Reviews
What the writers said, and then what we said
Featured authors review the books they love first. Beneath them, the members — over two hundred reviews from the circles, unedited and rarely unanimous.
Featured Author Reviews
50 writers on the books that hold up
Every author the collective features is asked one question: which book on our shelves would you press into a stranger's hands, and why?
Kazuo Ishiguro
Novelist, screenwriter, Nobel laureate
★★★★★
“I have taught One Hundred Years of Solitude three times and it has never once behaved the way I expected. That is the highest compliment I can pay a book.”
on One Hundred Years of Solitude
Ursula K. Le Guin
Novelist, essayist, poet
★★★★★
“Wuthering Heights is the sort of novel that makes you put your own manuscript in a drawer for a week. Read it slowly.”
on Wuthering Heights
Arundhati Roy
Novelist, essayist, activist
★★★★★
“What Moby-Dick understands is that restraint is a form of pressure. Nothing is shouted and everything lands.”
on Moby-Dick
Toni Morrison
Novelist
★★★★★
“I recommend Americanah to every writer who tells me they have run out of things to say.”
on Americanah
Ursula K. Le Guin
Novelist
★★★★★
“Pachinko does the difficult thing: it trusts the reader completely and is never once vague.”
on Pachinko
Elena Ferrante
Novelist
★★★★★
“There is a chapter in Klara and the Sun I reread whenever I have forgotten what prose can do.”
on Klara and the Sun
Virginia Woolf
Novelist, essayist
★★★★★
“The Handmaid's Tale refuses to console you, and by the last page that refusal feels like respect.”
on The Handmaid's Tale
Jane Austen
Novelist
★★★★★
“I disagreed with a third of Catch-22 and thought about all of it for months. Argue with it in company.”
on Catch-22
Charles Dickens
Novelist
★★★★★
“The structure of The Leopard looks careless until you notice it is holding up the entire roof.”
on The Leopard
Albert Camus
Novelist, philosopher
★★★★★
“The Sound and the Fury is proof that a small book can carry an enormous weight without straining.”
on The Sound and the Fury
Thomas Mann
Novelist
★★★★★
“I gave The Picture of Dorian Gray to my daughter, which is the only review I actually trust myself to give.”
on The Picture of Dorian Gray
Julio Cortazar
Novelist
★★★★★
“Reading A Wizard of Earthsea again in my fifties, I found a completely different novel waiting. Both were true.”
on A Wizard of Earthsea
38 more author reviews to explore
Readers & Members
220 reviews from the circles
Written by members after the discussion night, when the book has had time to settle.
Theo Lindqvist
Argentina · member since 2019
★★★★★
“I finished Crime and Punishment on a train and had to sit for a while afterwards. The discussion night was even better.”
on Crime and Punishment
Kwame Traore
Sweden · member since 2022
★★★★★
“I would never have chosen The Brothers Karamazov on my own. That is exactly why I am in this club.”
on The Brothers Karamazov
Gabriel Fernandes
Uganda · member since 2025
★★★★★
“Half of our circle loved A Fine Balance and half were furious. Best Thursday of the year.”
on A Fine Balance
Jonah Lindberg
Bangladesh · member since 2017
★★★★★
“The Road took me three weeks and I resented none of them.”
on The Road
Mateo Beaumont
Spain · member since 2020
★★★★★
“I came for The Catcher in the Rye and stayed for the arguments about it.”
on The Catcher in the Rye
Aisha Liu
Iceland · member since 2023
★★★★★
“Read The Sound and the Fury in two nights. Slept badly, happily.”
on The Sound and the Fury
Idris Oyelaran
Cameroon · member since 2026
★★★★★
“The Litura discussion guide made The Left Hand of Darkness twice the book it was on my own.”
on The Left Hand of Darkness
Ravi Tran
Vietnam · member since 2018
★★★★★
“A Little Life is the first novel in years that made me underline things.”
on A Little Life
Greta Ivanova
Netherlands · member since 2021
★★★★★
“I nearly gave up on Demon Copperhead at page sixty. Very glad I did not.”
on Demon Copperhead
Sanne Bello
Ukraine · member since 2024
★★★★★
“Our circle spent forty minutes on one paragraph of Giovanni's Room and nobody was bored.”
on Giovanni's Room
Tarek Castillo
United States · member since 2016
★★★★★
“Stamped from the Beginning is quiet and then suddenly it is not.”
on Stamped from the Beginning
Rin Karlsen
Australia · member since 2019
★★★★★
“I handed Devotions to my brother the day I finished it.”
on Devotions
Linh Demir
Turkey · member since 2022
★★★★★
“Not an easy read, but Persepolis paid me back with interest.”
on Persepolis
Aino Suzuki
United Arab Emirates · member since 2025
★★★★★
“I have recommended Pride and Prejudice to eleven people and apologised to none of them.”
on Pride and Prejudice
Etienne Weber
South Africa · member since 2017
★★★★★
“The Bluest Eye gave me a new way of noticing things, which is all I ask of a book.”
on The Bluest Eye
Andrei Dubois
Brazil · member since 2020
★★★★★
“The kind of book you finish and immediately want a room full of people to talk to about. Norwegian Wood, exactly.”
on Norwegian Wood
Sipho Marek
Romania · member since 2023
★★★★★
“Reading 1984 with the collective turned a private habit into the best conversation of my month.”
on 1984
Priya Iqbal
Tanzania · member since 2026
★★★★★
“I read My Brilliant Friend slowly on purpose to make it last.”
on My Brilliant Friend
Kofi Lombardi
Pakistan · member since 2018
★★★★★
“The Picture of Dorian Gray deserves the reputation, which I did not expect to say.”
on The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sofia Calloway
Peru · member since 2021
★★★★★
“Joined for one month, read The Fifth Season, stayed three years.”
on The Fifth Season
Rafael Mansour
Finland · member since 2024
★★★★★
“I finished Housekeeping on a train and had to sit for a while afterwards. The discussion night was even better.”
on Housekeeping
Kenji Karimi
Ivory Coast · member since 2016
★★★★★
“I would never have chosen The Argonauts on my own. That is exactly why I am in this club.”
on The Argonauts
Adaeze Nakamura
South Korea · member since 2019
★★★★★
“Half of our circle loved The Sixth Extinction and half were furious. Best Thursday of the year.”
on The Sixth Extinction
Isolde de Vries
Germany · member since 2022
★★★★★
“Meditations took me three weeks and I resented none of them.”
on Meditations
196 more member reviews to explore