Hayley

Oooooh yes! You’ll love it, I think. I literally couldn’t put it down for the last few chapters. It has the most tension of the series so far! Ok, Victorian it is! I can actually cross-over with my previous challenge book, as Treasure Island was published in the 1880s 😄 but I’ll search my shelves for my next challenge read!

This probably won't be my final update because I'm still finishing Treasure Island, but I also read The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera this month. It wasn't something I actually sought out to read for the challenge (I ended up reading it because it's a course book for one of my students) but it fit in perfectly and it was actually a really lovely book!

I don't know how I missed this but wow, that's lovely and seriously impressive! The hands will look cool next to each other.

It would be fun to do a history one and see which era everyone chooses! As it has two seconds though, are we all happy to proceed with the Victorian theme for this one? I really want to know what it is! Please get any objections in by tomorrow because it will be October 1st .

My suggestion: I really struggled to think of a potential theme for this one, but based on the success of our 'Victober' reading group last year, I would like to propose The Victorian as our final theme of the year. As with Victober, the books could be from the Victorian era or modern books with Victorian connections. There are plenty of spooky options for Halloween and Christmas books for December!

Well October is imminent, which means it's time for our final group read of the year! (Apologies that our suggestions for this one are coming a little late!) As a reminder, or for those who haven't participated before: ‘Throughout 2023, the BCF Book Club will be in session! We will vote on categories four times per year (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December) and participants will choose a book from that category. This means that we might not all be reading the same book, but we will all be reading from the same category.' So please throw your suggestions for our October-December group theme into the thread below!

I hope it does!

Could it be The Chronicles of St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor? The first book is called ‘Just One Damned Thing After Another’.

I don’t remember Piranesi being in there! I want to re-read it now 😄

That’s exciting! Good luck with the studying . Glad to see that you’re still enjoying Sherlock Holmes too! I did want to read this but I think watching the movie ruined it for me. I’m not sure I’d be able to get into it already knowing what happens at the end!

That does sound intriguing! I approve 😂

Yes! The Appointment does sound good though.

The Starless Sea might actually last to the end of September if I continue at the same pace for the rest of the month, but otherwise my final group book will be Treasure Island! Does anybody else remember the Disney movie Treasure Planet?

☹️ hopefully it’s mild and you’ll be over it in no time - the newer variant is supposed to be much, much less serious. Plenty of vitamin C, water and rest!

Who could be unhappy with steak, potatoes and cake? 😄 Are you making the cakes yourself or buying them ready made? I enjoy Christmas preparation but I’ve never had the stress of having to host - I’m sure I’d feel differently if everyone was coming to my house!

I don’t but I’ve used Goodreads to keep track of books that I own in a long series. I think I started doing it with the Dresden Files - I’d bought a couple of books from much later in the series (because they were really cheap in a second hand bookshop and I assumed, at about book 2, that I’d want to read them eventually), but I realised there was a good chance I would forget which ones I’d bought. I marked the ones I owned as ‘want to read’ (taking any I didn’t have off that list, since it wasn’t like I’d forget about them) so that way I could easily tell which I had on my shelf already . I realise that you can make categories on Goodreads, but my way was quicker!

Immediately adding this to my wish list based on your review!

I’ve never craved hot buttered toast as much as when I read the breakfast feast part!

I feel like I’d enjoy some cosy crime this autumn. I’ll have to scroll back through your thread 😄. Lovely food descriptions will inevitably make me want reading snacks though.

The Starless Sea won for having the opening lines: ‘There is a pirate in the basement. (The pirate is a metaphor but also still a person).’ 😄

That’s an interesting one! I don’t think there’s any book I’ve avoided reading again because I loved it, as the article suggests. I don’t re-read books that I enjoyed because they had some sort of mystery or shock twist - because I image it would majorly ruin the fun knowing the ending in advance, but other than that I think I would re-read anything! I loved 1984 and I only recently realised that nearly everyone on this forum hates it 🥲😂

I’ve just realised that I meant to post my last update (that I finished The Leviathan) here in completed reads, not in the starter thread! Well, I did finish Leviathan and I’ve just finished From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea! Particularly enjoyed the last short story (and found the editors note that it could have inspired the TV series ‘Lost’ interesting!). Im fully sticking with the theme for these three months, so it’s time to choose my next sea-themed book. I have three more on my shelf that would fit - The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrove (based on a terrible incident at sea which kills all the men of a village - and also about witch trials again!), or The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (a fantasy where I have feeling the sea might be more metaphorical than literal…), or The Coral Island by R.M Ballantyne (a children’s classic about a being shipwrecked). I really have no idea which one to choose. I might just read the opening lines of all of them and see which one sticks 😄.

Definitely looking all of these up (I loved The Dark Crystal but found it a little unsettling at the same time, as a child!). As a fan of faerie, I think you’ll love Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell! The blurb doesn’t really do it justice, it is actually very much about a world of faerie realms and real magic. The only other book I know of by her is The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which is a set of short stories based in the same world as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I think the short stories will be more enjoyable if you’ve read the novel first though

The folio society are asking people to fill in a survey about them. You can win £500 (or $1000) worth of books for it https://www.foliosociety.com/survey

Me too! I’d love a bigger collection of magical bestiary type books - I’m adding this one to my wish list 😄. I’m glad you liked Piranesi too. Susanna Clarke is one of those authors I would buy any book from - I think she’s incredible.