Each month we add two new books, with accompanying resources, to Book Talk. Choose which title your group would like to read and then request up to 20 copies of the book from us via the email link below (or email Mima on admin@prg.org.uk).
The books will be sent to you by post and you can hand out the books along with the resources sheet, which you can download below.
April 2024 One Day by David Nicholls
In this book, we return to the lives of Emma and Dexter on the same day every year for twenty years.
One Day was made into a film in 2011 staring Anne Hathaway and recently adapted into a Netflix series in 2024 staring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodhall.
Thank you to our volunteer Sophie for choosing this title and creating the resource.
April 2024 Sovietistan by Erika Fatland
Erika’s enlightening accounts of the five former ‘Stan’ Soviet republics encapsulate themes of mystery, wonder, and historical fact. Fatland’s openness towards the people she talks to and the places she sees is inspiring, as is the political geography mixed with everyday life that she observes.
What is truly uncovered is a new perspective of life in ‘Sovietistan’, which simultaneously entangles political history, culture and geology with the spirit of adventure.
Thank you to our volunteer Heidi for choosing this title and creating the resource.
Here are our previous Book Talk choices this year…
You are welcome to choose from any of these too.
March 2024 Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups. A random act of kindness catapults unassuming Richard from his ordinary life in London, into the chaotic, magical and dangerous world of London Below.
Richard has to learn to keep his wits about him, who his friends are, and finds himself in the middle of an adventure that will change him forever.
Acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisation with all-star cast including James McAvoy, Sophie Okonedo and Benedict Cumberbatch.
March 2024 Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
England, 1972. The operation code ‘Sweet Tooth’ names the MI5 project McEwan constructs that funds writers to write more novels with politics aligning with the government. As the Cold War brims with tension, Serena Frome – characterised by her love for novels – is recruited to intercept up-and-coming young writer Tom Haley and his literary circle.
McEwan’s work boils with wit, mystery, and entertaining dual identities creating a cunning narrative of subterfuge.
Thank you to Heidi for choosing this title and creating the resource.
February 2024 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This book takes us to a small back alley in Tokyo where there is a cafe which has been serving coffee for more than 100 years. But this is not your ordinary coffee shop. This cafe allows customers to travel back in time. The journey to the past is not without risk, as with all wishes there are conditions: a particular chair, a particular time, and a mandate to return to the present before the coffee gets cold.
Toshikazu Kawaguchi tackles the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
Thank you to Holly for choosing this title and creating the resource.
February 2024 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Co-written by two award winning writers, this novel follows two time-travelling agents through worlds and universes. They are rivals pitted against each other, Red from Agency and Blue from Garden. They are locked in a time war where there is only one way to end things. Watch their relationship transform in a series of secret letters and hidden meanings. It is a game of cat and mouse and a story of love, words, and art.
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2020.
Thank you to Ali for choosing this title and creating the resource.
January 2024 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
he Dark Is Rising Sequence is a series of five contemporary fantasy novels. The first book in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, was originally conceived as a stand-alone novel. The second book The Dark is Rising is more well-known and the series is often called that.
Will Stanton is the main character of the second novel, he is the seventh son of a seventh son and his 11th birthday marks the beginning of his magical awakening and rise to power as the last of the Old Ones. The story tells how he comes to power and collects ‘signs’ to help him fight the The Dark.
Thank you to Ali for choosing this title and creating the resource.
January 2024 Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Late on a hot summer night in 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan.
Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress. Jasper takes him to his secret glade in the bush, and it’s here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper’s horrible discovery.
Thank you to our volunteer Anam for choosing this title and creating the resource.
Book Talk 2023, titles include –
West, Private Peaceful, The Whistleblower, The Woman in Black, Mayflies
Book Talk 2022, titles include –
Small Things Like These, Klara and the Sun, The Power of the Dog, Almond, The Offing
Book Talk 2021, titles include –
Things Fall Apart, House of Correction, On the Come Up, Elevation, Such a Fun Age
Book Talk 2020, titles include –
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Small Island, The Nickel Boys, A Christmas Carol