Monthly Group Reads for 2025

[Amanda Knight]

can I suggest either The edible woman by Margaret Atwood or All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Amanda, you can suggest both! :)

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

So we have our shortlist of books to read for April. They are:

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang.
Weyward by Emilia Hart.
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Click on the links to find out more about each. I will go ahead and set up the poll.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

The poll will become active tomorrow - Tuesday. (Fingers crossed after last time). You'll be able to find it on the homepage and the polls page. You will have until Friday to cast your vote....

[Rob]

The Invisible life of Addie Larue, 😀
Rob😀

[Paul]

Rob wrote: "The Invisible life of Addie Larue, 😀
Rob😀"
Go to the Poll and vote :-)

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

So The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will be the group read for April. I haven't heard of this one and I'm curious :)

I will have to see if I can get a copy from the library.

I'll set up the new thread over the weekend...

[Carole]

Liz wrote: "So The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will be the group read for April. I haven't heard of this one and I'm curious :)

I will have to see if I can get a copy from the library.

I'll..."

Yes me too! I’ve checked it out and read a few sample pages….didnt really appeal to be honest. But have reserved a copy from local library. The one and only copy available is currently out on loan. So I will be behind, but happy to give it a go. Happy Easter everyone.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

It looks like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the winner. I will set up the new thread.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

There's been a request to announce the group read earlier to allow time to get the book before the start of the month. With that in mind, please could I have your book suggestions for May? Many thanks. :)

[Paul]

The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan

[Carole]

The End of Your life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. And Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

[Carole]

Should we have a cut off point…? Otherwise, how will people know to stop nominating…? I’d suggest middle of the month..?

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Carole wrote: "Should we have a cut off point…? Otherwise, how will people know to stop nominating…? I’d suggest middle of the month..?"

I think it should be shorter, otherwise we will lose momentum. We need time for everyone to vote and then get the book.

Suggestions by Friday 5th please!
Thanks to those of you who have nominated books already :)

[Carole]

Liz wrote: "Carole wrote: "Should we have a cut off point…? Otherwise, how will people know to stop nominating…? I’d suggest middle of the month..?"

I think it should be shorter, otherwise we will lose moment..."

Totally agree! What happens in the event of a tie?

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. ;)

[Turning Pages]

The unmaking of June farrow :)

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Thanks everyone. So the books we will be choosing from for May's Group Read, will be:

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

I will go ahead and set up the poll which should open, tomorrow, Monday 7th April.

[Carole]

Ooh, so excited to see who wins this! It’s a close call it seems.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Yes, it was a really close call, only one vote in it. The book for May will be 'A Gentleman in Moscow' by Amor Towles. We won't start reading it until 1st May, but this should give you time to get hold of a copy.

[Carole]

Six weeks wait at the library unfortunately….😔💁
Seems is very popular yet they only have one copy 😏🤔

[Carole]

Finally got my copy of a gentleman in Moscow from the library.
How’s everyone getting on with it?

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Check out the thread Carole. I have yet to start...

[Paul]

About 1/3 the way through today, really enjoying this book and the peppered contextual references to Russian culture (Tolstoy, Chekhov, etc.) :-)

[Carole]

Liz wrote: "There's been a request to announce the group read earlier to allow time to get the book before the start of the month. With that in mind, please could I have your book suggestions for May? Many tha..."

Are we not doing it earlier this time?

[Paul]

I finished reading it Friday. I enjoyed it. I've left a review over on the other thread. No spoilers, I hope.

[Paul]

Finished today, what a wonderful well written story with a great cast of characters, lovely relationships and an interesting lens on Russia during the first half of the 20th century, glad this was May’s winner.

[Paul]

Suggestion for June? The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Thanks, Paul. Yes suggestions please! :)

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Mine suggestion is 'The Three Body Problem' by Liu Cixin

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

*My suggestion

[Carole]

Daughters of Shangdon by Eve J. Chung

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Paul]

My suggestion for June
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Great. Thanks. I will set up the poll tonight...

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

The poll is all set up. You can find it on the homepage or by following this link:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

The books we will be choosing from for June are:
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Three-Body Problem by Liu CiXin
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J Chung
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

[William]

Great choices!

[Carole]

William wrote: "Great choices!"

Which will you vote for William?

[Carole]

Liz wrote: "The poll is all set up. You can find it on the homepage or by following this link:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

The books we will ..."

Everyone appears to be in the mood for some fantasy/sci-fi. Not my thing tbh, however I do admire folk who can enjoy various genres!

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

So for June, we will be reading The House in the Cerulean Sea. (Paul, you seem to have the knack of suggesting the books everyone wants to read!) I will go ahead and set up the discussion thread...

[Carole]

Liz wrote: "So for June, we will be reading The House in the Cerulean Sea. (Paul, you seem to have the knack of suggesting the books everyone wants to read!) I will go ahead and set up the disc..."

Yes he does, I agree! I believe it was choice for this current month Liz?

[Paul]

I read one of his books already, Under the Whispering Door, and really enjoyed it so looking forward to reading both the book of the month for June and, at some point later, In the Lives of Puppets.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

BTW those of you reading The House in the Cerulean Sea can join in with our genre challenge this month, as it's YA! (I love it when a book fits two challenges...)

[Paul]

The book has just arrived. looking forward to the read. I suspect it's a whole new genre for me

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

I'm still immersed in A Gentleman in Moscow and have my in person book club book (Salman Rushdie's Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder) to finish, before I can tackle The House in the Cerulean Sea. So many books, so little time... ;)

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

So we're halfway through the month. I think it would be good to hear your suggestions for the next group read. We will then have time to get hold of a copy in time for July.

My suggestion will be: The Beekeeper of Aleppo

[Carole]

I’d like to suggest Clear by Carys Davies and The Wives by Simone Gorrindo.

[Paul]

My suggestion is, Youth by J. M. Coetzee

[Paul]

Not sure if I'm supposed to skip a month, but assuming I'm allowed my suggestion is: A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

[Carole]

Paul wrote: "Not sure if I'm supposed to skip a month, but assuming I'm allowed my suggestion is: A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe"

Hi Paul, what do you mean by ‘skip a month’?