Tuesday evening book club
Welcome to the Tuesday evening book club. We'll meet once every two months to discuss a book written in English.
2026 Dates
We'll meet from 7:30pm to 9pm on the following dates:
Tuesday 3rd February - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Tuesday 17th March - Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Tuesday 19th May - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Tuesday 7th July - What does it Feel Like by Sophie Kinsella
Tuesday 29th September - Ex Wife by Ursula Parrott
Tuesday 24th November - Timbuktu by Paul Auster
Possible books
Feel free to make suggestions about the books that you want to read. I try to suggest books that are around 200 pages long. Here are some possible ideas for our next choice - perhaps you can do a spot of online research to decide which books you would like to read.
David Nicholls - One Day or You Are Here (these are a bit longer than we normally choose)
Toya Wolfe - Last Summer on State Street
Rachel Ingalls - Mrs Caliban
Dorothy Gallagher - Stories I Forgot to Tell You
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Audur Ava Olafsdottir (she is from Iceland) - Hotel Silence
Paul Auster - Baumgartner
Agatha Christie - And Then There Were None
Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway (this might be a bit tricky)
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (this is short stories)
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai
You can also find more inspiration by looking at the books we've read in my other book clubs. Click this link to find out more.
Who is the book club for?
The book club is for people who:
enjoy reading and discovering new authors
like meeting new people
want to practice speaking in a friendly environment
I'll prepare a few questions for you to discuss at the book club so that you get lots of speaking practice. You can also ask me questions about any vocabulary or grammar that you find interesting in the book. At the end of each session, I'll provide some feedback to help you improve your English.
2026
29 September - Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrot
This book divided us somewhat. Some of us (me included) loved the book but others couldn't get into the main character at all and found her quite superficial. I found the book fascinating - it is more than a story. The book describes the life of a post divorce New York it girl. She is successful, intelligent and loves to dress up in the latest fashions. Nowadays she would be a hugely successful influencer. Back in the 1920s though she was a writer. The parallels between life in the 1920s and the 2020s are stark. Have things moved on since then? Perhaps, but not as much as we would like.
8 July - What does it Feel like by Sophie Kinsella
The book describes what it feels like to be diagnosed with a terminal illness. Flicking through the book to the back cover I was surprised to see that the author had died in 2025 at the age of 55. This made me realise that the book was largely autobiographical, rather than completely fictional (albeit the characters in the book do have different names to the author and her family). Some events happened in real life whereas others were imagined.
The topic is heavy but the author has a light touch and a sense of optimism that shines through.
Most of us at book club thought it was a good book. It's worth reading if you want to get an insight into what it feels like to be diagnosed with a terminal illness. Perhaps it will help people to know what to say and what not to say to someone in such a situation.
19 May - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Well done - everyone managed to read quite a challenging book. Some of you listened to it at the same time as reading, so were able to pick up the correct pronunciation of new vocabulary.
Overall, we were impressed by the writing and the ideas in the book but found it difficult at times to pick up a book that offered so little hope. Most of us were glad that we had read the book and some have even started to watch the Netflix series.
Tip - Listen to an interview with Margaret Atwood on Alles Gesagt
What we've read so far
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
My Name is Lucy by Elizabeth Strout
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Would you like to join?
The book club is for a maximum of six people and costs 300chf per year for six sessions. Send me a message if you would like to join. This book club is currently full but there are spaces in my Friday book club. Get in touch if you want to join.
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