MATILDA BOOK CLUB
ADULT READERS

WHEN: Tuesday evening, monthly at 6pm or 730pm
VENUE: Stirling Hotel Library Room
COST: $10
CONVENOR: Molly

OUR NEXT BOOK CLUB DATE: Tuesday May 21st at 6pm or 730pm.

Our Matilda Bookshop Book Club has been running for more than seven years and is a lively, informal and informative meeting where we chat over the best in Australian fiction, new-release fiction, classics and international fiction. The sessions are convened by Molly (who is an author and manager of the bookshop), who has experience teaching literature and creative writing at a tertiary level. But most importantly, the evenings are fun and engaging.

If you are interested in receiving regular information about the book club, please sign up to the newsletter below.

MATILDA BOOK CLUB APRIL wrap up

In April book club we discussed the devastatingly honest and fearless short story collection, We All Lived in Bondi Then, by the late Georgia Blain. Published posthumously, this collection is a piercing arrow -- both the blazing words, and the fact that Georgia's sharpened voice is returned to us on the page. The stories navigate grief, bliss, sorrow, kinship, past selves, infidelity, and the complex relationships between mothers and daughters and brothers. We enjoyed thinking about the form of the short story -- what it asks of us -- and then putting our attention to one story at a time for deeper consideration. In discovering the elements that enthralled us, such as juxtaposition of stories, insightful characterisation, stunning evocation of place and time, intense emotional resonances, we agreed that Georgia's writing has a cumulative power. This was a beautiful and sometimes confronting discussion that honoured Georgia's legacy of words and compassion for the messiness of the human condition. MOLLY

To read the full wrap up of April book club, please click HERE.

THE RED DOOR BOOK CLUB
ADULT READERS

WHEN: Thursday evening, monthly, either 6.00pm OR 7.10pm
VENUE: Matilda Bookshop
COST: $12 (includes a glass of red or white wine or sparkling water on arrival)
CONVENOR: Emilie

OUR NEXT BOOK CLUB DATE: Thursday May 23rd 2024

The Red Door Book Club is our newest club! The sessions are convened by Emilie, an avid reader, writer, musician and bookseller at Matilda Bookshop.

If you are interested in receiving book club updates, please sign up to the newsletter below.

RED DOOR BOOK CLUB March WRAP UP

March’s Orbital is a novel that made us all wonder, wonder, wonder! One of our book club members likened the experience of reading this “space pastoral” to that of going camping as a child and looking up at the stars in awe. Though the six astronauts we meet in Orbital are viewing space (and Earth!) from a completely different perspective than us down on the ground, through Harvey’s stellar use of the adjective and profound voice, we found it easy to see through their eyes. Perspective was another interesting conversational path. The concept of perspective is explored in very interesting ways here, with the use of Velázquez’ painting Las Meninas providing a more concrete example for us  readers as a brilliant representative in miniature of some of the grander themes.

We found ourselves being put into quite an introspective space through the reading of this month’s book. Some of you likened it to a kind of meditative trance. Others noticed that there was a melancholy element to the feelings evoked for the duration of our reading; sometimes welcomed, less so at other times! 

At the end of both our sessions, I dare say there was a shared sense of tenderness towards our little blue marble floating in space. Emilie

TREMENDOUS TEENS BOOK CLUB
AGES 13-16

WHEN: Tuesday, twice a term, from 5.30pm - 6.30pm
VENUE: Matilda Bookshop
COST: $8
CONVENOR: Rosie

OUR NEXT BOOK CLUB DATES: Tuesday, May 21st and Tuesday, June 18th

Our Tremendous Teens Book Club is for 13-16 year olds who love books and reading and chatting! The sessions are convened by Rosie, an avid and passionate reader, lover of sushi and former teen!

Yummy snack provided.

If you are interested in joining us for book chat, reading inspiration and a whole lot of fun, join us by using the booking button to your left.

MAGICAL MINDS BOOK CLUB
AGES 9-12

WHEN: Monday, twice a term, from 5.00pm - 6.00pm AND 6.15pm - 7.15pm
VENUE: Matilda Bookshop
COST: $8
CONVENOR: Kasey

OUR NEXT BOOKCLUB DATES: Monday, May 20th and Monday, June 17th
Our Magical Minds Book Club is for 9-12 year olds with a magical mind and a love of books and reading. The sessions are convened by Kasey, an avid reader and experienced teacher, who makes the sessions just delightful and guides the group with reading prompts and discussion points.

Yummy snack provided.

If you are interested in a fun, informal and friendly catch up about the very best in middle fiction, join us by using the booking button to your left.

2024

We All Lived in Bondi Then by Georgia Blain

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

Days of Innocence and Wonder by Lucy Treloar

2023

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright

Chai Time at the Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

Small Things Like These & Foster by Claire Keegan

August Blue by Deborah Levy

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

Euphoria by Elin Cullhed

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane

2022

Limberlost by Robbie Arnott

This Devastating Fever by Sophie Cunningham

Faithless by Alice Nelson

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

Loveland by Robert Lukins

The Colony by Audrey Magee

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

2021

Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

Real Estate by Deborah Levy

Still Life by Sarah Winman

Stranger Care by Sarah Sentilles

From Where I Fell by Susan Johnson

The Performance by Claire Thomas

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart

Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson

2020

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Greenwood by Michael Christie

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott

The Things She Owned by Katherine Tamiko Arguile

A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry

The Scent of Eucalyptus by Barbara Hanrahan

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey

In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World by Danielle Clode

2019

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegul Savas

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

The White Girl by Tony Birch

Lanny by Max Porter

The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie

Islands by Peggy Frew

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Heart of the Grass Tree by Molly Murn

2018

The Children’s House by Alice Nelson

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Flames by Robbie Arnott

Monkey Grip by Helen Garner

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

In the Garden of the Fugitives by Ceridwen Dovey

The Only Story by Julian Barnes

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

The Choke by Sofie Laguna

2017

The Passage of Love by Alex Miller

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

The Last Garden by Eva Hornung

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

House of Names by Colm Tóibín

Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Barking Dogs by Rebekah Clarkson

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

2016

The Good People by Hannah Kent

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

LaRose by Louise Erdrich

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar

2015

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

The Golden Age by Joan London

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood

Sweet Caress by William Boyd

2024

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Held by Anne Michaels

2023

The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Strangers at the Port by Lauren Aimee Curtis

Cousins by Aurora Venturini

Ghost Music by An Yu

Shy by Max Porter

When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

A Sunday in Ville d’Avray by Dominique Barberis

Delphi by Clare Pollard

2022

Limberlost by Robbie Arnott

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

2024

Birdy by Sharon Kernot

The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk

2023

The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson

Island by David Almond

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

A Dark Inheritance by H.S. Askwith

Grace Notes by Karen Comer

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

2022

Something About Alaska by JA Cooper

Forestfall by Lyndall Clipstone

The Snow Laundry by Mette Jakobsen

Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

The Revelry by Katherine Webber

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Medusa by Jessie Burton and illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill

2021

Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Henry Hamlet’s Heart by Rhiannon Wilde

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Game Changer by Neal Schusterman

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

2020

Call Down the Hawke by Maggie Stiefvater

Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Snow by Gina Inverarity

You Were Made For Me by Jenna Guillaume

Future Girl by Asphyxia

2019

It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

2024

Andromache Between Worlds by Gabriel Bergmoser

Tyger by SF Said

2023

Ghost Book by Remy Lai

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell

Sunshine on Vinegar Street by Karen Comer

Wilder by Penny Chrimes

Odder by Katherine Applegate

The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr

Honour Among Ghosts by Sean Williams