Book Group 4
Group Leader: Pauline Hales
Tel: 01565 650214
Email: info@knutsfordu3a.co.uk
Our meetings are held on the morning of the second Tuesday of the month. Currently we have no vacancies.
Over a cup of coffee we have a chat before we exchange any background notes on that month’s chosen book and its author. Then we talk about the book itself.
Each year we find books which are new to at least some of us, often something we might not have chosen for ourselves. Our books also represent many genres so the reception is often mixed. This contributes to a lively, engaging and entertaining morning.
Booklist for 2026
| Title | Author | Date | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killing Time | Alan Bennett | 13/1 | 112 |
| Buddha Da | Anne Donovan | 10/2 | 336 |
| The Razor’s Edge | Somerset Maugham | 10/3 | 352 |
| Quartet in Autumn | Barbara Pym | 14/4 | 192 |
| Open Water | Caleb Azumah Nelson | 12/5 | 160 |
| Lily | Rose Tremain | 9/6 | 288 |
| Conversations with Friends | Sally Rooney | 14/7 | 321 |
| Held | Anne Michaels | 11/8 | 240 |
| You Are Here | David Nicholls | 8/9 | 368 |
| The Grand Babylon Hotel | Arnold Bennett | 13/10 | 272 |
| Long Island | Colm Toibin | 10/11 | 368 |
| Dubliners ( The Dead plus one other ) | James Joyce | 8/12 |
Books read
For ease of review at a later stage we like to give the book a score out of 10 and these are recorded – see below.
Books read in 2025
| Title | Author | Score % | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trespasses | Louise Kennedy | 81 | 1 |
| Lessons | Ian McEwan | 83 | 2 |
| The Girl with the Louding Voice | Abi Dare | 82 | 3 |
| Exit | Belinda Bauer | 81 | 4 |
| Diary of a Nobody | George and Weedon Grossmith | 80 | 5 |
| Oh, William | Elizabeth Strout | 79 | 6 |
| Hotel du Lac | Anita Brookner | 78 | 7 |
| Tell Me Everything | Elizabeth Strout | 74 | 8 |
| Big Sky | Kate Atkinson | 73 | 9 |
| The Wife | Meg Wolitzer | 60 | 10 |
| Driving Over Lemons | Chris Stewart | 50 | 11 |
| The Exhibitionist | Charlotte Mendelson | 50 | 11 |
Books read in 2024
| Title | Author | % | Placing |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Go-Between | L.P.Hartley | 86 | 1 |
| The Women in Black | Madeleine St John | 83 | 2 |
| The Offing | Benjamin Myers | 82 | 3 |
| Lucy by the Sea | Elizabeth Strout | 81 | 4 |
| The Spinning Heart | Donal Ryan | 77 | 5 |
| The Enchanted April | Elizabeth von Armin | 77 | 5 |
| Demon Copperhead | Barbara Kingsolver | 76 | 7 |
| 1984 | George Orwell | 75 | 8 |
| Ghost Wall | Sarah Moss | 73 | 9 |
| The Blue Afternoon | William Boyd | 66 | 10 |
| Slow Horses | Mick Herron | 60 | 11 |
| Still Life | Sarah Winman | 60 | 11 |
Books read in 2023
| Title | Author | % | Placing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Filth | Jane Gardam | 88 | 1 |
| Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan | 87 | 2 |
| Mr Wilder and Me | Jonathon Coe | 82 | 3 |
| Lessons in Chemistry | Bonnie Garmus | 79 | 4 |
| Harlem Shuffle | Colson Whitehead | 78 | 5 |
| Snow | John Banville | 76 | 6 |
| The Lamplighters | Emma Stonex | 74 | 7 |
| The Summer Book | Tove Jansson | 68 | 8 |
| The Dutch House | Ann Patchett | 67 | 9 |
| The Night Circus | Erin Morgenstern | 60 | 10 |
| Mr Phillips | John Lanchester | 53 | 11 |
| Snow Country | Sebastian Faulks | 53 | 11 |
Books read in 2022
| Book | Author | Score % |
|---|---|---|
| Small Pleasures | Clare Chambers | 87 |
| The Promise | Damon Galgut | 84 |
| Olive Kitteridge / Olive Again | Elizabeth Strout | 84 |
| A Spool of Blue Thread | Anne Tyler | 84 |
| The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | 80 |
| The Small Hand | Susan Hill | 78 |
| The Country Girls | Edna O’Brien | 77 |
| Washington Square | Henry James | 76 |
| The Dig | John Preston | 74 |
| A Long Petal of the Sea | Isabel Allende | 73 |
| Grown Ups | Marian Keyes | 57 |
| The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | 52 |
Books read in 2021
| Book | Author | % Score | Meeting Date | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travels with my Aunt | Graham Greene | 88 | 12 Jan | 2 |
| The End of the Affair | Graham Greene | - | 12 Jan | |
| The Rehearsal | Eleanor Catton | - | 09 Feb | |
| The Great Fortune | Olivia Manning | 77 | 09 Mar | 7 |
| The Balkan Trilogy Vol 2 and 3 | Olivia Manning | - | 13 Apr | |
| Falling | Elizabeth Jane Howard | 76 | 11 May | 8 |
| The Carer | Deborah Moggach | 78 | 08 Jun | 6 |
| A Man Called Ove | Fredrik Backman | 90 | 13 Jul | 1 |
| The Architects Apprentice | Elif Shafak | 50 | 10 Aug | 9= |
| The Silence of the Girls | Pat Barker | 50 | 14 Sep | 9= |
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 81 | 12 Oct | 4 |
| The Citadel | A.J.Cronin | 80 | 9 Nov | 5 |
| Midwinter Break | Bernard Maclaverty | 84 | 14 Dec | 3 |