Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Bookclub  meeting in August, especially our latest new members – you are very welcome.

This time we had lively discussions on three very different books by bestselling and critically acclaimed authors Zadie Smith, (The Fraud), Lorrie Moore (I Am Homeless if This…), Ann Patchett (Tom Lake) and AK Blakemore (the Glutton). This months selections (below) include a current recommendations from our previous special guest, publishing agent Jenny Parrott, and they are well worth checking out.

Our Bookclub is developing into an engaging community where anyone who enjoys meeting other readers and chatting about books over a drink, is very welcome. 

Next meeting …

Our next meeting is Wednesday 18 September 2024, 6-8pm. This month’s selections are below.

If you would like to join us at the Lighthouse Bookclub just read one of these titles ( or more if you have time) and ‘drop in for a drink to tell us all what you think’. A warm welcome and lively discussion awaits and we look forward to seeing you.

Chain-Gang All Stars: Kwane Adjei-Brenhah ‘So Good, From the heart’ Stephen King (359pp)

An exuberant circus of a novel, action-packed and expansive. In a dystopian US prisoners fight for the entertainment of a primetime TV audience. Drawing on The Hunger Games and Rollerball with a political subtext that covers the 13th amendment, psychological effect of solitary confinement and the 1944 state murder of 14-year-old George Stinney.

Julia: Sandra Newman – ‘Breathes new life into Orwell’s nightmare’ (377 pages)

Orwell’s classic vision of the future is turned inside-out and you will be gripped and surprised. The object of Winston Smith’s gaze looks back and retells their journey into love and resistance. Julia’s will to survive, her childhood experiences, her sensual joys, her relationships with other women, all make this a complex vision that stands up well beside Orwell’s original.

Special Guest Jenny Parrott’s Picks:

Kala: Colin Walsh – ‘Spectacular read for Donna Tartt fans’ (417 pages)

In a seaside town, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. They were part of a group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala. Soon after summer, Kala disappeared without a trace. Fifteen years later and human remains have been discovered in the woods.

Wise Blood: Flannery O’Connor – ‘A genius’ – NY Times (103 pages)

Hazel Motes returns to the evangelical Deep South where he begins a private battle against religion in the community, in particular against Asa Hawkes, the ‘blind’ preacher, and his daughter. In desperation he founds his own religion, ‘The Church without Christ’, and the story moves towards a savage and macabre resolution.