Once upon a time—in winter term 2011/2012 to be exact—a group of students at Paderborn University’s Department of English and American Studies decided that reading and discussing literature in seminars simply was not enough. There were so many stories to indulge in, so many genres, eras, and authors to explore, and so many thoughts to share. They were born2read. They were the founders of the English Book Club.
At a glance
The master list
This list includes every single text PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club has discussed since its founding in winter term 2011/2012.
| Title | Author | Format | Provenance | Year of Publication | Term of Discussion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke and Mirrors | Gaiman, Neil | Short Story Collection | UK | 1998 | 2011/2012 | |
| The Tell-Tale Heart | Poe, Edgar Allan | Short Story | US | 1843 | 2012 | |
| Uglies | Westerfeld, Scott | Novel | US | 2005 | 2012 | |
| Genesis | Beckett, Bernard | Novel | New Zealand | 2006 | 2012 | |
| The Turn of the Screw | James, Henry | Novella | US/UK | 1898 | 2012 | |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | Alexie, Sherman | Novel/Graphic Novel | US | 2007 | 2012/2013 | |
| Maus I: My Father Bleeds History | Spiegelman, Art | Graphic Novel | US | 1980 | 2012/2013 | |
| Delirium | Oliver, Lauren | Novel | US | 2011 | 2012/2013 | |
| The Secret Keeper | Morton, Kate | Novel | Australia | 2012 | 2012/2013 | |
| Peter Pan | Barrie, J. M. | Novel | UK | 1911 | 2013 | |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Baum, L. Frank | Novel | US | 1900 | 2013 | |
| Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West | Maguire, Gregory | Novel | US | 1995 | 2013 | |
| A Murder is Announced | Christie, Agatha | Novel | UK | 1950 | 2013 | |
| The Hobbit | Tolkien, J. R. R. | Novel | UK | 1937 | 2013 | |
| The Thirteenth Tale | Setterfield, Diane | Novel | UK | 2006 | 2013/2014 | |
| The Last Man | Shelley, Mary | Novel | UK | 1826 | 2013/2014 | |
| Things Fall Apart | Achebe, Chinua | Novel | Nigeria | 1958 | 2013/2014 | |
| The Night Circus | Morgenstern, Erin | Novel | US | 2011 | 2013/2014 | |
| Super Sad True Love Story | Shteyngart, Gary | Novel | US | 2010 | 2013/2014 | |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Chbosky, Stephen | Novel | US | 1999 | 2013/2014 | |
| What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal | Heller, Zoë | Novel | UK | 2003 | 2014 | |
| The Rosie Project | Simsion, Graeme | Novel | Australia | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Catch-22 | Heller, Joseph | Novel | US | 1961 | 2014 | |
| The Help | Stockett, Kathryn | Novel | US | 2009 | 2014 | |
| Watchmen | Moore, Alan / Gibbons, Dave | Graphic Novel | US | 1986/1987 | 2014 | |
| The Catcher in the Rye | Salinger, J. D. | Novel | US | 1951 | 2014/2015 | |
| High Fidelity | Hornby, Nick | Novel | UK | 1995 | 2014/2015 | |
| The Handmaid’s Tale | Atwood, Margaret | Novel | Canada | 1985 | 2014/2015 | |
| Tropic of Cancer | Miller, Henry | Novel | US | 1934 | 2014/2015 | |
| Harry Potter | Rowling, Joanne K. | Novel | UK | 1997–2007 | 2014/2015 | Christmas Special “Hogwarts Extravaganza” |
| The Monk | Lewis, Matthew Gregory | Novel | UK | 1796 | 2014/2015 | |
| The Color Purple | Walker, Alice | Novel | US | 1982 | 2014/2015 | |
| The Hedge Knight | Martin, George R. R. | Short Story | US | 1998 | 2014/2015 | |
| The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | Boyne, John | Novel | Ireland | 2006 | 2015 | |
| The Secret Life of Bees | Kidd, Sue Monk | Novel | US | 2001 | 2015 | |
| The Sun Also Rises | Hemingway, Ernest | Novel | US | 1926 | 2015 | |
| Howl’s Moving Castle | Jones, Diana Wynne | Novel | UK | 1986 | 2015 | |
| 50 Great Short Stories | Crane, Milton | Short Story Collection | Diverse | 1983 | 2015 | |
| Go Set a Watchman | Lee, Harper | Novel | US | 2015 | 2015/2016 | |
| Catalyst | Anderson, Laurie Halse | Novel | US | 2002 | 2015/2016 | |
| The Best of Judge Dredd | Wagner, John | Graphic Novel | US | 2013 | 2015/2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Dredd | Davis, Pete | Film Adaptation | US | 2012 | 2015/2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Johannes Cabal the Necromancer | Howard, Jonathan L. | Novel | UK | 2009 | 2015/2016 | |
