You may have heard about the Big Jubilee Read, a selection of 70 books celebrating writing talent across the Commonwealth over the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
We have multiple copies of some of these books – such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, Andrea Levy’s Small Island and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale - just right for reading groups. To enhance your discussion of these titles, using the link above you can download special reading group resources from The Reading Agency. Ask in your library to find out which titles are currently available.
The Reading Agency is also arranging some fascinating free livestreamed events featuring authors from around the Commonwealth. Sign up for the latest news here.
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Cambridgeshire Libraries Read Local campaign launched in May, offering titles to tempt you if you enjoy reading stories set in your own neck of the woods. We have reading groups sets available for the following titles:
- Waterland by Graham Swift
- How to be Both by Ali Smith
- Nine Lessons by Nicola Upson
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- The Great Lover by Jill Dawson
- Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of death (Granchester Mysteries) by James Runcie
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Novelist Jill Dawson (pictured) is coming to St. Ives Library on Wednesday 20th July, 7pm. She’ll be talking about her latest book The Bewitching: “A dazzling, shocking novel that speaks to our times, drawing on the 16th-century case of the witches of Warboys.”
Tickets £3 are on sale at St. Ives library, email StIves.Referral@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or call 0345 045 5225
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Peeky Blinders – our reading group for readers with visual impairments
Huntingdon library has a reading group which runs in partnership with Hunts Society for the Blind.
The group meets monthly at the library and is a very sociable gathering. The members are supported by a member of library staff and Emma from Hunts Society. We do things slightly differently – we choose our next eAudiobook at the start of the session and do the downloads while we’re discussing last month’s choice. We’re generally distracted by tea, coffee and biscuits…
It would be so easy to welcome any reader with a visual impairment into an existing group – just choose a book that’s available in both physical and eAudiobook format – the discussion will be the same no matter how the book was read!
Contact Rosie.Veitch@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for more information.
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If you are interested in using eAudiobooks or eBooks with your reading group, multi-access titles can be found on both OverDrive and Borrow Box, these are great for groups wanting to listen or read the same title at the same time. More information can be found on our Online Reading Groups webpage.
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In the March edition of Reading Group News, we asked you to vote for the titles you would like to see as a reading group set. There was a clear winner, ‘Still Life’ by Sarah Winman. - The story of an unlikely friendship between a British soldier and an alleged spy, in a wartime Tuscany. A joyful novel about beauty, love, family and fate. 'Still Life' is now available to borrow as a reading group set.
Our new reading group sets include the following titles:
- Still Life by Sarah Winman
- The Push by Ashley Audrain
- The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
- The English patient by Michael Ondaatje
- I Have Something to Tell You by Susan Lewis
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- Open Water by Caleb Azum
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Click here to browse the new and suggested reading group titles on the library catalogue.
If you have a suggestion for a title you would like to see as a reading group set, please place a purchase suggestion via the online library catalogue.
Digital Reading Suggestions
Multi-access titles are available on BorrowBox every month. They are ideal for reading groups, as your whole group can read or listen at the same time.
Cambridgeshire Listens are a collection of eAudiobooks.
Cambridgeshire Reads are a collection eBooks.
Some titles are available in both formats.
Cambridgeshire Listens / Cambridgeshire Reads for June include:
- Mrs England by Stacey Halls
- Lampedusa by Steven Price
- Waiting for the Miracle by Anna McPartlin
- How to be a Refugee by Simon May
All the titles are available for 60 days from the 1st of the month.
Information on how to access BorrowBox via the app and website is available on our Library Online pages. Click here for information about using BorrowBox and downloading the app, or go straight to the BorrowBox website and log in with your library card number to download and read or listen.
How does your group decide what to read next? Does one person make the decision each time, or do you take turns picking a title? Do you hold a vote…or just take a chance?
Do you tend to stick with a particular genre? Or do you like to mix things up? Do you ever try non-fiction titles, books written for young adults, or poetry?
Have you sometimes discussed a book you all hated, yet you were still glad you read it?
Of course, there’s no “right way” to run a book group. Sometimes it’s refreshing to do something in a different way to usual, just to see what happens…
Please get in touch!
We’d love to hear your group’s stories and recommendations, and to know what else you’d like to see in this newsletter. You can email us at interloans@cambridgeshire.gov.uk (please mention Reading Groups in the subject line) or send us a message via our Facebook page.
Look out for the next edition of Cambridgeshire Libraries Reading Group News in the autumn.
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