OUR BOOK CLUBS
Hello book lovers! Welcome to your local book club.
Matilda Bookshop now hosts four book clubs for different ages.
All book clubbers receive a 20% discount on the book of the month.
To be involved, please join one of the book clubs described below and you’ll be emailed when our upcoming dates are announced.
Hope to see you soon at one of Matilda Bookshop book clubs!
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 November 26 at 6pm or 730pm
Our Matilda Bookshop Book Club has been running for more than nine 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.
JOIN THE MATILDA BOOK CLUB MAILING LIST
MATILDA BOOK CLUB October wrap up
In October, we discussed Elizabeth Strout's latest novel of Maine and its ordinary/extraordinary inhabitants, Tell Me Everything. Many of us were excited to enter Strout's fictional cosmos once again, being avid followers of the intimate unravelling of her staple characters, Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge... and now, Bob Burgess. Not to mention the charismatic cameos of dozens and dozens of others. And for some readers, entering Strout's world was new and unfamiliar territory. In all cases, we resonated with the celebration of storytelling that this book invokes. Stories within stories become touchstones of love and loneliness. We loved discussing Strout's own storytelling techniques, including the seeming effortlessness of her writing. It was mentioned that this effortlessness is both a strength, but also has the effect of a potential flattening of tone. There was much to unravel about the enigmatic use of weather and dialogue, as well as encompassing chat about sin-eaters, ghosts in marriages, and the use of the collective third person perspective. And more besides. Strout always delivers even if for many this wasn't a favourite of her ouvre. MOLLY
To read the full wrap up of October book club, please click HERE.
THE RED DOOR BOOK CLUB
ADULT READERS
WHEN: Wednesday 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: Rose
OUR NEXT BOOK CLUB DATE: Wednesday November 27 2024
The Red Door Book Club is our newest club! The sessions are convened by Rose, an avid reader, published author and bookseller at Matilda Bookshop.
If you are interested in receiving book club updates, please sign up to the newsletter below.
JOIN THE RED DOOR BOOK CLUB MAILING LIST
RED DOOR BOOK CLUB October wrap up
In October we diverged from our theme of women running away from life, and settled in to discuss Sally Rooney’s wonderful novel about two brothers grieving the loss of their father, Intermezzo. Many of us were already Rooney fans coming into it but plenty had never read her work before - and one very impressive person managed to get through her whole backlist in preparation for book club!
The consensus was this was A Very Good Book: beautifully written, with enigmatic but often relatable characters, not to mention some of the best sex scenes in modern literature. I loved our nuanced discussions of class, unconventional romantic love and sibling relationships, and the choices of subject matter and perspective that authors make. As someone said afterwards, the book was great but the discussion was better.
November 27 will be our final book club for the year, so keep an eye out for the first book club of 2025 sometime in January. ROSE
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: September 24th 2024, October 29th 2024
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.
JOIN THE TREMENDOUS TEENS BOOK CLUB MAILING LIST
TEEN BOOK CLUB September Wrap Up
The Tremendous Teen book club read Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin this month. Although it took some a bit of time to get into the book, we all ended up really enjoying it! Everyone found the concept fascinating and we were all really interested in the relationships between the characters, particularly that of Liz and Owen. It was a surprise to everyone when they learnt that this book was initially published in 2004! Rosie
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: September 23rd 2024, October 28th 2024
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.
JOIN THE MAGICAL MINDS BOOK CLUB MAILING LIST
MAGICAL MINDS BOOK CLUB August Wrap Up
Ferris was a sweet little slice of life - most of us enjoyed the chance to just spend time with a character living their life rather than the chaotic adventures of book clubs past. Although billed as a love story, many of us had hoped for a little more love and romance, though we concluded that perhaps familial and friendship love counted too. This was, for most of us, an introduction to Kate DiCamillo, and we found that her book was very American, where many we read reflect our own lives in Australia or fantasy lands. We discussed at length, what time this book might be set in, using clues from the novel to help guide us, and learnt a bit more about collective nouns - did you know a collective of bunnies is called a berry?!
Kasey
PAST BOOK CLUB BOOKS
MATILDA BOOK CLUB
2024
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin
Clear by Carys Davies
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
Take What You Need by Idra Novey
Until August Gabriel García Márquez
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
THE RED DOOR BOOK CLUB
2024
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
All Fours by Miranda July
Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Vladivostok Circus by Elisa Shua Dusapin
The Variations by Patrick Langley
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
TREMENDOUS TEENS BOOK CLUB
2024
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo
The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist by Sophie Gonzalez
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
MAGICAL MINDS BOOK CLUB
2024
Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart by Samera Kamaleddine
The Night War by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
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
2022
The Great Fox Illusion by Justyn Edwards
What About Thao? by Oliver Phommavanh
Gus and The Starlight by Victoria Carless
The Lost Whale by Hannah Gold
When the War Came Home by Lesley Parr
The Howling Hag Mystery by Nicki Thornton
The Bird Singers by Eve Wersocki Morris
Following Frankenstein by Catherine Bruton
2021
The Memory Thief by Leonie Agnew
Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows by Denis Knight and Cristy Burne
The Shark Caller by Zillah Bethell
The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad
2020
Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker
Threads of Magic by Alison Croggon
Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke
Return to Roar by Jenny McLachlan
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor
2019
The Land of Roar by Jenny McLachlan
The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell
The Monster Who Wasn’t by TC Shelley