Thinking & Drinking

A book club in a Chester pub

Hi! We're Tim and Josh, and we've set up the book club we’d like to join: a relaxed place for 20s and 30s to read widely and think deeply, all while enjoying a fine pint or two.

The premise is simple:

Read a book.
Meet in a good pub in Chester on a Monday each month.
Have a good old chinwag.

Interested?

Rather incredibly, we're currently full up! But we'll be welcoming new members as soon as we can. If you'd like to join the waitlist, drop us an email.

In the meantime, check out the books and dates for 2025 below.

The books | 2025

This year's books were chosen by a group vote – as always, we've got five fiction, four non-fiction, and one piece of poetry or drama. Click the covers to find out more.

Orbital

Samantha Harvey

13th January

Nothing is True and Everything is Possible

Peter Pomerantsev

24th February

The Blood of Others

Simone de Beauvoir

7th April

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

Claire Dederer

5th May

Prophet Song

Paul Lynch

2nd June

Manorism

Yomi Sode

30th June

James

Percival Everett

21st July

From Beirut to Jerusalem

Thomas L. Friedman

8th September

This is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

27th October

Red Memory

Tania Branigan

1st December

Read widely. Think deeply. Have a laugh.

Wondering whether Thinking & Drinking is the book club for you? Here's what we're about.

Read widely

There’s a whole world of ideas and stories out there. We don’t want to be limited by what’s familiar or what you can buy in an airport. We want to be challenged and expand our minds.

Think deeply

The goal is to get past the classic questions (‘What did the author mean by this passage?’ Yuck) and discuss the bigger issues literature addresses. What do we learn about ourselves, our purpose, and our society from what we read?

Have a laugh

This is not a uni module! Ponderings will not be fact-checked, and points will not be given for polysyllables. Yes, we’ll focus on the book and try to push ourselves a bit, but fundamentally this is a chance to slow down and enjoy a drink and a chat with like-minded people.

Your hosts

Josh

Josh’s house is in danger of subsiding if he buys any more books. He studied English at uni and now works in charity comms, mostly because it gives him the chance to write. He spends far too much money on music both recorded and live, and has a habit of being 6’5”. His favourite author is Charles Dickens when he’s feeling happy, and Cormac McCarthy when he’s not.

Tim

Tim loves reading and walking in the mountains, not usually at the same time. A classics graduate who now works for a church, there’s not much he likes more than chatting about big ideas over a pint. His favourite author is John le Carré. Or Larry McMurtry. Or John Steinbeck. Tim’s not too sure about his favourite author.

Previous reads

To get a feel for the sort of thing we read, check out the books we've discussed in previous years and see how we scored each of them.

See what we've read

Join the waitlist

We're currently full, but membership is always changing and we'd love to welcome new members as soon as we're able. If you'd like to join the waitlist, drop us a line at thinkinganddrinkingchester@gmail.com and Tim or Josh will get in touch.

For existing members, we'll send out details of where and when we're meeting each month. And if you're looking for 2025 dates, you've just scrolled past them!

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