2025: World Tour

Choosing our reading list each year is a reminder of how many amazing books are out there waiting to be discovered. There are stories profound and life changing, and sometimes it’s pure luck if what we choose ends up being the one that takes our breath away or if we accidentally overlook something special.

To help with our decision making and have a focus point for 2025, we’ve decided to take a literary world tour — figuratively, at least! Our goal is to read books from as many different countries as we can, diving into their diverse cultures, histories, complexities and joys. We want to explore what makes different societies unique, and how this shapes their resulting literature.

We are going to adopt this migratory strategy in our approach to bookclub scheduling, too. What works for book club members can change from month to month. Sometimes it’s tricky to find a date that works for everyone, and other times we’re bursting with books we want to discuss. So, we’re widening our net a bit, aiming to tackle more books but adding flexibility to our schedule. This way, we can adjust our expectations and capacity to keep book club fun and stress-free.

We’ll remain the free-range book club we’ve always been. Members can dip in and out as they please, and they’ll always find a home with us thanks to our shared love of literature. That said, we’ll be saying goodbye to one of our longest-standing members, Jo, this year. She’s been with us for an incredible 17 years, and we’re grateful for all the books she’s introduced us to and her insightful observations of them. We will welcome new members into the fold in 2025, our 19th year! We’re looking forward to meeting more people who adore reading, and chatting about and reviewing what they’ve read.

[May update] In keeping with our go-with-the-flow vibe, it has taken as a while to plan out the whole year’s reading, but finally here it is. Plus we’ve attracted some new bookies and we welcome Sally, Bridget and Tessa into the freerange family.

Bookclub schedule 2025:
– The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink, Translated by Charlotte Collins (Germany)
– The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk, Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Poland)
– Her Side Of The Story by Alba De Cespedes, Translated by Jill Foulston (Italy)
– Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Australia, Antarctic)
– Before The Queen Falls Asleep by Huzama Habayeb, Translated by Heikkinen (Palestine)
– The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (New Zealand, UK)
– Endling by Maria Reva (Ukraine)
– Hum by Helen Phillips (US)
– Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Ireland)
– The Militia House by John Milas (US, Afghanistan)
– As Rich As The King by Abigail Assor (Morocco)