Hello!
It’s Simon here, the host of slow read-alongs at Footnotes & Tangents.
Over the last three years, I have run a series of worldwide book groups exploring some of my favourite novels, from Tolstoy’s War and Peace, to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
Footnotes & Tangents is all about reading curiously and creatively at a gentle pace. In a world that is fast and fraught, this is a rare opportunity to slow down, get lost in a book and share that journey with a friendly and insightful community of readers from all around the world.
Each week, I publish a discussion post to accompany our reading. This is also available as a podcast and includes various footnotes and tangents that have caught my attention or piqued my curiosity. There are images, videos, music, questions, and links to continue your adventure. And everyone can join the discussion in the comments.
Read slowly with us in 2026
So I would like to invite you to join us for a slow read next year. Here is the full line-up:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (all year)
Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, & The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (all year)
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (Jan–Mar)
Regeneration by Pat Barker (Apr–May)
The Inheritors by William Golding (June)
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (July)
The Children’s Book by AS Byatt (Sep–Dec)
War and Peace & Wolf Crawl
I have run a War and Peace read-along for three years, and for the last two years I have organised Wolf Crawl, a slow read of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books.
These have both been spectacularly popular, and there’s been considerable interest in my hosting these again in 2026. So these will both be running next here!
You can already find the book guides that accompany these slow reads on my website, which include podcast versions of over 100 detailed discussion posts, as well as additional character summaries and further resources.
New slow reads in 2026
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (Jan–Mar)
To understand me, you’ll have to swallow a world.
The first 30 years of Indian independence, told by Saleem Sinai, a boy born at the stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947, at the precise moment modern India came into existence. This is a complex novel, layered with cultural references, mysteries and magic. It won three Booker Prize awards in 1981, 1993 and 2008, and is the perfect opportunity to explore the stories and histories of the most populous nation on Earth.
I first read Midnight’s Children as a teenager, and was utterly seduced. I can remember my first literary hangover and the absurd fear that I would never read anything this good again. And yet I think I understood very little of what I read. Over 20 years later, it is time to return to Midnight’s Children for a slow read.
To join, turn on notifications for “2026 Midnight’s Children” in your subscription settings.
Regeneration by Pat Barker (Apr–May)
A society that devours its own young deserves no automatic or unquestioning allegiance.
A brilliant, beautiful book, focusing on the psychiatric treatment of soldiers during World War I. Its real historical characters include the anthropologist-cum-psychiatrist, W.H.R. Rivers, and the two war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. It is a novel about trauma, memory, and recovery; life and art; art as witness to life; and life as resistance to death.
Interview: The Booker Prizes interviews Pat Barker
Regeneration begins a trilogy that concludes with The Ghost Road, a magnificent novel that won the Booker Prize in 1995. I have my heart set on a slow read of that book, superlatively subtle and complex. But to get there, we must start here, in the Craiglockhart War Hospital, with Dr Rivers and his patients.
To join, turn on notifications for “2026 Regeneration” in your subscription settings.
The Inheritors by William Golding (June)
This was a different voice; not the voice of the people. It was the voice of other.
Best known for Lord of the Flies, William Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983, “for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.”
The Inheritors depicts a tribe of Neanderthals encountering modern humans for the first time. Like all fables, it strikes at the universal and resonates through our own troubled times. Golding’s Neanderthals lack the words to make sense of what they see as homo sapiens bring their world to its tragic end. Lyrical and tender, it is darkly brilliant.
‘Each time I revisit The Inheritors I find something new’ – Penelope Lively
And a slow read of The Inheritors will be a great opportunity to explore what we have learned about Neanderthals and our ancestors since the book was published in 1955.
To join, turn on notifications for “2026 The Inheritors” in your subscription settings.
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (July)
There’s not a lot wrong with your eyes, Joe. What beats me is your sight.
Joseph Coppock lives alone in an old house, squinting at the world through a lazy eye. When Treacle Walker comes calling, with his cure-all medicine and his donkey stone, Joe begins a journey through myth and magic, into stories, and down into deep time.
