Hi there! I am starting up a new book club in my town specifically to read philosophy, high literature and historical novels. Basically looking for folk to have more serious literary discussion with. However, I want to be ‘inclusive’ (for want of a better word) to people who work full time and may not be able to read a heavy tome.
So, what are some substantial books which don’t break the Time bank. For example, ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli and Euripides plays are manageable sizes but are still considered classics.
What else could fit this kind of description? I want to set the tone right from the beginning.
As a bonus, if anyone has any advice for starting a book group, do let me know!
by Milly-May
10 Comments
{{The Stranger by Albert Camus}} and {{The Fall by Albert Camus}} are both relatively short works with lots of room for discussion. You‘ll find a lot of his philosophical themes/theories in these two
If you’re interested in contemporary philosophy, I highly recommend Jostein Gaarder’s books, especially:
– Sophie’s World
– The Solitaire Mystery
– Maya
These classics / modern classics are all short stories or novellas (around 150 pages or less, depending on which edition you buy) –
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Passing by Nella Larsen
I moderate a monthly women’s book club. We have themed months (January Historical Fiction, February Black Author, etc.) Club members can make suggestions on Google Sheets – we ask them to include book title, author, # of pages, the suggestor’s name and a couple of sentences about the book and why they’re recommending it. We vote for titles 3 months in advance to give members time to reserve the book from the library or to find a used copy. (We also encourage the books be published at least 2 years before for the same reason.)
We start each meeting by having everyone:
1. Introduce themselves
2. Tell how they consumed the book (hard copy from the library, Kindle, paperback, audio, etc.
3. Say whether or not they would recommend the book to a friend
4. Describe their take on the book in one word or a short phrase**
5. Share something about themselves with the group (I’m from a large family, I just took a trip to India, etc.)
The key was #4 – prior to doing this everyone was launching into long descriptions of their thoughts on the book and by the time the last couple of people got to speak everything had been said. There was no real discussion, just monologues.
Hope this helps! Have fun and good luck!
In terms of historical fiction, I found Cecily by Annie Garthwaite to be incredibly engaging, like almost thriller level engaging, but it’s this amazing factual novel about the English War of the Roses. I’ve honestly never learnt so much from a book!
Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait are both spectacular works of literary historical fiction as well, her writing is just unbelievably beautiful. Hamnet was winner of the Women’s Prize.
I’ve read Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the Iliad & the Odyssey and Lady Chatterley’s Lover all in book clubs and all work well for the format, not too long and loads to talk about.
https://lithub.com/50-great-classic-novels-under-200-pages/
_I, Claudius_ by Robert Graves is a moderate-sized novel, about 450 pages. The sequel, _Claudius the God_ is a bit longer. Early Roman Empire, where a lame, stammering child, considered a disgrace by his noble family, survives the purging of most of his relatives to become Emperor.
For a much shorter read, _The Daughter of Time_ by Josephine Tey. Tey is a mystery novelist who for this book has her detective laid up in hospital after a case, and to keep his mind going he starts looking into the age-old mystery of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
If you’re interested in books that generate philosophical discussions, Kazuo Ishiguro writes these kinds of novels, particularly The Remains of the Day.
Also you might consider doing a longer book over the months of December & January. We still have a meeting in December but it’s a Christmas party, while the book we are reading (Middlemarch this year, which is VERY long) won’t be discussed until January.
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks is short (272 pages) and generated good discussion in our book group.
The Rose Code