Recommended Reading

In Reader no. 30, we printed a letter from Maria Tierney in which she told us about the reading group she was setting up, inspired by the magazine generally and in particular by Angela Macmillan's piece on reading groups (Reader no.28). Maria wrote that it 'would be useful if we had a list of books which have been reviewed / recommended in back copies, if such a thing exists.' Thank you for the suggestion Maria - it does now. Angie has been busy sifting through old issues and here are the results of her search. Please do let us know how your group gets on.

Our recommendations for a reading group season

Choose from the following:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë (Issue 30).

A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes (Issue 19)

Shakespeare's Othello (Issue 10) or The Winter’s Tale (Issue 30)

Small Island, Andrea Levy (Issue 20)

The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (Issue 23)

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (Issue 24)

Runaway, Alice Munro (Issue 27)

A Pair of Blue Eyes, Thomas Hardy (Issue 25)

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (Issue 22) (recommend 2 sessions at least for this colossal book)

Stuart A Life Backwards, Alexander Masters (Issue 24). Sara Pendergast reviewed this book for us here too.

Hester, Mrs Oliphant (Issue 24)

Cousin Henry, Anthony Trollope (Issue 28)

Here are four essays about reading groups published in the magazine. We're going to be publishing some of these here on the blog over the next few weeks:

1. 'Looking Up' by Ann Stapleton (Issue 24)
2. 'The Inner Anthology' by Mark Crees (Issue 14)
3. 'The Place of the Implicit' by Philip Davis (Issue 10)
4. 'Reading Groups: The Crucial Factor' by Angela Macmillan (Issue 28)

And here's a reminder that the previous issue of the magazine (currently Reader no. 29) is available free from our downloads page.

Posted by Sarah Coley