The Imperial Alumni Book Club is here
Try something new today: connect with fellow Imperial graduates online to read and discuss books. There is no cost to join, you just have to source a copy of the books.
How does it work?
The Club will connect through a private online forum where members can discuss the current book and network with each other. The group will spend about two months on each book, so you'll have plenty of time to read.
Why should you join?
You don't need a reason to pick up a book, but here are three advantages of choosing to read with us:
- Take time for yourself to learn something new or discover a book you might not have chosen.
- Connect with Imperial alumni over words and ideas, have a conversation and enjoy a good debate.
- Benefit from professional moderators and facilitators to make sure you have a great experience and so the chat stays on track.
Our current book:
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (March – May 2025)
Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor both professionally and personally, and to amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors--some real, some spectral--that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core.
In exposing the jumble of motivations that drive Arrowby and the other characters, Iris Murdoch lays bare "the truth of untruth"--the human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises they present to the world. Played out against a vividly rendered landscape and filled with allusions to myth and magic, Charles's confrontation with the tidal rips of love and forgiveness is one of Murdoch's most moving and powerful novels.