58 Comments

Dear Simon, thanks for summarizing your time and participation in the Wolf Hall Weekend. It was full of Mantel magic and thanks for leading the session with Charlie and Diarmaid. We had 3 descendants of the Courtenays, a Pole, and a Paulet in the room during your session. That has to be a first in 500 years! Having you there with your deep knowledge of Hilary's trilogy was invaluable. David (Wolf Hall Weekend Founder.)

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Thanks David, and thank you for organising and making it happen! It has been the highlight of my year.

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You know, Simon, every time I read that first line 'These books are dangerous. Because they are alive' it makes me cry. It so perfectly sums up how I feel about the WH books and I have no adequate explanation why. Even after multiple reads I still have moments of wonder reading this story. Its magic.

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Man, I read this to a few people last weekend and had to stop my heart from breaking.

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Completely agree. I always find something new to adore about Mantel's writing, even after reading this trilogy multiple times. She could have written about my pinky fingernail and it would have been extraordinary!

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This is a public service! Thank you!

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My pleasure, Susan. Hope it is useful!

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So good to hear about the weekend and what a wonderful and generous idea to flag up all the shared reading on here. It really is amazing...I want to read them all! Very excited about APOGS next year.

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I kind of wish everyone had been there! Can you imagine?

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I certainly wish I had been there. Left living vicariously.

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Thank you Simon. “The Unmaking” is beautiful and evocative. I’m excited about reading A Place of Greater Safety. I have a copy but have never read it. Thank you for all you’re doing.

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Thanks Jane! APOGS is a cracking, terrifying read. It's going to be great!

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Thanks for including me Simon - that book group directory is a real public service!

And lovely to hear about the Wolf Hall Weekend. Hilary Mantel is wonderful and sorely missed. I might join you for The Mirror and the Light!

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Thanks Tash! You're welcome. Definitely consider joining us, it has been an incredibly rich reading experience.

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Thank you so much for including me in the directory! It is really fun to learn more about all the groups doing wonderful read-a-longs here on Substack.

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I love celebrating this side of Substack!

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What a wonderful idea, Simon! Yes, we'd love to join in your book club directory. :)

All the books that we read-a-along together are by 20th century British author Elizabeth Goudge.

Last: The Scent of Water; Now: The Little White Horse; Next: Linnets & Valerians

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Fabulous! Making a note and will make sure you are on the next one.

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It’s a long time since I’ve heard this author’s name mentioned. You’ve awakened my interest.

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Elizabeth Goudge is a great slow read author, as her works are rich enough for rereading. Hope you will give her a try!

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There are echoes of her words in my childhood! I'll have a look at a few of her novels.

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“Unmaking” is beautiful.

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Thank you! 💛

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My pleasure, Simon. I am having a wonderful time reading War and Peace.😊

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Ack. You made me cry Simon. It's a gorgeous day and it's the Fourth, so a holiday. And I am crying over what I don't know. Anyway, thank you for the book group list. I have always meant to crack open Woolf again and this may be the kick I need to do so.

I haven't been as active on the Wolf Hall chats as I have been on the W&P for a couple of reasons. Mostly because I did a Wolf gallop through Bring Up the Bodies, it was that good. But I couldn't remember where the group was and when I should share.

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Well it may be time to go out and enjoy the sunshine!

BUTB is so hard to read slowly, and maybe people coming to these resources in future years will find it more useful as they will be able to flit through them as they go.

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The Directory is a super idea and much needed for the greedy readers we have about us, Simon! I must tell you that I'm up to date with the WH trilogy but have fallen behind with W&P... I may catch up with the group later in the year. I'm enjoying the read-along so much. Glad you had a great WH weekend. And, thank you!

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Awesome. I still think it is nuts people are doing both. I can't wait to get to The Mirror and the Light with everyone - listened to chunks of it at the WH weekend and it was giving me shivers.

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Wonderful 👏👏👏👏👏👏💖

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Thank you, Simon! It's lovely to see these other book groups as well.

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Super welcome Tiffany!

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So many special things here, thank you! Many layers to discover from wolf hall weekend. I’m keen to read the MacCulloch bio… once I catch up on the slow reads of course (starting BUTB)! And your writing is haunting in the best mantel-approved way… wow.

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Thanks Cassia. I've recorded all the talks from the weekend and nuggets will be cropping up in our Wolf Crawl posts at some point.

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A busman's holiday! Thanks for the report

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Indeed!

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Hooray! I’ll plan to add this to my directory here next time I’m at my computer, if that’s all right?

https://open.substack.com/pub/fearlessgreen/p/substack-directory-of-directories

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(I just posted this same comment over on your post that’s just the list. I should probably link to that one, is that right? Assuming it’s the one you’ll update over time?) :)

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Yes! I think the best thing is to link to the static page, which will always be the most up to date info.

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Oops, I replied twice. I am traveling, with spotty internet. Okay, will link to the static page when I’m back home in a day or two. I’m so glad you created this, Simon!

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That happened to me the over week. So annoying! Thanks!

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