The Book Circle

10/08/2025

Ready to wander off the beaten path?
This August, The Book Circle is taking “choose your own adventure” to heart with our new theme:
📚 The Road Less Travelled

Bring along your favourite book that explores journeys, unexpected turns, and the kind of choices that change everything.

🗓 When: 11 August 2025
🕖 Time: 7PM
📍 Where: Marez

Whether your pick is a dusty old classic or a modern twist on the travel tale, we can’t wait to see where your road leads.

14/07/2025

📣 IMPORTANT VENUE UPDATE

Our friends at Marez have sprung a leak (literally), so we’re moving tonight’s Book Circle gathering a few doors down to a place with equally good vibes and significantly fewer puddles:

📍New venue: The FARA Bookshop
🕖 Same time: 7:00 PM

We’ll bring wine and soft drinks to keep the field trip festive — but feel free to bring your own drinks or snacks to share. We’d love that!

It’s going to be a good one, even if it’s not under Marez’s roof this time. See you soon, book lovers. 💛📚

13/07/2025

FIELD TRIP (but make it climate-conscious 😅)
We were all set to wander off into Bushy Park this week… but the heat had other plans.
Some of our cherished book club crew aren’t up for a scorcher (and honestly? Fair enough).

✨So! We’re staying put.✨
📍7pm at Marez, as usual.
Same books, same beautiful faces, fewer sunburns.

Bring your picnic snacks if you like — or just bring your lovely self.
We’ll bring the story-starters and the slightly-too-loud laughter.

09/06/2025

29/04/2025

In our April meeting we discussed A STORY OF MY LIFE. Books discussed pictured below.

Next meeting: 12 May, 7 pm Marez Brasserie Teddington. Theme: I WISH I WROTE THAT

17/03/2025

We had a fabulous time touring the EMERALD ISLE in this month's book discussion. Books discussed pictured below!

The next meeting is on 14 April, 7 pm at Marez Brasserie on Broad St. Teddington. Theme: A STORY OF MY LIFE

14/02/2025

We had a brilliant meeting this week discussing MARMITE BOOKS To see a complete list of books mentioned, have a look at our Litalist http://www.litalist.com/share/The+Book+Circle+Teddington/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=BKHEV4

Next theme: EMERALD ISLE 10 March, 7 pm at Marez Brasserie on Broad St. Teddington
Everyone is welcome!

The Book Circle Teddington's bookshelf February 2025 Meeting Theme: Marmite Books

25/10/2024

Fate or Free Will

Happy Friday, Teddington! Circle ‘round. This month, we dove deep into the intriguing dance of fate vs. free will in fiction! 📚✨

We explored how characters navigate their destinies—are they mere puppets of fate, or do they carve their own paths? From twisty plots to jaw-dropping revelations, each book helped us ponder the age-old question: how much control do we really have over our lives? 🤔💭

- [ ] Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
- [ ] Prince of Thorns, Mark Lawrence
- [ ] Christ on a Bike, Orla Owen
- [ ] Love and War in the Apennines, Eric Newby
- [ ] The Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen
- [ ] The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor
- [ ] Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench
- [ ] In Ascension, Martin McInnes
- [ ] Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor
- [ ] Animal Farm, George Orwell
- [ ] Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
- [ ] Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman
- [ ] Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, Matt Dinniman

Now that we’ve discussed free will at length, we are delighted to extend that freedom for next month’s theme. In honour of our 1-year anniversary, November’s theme will be CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. You pick the book you want to discuss, no holds barred!

Also in honour of the anniversary, we’d love for you to join us at 7PM to celebrate with nibbles and surprises! This is an especially great time to introduce a friend to the Book Circle. The more the merrier!

Next Meeting:
Monday 11 November
7PM at
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Boundless thanks to our charming hosts at Marez. We 💛💜 you guys!

We will see you next month. Can’t wait to see where our next literary adventure takes us! Until then, keep reading and questioning! ⭕️

🏷️

11/09/2024

[repost because the original scheduled post was seemingly lost to the aether]

Happy Wednesday, Teddington! Gather ‘round, because we had another brilliant evening of discussion at Monday’s Book Circle.

