u3a

Chester

Joy of Reading 3

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

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. . 

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