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: Matilda Bookshop Book Club will take a break over the festive season and resume on Tuesdays in February 2025.

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 November wrap up

In November, we discussed the atmospheric, erotic, and surprising The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. This thrilling debut was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and ended up being our favourite book of 2024. In postwar rural Netherlands, a young woman, Isabel, lives alone in a grand house and keeps it in running order to obsessive proportions. Her solitude is shattered by the arrival of her brother's girlfriend, Eva, who is thrust upon a bitterly opposed Isabel for four weeks while the brother is away. The shift from repulsion between the two women to desire seems unfathomable but unfolds exquisitely. The larger interrogation of Jewish dispossession in occupied Holland is devastating. We loved this book for the slow unravelling of the truth both personal and collective, for the sensuous sentences, for the eroticism, for the sense of foreboding, for the house as character, for the writing of sibling bloodlove, and for the imagery. Some were frustrated by the rushed ending, the over interiority of the characters, the explicit sex-scenes, and the fact that the characters were not likeable. This prompted a probing discussion about empathy, memory, love versus a sense of being seen, and whether it's necessary to like characters to love a book. A novel about devotion in all of its forms, The Safekeep, is an exhilarating and tense read. MOLLY

To read the full wrap up of November 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: Red Door Book Club will take a break over the festive season and resume on Wednesdays in February 2025.

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 2024 wrap up

In August, the lovely Emilie handed the reins of Red Door Book Club over to me and it’s become a highlight of my month. Around 12 of us gather in Matilda on Wednesday nights for chats, wine and trading lively opinions. At first there was a running theme of women running away from responsibility in the second half of 2024 (BreakdownAll Fours) but then we veered into sibling relationships and class consciousness (Intermezzo) and spies, sabotage and eco-activism (Creation Lake). I’m very much looking forward to more cosy Red Door book chats in 2025. 

Stay tuned for the announcement of the first book club of 2025 to resume in February. 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: Tremendous Teens Book Club will take a break over the festive season and resume for Term One on Tuesdays in February 2025.

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 2024 Wrap Up

What a joy it has been to welcome our voracious younger readers into the bookshop after hours for our kids book club programs in 2024. Each month we are engaged in thoughtful, funny conversations about the books we’ve read, the parts we’ve liked and disliked, characters that feel like our friends and the ways we wish endings had turned out differently. Many of our readers have been challenged to try new things, as have we, choosing books that we might otherwise not have picked up from the shelf. We can’t wait to meet again in 2025, and we especially can’t wait to share some truly awesome books with you! Wishing all our bookclubbers a very Merry Christmas and a safe and joyful summer holiday Kasey and Rosie 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: Magical Minds Club will take a break over the festive season and resume for Term One on Mondays in February 2025.
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 2024 Wrap Up

What a joy it has been to welcome our voracious younger readers into the bookshop after hours for our kids book club programs in 2024. Each month we are engaged in thoughtful, funny conversations about the books we’ve read, the parts we’ve liked and disliked, characters that feel like our friends and the ways we wish endings had turned out differently. Many of our readers have been challenged to try new things, as have we, choosing books that we might otherwise not have picked up from the shelf. We can’t wait to meet again in 2025, and we especially can’t wait to share some truly awesome books with you! Wishing all our bookclubbers a very Merry Christmas and a safe and joyful summer holiday Kasey and Rosie
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