Book Group

Our next book and meet...

The book group will meet at 5.30pm Tuesday 3 June in the Library Exhibition Space and online (on Teams) to chat about Dream count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

"My heart ached and soared as I immersed myself in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count, a soul-stirring masterpiece that left me breathless." GoodReads

"When a new book by Chimamanda Adichie arrives, I know to clear the decks. Her pounding intellect and fiery personality burn on every page." GoodReads

"Adichie writes so accessibly yet with so much depth; her prose is uncomplicated but clear-eyed in a way that reminds you what story-as-art looks like, sounds like." GoodReads

The book group has also added the option of reading another Grimm's Fairy tale (Rapunzel), especially for anyone who maybe does not have time to make it all the way through the main book.

A pdf of Rapunzel can be found here

All staff and students welcome! 

To get involved online you can join using the link below. We look forward to seeing you there!

Click here to join

Once you have clicked on the link you will be able to join the meeting from there. Alternatively you can request to join the team by emailing Hazel Wright on h.wright@tees.ac.uk

We usually meet once a month on Tuesday at 5.30pm in the Library Exhibition Space and on Teams.

Please note - you don’t need to have read the whole book to come along to a meeting. At the end of each meeting, we will dedicate some time to chat about other books, films, TV series we’ve been reading or watching. You can attend on Teams or in-person, whichever suits you best.

Reading for pleasure and meeting new people is a great way to support your wellbeing.  Reading for pleasure is reading for enjoyment, learning, and for personal development. Benefits include:

• Reading new and different books, genres you haven’t tried before
• Development of your communication skills, literacy, and vocabulary.
• Learning about different cultures, societies and communities, and politics.
• Gaining an understanding of other worlds, you haven’t yet encountered
• Getting lost in a story well told. So lost you can’t put the book down!

(Duncan, S. (2013) Understanding Reading for Pleasure for emerging adult readers. National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC). Available at: Understanding Reading for Pleasure for emerging adult readers - UCL Discovery. (Accessed: 24 May 2021).

These benefits are reflective of the 5 ways to wellbeing, an evidence-based approach identifying 5 ways to improving our overall wellbeing.

We read books from all genres and decide on what we read as a group. We currently meet virtually on MS Teams for fortnightly meetings and we read 1 book per month. There is no obligation to come to every session- just pop in when you can. The book group is open to all students and staff.

We would love to have your suggestions for books to read in the next academic year, please send suggestions to studentwellbeing@tees.ac.uk - suggestions so far include:

Madeline Miller - Circe

Evelyn Skye - Circle of Shadows

Nadine Brandes - Romanov

Neal Shusterman - Scythe

Beth O'Leary  - The Flatshare

Taylor Jenkins Reid  - Daisy Jones and the Six

Nicole Yoon - The sun is also a star

Stephen Fry - Mythos

Pat Barker - Regeneration

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace

Margaret Atwood - Surfacing

Harper Lee - To kill a mockingbird 

Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott - Can you see me? 

Kate Atkinson - Big Sky 

Khaled Hosseini - A thousand splendid suns 

Middlesbrough Campus Library is located in Teesside University Campus Heart

Teesside University,
Student & Library Services
Middlesbrough
Tees Valley
TS1 3BX