The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan - August 25, 2025

 

We're meeting August 25 at Julie's to discuss The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.

Supplemental materials:

• Readers' Guide, with discussion questions, Penguin
• Reader Guide, The Booker Prize
• Review, The Guardian (2015)
• Interview with Richard Flanagan, for the Man Booker Prize
• "'Ambitious' or 'Pretentious'? The contested legacy of Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North," The Conversation (2025)
• Interview with Richard Flanagan, KnopfDoubleDay (video) (2014)
• Interview with Justin Kurzel, director, of TV series made from the novel (video) (2025)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers - July 28, 2025

 

We'll meet at Kathy's house on July 28 to discuss The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

Supplemental materials:

• Character list/map from Oprah's Book club
• Discussion questions, Reading Group Guide
• "A Connoisseur of Yearning," a biography of Carson McCullers, New York Review of Books (2020)
• "The Closeting of Carson McCullers," The Paris Review (2020)
• "What Carson McCullers Knew About Cotton Mills and Misery ," column by Nick Norwood for Library of America (2017)
• "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," poem by Fiona McLeod (aka William Sharp) that inspired the title for the McCullers novel

Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver - June 30, 2025

 

We will meet June 30 at Karen's house to discuss Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver.

Supplemental materials:

• Reading Group Guide discussion questions for Unsheltered
• NYTimes Review
• Politics and Prose interview (video, 1/20/2019)

Swing Time, Zadie Smith - June 2, 2025

 

We met at Ruth's to discuss Swing Time by Zadie Smith on June 2, 2025.

Tom Lake, Ann Patchett - April 28, 2025

 

We'll meet at Julie's on April 28 to discuss Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

REVISED Slate for 2024-2025

Here is the REVISED slate for the year, reflecting the swap of the books for April and July.

November 25 - The Turn of the Screw, Henry James - CLASSIC

January 6 (shifted from December) - The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, Janice Hallett

January 27 - In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O'Brien
February 24 - Stolen, Ann-Helen Laestadius
March 24 - Table for Two, Amor Towles
April 28 - Tom Lake, Ann Patchett 
June 2 (shifted to avoid Memorial Day) - Swing Time, Zadie Smith
June 30 (5th Monday) - Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver
July 28 - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
August 25 - Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
September 22 - Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
October 27 - Book Picking Night!!!!!

Table for Two, Amor Towles - March 24, 2025

The group met March 24 at Connie's house to discussion Table for Two by Amor Towles.

Stolen, Ann-Helen Laestadium - February 24, 2025

 We will meet February 24 at Kathy's house to discuss Stolen by Ann-Helen Laestadius.

Supplemental materials:

• NYTimes article about the author and Stolen
• Guardian review
• National Nordic Museum Meet the Author interview with Ann-Helen Laestadius (video)
• Wikipedia entry on Sami people and land, with map

In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O'Brien - January 27, 2025

 

We'll meet at Katherine's on January 27, 2025, to discuss In the Lake of the Woods, by Tim O'Brien.

• Reading Group Guide
• Review, New York Times (gift link)
• Wikipedia entry about the Northwest Angle
• Wikipedia entry about Angle Inlet
• Interview on Charlie Rose of Tim O'Brien, 10/19/1994
• The Backlist:  Revisiting Tim O'Brien's "In the Lake of the Woods" with Angie Kim

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, Janice Hallett - January 6, 2025

We'll meet at Steph's house on Jan. 6, 2025, to discuss The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, by Janice Hallett.  Let me know if you come across some discussion questions or other supplemental materials.