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:

  1. Take time for yourself to learn something new or discover a book you might not have chosen.
  2. Connect with Imperial alumni over words and ideas, have a conversation and enjoy a good debate.
  3. Benefit from professional moderators and facilitators to make sure you have a great experience and so the chat stays on track.

Our current book:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (October – December 2024)

When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.

How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.

Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.