The Book & Armchair Society Book List 2024

I wonder how many are new to you?

Young Girl Reading - Jean Honoré Fragonard

Hello my fellow literary explorers,
I’ve had a lot of fun putting together the book basket for this year’s communal reading.

I’ve aimed for a mix of themes, moods, page numbers, seasonal reads and a good dose of humour.

I propose a 4-6 weeks reading window with a overlap of months. I hope this might work best but we will see. There are no hard and fast deadlines here only the love and joy of reading and sharing rich words together.

Eight of these titles are new to me but I think will all be a joyous discovery. The known ones are treasures to my heart already and I look forward to sharing them with you.

I will send a Zoom invitation once we feel we’re nearing the end of each title and are ready to discuss. You will need to be a paid subscriber in order to access the community Zoom discussion group. A plus to paid support is you’ll also have access to the monthly fine art download of my photographic work as well as the Beagle archives.

So, Kindles charged, book baskets fortified, thrifter hats on, notebooks to hand. Off we go!

JAN - FEB
The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery (236 pages)

From the author of Anne of Green Gables, comes a heart-warming tale of courage and romance.

FEB - MAR
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S.Lewis (208 Pages)

Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia – a world enslaved by the power of the White Witch. When almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.

MAR - APR
The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim (288 pages)

Four mismatched women respond to an advert in The Times offering a beautiful medieval castle to rent on the Italian Riviera. Can beauty, place and people soften hearts and breath new life into dying relationships?

APR-MAY
Fidelity: Five Stories - Wendell Berry (192 pages)

Each of these elegant stories spans the twentieth century and reveals the profound interconnectedness of the farmers and their families to one another, to their past and to the landscape they inhabit.

MAY - JUN
A Place to Hang The Moon - Kate Albus (320 pages)

A heartwarming story about three siblings, evacuated from London to live in the countryside, looking for a permanent home--and a new meaning for family.

JUN - JUL
Mr Skeffington - Elizabeth von Arnim (233 pages)

A charming mid-life crisis novel, written with ... wit and levity.

JUL - AUG
The Dearly Beloved - Cara Wall (384 pages)

A moving portrait of love and friendship set against a backdrop of social change

SEPT
Jane & Prudence - Barbara Pym - (312 Pages)
If Jane Cleveland and Prudence Bates seem an unlikely pair to be walking together at an Oxford reunion, neither of them is aware of it. They couldn't be more different: Jane is a rather incompetent vicar's wife, who always looks as if she is about to feed the chickens, while Prudence, a pristine hothouse flower, has the most unsuitable affairs. With the move to a rural parish, Jane is determined to find her friend the perfect man. She learns, though, that matchmaking has as many pitfalls as housewifery.

OCT -NOV (2 books)
The Cay - Theodore Taylor (176 Pages)
The Cay is a tense and compulsive survival story by Theodore Taylor of a young boy and an old man adrift on the ocean, then marooned on a tiny, deserted island.

Just David - Eleanor H. Porter (158 Pages)
“David; never forget that. And if sometime you are tempted to think it is not a beautiful world, just remember that you yourself can make it beautiful if you will.”

DEC
The Man Who Invented Christmas - Les Standiford (256 Pages)
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.