At some point, we'll have to decide how to choose the book for our group reads, but this time around, we'll just do a poll to choose from three possibilities. I avoided new books to make it easier for people to get their hands on them in time. And I'll allow 6 weeks to get the book and read it. So we'll meet mid-July. The descriptions are from the back of the books and the links are for more info. Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald Innocence is set in the 1950s, when Italy was picking up the pieces after the war. Chiara Ridolfi is the guileless daughter of a decrepit Italian family. Barney is her practical English girlfriend, who can sum up a man, she says, in one firm hand-grip. Salvatore is a penniless doctor from the south, who thinks he is proof against politics, social conscience and tenderness. Chiara’s cousin, Cesare, says very little, which gives him time to think… https://britishauthors.co.uk/books/innocence-34380/ The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore’s powerful novel, set on a Bengali noble’s estate in 1908, is both a love story and a novel of political awakening. The central character, Bimala, is torn between the duties owned to her husband, Nikhil, and the demands made on her by the radical leader Sandip. Her attempts to resolve the irreconcilable pressures of the home and the world reflect the conflict in India itself, and the tragic outcome foreshadows the unrest that accompanied partition is 1947. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7166 (free download of the book!) On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton At home they are just sisters, but onstage, they are the Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak, and have become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of their San Francisco neighbourhood. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, the Salvations find themselves with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that could catapult them into the national spotlight. But sometime between the hours of meticulous rehearsal on their rooftop and the weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club, the sisters’ lives start to evolve — and soon they must face changes that threaten to splinter the community, the Salvations, and even the family.

Some good news for your Monday. "The decline [of physical bookstores] actually ended years ago, and the latest numbers from the American Booksellers Association show independent stores expanding at a pace not seen this century." https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2026/05/28/independent-bookstores-are-multiplying-find-booksellers-in-your-community

Although I enjoyed Yesteryear (Caro Claire Burke) and The Book of Goose (Yiyun Li), my favourite was The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn. Here's my review of The Whalebone Theatre. What was your favourite book you read in May?

I just finished reading a re-imagining of a very famous novel (sorry, but I can't identify it because I'm reviewing it for the Historical Novel Society and the review hasn't been published yet) and it got me thinking about what attracts readers to these types of novels. There's the obvious marketing hook: if you loved book X, you'll love book Y. But if we adore the classic novel enough to think it's perfect as it is, what makes us willing to take a chance on a re-telling, knowing how unlikely it is that it will be as satisfying as the classic version? I suppose Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a good example (and unrelated to the book I just read). Why do you think the thousands (millions?) of spin-offs of this story in both book and film/TV forms are so successful? Do people love P&P so much that they'll watch/read anything even tangentially related to it? I'd love to know what keeps you coming back to retellings of your favourite classic novel (or what keeps you away)!

I love historical novels with 🌶️🌶️🌶️, however did not care for Outlander (too much r@pe, too convenient). Would also like suggestions for post-apocalyptic with 🌶️🌶️🌶️. Bonus points if you suggest an indie/self-pub. I’d like to support the brave pathfinders!