February Reading Groups round-up

Looking for ideas for new titles to read with your reading circle or book group? Let us help. Here are some titles which have reading guides ready and waiting for you to stimulate discussion and debate.

Sam Taylor talks about The Island at the End of the World

George Miller talks to Sam Taylor about his post-apocalyptic vision, The Island at the End of the World, and the three very different narrators that it features.

Listen now

Win a copy of Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey [closed]

Eddie Russett lives comfortably in a world where fortune, career and ultimate destiny are rigidly dictated by the colours you can see. Until he falls in love with Jane, and starts to question every aspect of the Rulebook.

Andrew Roberts on If Hitler Comes

A classic of ‘imaginary history’, If Hitler Comes was first published only 2 months after the Fall of France, whilst the Battle of Britain was being fought. Now republished for the first time in 68 years and, in the view of historian Andrew Roberts it deserves its place at the head of what has become an emerging literary genre.

Read an extract from The First Stone

Enjoy this extract from Elliott Hall’s debut novel, where the noir genre meets a dystopian American future where where biblical prophecy is foreign policy and the religious police are a force to be reckoned with.

The Booklist: I have seen the future, and it’s…

Is your glass half full, or half empty? Do you wear rose tinted spectacles, or do you consider life through a glass, darkly? We’re all of us on this planet going somewhere, but where, and how?

How Lanark grew – in Alasdair Gray’s own words

Lanark, subtitled A Life in Four Books, was the first novel of Scottish writer Alasdair Gray. Written over a period of almost thirty years, it combines realist and dystopian fantasy depictions of his home city of Glasgow. Here are his thoughts on the epic process of its creation.

Read an extract from The Hurricane Party

Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives — they explore our desires, our fears, our longings, and provide narratives that remind us what it means to be human.

Far North: Imagining a Near-Future Dystopia

Marcel Theroux’s novel Far North was recently published by Faber. Here the author explores the origins of the book.

The Booklist: Wilderness Rules

The planet’s wild environments inspire and illuminate the minds of writers and readers alike. We offer up some suggested reading for all tastes, and all weathers…