Join us as we catch up on our recent reads outside of book club, the books we're picking and choosing for ourselves. Laura enjoys The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting, declaring it 'unputdownable', and a good antidote to the brilliant but rather more serious novel The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen (her Vancouver book club's pick). We're joined by journalist Phil Chaffee who shares his recent holiday reading, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and My Fourth Time We Drowned by Sally Hayden. Meanwhile Kate has fallen in love with O'Caledonia by Elspeth Barker and sneaks in This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab, a YA fantasy read that proves perfect for those times when you just want to read about things that aren't real.

Book recommendations

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Matrix by Lauren Groff

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting

Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn

O’Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

My Fourth Time We Drowned by Sally Hayden

The Naked Don’t Fear the Water by Matthieu Aikins

The Sympathiser by Viet Than Nuygen

This Savage Song, Our Dark Duet, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Shades of Magic trilogy, all by V. E. Schwab

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