Book Clubs

  • A dimly lit restaurant or bar with people sitting and talking at tables. There are bookshelves filled with books and warm lighting from hanging lamps and string lights.

    Bristol Book Club Social

    Running for five years now, we’re a small group meeting in Bristol on the last Tuesday of the month. We read a diverse range of authors spanning many different countries, time periods and cultures. We seem to be particularly fond of books that challenge the status quo, encouraging us to think outside of societal norms and question everything. Here’s a sample of some of our favourite reads over the last few years:

    + Come Join our Disease by Sam Byers
    + Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
    + The Power by Naomi Alderman
    + Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
    + Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters
    + White Teeth by Zadie Smith
    + Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
    + The Undoing of Arlo Knott by Heather Child (Bristol Author)
    + An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie (Bristol Author)
    + Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
    + All About Love by Bell Hooks
    + Another Country by James Baldwin
    + Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
    + Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
    + Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
    + There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
    + All Fours by Miranda July
    + The New Life by Tom Crewe

    We have two spaces available and are currently taking applications for two new readers to join us from January 2026.

    If you’d like to join us, click the button below and pop us an email with the headline ‘BRISTOL BOOK CLUB SOCIAL’ and tell us the following three things: Where you live, the name of your favourite venue in Bristol and tell us two or three titles you’ve read this year that you really loved or really hated. We look forward to hearing from you!

    Submit Application
  • A human skull resting on an old, worn book with a dark background, decorated with dried leaves and a small flower.

    Virtual Silent Book Club of Death

    This Mortal Life is bringing The Virtual Silent Book Club of Death to the UK!

    Silent Book Club is a global community of readers with nearly 2000 chapters in 60+ countries. Members gather in person and online to read together in camaraderie. You meet with strangers, and politely ignore them while reading a book of your own choosing. Is this every introverts dream? Perhaps.

    Death Project Manager started the first Silent Book Club of Death in Los Angeles in 2022 (with The Death Deck, Be Present Care, and Heavenly Mist Death Doula), creating virtual and in person spaces specifically for exploring mortality and grief.

    This Mortal Life is teaming up with Death Project Manager to bring you the first UK Chapter of Virtual Silent Book Club of Death. A book club specifically themed on death, grief and all the interesting and beautiful things that weave between them. Yes, it’s niche…and all are welcome here.

    These online meetups will include 30 minutes of everyone reading silently, a book of their own choosing, followed by optional chatting about the books we’re reading. They will also be great opportunities to get book recommendations, network with people working in death and grief spaces and meet interesting new people.

    Virtual Silent Book Club of Death UK events are scheduled for the following dates and times are GMT (UK). They are free to attend, please book via Eventbrite at the link below to receive the link to join each event.

    Sunday, 23rd November, 8-9.30pm

    Sunday, 25th January, 8-9.30pm

    Sunday, 29th March, 8-9.30pm

    Book Now