Book group news
Summary of posts and discussion from week one
Happy New Year!
This is just a quick message to say thank you to everyone who has taken up either or both of this year’s reading challenges: War and Peace, and Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy.
At least count, we had 1,402 people saying they are reading War and Peace this year. And 829 people are reading the Wolf Hall books. We’ve got readers from every US state and almost 100 countries.
This week, I sent out four posts:
Across the Narrow Sea / Paternity
Welcome to Wolf Crawl! Welcome to Wolf Crawl, a year-long reading of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy. You can find everything you need for the read-along here, including a reading schedule and a list of characters. Every Monday, I send out a discussion post for that week’s reading. This is the first of those, looking at the first two chapters of
Mantel's Magic
This is a bonus post for paid subscribers to accompany this weekly discussion post of the Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall is a ghost story. We don’t often talk about this. We are too taken up by the intrigue of the Tudor court and the barbed conversation in candlelit halls. Mantel’s books get shelved as historical fiction, where they twitch uneasily beside bodice and hose, ruff and rapier.
An invitation to a soirée
Welcome to War and Peace 2024! Hello! And welcome. I am absolutely delighted that you have decided to join us for this year-long slow read of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. You are in for a treat. This is a rather extraordinary book: a great story full of complex always-changing characters and a kaleidoscope of human experience. Reading it slowly and colle…
A tale of two bears
This is a bonus post for paying subscribers to accompany a weekly discussion post on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It’s basically just a bit of fun. #1 Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s Soirée (3.2/5) Your humble reviewer was a little aggrieved not to be invited to the English ambassador’s ball. However, I can say with some confidence that on this particular July ev…
If you were expecting to receive any of these posts but didn’t, it probably means your notification settings need changing here:
Just switch on “War and Peace” and/or “Cromwell Trilogy” to make sure you don’t miss next week’s updates.
There are also some dedicated chat threads open:
War and Peace
1 Jan: Chapter 1
2 Jan: Chapter 2
3 Jan: Chapter 3
4 Jan: Chapter 4
5 Jan: Chapter 5
6 Jan: Chapter 6
7 Jan: Chapter 7
Wolf Hall
Across the Narrow Sea / Paternity
From next week, Wolf Hall posts will go out on Wednesdays and War & Peace posts will be with you on Sundays. I think this will work a little better with the rhythms of the two read-alongs.
Thank you for everyone’s support this week. It has been an exceedingly busy one for me, but it is very exciting to get these two projects underway.
Until next time,
Simon
I’m grateful to you @simonhaisell for this opportunity particularly getting into a rhythm of reading daily. I also enjoy the community engagement. Best wishes
Many thanks, Simon. Of course, it would be totally wrong to be competitive, but...
WAR AND PEACE IS IN THE LEAD! Yay!
But well done to everybody taking part in all the readalongs - and enjoy the journey.