Dear walking book clubbers,
Welcome to 2023!
So many of my favourite moments of 2022 were thanks to you lovely people, whether it was striding across the Heath, giving out presents from a massive Santa sack in the frost, hiding books in the wild as Book Fairies, persevering with energising Zoom conversations on my ailing laptop, typing manically away on our discussion threads, or receiving your chatty emails - thank you for making our book club such a wonderful thing.
A special thank you to paying subscribers
Many of you generously support this newsletter by paying £20/year. I’ve been trying to think of a bonus to offer you and wonder if you’d like a chance to ask me for a book recommendation just for you. A micro-version of the literary consultation that I offer our £50/year wildly supportive members.
So, if you are a paying subscriber, whenever it’s a good moment, please drop me an email (you can just hit reply), with “Book recommendation” in the subject line. It’s helpful if you could mention in your email a few books you’ve recently read and enjoyed, or indeed not enjoyed. Feel free to ask advice on behalf of someone else, eg. an imaginative book for a six-year-old granddaughter, or an exciting book for a teenage son, or the perfect present for the aunt who has read everything … I will get back to you, and please don’t worry if there’s a little delay - it’s only because I’ll be researching.
Not a paying subscriber, but would like to be? You can upgrade here:
And a note here to say that your feedback is always welcome. If there’s anything more that you’d like from Emily’s Walking Book Club, or anything that you don’t like, please let me know.
Our January Discussions
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
How are you getting on with our coming-of-age classic, Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido? I really hope you’re enjoying your time with Katherine as she negotiates life with the Goldmans and beyond… How are you finding all the sex? The clothes? The love and heartbreak? The depiction of London in the 80s? I can’t wait to discuss it with you on the Heath, on Zoom and on our Live Discussion Thread. Here are details about our three chances to discuss it:
Sunday 22nd January, 11.30-1pm £5-£15
Join us for a walk on Hampstead Heath, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB. Please make sure you’ve read the book!
Monday 23rd January, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
Join us on Zoom - feel free to show up, even if you’ve not read the book. This conversation is open to anyone who’s interested.
Friday 27th January, 1.30-2pm (note the new earlier time)
Live Discussion Thread about the book, and also a chance to share what else we’ve all been reading, watching and listening to over the month We’re going to try these half an hour earlier in the hope of better coinciding with your lunch breaks. Look out for the link that will arrive in your inbox just before.
Buy Brother of the More Famous Jack from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
More about Barbara Trapido
THIS 10-minute book club for Australian TV ABC, with guests Elizabeth Gilbert and John Lanchester, is a great introduction to the book. I love the way Lanchester describes it as a leftie Brideshead Revisited in the way it’s so much about falling in love with a whole family.
I really enjoyed listening to THIS EPISODE of podcast Sentimental Garbage in which Caroline O’Donoghue and Ella Risbridger discuss the book with great enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, especially about the protagonist, Katherine. I like the way they talk about how Katherine, and teenage girls in general, are able to slip between childhood and adult worlds.
HERE is a fun glimpse into Barbara Trapido’s writing life in Writers’ Rooms on the Guardian. I like the idea of her writing in the very early hours before real life returns with breakfast!
And I loved listening to THIS EPISODE of Daisy Buchanan’s podcast You’re Booked, in which she asks Barbara Trapido about the books she enjoys reading. It’s really funny to hear how often Trapido totally ignores Buchanan and keeps on sharing a wonderful anecdote. There are many great writers on her shelves, including previous walking book club picks by Jane Gardam and Iris Murdoch. In a similar vein is her Guardian Books of My Life, HERE. I’m shocked by her hatred of Daniel Deronda, one of my faves!
What’s next?
Next Monday, our January instalment of Our Walkers’ Walks will land in your inbox. On Sunday 22nd we have our Hampstead Heath walking book club, followed by our Zoom on Monday 23rd. Then look out for our live discussion thread on the 27th and my webcast on the 30th.
A reminder that you can book tickets to all our Spring walks here:
And find details about all our Spring books HERE:
February
Charlotte by David Foenkinos translated by Sam Taylor
*** Tickets for our February events are now on sale ***
German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon's short life was marked by Nazi persecution, a family riddled with suicides, and also by her extraordinary talent...
In this prize-winning novel, translated from the French by Sam Taylor, David Foenkinos tells Charlotte's gripping and tragic story, beautifully imagining her interior world while chronicling his own investigative journey. This highly unusual, deeply powerful book is both surprisingly life-affirming and heart-wrenchingly sad.
On the Heath: Sunday 26th February, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 27th February, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
Live Discussion Thread: Friday 3rd March, 1.30-2pm (I do realise this is technically not in February, but it is too short a month!)
Buy Charlotte from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
And finally…
I know many of you are short story nuts, so I’d love to point you towards a great book and fascinating event, taking place on Thursday 2nd February, 7.30-8.30pm.
Tessa Hadley, Wendy Erskine, Ben Okri and Philip Hensher are coming together at The London Library to discuss the process behind writing their short stories, collected together in the book Reverse Engineering II. The book itself intriguingly holds seven short stories followed by each author’s disassembling of it. I will be in the audience at the event, and would love to see some of you there too: you can book HERE. The very kind, innovative small publisher Scratch books is also happy to give Emily’s Walking Book Club members 20% off each of the Reverse Engineering books, if you use the code Walk20 at checkout HERE.
Happy reading, and Happy New Year!
Emily