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Cambridge University Library

 
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The Really Popular Book Club is Cambridge University Libraries' book group. Everyone is welcome to come and discuss a really popular book with the group, library staff, and an expert on the novel. Hosted on Zoom, the book club is completely free and open to everyone, people attend from all over the world. 

The Really Popular Book Club celebrates the huge range of books at Cambridge University Library. We have more than 8 million books and as a legal deposit library we keep a copy of every book published in the UK, and have done since 1710.

To register for an upcoming meeting just click on a link below. Please come to as many book clubs as you like.

Coming up!

Tuesday 19th March: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Tuesday 23rd April: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - Please note, this will be held in-person as part of a special World Book Night event

Tuesday 28th May: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier 

Tuesday 18th June: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Tuesday 30th July: Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

Information

Each book club is hosted by a library staff member, and we are joined by an expert on the book (never the author) to help guide the chat. Before each club we’ll put three ‘thinking points’ to consider while you’re reading the book, and we’ll use this to help aide the chat. During each meeting there will also be the opportunity to vote via polls. The book club is about you, and everyone is welcome and encouraged to contribute but it's fine to listen in, too. If you want to make a point, give us a wave and we’ll come to you. Alternatively type it into Zoom’s chat function. If it’s your first time at the club don’t worry we’ll run through all this at the start.

You don’t have to have read the book to come to book club, but beware there will be spoilers!

Technical info

The Really Popular Book Club takes place on Zoom Meetings and there is no need to download any software. Simply click on the link we email you, ignore the prompt to download Zoom and instead click "If you cannot download or run the application, join from your browser” and select the hyperlinked text, "join from your browser". If you’ve already got the Zoom app downloaded, the link will open in that. If you want to participate with subtitles, switch on the 'Live Transcript' button which can be found on Zoom's control panel at the bottom of the window. Please note we don’t record the book club. If you have any other questions, please contact events@lib.cam.ac.uk.

Past titles

The Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman (November 2020), The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (December 2020), Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith (February 2021), The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (April 2021), Wonder by R J Palacio (April 2021), Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (May 2021), Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (June 2021), Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (July 2021), The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (August 2021), The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (September 2021), A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (October 2021), Pompeii by Robert Harris (November 2021), The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P.D. James (December 2021), Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (January 2022), The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (February 2022), Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (April 2022), My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (May 2022), Atonement by Ian McEwan (July 2022), Possession by A.S. Byatt (August 2022), Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguru (October 2022), The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (November 2022), The Snowman, Father Christmas and Father Christmas Goes on Holiday by Raymond Briggs (December 2022), Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik (January 2023), The Hours by Michael Cunningham (February 2023), How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue (March 2023), The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (April 2023), The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (June 2023), The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend (July 2023), Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (September 2023), The Sellout by Paul Beatty (October 2023), First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer (November 2023), Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (December 2023), In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (January 2024), The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton (February 2024).

Information

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Contact us:

events@lib.cam.ac.uk