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Meet the final six Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Reading Groups

Read about the final six of the 12 reading groups shadowing the 2015 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, which of the shortlisted books they are reading and why they’re taking part.







Wine, Women and Words, Friern Barnet reading How to be Both by Ali Smith

We are an eclectic bunch of women spanning many religions, nationalities and careers. These are the top 10 reasons why we need our book club. 1) intellectual stimulation. 2) escape Sky Sports, husbands and children. 3) sometimes stories mirror our lives/inspire/shock us and we need to share that. 4) because women are from Venus and men are from Mars – so Venuses need to share ideas. 5) tackle opinions on humanity, politics, religion and the odd bit of sex. 6) be inspired by writing, each other, sharing a good book that we did not want to end. 7) eat the odd sausage (woman with a Muslim husband) and drink some wine. 8) cry together. 9) laugh together. 10) share our lives because we are a sisterhood. Join us here.

Woodley Library Evening Group, Wokingham Reading Outline by Rachel Cusk

Responding to a poster advertising a new book group, we’ve now been together over five years, meeting monthly in the library. The strength of our group is our diversity; we did not initially come together as friends or colleagues but as individuals of different ages, culture and backgrounds sharing a love of reading. Shadowing the prize will inject a higher level of discipline to our discussions and focus our critique and review techniques. The opportunity to share our opinions with a wider audience is quite irresistible. Join us here.


The Last Monday Book Club, Burnham on Crouch reading The Bees by Laline Paull

We met in a variety of ways: Danielle was moving from Canada, and connected with Louisa on Twitter to join a book club once she moved to Essex. From there, others from the local area joined too. Finally, two members of the club came out one night to meet another book club who didn’t show up, so they joined us instead! We meet at the charming Ye Olde White Harte Inn right on the water of the River Crouch. This is a great opportunity to read the latest fiction, which we don’t always do as a group, and it will be interesting to compare what we all think to the judges’ opinion. Usually we decide what to read as a group – this offers us the element of surprise as we didn’t know in advance what we were being given. Meet us here.

Greenacre Writers, North Finchley reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Four founding members met one Christmas and decided we wanted to start a writing group, reading being a big part of what we do. Sometimes we read as readers and sometimes as writers. The writing/reading groups have expanded and so has our knowledge of novels, autobiography and non-fiction. We are very serious about our writing and reading but also love exchanging ideas, books and laughter. We’ve been together since 2009 and meet in each other’s houses. As well as readers, we are part of Greenacre Writers and run the Finchley Literary Festival. Check us out here.

Bee’s Bookshare, Margate reading A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie

I started Bee’s Bookshare 3 years ago as a venture to meet new people, share a love of and create a buzz around reading in Margate and East Kent. We meet once a month at Fort’s Cafe and bring a book we love, loathe or just can’t get on with, talk about it then share and enjoy each other’s booky banter and discover new reads. It’s proved so popular; bookshares have begun across East Kent in nearby towns of Deal and Faversham.We aim to inspire a buzz around reading. By shadowing the prize we can engage with more people, introduce them to more great reads and spread the word more widely. You can find us @beesbookshare and here.

Books and Bubbles, Caerleon reading A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

We come from different spheres of work, life and place. When we meet we dive into a rich discussion about the books in question. The bubbles flow and conversation moves from the textual to the personal to the political to the geographical to history to whatever is on our minds. Amongst the group is a teacher, a television producer, a children’s illustrator, an arts festival secretary, a museums and heritage worker and a local politician. Feminism and writing by women for all genders is a paramount point of unity amongst the members. The issues in such books are the stuff of our daily lives. Meet us here.

Get involved

What do you think of the shortlisted titles? Which have you read and do you think there are any books missing? Follow the 12 reading groups as they shadow the Prize and join in the conversation.

Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter using #BaileysPrize.

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Resources

How to start a reading group

Interested in joining a reading group or starting one of your own? Download our quick guide to getting started. You can also download icebreaker questions to help get your discussion started, and a social media guide to show how you can share your reading with others online.

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Discussion guides

We know how useful a discussion guide is for your book club meeting, so here you’ll find some recent guides provided by publishers. Free to download, you can use them to help choose your next book and guide your discussion.

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