South Manchester Book Group

We're a friendly and open reading group, and we share a love of books and discussing them with other people. We meet every fortnight, but you don't have to come to them all. It's dead simple; choose a book you like the sound of, read it (or even part of it) beforehand and turn up with a few ideas and money for beer / wine / flirtinis. It's very informal, and we're quite a friendly bunch.

We meet at a pub in Didsbury around 8 pm. We can usually be found on the table with the books and flirtinis.

We've become rather popular recently so unfortunately aren't accepting new members just at the moment. But please drop us a line on the Contact Us form and we'll add you to our mailing list.

Our reading list, past, present, and future, appears here and a short version of what we’re reading next is here.

Thursday 30 November 2017

The Last King of Scotland — Giles Foden

Book cover for Giles Foden's The Last King of Scotland in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book groupOn a Ugandan medical mission, Dr Garrigan, becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin. Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery — and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.

This week's book is Giles Foden's The Last King of Scotland and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.

Thursday 16 November 2017

Stone Junction — Jim Dodge

Book cover for Jim Dodge's Stone Junction in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book groupAn odyssey of one man's quest to find his place in a world where espionage, drugs, revolution, magic, and murder are commonplace. Spanning three decades, the story follows a young couple who are introduced to the lifestyle of modern day outlaws, and are soon recruited to a secretive underground organisation where nothing is as it seems.

This week's book is Jim Dodge's Stone Junction and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.

Thursday 2 November 2017

The Virgin Suicides — Jeffrey Eugenides

Book cover for Jeffrey Eugenide's The Virgin Suicides in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book groupIn an ordinary suburban house, on a lovely tree-lined street, in the middle of 1970s America, lived the five beautiful, dreamy Lisbon sisters, whose doomed fates indelibly marked the neighbourhood boys who to this day continue to obsess over them. A story of love and repression, fantasy and terror, sex and death, memory, and longing. It is at its core a mystery story: a heart-rending investigation into the impenetrable, life-altering secrets of American adolescence.

This week's book is Jeffrey Eugenide's The Virgin Suicides and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.

Please note change of book.