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With both our reading intentions for the year in mind AND the Willoughby Book Club Reading Challenge prompts, we're off! We've all started the year in a flurry of reading, and have all made the most of the cold, dark evenings by enjoying the company of some good reads. What have you been enjoying recently?   A Touch of Mistleoe by Barbara Comyns Barbara Comyns was a really fun discovery of mine towards the end of 2023. A Touch of Mistletoe, a forgotten classic republished by Daunt Books, alongside the equally wonderful Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, is a...

The arrival of 2024 brings us all a fresh start, and with it, the opportunity for new reading adventures. At The Willoughby Book Club, we're kicking off the year by embracing reading resolutions, our personal commitments to explore new genres, revisit literary classics, and to throw ourselves in to a brand new year of reading. Maybe you've thought about creating your own reading resolution for 2024? Be it conquering that towering to-be-read pile, delving into diverse voices, or simply dedicating more time to the simple joy of reading, let's embark on a year of literary discovery together. Stay tuned for inspiration,...

It's a brand-new year and time for a brand-new Willoughby Book Club Reading Challenge! We've put together a series of prompts, sensible and silly, fun and serious, to help nudge you through a year of reading. Whether you're intending to read 10 books or 100,  if you read for pleasure, learning or escapism, there's no judgement here. Let us know how you get on!     WBC Reading Challenge 2024 - A seasonal book - A book from a debut author - A non-fiction book - Animal, vegetable or mineral on the cover - A book set in the 1990s - A backlist book by...

Have you heard of 'Jolabokaflod'? This is an Icelandic tradition, roughly translating as 'Christmas Book Flood', and it sounds heavenly to us! During the Second World War Iceland didn't suffer rationing on paper, and this, together with Iceland's long literary history, meant that books became a particularly popular present at Christmas while other gifts were scarce. Beginning in 1944 the Icelandic publishing trade issue a catalogue of newly published books which is distributed to all Icelandic households. This has come to signal the start of the festive season which culminates on Christmas Eve, the biggest gift-giving day of the year....