| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| When: | Monthly on Friday mornings 3rd Friday |
| Venue: | Pret a Manger |

Joy of Reading 3 meets on 3rd Fridays at 10.30
Joy of Reading 3 – a discussion over coffee about what you have read in the last month, including fiction/non-fiction, but no specific book. The meetings take place on the 3rd Friday of the month at 10.30am upstairs in Pret a Manger. Next meeting July 17th 2026, 10.30am.
We also have three other book groups, Joy of Reading 1 and 2 and Reading 2. which have their own separate Group entries. They each have a different style so please feel free to try one which suits your available times and interests. .
If you are interested in joining Joy of Reading 3 contact Fran Joy of Reading 3 for further information.
Some books previously discussed in the group:
In June:
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
- And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
- The Trial by Rob Rinder. Worth reading this first then working through his others
- The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby
- Every Secret Thing by Gillian Slovo
- On Leopard Rock by Wilbur Smith. Dianna also recommended When the Lion Feeds and his Ancient Egyptian series
- The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman – we’re told he is back to excellent form!
- Cleopatra’s Daughter by Jane Draycott
- The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley – long books, but Caroline and Gill said they were worth reading
- Traitors Legacy by S.J.Parris – Fran and Caroline both racing to the end!
- V2 by Robert Harris – Liz continues through his catalogue, depending what is on the library shelf. Act of Oblivion recommended, but only Munich was available – let’s see what she thinks at next month’s meeting
- Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
- Gigi and The Cat by Colette – 2 novellas
- Depressing but well-written & recommended to Fran - Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, about the Balkan war, and Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen about teenagers and crime
- Cadfael books – Dianna has just started – 1 down, 19 more to go!
In May:
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
- Memento Mori and ‘Curriculum Vitae: A Volume of Autobiography’ by Muriel Spark
- After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
- Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
- The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick – filmed as Blade Runner·
- Watling Street by John Higgs
- Celestial Lights & Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
- Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
- Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today by Naomi Alderman
- The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves
- Legenda by Janina Ramirez
- The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters
- The Places In Between & ‘Middleland’ by Rory Stewart
- Suite Francaise, The Fires of Autumn & Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
In April:
- Pompeii by Robert Harris
- Wintry Peacock – short stories by D.H.Lawrence
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H.Lawrence
- In Memoriam by Alice Winn
- Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville
- Winter of the World by Ken Follett
- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
- In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
- The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan
- Chasing Freedom by Simukai Chigudu
- Disobedient by Elizabeth Freemantle
In previous months:
- Elusive by Frank Close
- The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr
- Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Our Women on the Ground by Zahra Hankir
- The Shortest History of Japan by Lesley Downer
- The Widow by John Grisham
- Sea of Poppies/River of Smoke/Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Broken Threads – Mishal Husain
- Saturday by Ian McEwan
- Pied Piper by Neville Shute
- Dr Siri books by Colin Cotterill
- Also, books by Robert Harris -Act of Oblivion, Conclave, Pompeii, Precipice - many of us had read these and enjoyed them
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.
- A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
- A Place Beyond Courage by Elizabeth Chadwick
- Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
- A Life on our Planet by David Attenborough
- Normal Women by Phillipa Gregory
- The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
- The Library of Lost Maps by James Cheshire
- Manchester, Mapping the City by Wyke, Robson and Dodge
- All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the places in-between by Mike Parker
- The Puppet Show by M W Craven
- The Measure’ by Nikki Erlick