For August, we discussed 💃movement💃. The interpretations of the theme did not disappoint. Migration—both forced and voluntary—served as a key component to the evening’s discourse. We also enjoyed discussions of political movements, transportation, and even travels across time, space, and the Appalachian Trail!

Though varied, the theme felt unified under a poignant umbrella: the book selections moved us on a level beyond general interest.

August’s meeting marked the first time two Book Circlers chose the same title for discussion. Steinbeck might end up being our most discussed author!

- [ ] The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- [ ] The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri
- [ ] Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
- [ ] On Savage Shores, Caroline Dodds Pennock
- [ ] Skyfaring, Mark Vanhoenacker
- [ ] Imagine a City, Mark Vanhoenacker
- [ ] Doctor Who and the Daleks, David Whitaker
- [ ] The Rhythm of War, The Stormlight Archive Series, Brandon Sanderson
- [ ] Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants, Paul David Gould
- [ ] Prophet Song, Paul Lynch
- [ ] This is Happiness, Niall Williams
- [ ] The Marches, Rory Stewart
- [ ] Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, Ben Montgomery
- [ ] This Boy, Alan Johnson
- [ ] Please Mister Postman, Alan Johnson
- [ ] The Long and Winding Road, Alan Johnson
- [ ] Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century, Simon Kuper
- [ ] Down and Out in Paris, George Orwell
- [ ] Black, White & Gold, Kelly Holmes

September’s meeting will take place on Monday the 9th at our beautiful home away from home, . The theme? THE CLASSIC. We look forward to really digging in and dissecting the concept of a classic novel. What makes ‘a classic’ a classic, anyway?

See you then! 💜💛

15/07/2024

👀🕵️‍♀️ The Perfect Crime 🕵️‍♀️👀

Happy Monday, Teddington! Time to circle ‘round!

Last week’s Book Circle brought a lively, interactive discussion on the ins and outs of what constitutes the perfect crime, including the geo-political and philosophical undercurrents of the concept.

Does the perfect crime exist? Are any of us capable of such a caper?

We’ll never tell. 🤫

Birthday Boy Graham suggested the theme, so thanks to him for helping engineer such an interesting evening! Love and thanks to for their continued warmth and hospitality!

Books Discussed:

- [ ] No Plan B, Lee Child
- [ ] I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
- [ ] You Like It Darker, Stephen King
- [ ] The Bill Hodges Trilogy, Stephen King
- [ ] The Dancing Face, Mike Phillips
- [ ] Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins
- [ ] Babel, RF Kuang
- [ ] Louise Penny, The Three Pines Series
- [ ] Thieves, Lucie Bryon
- [ ] My Sister the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite
- [ ] The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
- [ ] The Amityville Horror (The Warrens), Jay Anson
- [ ] A Perfect Spy, John Le Carre

👀🕵️‍♀️👀🕵️‍♀️👀🕵️‍♀️👀🕵️‍♀️👀

Next month’s theme:
✨💃 MOVEMENT 💃✨

12 August 2024
19:30 at

Can’t wait to see you there!

🏷️

12/06/2024

This month’s meeting brought MUSIC TO MY EARS and the conversation did not disappoint.

The books discussed included:
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
No One Gets Out of Here Alive by Jerry Hopkins
Booze & Vinyl by Andre and Tenaya Darlington
Cicada by Shaun Tan
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
The Aziola’s Cry by Ezra Harker Shaw
Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

We also had a German film mentioned, The Lives of Others. And hearty recommendations for The Music Museum in Kew and the musical Passing Strange which currently playing at the Young Vic. And then there was a wee bit of excitement about prized Taylor Swift tickets.

The next theme is THE PERFECT CRIME. And we will be meeting on 8 July, 7.30 at Marez Brasserie on Broad Street, Teddington.

Do you have an idea for a theme that will spark conversation? We are taking suggestions at the meetings or in the comments below. Looking forward to hearing your themes!