Book selections for previous months are archived here.
Here are the June recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Mongrel by Hanako Footman
Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn
Poseidons Gold by Lindsay Davis
Last Act in Palmeira by Lindsay Davis
The Z Murders by Jefferson Farjeon
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernieres
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Heartland by John Mackay
The Cat by Georges Simenon
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
The Barbeque at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey
An Unfamiliar Murder by Jane Isaac
And on the theme of “Friendship”:
Elsie and Marie go to War by Diane Atkinson
The things we never say by Elizabeth Strout
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Someone else’s shoes by Jo Jo Moyes
Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt
Waiting for a friend by Natalie Adler
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie
Here are the May recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Rapture by Emily Maguire
The First Celebrity by Peter James Bowan
The Art of Poetry - How to read a poem by Shira Wolosky
Double Take by Beck Lewis
Way Back by Sarah Cox
The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
A Hymn to Life by Gisele Pelicot
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch
And on the theme of “Dance”:
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
The Choreography of Everyday Life by Annie Brooks
Murder on the Dance Floor by Shirley Ballas
The Road Dance by John Mackay
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
Turnout by Megan Abbott
Here are the April recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Eleanor by Alice Loxton
Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Strange Sally Diamond by Sally Nugent
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shefak
Californian Gold by Jodie Chapman
People in Love by Claire Daverley
Lost Lady by Willa Carter
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Meet me at the Museum by Ann Youngsen
Double Take by Beck Lewis
So much life left over by Louis de Bernieres
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr
And on the theme of “Birds”:
The Nightingale by Kirsten Hannah
The Birds by Daphne de Maurier
Jonathan Livingston Seagull a story by Richard Bach
When the cranes fly south by Sarah Ridzen
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Tea girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Birding by Rose Ruane
Here are the March recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood
The Summer Suspense Mysteries by L J Ross
Barbeque at Number 9 by Jennie Godfrey
Good People by Patmeena Sabit
Unreliable Narrator by Araminta Hall
Adrift by Will Dean
This is the Door-Notes from a body in pain by Darcey Steinke (audio)
The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
One December Morning by Emma Davies
The Life and Loves of Becca Valentine by Laura Pearson
Our theme this month was “Buildings”:
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland paintings and Sketchings by Douglas Smith
The History of the High Street by Annie Grey
Meet me at the museum by Anne Youngson
The Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh ( Audio)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Lighthouse by P D James
Howard’s End by E M Forster
The Girls in the attic by Marius Gabriel
Speak to me of Home by Jeanine Cummins
Here are the February recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The Barbeque at Numer 9 by Jennie Godfrey
One December Morning by Emma Davies
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
The Brother of the more famous Jackie by Barbara Trapido
The motorway service station as a destination in its own right by Simon Armitage
Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis
The Uprooting by Marchelle Farrell (Non fiction)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammond
Rapture by Emily Maguire
A Knock at the Door by Rob Parsons
The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh
Mania by Lionel Shriver
The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Our theme this month was “Books by an author who shares our name”:
In Parenthesis by David Jones (David E)
Earth Jacket by John Hartridge (Wendy G)
Middlemarch by George Eliot (Karisa Silk)
Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian (Michelle Leates)
Blame it on the Beatles and Bill Shankly by John Winter (Lin Winter)
This book will save your life by A M Homes (Catherine Holmes)
Here are the January recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The Wartime Bakery series by Amy Miller (Audio 3 books)
The 12 Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman
Holy Island by LJ Ross
Winter by Val McDermid
The Silver Pigs by Lindsay Davis
Grave Talk by Nick Spalding
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Five by Ilona Bannister
I give it a year by Helen Whitaker
What Happened That Summer by Laura Pearson
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Additionally on the theme of Weather we had:
Turned out nice again by Richard Mabey
The Little Ice Age - How climate made history by Brian Fagan (NF)
Frost Fair a poem by Carol Ann Duffy
