Book Club 2025

Shakespeare and Austen

Shakespeare

Nest year the Shakespeare book club continues. We will read: Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II, King John, The Merchant of Venice, All’s Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, Coriolanus, and Cymbeline.

Here’s the schedule. Please tell me if anything here clashes with major dates. (We take a break in the summer.)

So many people on this year’s book club have told me how delighted they are to have read through some Shakespeare. Some of them for the first time since school. These plays are full of interest and enjoyment. The plots are compelling. The characters are outrageous, charming, villainous, adorable… you name it. The writing is divine. Reading or watching these plays (such as on the Globe player) is a unique experience.

Paid subscribers will be able to come to the book clubs and get access to all my writing about Shakespeare, which is kept in this section.

If you are interested in joining, start with this piece about how to read Shakespeare. (Or this one.) It’s not as hard as you think. Yes, you can watch the film.

YOU GET ONE LIFE. DON’T MISS OUT ON THE BEST LITERATURE IT HAS TO OFFER.

Austen

I am also offering a Jane Austen book club because 2025 is the 250th anniversary of her birth. What better time to read these six exceptional novels?

They are not too long, have gripping plots, and are full of the sort of characters that make you gasp and stretch your eyes.

This will be six zoom sessions, each to discuss one of the novels, every other month. We will read them in this order.

Pride and Prejudice. Sense and Sensibility. Northanger Abbey. Mansfied Park. Emma. Persuasion.

Paid subscribers can come to this and Shakespeare if they like! I will also write about each novel and provide some critical notes on each one in a dedicated Jane Austen section.

The schedule will look similar to the Shakespeare one. Sunday meetings every other month. But a lot of people are interested in this book club. So I need to know if the timings will work.

Usually sessions are on Sundays, 7pm UK time.

**Please vote here to tell me if that will work for you.** (NB I do not promise to change the time!)

If you want another time, vote here.

If you want another day, vote here, or leave details in the comments.

Otherwise, have a happy Christmas reading England’s great novelist!