Book Club
The Book Club was started in January 2024. Any Probus member can join. We have capped Club numbers at 12 and have now reached our maximum for the time being. Prospective members can be added to the waiting list by emailing David Cunliffe at d.cunliffe@gmail.com.
We meet at 10:00 am, usually on the last Wednesday of the month, at the regular coffee mornings at the United Reformed Church next to Heswall Tesco's. Members of the Club take turns each month to suggest books for the group to read. Two books are chosen and group members then choose whether to read one or both (or indeed neither!).
The aim is to find books that are enjoyable and/or interesting to read, that group members may not otherwise have discovered or read. The selected books can be borrowed from Heswall Library, downloaded on Kindle, or purchased through the usual sources.
Monthly meetings of the group are relaxed and informal, and generally last about an hour. The chat mainly covers the books read since the last meeting, and details are given of the two books selected for the following month. Coffee and biscuits are provided for the usual coffee morning fee of £3.00.
The next Book Club meeting will be at 10:00am on Wednesday, 26 November.
November 2025 book choices:
Books previously read in 2025
| To Kill A Mockingbird | Harper Lee | |
| American Dirt | Jeanine Cummins | |
| The Mersey Sound | McGough, Henri & Patten | |
| Heart Of Darkness | Joseph Conrad | |
| All The President's Men | Woodward & Bernstein | |
| A Hundred Years In The Highlands | Osgood Hanbury MacKenzie | |
| Class Of '37 | Hester Barron | |
| Caledonian Road | Andrew O'Hagan | |
| Still Life | Sarah Winman | |
| Gorky Park | Martin Cruz Smith | |
| Still William | Richmal Crompton | |
| My Father's House | Joseph O'Connor | |
| The Mermaids Singing | Val McDermid | |
| Back In The Day | Melvyn Bragg | |
| The Wild Men | David Torrance | |
| The Fear Index | Robert Harris | |
| Wilding | Isabella Tree | |
| Not Thomas | Sara Gethin | |
| Longitude | Dava Sobel | |
| Slow Horses | Mick Herron |
Top 10 most popular books read in 2024
Of the 22 books chosen by members to read in 2024, the following were the most popular (average score out of 10):
| Title | Author | Score |
| 1. Munich | Robert Harris | 8.6 |
| 2. The Power of Geography | Tim Marshall | 8.5 |
| 3. The Sisters Brothers | Patrick deWitt | 8.1 |
| 4. The Blackhouse | Peter May | 8.0 |
| 5. March Violets | Philip Kerr | 7.9 |
| 6. A Fine Balance | Rohinton Mistry | 7.7 |
| 7. When She Was White | Judith Stone | 7.7 |
| 8. Erebus | Michael Palin | 7.7 |
| 9. The Worst Journey in the World | Apsley Cherry-Garrard | 7.6 |
| 10. The World For Sale | Javier Blas | 7.5 |
Please contact David Cunliffe at d.cunliffe@gmail.com if you would like any further information.