The Fog by James Herbert
Rain by Melissa Harrison (NF)
Miss Smilla’s Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg
How to read the weather by Storm Dunlop (NF)
The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson
Weather forecasting the country way by Robin Page
On a snowy night by Debbie Macomber
The Snow Bride by Dilly Court
Sun, a short story by D H Lawrence
Here are the December recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt
Endless Night (audio on BBC sounds) by Agatha Christie
Connie by Charlotte Duckworth
Wreck by Catherine Newman
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Truth about You and Me (Audio) by Emma Cooper
Prima Facie by Suzie Miller
Additionally on the theme of Christmas we had:
The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upsen
One more for Christmas by Sarah Morgan
Her Last Christmas by Claire McGowan
Death in Ambush by Susan
Days Like these by Brian Bilston
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Alison Carter
Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan
Here are the November recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Love in Pieces by Anouska Knight
The Life She Could Have Lived by Laura Pearson
The Forgotton Book Club by
You are here by David Nichols
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Precipice by Robert Harris
There are rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak
The Carer by Deborah Moggargh
Different Class by Joanne Harris
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Reid
The Offing by Benjamin Myers
Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession (TV series also recommended)
All the colours of the dark by Chris Whittaker
Six conversations we dared to have by Deborah Frames
The Murder at Worlds End by Ross
59 minutes by Holly
Big Nobody (out March 2026) by Alex Kadis
On the theme of “ Books published in the year of our birth”:
1950 - A Town Like Alice” by Neville
1950 - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
1976 - Roll of thunder in my cry by Mildred D Taylor
1954 - Under the net by Iris Murdoch
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird by
1980 - The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
1951 - Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
1957 - The Midwych Cuckoo by Wyndham
1972 - It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet by James Herriot
1955 - The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
1971 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
Here are the recommendations for October.
Dissolution by C J Sansom
Fen Women by Mary Chamberlain
The Frozen People by Ellie Griffiths
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Dear Mrs Lake by A J Pierce
The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey
Precipice by Robert Harris
Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
On the theme of “Autobiography/Biography/Memoir:
Charles III by Robert Hardman
Knowing the score by Judy Murray
Priest Daddy by Patricia Lockwood
Recipie for Life by Mary Berry
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
I am, I am, I am by Maggie o’Farrell
Someone Like Me by Penny Lancaster
Life on Air by David Attenborough
Face it by Debbie Harry
Here are the September recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Next time will be your turn by Jesse Sutanto
Time travellers guide to Regency Britain by Ian Mortimer
Precipice by Robert Harris
The Forgotton Book Club by Kate Storey
Old Boys by Nick Spalding
Postscript Murders by Ellie Griffiths
Queen Victoria by Lucy Worsley
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgewick
Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
Air by John Boyne
Olive again… by Elizabeth Strout
On the theme of Rebellion:
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
The Flight of Lucy Spoon by Maggie Gibson
33 revolutions per minute by Dorian Lynskey
A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
Weyward by Emilia Hart
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Here are the August recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson
Daughter, friend, lover, victim, murderer by Nikki Cloke
Story of Murder by Hallie Rubenhold
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
The Crow by Ted Hughes
The Wasteland by T S Eliot
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
Births, deaths and marriages by Laura Barnett
Bleeding Heart Yard by Ellie Griffiths
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson
Consider yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
The Names by Florence Knapp
Long Island by Colm Tobin
The Silver-haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh
I haven’t been totally honest with you by Miranda Hart
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
The Woman Who Met Herself by Laura Pearson
The Stranger Diaries by Ellie Griffiths
On our theme of Borders and Boundaries:
A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabora
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
A History of the World in 47 Borders by John Elledge
Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Milkman by Anna Burns
“Ansco” a poem by Paul Muldoon
“Border” a poem by Taslima Nazrin
