Book clubs in Durham

This book is such a powerful reflection about how people relate to each other, about the complexities of human interaction and the passage of time. Virginia Woolf is such a descriptive writer, and I found myself having to pause every couple of pages to really appreciate what she'd written.

Absolutely phenomenal Gibson could come up with such ideas in 1984. It’s easy to see how this along with the first cinematic imagining of Blade Runner (adapted from works of Philip K Dick), paved the way for the entire “cyberpunk” genre people know and love today. The book itself is fast paced and visceral. The characters do indeed feel real from the start. A timeless classic; I also highly recommend the audiobook for this on Spotify (narrated by Jason Flemyng).

Oh it's so good! I read it in a single sitting, it consumed me. It’s poetic, it’s dark, funny, sad, weird, and relatable! It follows an unnamed lesbian female narrator, just a beautiful book that I’ll return back to again and again. Often songs come into my head when I read, this book felt like Mitski’s ‘Last Words Of a Shooting Star.

Smut, nothing more needs to be said.

From the same author as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I loved having such an unreliable narrator, and such unique world building - very satisfying putting all the pieces together by the end!

Transports the reader.

Transports the reader.

It’s a retelling of Hades and Persephone. It has a modern touch and is filled with self discovery, romance, magic and just enough of Persephone being a badass.