26 Comments

2025 is THE year! I am looking forward to it!

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Yes! You won't believe how much time I've spent making the material for this readalong. So I need another year (at least) to finish it off!

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So excited! I love the first and last lines in this schedule: "So now get up ... tracking the light on the wall." This is my introduction to Hilary Mantel, and I'm looking forward to reading all the words in between under your brilliant guidance, Simon.

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Best opening and closing scenes ever. You are in for such a ride!

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I have done the Wolf Crawl this year, but being in the US and having access only to the Picador paperbacks, I had to find the beginning and end of each week’s reading material myself — oh, the horror! 😜 I think I’ll drop in on the 2025 Crawl discussions from time to time to remind the young ‘uns that “In my time, we did not even have accurate page numbers!” 🤣

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Ah the good old days when we just opened the book at random and hoped for the best!

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I read Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies years ago when they were first released. I've never read The Mirror & The Light because I felt I needed a reread of the first two. Finding Wolf Crawl is a sign from the universe that it's time. Thank you!

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Perfect! I'd definitely say they benefit from being read together like this. I hope you enjoy!

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My God this is what my dreams are made of!

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Your dreams sound like my dreams!

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Since this slow read is split by pages, I'm considering purchasing copies of the books instead of reading on Kindle. Did the readers this year find it easier to have a physical copy? Can you post a link to the Fourth Estates version you are referring to?

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Here it is: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/wolf-hall-hilary-mantel/186740?ean=9780008381691

Kindle I think also shows you page numbers, so you might be able to do that as well. I include opening and closing sentences, so it should be easy to find the breaks with any edition. Good luck!

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Thanks! The page numbers on Kindle don't correspond to page numbers in the physical books (at least not in my experience). I'll see if I can find this version in the U.S.

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Another solution might be for me to get someone with a US copy to give me the page numbers for the US edition. I think that shouldn't be too hard and I can't believe I didn't think about it before.

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Just reading the start/finish lines here remind us that Mantel is the GOAT

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Without a doubt.

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Read Mantels first book! Loved it but will definitely read the guide

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Great! Definitely recommend joining for books 2 and 3 as well – slow reading them is really something else.

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I had already decided to read Wolf Hall in the New Year so I was excited to stumble across this! Looking forward to it.

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Because life intervened & I couldn’t keep up with my reading of these books I so dearly love, I am thrilled that you are offering the SLO Read again. You are an indeed a treasure, dear Simon.

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Thanks Kathy! It's going to give me an opportunity to clean up all the posts and add bits I missed. The guides will only get better!

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Link to Wolf Crawl home page wasn't working. It should now be working, but here it is again: https://footnotesandtangents.substack.com/p/wolf-crawl

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Excited to be part of this group. I've read Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies but it's been a long time. I tend to be a too-fast reader so this will slow me down and let me savor Mantel's incredible language, this sweeping story, and reading with all of you. I'm in Colorado so there's a lot of winter ahead, good for reading! And stitching - so glad to have learned of Bea and her textile work.

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Looking forward to another year with the F&T gang!

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Having problems trying to pay for the subscription - what happens when you pay ? Do you get an email confirmation ?

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You should do yes. I'll send you a DM and see if we can get things sorted.

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