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National Reading Groups Day, 14th September
For this year’s National Reading Group Day, The Reading Agency invites you to run a Big Book Club Quiz!
From 14 September, your group can enter an online quiz to show off your bookish knowledge. You'll have a month to complete the quiz, so it's the perfect activity for your monthly meeting. Submit your answers by 14 October and you'll be entered to win book tokens to buy books for your group. Watch this space to enter the quiz: National Reading Group Day 2023 | Reading Agency Note, you will also be able to print out the quiz if you prefer.
 We are regularly refreshing our reading groups sets, below are some of the titles recently added to our Reading Group Collection. If your group is looking for their next book to read why not try one of these:
- Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
- The Maid by Nita Prose
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
- The Midnight House by Amanda Geard
- Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough
- Cloud Cuckoo Lane by Anthony Doerr
- A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
- A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story by Polly Morland.
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.
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Alison Stockham – The Silent Friend
When it comes to saving yourself, who will you betray?
Uncover the secrets and lies of The Silent Friend, a second psychological thriller by Alison Stockham, author of bestseller The Cuckoo Sister.
- Cottenham Library, Wednesday 20th September, 2pm
- Papworth Library, Wednesday 4th October, 2pm
Tickets £2. Please book in advance at the library, or contact BarHill.referral@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or 0345 045 5225
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Rachel Meller – The Box with the Sunflower Clasp
Local author Rachel Meller introduces her moving new book, The Box with the Sunflower Clasp, a story of family secrets and a young Jewish woman’s escape from 1930s Vienna to Shanghai.
- Histon Library, Wednesday 27th September, 2pm
- Great Shelford Library, Wednesday 4th October, 2pm
Tickets are £3 and can be booked in the library, or email:
BarHill.referral@cambridgeshire.gov.uk (for Histon Library) Cambourne.referral@cambridgeshire.gov.uk (for Great Shelford Library)
or call 0345 045 5225
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Eva Verde - In Bloom
Eva Verde introduces her latest novel, In Bloom, a deeply affecting story of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters. Eva is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work.
- Cambridge Central Library, Saturday 14th October, 11am
Free tickets can be booked in advance via this link Meet author Eva Verde Tickets, Sat 14 Oct 2023 at 11:00 | Eventbrite, or ask in the library.
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Kate Rhodes and Penny Hancock
Do you love a classic whodunnit? Or maybe the drama of a family with skeletons in the closet? Enjoy a double dose of mystery and intrigue with two popular Cambridgeshire crime writers in conversation.
- Cottenham Library, Wednesday 18th October, 2pm
Tickets are £2 and can be booked in the library or contact BarHill.referral@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or call 0345 045 5225
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C.A. Castle
Jane Eyre and Jane Austen fans take note! C.A. Castle introduces The Manor House Governess, a contemporary, queer homage to classic literature and the period drama. The novel is a joyous, uplifting story about finding yourself, and a reminder that queer love can thrive in the present whilst embracing the literary past.
- Cambridge Central Library, Saturday 25th November, 2pm
Free tickets can be booked in advance via this link Meet author C.A.Castle Tickets, Sat 25 Nov 2023 at 14:00 | Eventbrite or ask in the library.
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Cambridgeshire Libraries are always adding new events, including author talks. Keep up to date by checking www.library.live
Singapore Literature Book Club
There are readers, and reading groups, all around the world. We contacted Shamimah Mujtaba, the volunteer founder and facilitator of the Singapore Literature Book Club, to find out about her group.
Founded in 2016, the Singapore Literature Book Club (SLBC) discusses books by both well-known and emerging Singaporean authors touching on topics close to home. One unique feature of the club is that it invites local authors down to chat about the book, presenting book club members with the unique opportunity to meet the author and ask them questions about their books.
The group recently discussed "Home is where we are", a memoir by Wang Gungwu and his late wife Margaret Wang.
One of the reasons Shamimah chose this book, was because she resonated with what the authors had to say: "Does home have to be a country or a city?... Or is home this house or that? We have been fortunate.... We seemed always to have been home. "
Is there a book your group has read that has made you reflect on the meaning and importance of “home”?
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Always Available eBooks on Libby and OverDrive
We have over two thousand eBooks in our Always Available collection on OverDrive! These books can be borrowed by any number of people at once, so your whole reading group can read at the same time. Sort by date added to see new titles, including by The Secret River by Kate Grenville, The Humans by Matt Haig, Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith, and Rootbound by Alice Vincent.
Log in to the OverDrive website or Libby app with your library card number to read today!
Always Available eBooks on OverDrive and Libby
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Reading Groups can borrow from our whole collection, not just our reading group book sets. Search the catalogue for titles (use the Search bar at the top of the catalogue page). If enough copies are available for loan, ask your local library staff to request them for your group. Where available, you can also ask for Large Print versions of your chosen title. |
Please get in touch!
We love to hear your group’s stories and recommendations. And we’d love 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.
This eNewsletter is automatically sent to each group’s main contact person. Thank you for forwarding it to your members. Individual members can also sign up to receive the news directly by clicking on the Join Our Mailing List button at the top of this page, or via our webpage: Reading groups - Cambridgeshire County Council
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