We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.
- Ursula K. Le Guin (USA, born 1929)
Since February 2005, the Book Club has been organised by season with a selection of 5 books by both men and women writers from each of the 5 continents (Africa & the Caribbean, Asia & the Pacific, Europe & the Middle East, North America, South America). There are 2 seasons per year: from September to January and from February to June. In July and August, Nicola organises a Summer Reading Group as a continuation of the Book Club during the summer months.
The books chosen are primarily contemporary fiction, often new releases and occasionally classics. Since September 2006, Nicola introduced a theme for each season. The themes so far have been:
For the book club reading lists simply click on the corresponding Season. The current season’s book club list will be available next year.
The group meets once a month. The discussions, led by Nicola, are lively and interesting, leaving the readers with an added value to each book. At the end of each meeting, Nicola asks readers to give a score for the book, so that at the end of the season, one of the 5 stands out as the favourite. Some of the book club favourites so far have been:
When you join Nicola’s Book Club, one of the benefits you receive is to participate in one FREE online book club discussion. Exceptionally this year (starting on 1st October 2010), you will have the choice of attending one meeting EACH MONTH using a free conferencing service via Skype. We have selected 10 of the best books that have been read in Nicola’s Book Club over the past 5 years for these online book club discussions.
They will take place on the first Friday of each month starting in October up until July. We have set aside 2 different times of the day for you to choose from:
Depending on where you live, you will need to check the corresponding time zone.
To discover the books and dates of the calls and how to sign up, please click here.
“I enjoy being a member of Nicola’s Book Club because it gives me a chance to read very interesting books which I would not be able to find on my own. The books that we have read so far are very enriching and well-written: each time they take me to a different country, culture, mentality, epoch. I have the impression that I travel around the world and sometimes I even need to look at an atlas to see where we are! It is most enjoyable being in a group of people who share the same interest and the discussions about the stories are very stimulating. The exchange of thoughts also enables me to take a closer look at the books and appreciate more the details and interpretations of the characters and the content.” - Karin Wiegand
"Nicola’s Book Club has allowed me to be introduced to many books which I would not otherwise read. I have enjoyed the meetings, which are well run, allowing everybody to express their opinion with Nicola guiding and adding to those commentaries. I especially enjoy it for the varied comments made by fellow book readers, especially as it is a diverse group coming from different parts of the world, and therefore giving sometimes extraordinary slants on the subject matter." - Alanna McGuire
"This is my third year at the Book Club and I am a great fan of both Nicola’s book selections and the commitment and professionalism which she continues to show in her conduct of the group. Hers is an example of how a book group should be run. The books Nicola chose were all classics in their way, some such as 'A Confederacy of Dunces' and 'The Master and Margarita' having cult status and others such as 'Love in the Time of Cholera', 'Things Fall Apart' and 'Clear Light of Day' are timeless classics. 'How Many Miles to Babylon?' was a beautiful little novel. There is little more for me to say – the book club seasons have been little islands of delight in my working life here." - John Jennings
"I have been attending Nicola’s Book Club for three years and I have read many books that I would never have picked off a shelf in the large bookstores. My book collection has not only become bigger, but also much more colourful. We discussed books with titles like: ‘Distant Palaces’, ‘Island’, ‘City of God’, ‘The Master and Margarita’, ‘How Many Miles to Babylon?’, ‘Welcome to Paradise’, ‘Eva Luna’, ‘Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress’, ‘The Whale Caller’, ... Through these titles, I travelled to the mystical city of 'La Habana', wandered through Moscow, was chased after in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, got intimate with whales on the coast of South Africa, was enchanted by Chile and it's magical characters, tried to cross the Straits of Gibraltar, got caught up in China's Cultural Revolution, reflected on the perfect society on the Island of Pala, visited the Flanders Fields and its horrifying trenches during wartime." - Caroline Stalmans