Gentle Book Club on Substack is back
2025 nominations open: celebrate your favourite female author
About a year ago, I had an idea. This seed grew into the Gentle Book Club, with more than 250 nominations submitted by you, celebrating female authors on Substack and read slowly, without fuss, around the Wheel of the Year.
We are currently finishing up the 2024 edition with the sublime ‘Rest and Calm’ by yoga teacher
(reading from winter solstice 21st December to 1st February) followed by a deliciously spicy pick of ‘Insatiable’ by (reading from Imbolc 2nd February to 19th March). Year One of Gentle Book Club will complete beautifully on the cusp of spring equinox 2025.What do you think. Shall we go again?!
the idea
When a spark of inspiration lands in my cluttered brain, I can’t help but bow down to it. These nuggets, delivered like a wrapped gift, like a decadent silver-foiled chocolate, should never be ignored. (I hope you trust your own intuition enough to do the same).
About twelve months ago I had the stirrings of an idea. A rehashing of sorts, as I had already guided a similar project in 2019 via a Facebook group. Looking back, that online community prepared us for the chaos that was to ensue in 2020, perhaps. And now, for more joyful reasons, it’s back.
I am happy to announce Year Two of our very own ‘Writing Around The Edges’ gentle book club community. A reading club that will run seasonally throughout the next year, and one which will again be paced very slowly, to accommodate our overly busy yet beautiful lives.
Let’s again pick one book to read, quietly and independently but as a collective, at the turn of the eight seasons. Eight books. Twelve months.
As the wheel revolves we will each read the chosen book in our own time and space. As the wheel moves on again, we will change titles once more and our reading focus will shift. But a thread will weave throughout; my wish is that we can lift female authors, who also write here on Substack.
I would love to encourage those represented by smaller publishing houses, those who are independently published, those who come from under-represented backgrounds, or those who are newer to the world as a published author. Quietly life-changing books that encourage us to think widely, write eloquently and live creatively.
As well as Paula and Daisy, those nominated and chosen for Gentle Book Club 2024 were:
, , , , , .Who will you nominate now for 2025?
Criteria for our book choices:
written by female authors who also write on Substack (with preference for newer authors, those not yet with huge platforms, those from under-represented backgrounds, or independently published/smaller publishers)
fiction, memoir, poetry, short stories and nonfiction - let’s enjoy them all
slowly, gently, seasonally paced
all eight choices mapped out for the next twelve months, in advance, making it beautifully set-out for you to plan your reading goals for 2025
exquisitely written, inspiring for our own creative practice, food for our own creativity and words
each choice to be read independently by us throughout each six week season. No Zooms, nowhere to be, read when and where you like
stay in touch throughout the year on Substack Notes (feel free to tag me
so that I can restack your thoughts and photos, as well as tagging the author you’re reading)
…and that’s it. Simple.
This project has to be gentle, and we all have to take this slowly. My own capacity is such that any speed throws me into turmoil. It will also have to be financially free to you, because monetary attachments offer me nothing but paralysis. But I’m ready to take to this tiny stage. I’m clearing my throat, stepping out and throwing my arms wide to welcome you all in. I’ve weathered this latest creative fire and subsequent inner winter in the most nourishing way. Coming full circle, the end of one cycle of growth now bleeds effortlessly into the next. This tender accountability will give me the sweet-tempered structure I need, and maybe you need, to continue showing up.
If you would like to join in with Year Two of gentle book club, simply make sure you're subscribed here, pop a comment below and nominate your own author, book choice, or yourself there. Keep an eye out for the 2025 reading list in February.
🖤 Luisa
Such a lovely idea, Luisa. May I please nominate my own book, Chasing Fog? It was published in August and is a meditation on fog and mist, a love song to weather and nature’s power to transform. 💚
I would like to recommend Sophie Strand's "The Body Is a Doorway". Every time I hear her interviewed she opens my mind up to larger ideas, ways of seeing the world and the times we live in.