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BYC Book Club

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BYC Book Club

April –  Prizewinners – Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

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.

Join the Book Club

 


Demon Copperhead

April 2025:  Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (Prizewinners)

‘Demon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can.’

#1 NEW YORK TIMES READERS BEST BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
TWICE WINNER OF THE WOMEN’S PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION
THE MULTI-MILLION COPY SELLING AUTHOR
BOOK AT BEDTIME ON BBC RADIO 4
AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK

‘Demon’s story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking ‘like a little blue prizefighter.’ For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn’t an idea, it’s as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn’t an abstraction, it’s neighbours, parents, and friends. ‘Family’ could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he’s willing to travel to try and get there.

Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.’ – (Amazon write up)

We will discuss this book in the Main Lounge on Thursday, 1st May at 8pm at the Club Main Bar.


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

  • 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 – Prizewinners – 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

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