2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This month we will be reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.

Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.

One of my favorite books of all time. Hope you all enjoy! ^^

I started this yesterday and I already love it!

Well I thought starting this late in November with all the other stuff I have going on I'd at least finish it in the month it's set for but I can't put it down. I'll be done today or tomorrow.

Just placed a request at my library. Excited to start my first group read!

I adore this book, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to re-read it now, I just have too many other books on my plate :) Plus I started The Nightingale really late so I still have that to finish in December. But have fun everyone, I think you're gonna love it! :)

I stared this yesterday. I reached my 2019 challenge goal. I’m looking forward to participating in this group read - my first.

Already had it in my library and ready to dive into it! Yay!

Had this on my TBR list and I am about half way through. However, I am feeling ambivalent and I am not sure I would finish it if not for this discussion. I haven’t given up yet. I have learned some books are worth the wait, so to speak. We shall see.

Dawn wrote: "Had this on my TBR list and I am about half way through. However, I am feeling ambivalent and I am not sure I would finish it if not for this discussion. I haven’t given up yet. I have learned some..."

I am feeling the same way, but I am continuing on!

If your find yourself trudging through this one, keep reading. It’s a good story about relationships, emotions, and our shared humanity. However, I wished the book’s setting was more explicit from the start, but I think that may of been intentional; as a way of keeping me in a state of “why” while reading the story.

Ken wrote: "If your find yourself trudging through this one, keep reading. It’s a good story about relationships, emotions, and our shared humanity. However, I wished the book’s setting was more explicit from ..."

Thanks for this, Ken. I'd begun to wonder if it was worth it and if i should continue. I am 12% in and so many "whats whys and hows" and not a hint of an answer.

I read this a couple years ago. I didn't enjoy it. I thought the narrative really dragged and the story is well trodden in the genre.

Ken wrote: "If your find yourself trudging through this one, keep reading. It’s a good story about relationships, emotions, and our shared humanity. However, I wished the book’s setting was more explicit from ..."

I agree Ken! I was not as into the story when I first started reading it and it took me awhile to get into it. About halfway through I got really invested in it. Keep up with it. It makes you think a lot.

There are only a few authors/books that can "hook" me with a story that is slow moving- but this was one for sure. I really loved this book. I think the mystery of what was going on kept me intrigued, but the characters were so well developed that I needed to hear "their" story so I found it hard to put down. Thank you to everyone who voted for it as a group read

I’m actually reading this and didn’t realize it was a group read. I’ve finally got to part 3. I thought I would have read this quicker. I think I finally am invested in the characters enough to try and figure out what is going to happen. I am listening to the suggestions that it gets better. I hope so 🤞🤞

I finally finished this book at 10pm last night. It took me awhile to read. It definitely got better at the halfway point by not so much that it would be one of my favorite books. I ended up rating it like 3 stars. I thought the reason why was an interesting one. I just wanted more world building but I think the author wanted us to stay in the dark about it.