Ninety-year-old Alan Garner is perhaps England’s greatest living writer. He is notorious for taking years to produce slim novellas rich in meaning. His latest book, Treacle Walker, is 152 pages and took seven years to write. You could read it in an afternoon, but where would the fun be in that?
Treacle Walker is where I began slow reading. In 2022, it made the Booker Prize shortlist, and I spent two months excavating the world beneath the words: from magic mirrors to mythic bags, from the bog people to the Bonnacon, chalk horses on the hill, and the sleeping kings within. Birds and bones. Bones and stones.
This is what slow reading is all about. It’s time to re-read Treacle Walker.
To join, turn on notifications for “2026 Treacle Walker” in your subscription settings.
The Children’s Book by AS Byatt (Sep–Dec)
No man has a right to dictate another man’s inner life – the furniture inside his skull.
In the summer, I asked you what slow read you’d most like to see. High on that list was Possession, AS Byatt’s 1990 Booker Prize-winning romance of Victorian poets and academic sleuths. Well, I read Possession and loved it. Then I read The Children’s Book, and loved it more.
The Children’s Book follows a group of children growing up through the golden summers of late Victorian and Edwardian England, coming of age in a turbulent world, sleepwalking into war. It’s about children’s literature and changing the world. It’s about mysteries, secrets and lies.
And the rabbit holes! We will explore fairytales and theatre, pottery and puppetry, anarchists, suffragettes, and war poets. And it will be all over by Christmas.
To join, turn on notifications for “2026 The Children’s Book” in your subscription settings.
“The community Simon has created is friendly, intelligent, supportive, and engaged. This whole shebang is a mashup of top-notch lecture series and a can’t-miss-it book club.”
— Melissa Joulwan
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a slow read? And, how does a slow read work?
2026 will be my fourth year running read-alongs of great books.
At the start of each week, I publish a discussion post to accompany the reading. This post includes my reflections, additional resources, related artwork, and interesting links to continue your exploration of the themes, ideas, footnotes and tangents.
I suggest reading the scheduled section of the book and then coming to the post where you can join other readers for discussion in the comments.
You can read each post in your email inbox, on the Substack app, or on my website. And you can also listen to it as a podcast and download it to your phone.
The rest is up to you! This is your slow read, and you should make it your own. You can chat with other readers and arrange to meet up, online or offline. You can keep a private journal of reflections or share your thoughts with us in your own posts. Some readers are inspired to create: to draw, paint or knit their way through the book.
Be inspired. There is no right way to read a book.
“Simon opens these wonderful books up expertly, and his enthusiasm for the subject shines through.” — Tony
2. How much reading is there each week?
As a rule of thumb, I try to divide books up into 40–50 page chunks. Occasionally, there is a little more or a little less than this.
“I’ve gained a weirdly satisfying sense of companionship in knowing that others are reading the same words, at a similar pace, to me.” — Yasmin Chopin
3. Can I read at my own pace?
Of course! The reading schedule is a guide only.
The schedule gives me time to research and write my posts. But don’t let it cramp your style. We’re not at school, and this is not homework.
Find your rhythm. If you want to race ahead or saunter behind, if life gets in the way, or your curiosity gets the better of you, do what works for you. My posts and our discussion will always be here when you want them.
“It has been the highlight of my reading year.” — Amanda Copperwaite
4. Can I listen instead of read?
Yes! There is no reading snobbery here, and these slow reads are designed to be accessible to those with visual impairments or who prefer to listen instead of reading.
All my posts are released as podcasts. You can listen to these on the Footnotes & Tangents website, on the Substack App, or download and listen to them on your favourite podcast app.
“Reading along with a community of curious readers has been a great joy.” — Tash
5. How do I join?
It’s a two-step process:
Subscribe to Footnotes & Tangents, and
Turn on notifications for your chosen read-along in the subscription settings.
If you are not sure how to do this, I have included a tutorial video below.
