Book Group | I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day

If you’re celebrating Jolobokaflod* with a new book and want something festive and uncomplicated, this gorgeously festive novel by Milly Johnson is like a great big hug. Six people are snowed in at a pub in a tiny hamlet on the Yorkshire moors. Will there be twinkly lights, red wine and plenty of heartwarming romantic unions? Oh, we think there might be…
Questions to ponder Johnson’s books are sometimes seen as “far-fetched.” Do you agree and, if so, did this spoil or enhance it? Which pub would you like to get stuck in?
Further reading You might also like Always in December by Emily Stone or The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan.

*An Icelandic tradition whereby everyone receives a new book wrapped up with some chocolate on Christmas Eve. We think this should not be only a tradition, but the LAW.

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Book Group | Jonathan Livingston, Seagull

Share with your book group, read alone and join us virtually on The Simple Things sofa, or simply find a bit of inspiration.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story by Richard Bach is a short but fascinating book all about how, if you strive for higher learning, you can achieve great things. Frankly, from an author who wrote a bestselling book with a cast made up entirely of seagulls, we’re listening. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is cast out by his fellow birds for reaching for the stars and sets off on his journey towards self-enlightenment.

Questions to ponder
What sets Jonathan apart from the other gulls? What does flight symbolise in the book?

Further reading
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho both offer life lessons with a little allegory that is good for the soul.

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Book Group | The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Share with your book group, read alone and join us virtually on The Simple Things sofa, or simply find a bit of inspiration.

Not many books are narrated by Death himself, and that gives this novel set in 1939 Germany a unique perspective. We follow Liesel, a little girl being sent away to live with strangers whose brother dies on the journey. She steals a book and so begins a lifetime of finding comfort and strength in the pages of books.

Questions to ponder
How does this book compare to wartime stories from a British perspective? Are the concerns similar?

Further reading
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly also looks at the impact reading can have on us. It follows an orphaned child who lives in an attic room, surrounded by books that have begun to whisper to him…

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Book Group | To The River

To The River by Olivia Laing

Share with your book group, read alone and join us virtually on The Simple Things sofa, or simply find a bit of inspiration.

In To The River Olivia Laing follows the River Ouse, where Virgina Woolf drowned herself 63 years ago, from its source to the sea one summer’s day. As we follow her, we reflect not just on this one river and its literary connections, but also on the role that rivers play in fiction, mythology and more. A lyrically beautiful non-fiction read.

Questions to ponder
How does history weave its way into landscapes that you know? In what ways are rivers a metaphor for creativity?

Further reading
In A Sleepwalk on the Severn, a play for voices, poet Alice Oswald describes walks along the Severn

Find our book group every month on our Almanac pages where you can also read about seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do each month.

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