Reading group
Every month, Sam Jordison will host an online reading group, featuring a book chosen by you. He will give you the background on the author and the world in which the book was written, ask experts in to tackle any points you raise, and invite the author on to the site for a for a live web chat - while you get on with the serious business of talking
The end of A Brief History of Seven Killings – and our reading group
After 700 gruelling pages, Marlon James finishes on a note of uncertain hope that leaves the reader wondering
A Brief History of Seven Killings: unwieldy, occasionally tedious – and magnificent
A book about Bob Marley, told by everyone but Bob Marley – in the vein of Gay Talese or James Ellroy, Marlon James’s Booker winner brings in a dozen competing voices
A Brief History of Seven Killings is shocking but not gratuitous
The Kingston, Jamaica, that Marlon James depicts in the mid-1970s may be fiction, but it is drawn from hard and bloody fact
Reading group: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James is our October book
Its huge cast and range of styles has not stopped this study of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley winning global acclaim. I think we’ll enjoy it, too
Nominate your favourite book for the final Reading group
After nine years of fascinating discussion, the Guardian’s Reading group is coming to an end. Tell us your best-loved book and it’ll be in contention to be our book for October
The Age of Innocence is a gang story as brutal as Goodfellas
Some were surprised when Martin Scorsese filmed Edith Wharton’s novel, but its milieu is governed by codes of tribal loyalty as lethal as in any mob
The Age of Innocence's high drama unfolds in its characters' souls
Edith Wharton makes her characters’ inner lives the scenes of turbulent psychic action that is barely visible to the world
The Age of Innocence is a masterclass in sexual tension
In Edith Wharton’s wonderful novel about New York high society, a simple tap of a fan or glance across a crowded room can feel intensely charged
Reading group: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is our book for September
Some early readers found it old-fashioned, but a century after publication it’s a good moment to check how the novel has earned its classic reputation
A clumsy, cringey crescendo: why A Taste for Death is hard to swallow
PD James’s contempt for the political left and for almost all her characters leads to melodramatic moments in this zippy thriller
'I prefer a more domestic murder': the thrilling nastiness of PD James
A Taste for Death opens with the foul discovery of a murdered former Tory minister and a homeless man in a church vestry – and never lets up
Reading group: A Taste for Death by PD James is our book for August
James’s acclaimed novel sees detective Adam Dalgliesh embroiled in a secretive and unhappy aristocratic family – please join us as we read
Reading group: which PD James novel should we read this month?
James’s novels spanned cosy crime and tough police procedurals as well as an eerie dystopia and an Austen pastiche. To mark her centenary, help choose one
How White Teeth brushes off the charge of ‘hysterical realism’
Zadie Smith’s debut was lined up alongside Pynchon and DeLillo as a morbid symptom of a trend towards fiction trying to cram too much in
How White Teeth transcends its many flaws
Zadie Smith is the first to cringe at her story’s excesses, and the faults are glaring – but her novel’s vigour and invention leave readers rightly undeterred
White Teeth seemed fresh and hopeful in 2000 – how does it read now?
Zadie Smith’s debut heartened many readers when it first appeared with its breezily multicultural story. It seems a more complicated tale in 2020
Reading group: we're reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith in July
After astounding and confusing critics in 2000, Smith’s landmark debut is turning 20 as an established classic. Which should make it a cracking tale to read together
Reading group: which black British author should we read in July?
From the 18th century to the current crop of chart-topping bestsellers, there is a wealth of black British authors to choose from in this month’s reading group
Charles Dickens webchat with Kathryn Hughes: your questions answered
The author of acclaimed books about eminent Victorians joined us to discuss Dickens and Our Mutual Friend, our June book on the reading group
Charles Dickens wrote no fairytale endings – or did he?
The great writer’s final complete novel, Our Mutual Friend, could be described as a typical Dickens fairytale – if only there were such a thing
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