Category: Philosophical

The End of Everything – M John Harrison

READ FOR BOOKERTHON The End of Everything is a speculative novel set in a future where an unexplained crisis has transformed the world, and strange new life forms coexist with humans. Phillip Tennent makes his living collecting artefacts washed ashore from the English Channel,… Continue Reading “The End of Everything – M John Harrison”

Intermezzo – Sally Rooney

READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Tessa Set in Dublin, Intermezzo follows two estranged brothers, Peter, a lawyer in his thirties, and Ivan, a younger competitive chess player, as they navigate grief and their complex brotherhood following their father’s death. Through their complicated romantic relationships and… Continue Reading “Intermezzo – Sally Rooney”

Black Bag – Luke Kennard

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Black Bag follows an unemployed actor who accepts a bizarre job participating in a psychology experiment where he spends a term attending university lectures zipped inside a large black leather bag. Inspired by a real experiment from 1967, this absurdist campus… Continue Reading “Black Bag – Luke Kennard”

The Things We Never Say – Elizabeth Strout

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Artie Dam is a 57-year-old history teacher whose seemingly comfortable life is plagued by a troubled mind and an emerging family secret. Written in Strout’s understated, character-driven style, the novel explores marriage, parenthood, loneliness and the things people leave unspoken, against… Continue Reading “The Things We Never Say – Elizabeth Strout”

What We Can Know – Ian McEwan

READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Sally In 2014 a great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found. In 2119 the lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas.… Continue Reading “What We Can Know – Ian McEwan”

How To Paint A Nude – Sam Mahon

A local artist and a Belaruisan refugee meet regularly at a Christchurch cafe to discuss life, art and politics. A priest once told me that we fall in love with people with whom we have wounds in common, that in caring for them we’re… Continue Reading “How To Paint A Nude – Sam Mahon”

Dark Matter – Blake Crouch

READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by BridgetPhysics professor Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his own life and must find his way back to his own reality. Sci-fi thriller that explores choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the… Continue Reading “Dark Matter – Blake Crouch”

The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny – Kiran Desai

READ FOR BOOKERTHON The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny follows two immigrants navigating the quiet ache of isolation in a globalised world. Sonia and Sunny are writers in America, out of tune with their partners and confessing to loneliness and homesickness for their native… Continue Reading “The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny – Kiran Desai”

Audition – Katie Kitamura

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubled, and young. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In Audition, two competing but mirroring narratives… Continue Reading “Audition – Katie Kitamura”

Prophet Song – Paul Lynch

READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Tessa Prophet Song is set in an alternative Dublin where a tyrannical government is weaving its way into people’s lives, the rebels are rising up and society is slowly collapsing. It focuses on one family who suffer in many ways and… Continue Reading “Prophet Song – Paul Lynch”