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Boundary Road by Ami Rao
Here are the July recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Recommendations this month, all 5 stars or close to:
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
The Figurine by Victoria Hislop
Snow Widows by Kathleen McInnes
The Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
Her Many Faces by Nicki Cloke
The Woman Who Met herself by Laura Pearson
Onion Therapy Peel, reveal,heal by Paula Reed
Knife by Salman Rushdie
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
Saltwater Mansions by David Whitehouse
Eiger Dreams byJon Krakauer
Outlawed byAnna North
Over my dead body by Maz Evans
In a thousand different ways by Celia Ahern
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
On the theme of “Mystery”:
Over my dead body by Jeffrey Archer
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
Saltwater Mansions by David Whitehouse
Proof of my Innocence by Jonathon Coe
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe
Longitude by Dava Sobel
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
June recommendations:
Kala by Colin Walsh
Standing Heavy by Armand Gauz
Don’t tell Mum I Work on the rigs by Paul Carter
Little Drummer Boy by John Le Carre
Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams (out July 2925)
Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Van Arden
The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier
Table for Two by Amor Towles
Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall
On the theme of “Food”:
Culinary Pleasures by Nicola Campbell
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Animal, vegetable, miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
May recommendations:
Wish I was here by Jackie Kay ( short stories)
A view from the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Air by John Boyne
Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
The Names by Florence Knapp
James by Percival Everett
The Guardian by John Grisham
Brother of the more famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
What I was by Meg Rosoff
Passing on by Penelope Lively
Wave Walker by Susanne Heywood
Precipice by Robert Harris
The Eights by Joanna Miller
Dreamcount by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
On the theme of Enemies:
Sweet, sweet revenge Ltd by
Shakespeares story series for children, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
John and Paul a love story in song by Ian Lesley
Moral abdication- how the world failed to stop the destruction of Gaza by Didier Fasson
All the other mothers hate me by Sarah Harman (audio)
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee
Fire by John Boyne
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
This people next door by Kia Abdullah
Snowdrops by A D Miller
SAS Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre
The Restless Republic by Alice Keay
Here are the April recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright by Beth Miller
The History of Mr Polly by H G Wells(audio)
The People in Platform 5 by Clare Pooley
This One Life by Amanda Prowse
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Mrs Porter Calling by A J Pearce
This is happiness by Niall Williams
Dear Me…a letter to my 16year old self edited by Joseph Galliano
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Stormy Petrel by Violet Needham
Conclave by Robert Harris
Death at the sign of the rook by Kate Atkinson
Her side of the story by Alba de Cespedes
The Life and rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah
Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor
Maybe, perhaps, possibly by Joanna Glen
Every Letter tells a story by Martin Wigmore
Notes from an exhibition by Patrick Gale
The Summons by John Grisham
The boy at the top of the mountain by John Boyne
On the theme of “set in a school or university”:
What I was by Meg Rosoff
Growing up with grandma by Hamish Whitely
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Starter for ten by David Nicholls
The Edinburgh Skating Club by Michelle Sloan
The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
The Secret History by Donna Tart
Gentlemen and players by Joanne Harris
Inspector Morse- The riddle of the third mile by Colin Dexter
Nice Work by David Lodge
Heard it in the playground - collected verse by Allan Ahlberg
Here are the March recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Beyond the secret Garden:The Life of Frances Hodgson-Burnett by Ann Thwaite
The Safe Keep by Yale Van Der Wouden
Mourinho- a hardback autobiography full of photos
The Good Girl’s Guide to getting lost by Rachel Friedman
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams
Passing on by Penelope Lively
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson
Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell
The Position of Spoons and other intimacies by Deborah Levy
How to Solve Murders like a lady by Hannah Dolby
The Many Futures of Maddy Hart by Laura Pearson
Nobody’s Wife by Laura Pearson
Our books on a “Letters” theme were:
Letters from the edge - 12 Women of the World write home - published by New International
Can any Mother help me? By Jenna Bailey
Letters to Margaret by Hunter Davies
