book
Simple Pleasures part 4 
[…] with a close colleague; work with some filmmakers in Prague and L.A. and Thailand; have our regular book group meeting. So big up to Quentin, Paul, Daniel and Martin – and Cambridge. And […]
Milkman by Anna Burns (May-June 2020)
[…] It just came out a few days ago and I have read and enjoyed Spring and Autumn (the latter for our book group which is where I first came across her). I read these […]
The Master & Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov (July-Sept 2020)
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
by Andrew Miller
(Oct-Nov 2020)
The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens (Nov-Dec 2020)
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Dec-Jan 2021)
For the first time in my life I am struggling to read books. I have five, all started, none finished, on the go. The gaps between reading a part of a book and then returning, are getting so long that I lose the thread. I am hoping it’s a temporary blip.
Try dropping something else taking your attention eg reading newspapers or magazines and give that space to book reading. Or start your day every day with 15 minutes reading (outdoors whenever possible).
A suggestion which I have taken up! Thanks.
Shuggie Bain
by Douglas Stuart
(Feb-Mar 2021)
Mr Wilder & Me
by Jonathan Coe
(Mar-Apr 2021)
Fidelity
by Marco Missiroli
(April-May 2021)
The Painted Veil – Somerset Maugham (Jun-Jul 2021)
Arturo’s Island (Jul-Sept 2021)
China Dream – Ma Jian (Sep-Oct 2021)
Bewilderment by Richard Powers (Nov-Dec 2021)
[…] Here are the latest books we have read (May 2020 – December 2021). This post links to a series of posts which go back through every title we have chosen over the years. The first link back is here. […]