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 25 July 2019

The Reluctant Fundamentalist — Mohsin Hamid

Book cover for Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book group 'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance ? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America ... '

So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream — and a Western woman — and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear ...

This week's book is Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.

Thursday 11 July 2019

Engelby — Sebastian Faulks

Book cover for Sebastian Faulks' Engelby in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book group My name is Mike Engleby, and I'm in my second year at an ancient university.

Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. When the novel opens in the 1970s, he is a university student, having survived a 'traditional' school. A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, Engleby provides a disarmingly frank account of English education. Yet beneath the disturbing surface of his observations lies an unfolding mystery of gripping power. One of his contemporaries unaccountably disappears, and as we follow Engleby's career, which brings us up to the present day, the reader has to ask: is Engleby capable of telling the whole truth ?
This week's book is Sebastian Faulks' Engelby and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.