The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright by Beth Miller
The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Letters from Lockdown by Natasha Kaplinski
Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey
I Wanted you to know by Laura Pearson
Letters from a faint-hearted feminist by Jill Tweedy
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Ladies of Letters by Carole Hayman
Things I want my daughters to know by Elizabeth Noble
Every letter tells a story by Martin Wigmore
Here are the February recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
The North Shore by Ben Tufnell
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare for 8 year olds by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Grief is the thing with feathers by Max Porter
Dad Jokes by Kit and Andrew Childers
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Rooster House by Victoria Belim
Murder on the Marlowe Belle by Robert Thorogood
The Sunlit Weapon by Jaqueline Winspear
Detroit 67 and the year that changed soul by Stuart Cosgrove
Constanza by Rachel Blackmore
The Paper Man by Billy O’Callaghan
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey
Instructions for Heartbreak by Sarah Handiside
Matthew Perry Friends, lovers and the big terrible thing by Matthew Perry
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
On the theme of “Treason”:
Dictator by Robert Harris
A Column of Fite by Ken Follett
The Greys of Bradgate by Joan Stevenson
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
The Shadow Queen by Anne O’Brien
Edith and Kim by Charlotte Philby
The Last Tudor by Phillippa Gregory
A Spy and a Traitor by Ben McKintyre
A History of Treason by National Archive Staff
Here are the January recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
No one round here reads Tolstoy by Mark Hodkinson
Before Life of Elizabeth Valentine by Laura Pearson
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Mrs Winterbottom takes a gap year by Joanna Nell
Gifts by Laura Barnett
Staying Down by Mike Stephen’s
Temples of Delight by Barbara Trapido
1001 paintings by Stephen Farthing
Ordinary Time by Cathy Rentzenbrink
So thrilled for you by Holly Bourne (out Jan 25)
An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
Mystery in White by J Jefferson Farjon
The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks
On the Greenwich Line by Shady Lewis
Earth by John Boyne
The Schubert Treatment by Claire Oppert
The Angel Makers by Patti McCracken
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
On the theme of “Cheese”
Who moved my cheese? By Rebecca Johnston
Say Cheese by David Pelham
The Cheese Robbery by Tim Wares
The Art of the Break by Mary Wimmer
Welsh Rarebit Tales by Harle Oren Cummins
The Cheese and the Worms by Carlo Ginsberg
I am the cheese by Robert Cormier
Here are the December recommendations from the Book Lover’s Club:
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Temples of Delight by Barbara Trapido
All the colours of the dark by Chris Whitaker
Remembering by Julie Gardner
Banksy- most iconic artworks by Art Works Studios
The Eye in the door by Pat Barker
Everybody died so I got a dog by Emily Dean
The Dirty Bits by Leslie Cunliffe
I wanted you to know by Laura Pearson ( audio)
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The city of Tears by Kate Atkinson
Mrs Winterbottom takes a gap year by Joanna Nell
Snowdrops by A D Miller
On the theme of “Christmas”:
High Rising by Angela Thirkell
‘‘Twas the night shift before Christmas by Adam Kay
Gifts by Laura Barnett
Here comes Santa Paws by Laurien Berenson
A poem for every day of Christmas by Brian Bilston
Village Christmas by Laurie Lee
And so this is Christmas by Brian Bilston
How the grinch stole Christmas by Dr Seuss
Twas the night before Christmas by Clement C Moore
The Railway detectives Christmas case by Edward Marston
Our November recommendations:
1342 IQ facts by Johns LLoyd and the QI team
Reckless by R J McBrien
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay
The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse
Everybody died so I got a dog by Emily Dean
Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evan’s
Tell me everything by Elizabeth Strout
London number 1 dog walking agency by Kate MacDoughall
The Seven Ages of Death by Richard Shepherd
Shy Creature by Claire Chambers
Babel by R F Kuang
Marzahn, Mon amour by Katja Oskamp
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
The Party by Tessa Hadley
The book of George by Kate Greathead (out Jan 25)
Slow Dance by Rainbow Raul
The Familiars by Stacey Halls
Life Sentences by Billy O’Callaghan
A Fortunate Woman by Polly Morland
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Day 1 by Abigail Dean
Books read by the group for our theme “Americana”:
Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan
Sweet Water by Christina Baker Kline
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Streets of Laredo by Larrry McMurtry
The Lincoln Highway by Amol Towles
Notes from a big Country by Bill Bryson
Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
The Catchers by Xan Brooks
All the colours of the dark by Chris Mortimer
Americana by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
The Unfolding by A M Homes
