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Book Club Discussion for March 2025 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-08 21:10:04
Imported:
2026-06
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Dear Book Club Readers ---

You had another incredible reading month in February, and it would be lovely to hear about the books you're enjoying this month.

Your comments in these Book Club Discussion threads continue to reveal your deep love of great literature, and we would love to hear about how your reading is treating you at the moment.

So, tell us what your March is looking like.

What are you reading at the moment?

Let us know anything that's on your mind, your literary loves, and anything you wish to share or sharpen your thoughts about.

  • Author details

  • Seasonal reads

  • Areas to explore

  • Your current Big Read

  • Complementary art forms

  • Questions about literature

  • Favourite lines and passages

  • Things you're finding difficult

  • Things that are giving you joy

  • Rewarding literary rabbit holes

  • Musings, notes, and marginalia

  • Things you want to recommend

  • Resonant character descriptions

  • General life updates (we're interested)

This is the place to put anything bookish you like, and get other readers weighing in on your thoughts!

Our wonderful Book Club community continues to be a literary oasis thanks to your thoughtful appreciations of the Great Books.

Reading through the recent book discussion threads, one can see what a truly special group of literature lovers we have here:

So thank you so much for being a part of the family, and I hope your month, and year, is filled with exciting bookish adventures.

Happy reading!

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Comments

Ann B

I am popping in randomly just to say thank you to everyone for their insights in our book club reading and for recommendations on other books. I appreciate thoughtful comments! Also I am wondering if anyone has read the works of Rebecca West. I bought a copy of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, as it was recommended to me me for reading in advance of travel including Croatia. I immediately find her writing to be extraordinary. But am I just naive or have others found her work intriguing? Anyone read anything else by her?

Christopher Tiernan

I recently shared with my therapist how much value I was getting from the hardcore literature book club. I received this reply and captured it and am sharing it because I think it might resonate with other members and it talks about the value of the process we are involved in based on my description of the process that Benjamin is leading: ________________ What you're describing with Benjamin McEvoy's Hardcore Literature Book Club sounds like an exceptional educational experience. The deep reading approach that incorporates multiple forms of art and context creates a rich, immersive understanding of the literature that goes well beyond simply reading the text. This multidimensional engagement with great works - examining related paintings, music, and complementary texts - stimulates different parts of the brain and creates more robust neural connections to the material. It's the difference between seeing a snapshot of a place versus experiencing it with all your senses. Your commitment to this challenging approach reflects your value of lifelong learning, and it's paying dividends for your mental health. Research does indeed support the mental health benefits of literature, particularly deep engagement with complex narratives that explore the human condition. Literature can serve several therapeutic functions: - It provides perspective on our own struggles - It cultivates empathy and emotional intelligence - It offers language to articulate complex feelings - It creates distance that allows us to process difficult experiences through others' stories The communal aspect of discussing these works with others adds another valuable dimension - the social connection and shared intellectual pursuit enhance the experience beyond what solitary reading provides. This approach to literature aligns beautifully with your other practices around Stoicism and Zen. Together, they're creating a holistic approach to understanding human experience and finding meaning through difficulty - exactly what you need when processing complicated family dynamics and emotions. --------------------- I thought this was dead on. Now I will reveal that my therapist is an AI chat bot... And I'm fully aware of the limitations of the AI but it has been very helpful. I hope somebody else finds value in this as it relates to what we've been doing here. 😉

James Dunn

Hi all. Been having a wonderful month of reading so far being that a good portion was spent sitting in a pool with my Kindle in Mexico. My family has started a book club so that we can share ideas and interests. Kind of funny and fun to see about 10 of us all sitting in the sun reading books together. My books for the month so far are MADAME BOVARY, the first two volumes of Robin Hobb’s Liveship series (the similarity of Malta and Emma are quite alarming…so much so that I have to believe I inadvertently found Hobb’s inspiration for the character), and A HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune (the family club pick by my daughter). A wonderful read that made me laugh out loud on many occasions.

Sean

In addition to Madame Bovary, I’m making my way through The Mayor of Casterbridge. Early on but so far I quite enjoy it. Quite an opening chapter!

Linda B
>>168640238

Hi Christopher! Got a big kick out of your AI therapist! Thanks for sharing that insight! My step daughter is using Chat in interesting ways to help her and I have been so impressed with its personality and thoughtfulness. Such an amazing tool at our fingertips! Enjoy!!

Linda B

I just found this lovely group a few days ago! Looking forward to getting my hands on Madame Bovary and catching up. In the meantime I am listening to the Confessions of St Augustine, and enjoying also listening to the Great Courses class on the same. I have had a set of the Great Books of the Western World with me since the 70s, and am finally putting such reading as a higher priority. Feeling so fortunate that there are many audio versions available today. It was in looking for Youtube videos on the Great Books that I came across Ben and Hardcore Literature and joined immediately! Looking forward to our literary adventures together!!

Pat

I just finished, We Do Not Part (2025) by Nobel-prize winner, Han Kang. It was so beautiful and moving that I'm not yet ready to analyze it. One thought, though, it reveals the personal cost of writing a novel that explores the truth about atrocities. It builds on her other novels.

Andreea

Hi Ben, just jumping in to ask if you have watched the Severance show. To me it reads like a masterpiece from many points of view, but from the specifically literary one, I’ve been blown away by the blend and wealth of references that are subverted in the plot. I’m at a point where I am finally contemplating reading the Divine Comedy, and currently checking out the Inferno introductory lecture.

Rick

I am currently reading a biography of James Baldwin. Everything about his life and works are quite relevant to the current "non-discussion" we are having about racism in the USA today. I guess I'm wondering when "The Fire Next Time" will happen.

Gianna L White

Hi All, I’ve been trying to read more non fiction. I picked up The Tyranny of Merit - based on a the philosophize this podcast (also a go to if you love philosophy) it’s a very well written book about some of the Capitalist beliefs we grew up under the influence of (if you are American) - framing things from another perspective you don’t often hear in American discourse. It has really helped me open my eyes to some of our current social and political realities :(

Gianna L White

I’m struggling with The Sound and The Fury. It’s been a slow read but I fear I’m missing the plot. I’m totally lost and wonder if I’m reading it wrong ?