“The slow read is not only a punctuation point in the day, it’s also a highlight.” — Bren
6. How much does it cost?
The first post of every read-along is always free. For example, here’s the first post for War and Peace. After that, you’ll need a paid subscription to Footnotes & Tangents of £5/month or £50/year. This includes:
A weekly post with discussion, resources, artwork, videos and further links
A friendly, insightful and inclusive discussion space in the comments
A podcast version of my posts to download and listen to on your favourite app
Access to all my book guides, including War and Peace and Wolf Crawl: a year-long slow read of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy
“It’s been an amazing, perspective-altering journey and I cannot recommend it highly enough.” — Roving Lemon
7. Is there a discount for group subscriptions?
Yes. Two or more people can get 20% off an annual subscription here.
8. Can I gift a subscription?
Definitely, you can give someone a monthly or annual subscription here. You can also schedule a gift so they receive it at the perfect time.
9. Is there support for readers on a low income?
Yes! This is my day job, and I work full-time to put these guides together, so I am grateful for everyone who can afford to make this happen. However, I do not want your circumstances to be a barrier to enjoying great literature. So if you are an engaged reader with low or no income, please get in touch so I can support your reading with a complimentary subscription.
“I can’t recommend this experience highly enough. I absolutely could not have predicted the importance of a slow read in a difficult year.” — Mariposa Arillo
10. What is Substack? How do I use it? Help!
If you are new to Substack, don’t panic!
You don't need the Substack App to read my posts or participate in the read-along. In fact, I recommend avoiding the app if you are not already familiar with it. It may confuse and complicate an otherwise straightforward experience!
Substack is the platform that runs the Footnotes & Tangents website, delivers the emails and manages subscriptions. Don’t think about it as another social media platform, but the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes things go.
Here is a video tutorial for using the website, managing your subscription settings, and finding all the slow read resources.
11. Any further questions?
If you have a question that I haven’t answered here, please leave a comment, hit reply, or send me a message on Substack. And if you know someone who might love one or more of these slow reads, please share this post with them. Thank you!
Thank you
As always, I am overwhelmingly grateful for the enthusiasm you all bring to these read-alongs and the contributions people make. I am super excited for the year ahead!
There will be three more posts this year: two in November introducing the year-long War and Peace & Wolf Crawl slow reads. And a welcome post in December for anyone who would like to say hi and (re)introduce themselves!
Until then, best wishes and adventurous reading,
Simon
I can’t recommend joining this community for a read-along next year highly enough.
If you’ve never read along with a reading group — give it a try and join.
You decide if you just read Simon’s summaries, footnotes and tangents, play the fly on the wall reading what others discuss in the chats, or get involved and share your own thoughts.
If the books aren’t on your TBR list — give it a try and join.
Pick the book that most piques your interest. If someone told me a year ago that I’d care so much for some fictional characters in early 19th-century Russia, I wouldn’t have believed it.
If you would like to read one or several of the books, but are a bit intimidated by them — that’s even more reason to join.
Having Simon as a guide, and this community reading along with you, and sharing their thoughts makes it much easier and creates a completely new reading experience.
I’m not a footnotes and tangents veteran yet, and wouldn’t consider myself an experienced reader. At the beginning of this year I joined for War and Peace. I attempted to read it a few years before, but abandoned it after about 150 pages. It’s now one of my favorite books and I don’t want this year-long read-along to end.
For 2026, I’m thinking about joining the Cromwell read-along.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a short read as preparation? Something just to get a rough understanding of the time, place, and/or historical figures of the book. I guess it’s not necessary to do any preparation, but getting a feel for the setting of the book might make the entry easier and feed my excitement.
Thanks, Simon and everyone participating in the read-alongs!
I’ll be here again for 2026! I won’t be doing a 3rd read of War and Peace (although I predict a profound sense of emptiness on January 1st when I don’t open my well-thumbed copy) but I will likely return to Wolf Hall (it will my 3rd time through, I think). Very excited by Regeneration and especially by Treacle walker. Thanks, Simon, for shepherding us through some very challenging works and especially for bringing this community of thoughtful readers together!