Book Drives London

Non-fiction book discussion

A new non-fiction book club in Surbiton! Hosted at my flat on Grove Road, this is a monthly opportunity to discuss and a non-fiction work in a stimulating atmosphere (additional stimulus provided by coffee!). At this first meeting I’ll invite you to share something you’ve read and think will be interesting to discuss. At subsequent events we may have set books or a combination of set and free discussion. I’ll release the address to confirmed attendees in the days running up to each meeting. Looking forward to hosting you!

Book Swap Meetup 📚📚📚

Basic Ideas: 🌞 📚☕ Any books sitting there collecting dust? Some holiday gifts? Or it’s a book that has changed your life that you want to share? Feel free to bring book(s) to discuss or swap, we usually have more books than people in the end, so feel free to pop along just to have a chat as well. Aiming for every 4 weeks book swap meetup. Note: The event is free to attend, so the only cost for you will only be buying a drink at the location, so coffee/tea/beer etc.

Brain Worms 124 / The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet

Paris, 1980. The literary critic Roland Barthes dies—struck by a laundry van. The world of letters mourns a tragic accident. But what if it wasn’t an accident at all? A brilliantly erudite comedy, The Seventh Function of Language takes us from the cafés of Saint-Germain to the corridors of Cornell University, and into the duels and orgies of the Logos Club, a secret philosophical society that dates all the way back to the Roman Empire. Binet has written both a send-up and a wildly exuberant celebration of the French intellectual tradition. Who can you trust when the idea of truth itself is at stake? Available from all good libraries and book shops. You don't have to have read it to join us - but it'll probably help. **We've teamed up with Burley Fisher Book Shop to offer you 10% off The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet. Simply click on the link below and use the code "RIO" to claim your copy of the book:** **[https://burleyfisherbooks.com/products/the-7th-function-of-language](https://burleyfisherbooks.com/products/the-7th-function-of-language)** We will be meeting in The Ludski Bar in the Rio Cinema. [https://www.riocinema.org.uk/your-visit/](https://www.riocinema.org.uk/your-visit/) You are welcome to bring outside food in with you but please buy your drinks from inside the cinema. Thank you. We hope to see you there. ... To join the Brain Worms WhatsApp Group please click here: [https://chat.whatsapp.com/EvFibn1d6AsEwdVGmwkhko](https://chat.whatsapp.com/EvFibn1d6AsEwdVGmwkhko) (in order to stop spam bots this will take you to a Waiting Room. Once in please write your name and we will join you to the main chat). Meetup charges subscription fees. If you would like to make a donation please click here: [https://paypal.me/philosophycollective](https://paypal.me/philosophycollective)

Spooky Bingo Book Club : We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer 🏚️🔦

**We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer** 📖 320 pages (approx.) **Genre:** Horror • Psychological Thriller • Supernatural Mystery • LGBTQ+ Fiction **Summary:** Eve and Charlie, a young couple who make a living renovating and selling houses, think they’ve found the perfect property: an old house in a quiet neighbourhood purchased at an unbelievably low price. Then, one snowy evening, a man arrives at their door with his wife and children. He explains that he grew up in the house and asks if his family can come inside for a quick look around. Despite her unease, Eve reluctantly agrees. But the visit soon takes a disturbing turn. The family refuses to leave, their youngest child disappears inside the house, and impossible things begin happening in the basement. When Charlie suddenly vanishes too, Eve finds herself trapped in a nightmare where rooms shift, memories cannot be trusted, and reality seems to be changing around her. As Eve desperately searches for answers, *We Used to Live Here* explores anxiety, identity, manipulation, the meaning of home, and the terrifying possibility that your own memories may be lying to you. **Join Our Book Club Bingo! 🏚️🔦** For October, we’re stepping inside a house where nothing—and no one—is quite what it seems. Expect creeping dread, unreliable memories, hidden messages, impossible spaces, and plenty of unsettling mysteries to unravel as we fill in our Bingo cards. **How It Works:** 🏚️ **Grab Your Bingo Card:** Filled with themes of home, identity, anxiety, manipulation, shifting realities, suspicious strangers, hidden clues, and things lurking in the basement. ✅ **Mark Your Cards:** Check off squares as we discuss eerie encounters, questionable decisions, recurring symbols, coded messages, unsettling theories, and moments that made us want to shout, “Do not let them inside!” 🎉 **Shout “Bingo!”** Be the first to complete two rows, columns, or diagonals. 📚 **Win a Book:** Two readers will leave with a new addition to their TBR pile! Expect an intensely creepy atmosphere, unreliable narration, mysterious interludes, reality-bending twists, endless theories, and a lot to discuss about what truly happened inside the house. 📍 The Dog on Surrey Street, Croydon 📅 Wednesday 14th October at 7:00 PM

Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathanael West

A quick note to say that if you would like to help me with the running costs of the book group, you can give a small contribution via Ko-fi. This helps me keep the group running as I pay the Meetup fee myself :) [https://ko-fi.com/annabookgroup](https://ko-fi.com/annabookgroup) We have changed location! Our next meetup will be at The Rose not far from London Bridge Station. We will meet from 6:30 onwards at the pub and make our way to the room downstairs between 6:30 and 7:00. We will start the discussion at around 7:00pm and talk about the book for an hour or so before having a break. Then we can vote on next month's book! If you have any suggestions for short (or shortish) books for the next shortlist, please message me ahead of time. Thanks! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathanael West (1933, 208 pages** The blackly comic energy of Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts—its caustic ebullience, the strange buoyancy of its suffering—is a remarkably American achievement, a kind of death-dance capered on the corpse of a vividly rendered early 1930s Manhattan. In the darkening curl of the Depression, misery is the fulcrum of national experience, a dismal engine that purrs especially for West’s titular protagonist. As a newspaper advice columnist, he is privy to the secret despair of an American chorus: the lost, the young, the deformed, the forgotten

Nutshell - Ian McEwan - Book Club 10 year anniversary!

For those of you who've not come along before, we'll read the book, then discuss it on the night guided by questions to keep us focused. It's relaxed and good fun. We'll do this over drinks. If it's your first time, I know it can be a bit daunting, but don't worry, we'll make you very welcome and before you know it you'll be stuck in! About the Book Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home - a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse - but not with John. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb. (The hardback is available from Amazon and second hand, and also widely available from the library)

Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen (5th October 2026)

October 2026 - War and Travel - Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton

For our October meeting, we will be reading a book from the War and Travel category of The Guardian's "*[1000 Novels Everyone Must Read](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction)*" list. The winner of the poll was 'Slaves of Solitude' by Patrick Hamilton. To find out why this was nominated please see the [discussion page](https://www.meetup.com/1000-books/discussions/?eventOrigin=home_groups_you_organize). You can find our Code of Conduct [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s3kphOY8w_uH_ay5RVpdwVkHgG6O3QYsCZ5wpaE6A1E/edit?usp=sharing).

September Classic: Philosopher or Dog? - Machado de Assis

New members are always welcome. :) **Description:** ***Quincas Borba*** is a novel written by the Brazilian writer [Machado de Assis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machado_de_Assis). It was first published in 1891. It is also known in English as ***Philosopher or Dog?*** The novel was principally written as a serial in the journal *A Estação* from 1886 to 1891. It was definitively published as a book in 1892 with some small, but significant changes from the serialized version. Please note that this book may be titled either 'Philosopher or Dog' or 'Quincas Borba' in English, depending on the translation. Read whichever one you wish, but note that the latter (the title of the more recent translation, which is the same as the title in the original Portuguese) may be easier to acquire.

Whistler by Ann Patchett nominated by Susan

Friendly book group Please remember to change your RSVP if you can't make it so someone on the waitlist can take your slot. New books chosen by popular vote and read 2 months later. We look forward to seeing you there!

October Book Club Meetup: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

London's Friendly Book Club's pick for October is **Invisible Monsters** by **Chuck Palahniuk**. She's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from being a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better, and that salvation hides in the last place you'll ever want to look. The narrator must exact revenge upon Evie, her best friend and fellow model; kidnap Manus, her two-timing ex-boyfriend; and hit the road with Brandy in search of a brand-new past, present and future. Please only RSVP if you think you'll be able to make this event. **We host three sessions per book, you only need to attend one.** Everyone is welcome! Grab your copy and join us for a relaxed and engaging discussion.

Bookaneers

**Well, last** Month’s book had a mixed reception. This month we read YesterYear by Caro Claire Burke. ‘Natalie lives a perfect, traditional lifestyle. Her husband is a handsome cowboy and her home made sour dough boules (no idea!) are each more beautiful than the last. Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange horrible version of reality. Something is off……..,. Excellent reviews but we have learnt not to trust the,