BYC Book Club | Ballyholme Yacht Club

December – The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

If you like to read and need inspiration and the opportunity to chat with other book lovers – then it’s time to join the BYC Book Club.

– Please note – the Book Club is only open to BYC members and guests of members (who must be signed in)

Scroll down to learn more about the club and how it works.

To join the book club / attend the next meeting, either contact the office and they can get you added to the Whatsapp group, or complete the form at the link below.

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December – The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

A retelling of the classic Greek myth, Troy, from the Booker prize-winning author of Regeneration. There was a woman at the heart of the Trojan War whose voice has been silent – until now. Discover the greatest Greek myth of all – retold by the witness that history forgot. Briseis was a queen until her city was destroyed. Now she is a slave to the man who butchered her husband and brothers. Trapped in a world defined by men, can she survive to become the author of her own story?

How the book club works

Note: the Book Club is only open to members and guests of members (who must be signed in).
The monthly catch up meeting is the first Thursday of every month at 8pm, meeting at the Club in the Main Bar.
At the meeting we discuss the previous month’s book and give it a score. The discussion is guided by a cheerful ’emcee’ and that chat is lively and varied discussing the book’s plot, setting, writing style, issues raised (eg, homelessness in The Salt Path) – and the author. Nobody is put on the spot for their opinion and it is absolutely fine to just listen.
A new book is drawn, blind picking from the suggestions put forward by members of the book club. We have divided the books into different genres – crime, prize winners, classics etc – and each month a book is drawn from a different genre just to keep things interesting.
Members purchase the books at their own expense and of course, if they don’t like the look of a book they are quite welcome to drop out for that month, but most people are in the club to try different genres.
We usually come away from the meet ups with a lot of recommendations for great movies, tv series, podcasts and books. It’s a rabbit hole.
We sometimes go to see movies of books we have read, or other excursions
If you’d like to join in simply sign up here: https://bit.ly/BYC-BookClub and you will be added to the club’s Whatsapp group where you can join the chat.

Past reads:

2025

November – Born a Crime – by Trevor Noah
October – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Book Club score – 8/10)
September – Humour – Puckoon by Spike Milligan (Book Club score – 5.6/10)
August – Classic – Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Book Club score – 7.7/10)
July – Crime – Clash of the Clans by Nicola Tallant (Book Club score – 6.69/10)
June – Historical Fiction – The Kings Head by Kelly Frost (Book Club score – x/10)
May – Uplifting – Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (Book Club score – 7.2 /10)
April – Prize winners – Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (Book Club score – 9.11/10)
March – Humour/wit – Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (Book Club score – 5.9/10)
February – Classic – The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers (Book Club score – 7.4/10)
January – Crime – Tell No One, by Harlan Coben (Book Club score – 7.5/10)

2024

December – Random/historical – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Book Club score – 7/10)
November – Uplifting – The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig (Book Club score – 8.5/10)
October – Prize winners – Everything Under, by Daisy Johnson (Book Club score – 6.3/10)
September – Humour/wit – Thunder and Lightning: A Memoir of Life on the Tough Cul-de-Sacs of Bangor, by Colin Bateman (Book Club score – 8/10)
August – The Secret History, by Donna Tartt (Book Club score – 6.1/10)
July – Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson (Book Club score – 6.1/10)
June – Regretting You, by Colleen Hoover (Book Club score – 6.75/10)
May – The Lido, by Libby Page (Book Club score – 7/10)
April – Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch (Book Club score – 7.5 /10)
March – The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel, by Gabrielle Zevin (Book Club score – 7.2/10)
February – Moby Dick, by Herman Melville (Book Club score – 5/10 – from the 4 who managed to finish the book)
January – The Trial, by Rob Rinder (Book Club score 6.71/10)

2023

December – The Outrun, by Amy Liptrot (Book Club score 7.1/10)
November – In The Company Of The Courtesan Paperback, by Sarah Dunant (Book Club score 8.1/10)
October – Brain on Fire: My month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan (Book Club score 7/10)
September – After the Silence, by Louise O’Neill (Book Club score 7.2/10)
August – The White Spider, by Heinrich Harrer (From those that finished it – 6.5 (4 readers) All readers, whether finished or not – 4.9 (9 readers))
July – Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (Book Club score 8.2/10)
June – The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki (Book Club score 7.2/10)
May – Snow by John Banville (Book Club score 7.3/10)
April – Erebus by Michael Palin
March – Dracula by Bram Stoker (Book Club score 7.5/10)
February – The Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (Book Club score 7.3/10)
January – The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page (Book Club score 6.6/10)

2022

December – The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Book Club score 6.9/10)
November – Milkman by Anna Burns (Book Club score 9.8 – of those who finished the book!)
October – Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl (Book Club score 7.75/10)
September – A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford
August – Wintering by Katherine May (Book Club score 5.25/10)
July – The Therapist by BA Paris (Book Club score 5.9/10)
June – Away with the Penguins by (Book Club score 8.1/10)
May – The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons (Book Club score 5.2/10)
April – Endurance by Aldred Lansing (Book Club score 8/10)
March – The Glass Cell, by Patricia Highsmith (Book Club score 7/10)
February – Lily’s Promise, by Lily Ebert and Dov Forman (Book Club score 6.9/10)
January – The Body, Bill Bryson

2021

December – The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
November – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer
October – The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, by Haruki Marakumi
September – The Waisted Vigil, Nadeem Askam
August – The Guest List, Lucy Foley
July – Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell
June – The Lost Man, Jane Harper
May – The Last Migration, Charlotte McConaghy
April – A Letter to a Lucky Man, Thomas Jobling
March – Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
February – The Salt Path, Raynor Winn