| The Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Novel | US | 1850 | 2015/2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Easy A | Gluck, Will | Film Adaptation | US | 2010 | 2015/2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Heroes and Villains | Carter, Angela | Novel | UK | 1969 | 2015/2016 | |
| Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son | Aarons, Leroy | Memoir | US | 1995 | 2015/2016 | |
| Boyracers | Bissett, Alan | Novel | UK | 2001 | 2016 | |
| N-W | Smith, Zadie | Novel | UK | 2012 | 2016 | |
| The Princess Bride | Goldman, William | Novel | US | 1973 | 2016 | |
| Into the Wild | Krakauer, Jon | Non-Fiction | US | 1996 | 2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Into the Wild | Penn, Sean | Film Adaptation | US | 2007 | 2016 | Film Club Co-Op |
| Never Let Me Go | Ishiguro, Kazuo | Novel | UK | 2005 | 2016 | |
| Amsterdam | McEwan, Ian | Novel | UK | 1998 | 2016 | |
| The Sense of an Ending | Barnes, Julian | Novel | UK | 2011 | 2016/2017 | |
| God Help the Child | Morrison, Toni | Novel | US | 2015 | 2016/2017 | |
| Fugitive Pieces | Michaels, Anne | Novel | Canada | 1996 | 2016/2017 | |
| The Ocean at the End of the Lane | Gaiman, Neil | Novel | UK | 2013 | 2016/2017 | |
| Tamara Drewe | Simmonds, Posy | Graphic Novel | UK | 2007 | 2016/2017 | |
| Heart of Darkness | Conrad, Joseph | Novel | UK | 1902 | 2016/2017 | |
| The Tenants | Malamud, Bernard | Novel | US | 1971 | 2016/2017 | |
| A Prayer for the Dying | O’Nan, Stewart | Novel | US | 1999 | 2016/2017 | |
| Ender’s Game | Card, Orson Scott | Novel | US | 1985 | 2017 | |
| Fables I: Legends in Exile | Willingham, Bill | Graphic Novel | US | 2002 | 2017 | |
| A Single Man | Isherwood, Christopher | Novel | UK/US | 1964 | 2017 | |
| His Bloody Project | Macrae Burnet, Graeme | Novel | UK | 2015 | 2017 | |
| To Rise Again at a Decent Hour | Ferris, Joshua | Novel | US | 2014 | 2017 | |
| Disgrace | Coetzee, J. M. | Novel | South Africa | 1999 | 2017 | |
| Tarzan of the Apes | Burroughs, Edgar Rice | Short Story Collection | US | 1912 | 2017 | |
| Lolita | Nabokov, Vladimir | Novel | US | 1955 | 2017/2018 | |
| Geek Love | Dunn, Katherine | Novel | US | 1989 | 2017/2018 | |
| My Life as a Man | Roth, Philip | Novel | US | 1974 | 2017/2018 | |
| The Left Hand of Darkness | LeGuin, Ursula K. | Novel | US | 1969 | 2017/2018 | |
| The Underground Railroad | Whitehead, Colson | Novel | US | 2016 | 2017/2018 | |
| The Remains of the Day | Ishiguro, Kazuo | Novel | UK | 1989 | 2017/2018 | |
| The White Tiger | Adiga, Aravind | Novel | India | 2008 | 2018 | |
| Nation | Pratchett, Terry | Novel | UK | 2008 | 2018 | |
| Coraline: The Graphic Novel | Gaiman, Neil | Graphic Novel | UK | 2002 | 2018 | Reading Week Special “Coraline Adaptations” |
| Coraline | Selick, Henry | Film Adaptation | US | 2009 | 2018 | Reading Week Special “Coraline Adaptations” |
| Cloud Atlas | Mitchell, David | Novel | UK | 2004 | 2018 | |
| One of Us is Lying | McManus, Karen M. | Novel | US | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Ready Player One | Cline, Ernest | Novel | US | 2011 | 2018 | |
| The Last Kingdom | Cornwell, Bernhard | Novel | UK | 2004 | 2018 | |
| The North Water | McGuire, Ian | Novel | UK | 2016 | 2018/2019 | |
| Milk and Honey | Kaur, Rupi | Poetry Collection | India/Canada | 2014 | 2018/2019 | |
| Maus I & II | Spiegelman, Art | Graphic Novel | US | 1980/1991 | 2018/2019 | |
| Everything Under | Johnson, Daisy | Novel | UK | 2018 | 2018/2019 | |
| Winter | Smith, Ali | Novel | UK | 2017 | 2018/2019 | |
| Northern Lights | Pullman, Philip | Novel | UK | 1995 | 2018/2019 | |
| Things That Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations | Roy, Arundthati / Cusack, John | Non-Fiction | India/US | 2016 | 2018/2019 | |
| American Born Chinese | Wang, Gene Luen | Graphic Novel | China/US | 2006 | 2019 | |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | Orwell, George | Novel | UK | 1948 | 2019 | |
| Nervous Conditions | Dangarembga, Tsitsi | Novel | Simbabwe | 1988 | 2019 | |
| Lost Boy | Henry, Christina | Novel | US | 2017 | 2019 | Reading Week Special “Peter Pan Retold” |
| Hook | Spielberg, Steven | Film Adaptation | US | 1991 | 2019 | Reading Week Special “Peter Pan Retold” |
| The Name of the Wind | Rothfuss, Patrick | Novel | US | 2007 | 2019 | |
| The Night Country | O’Nan, Stewart | Novel | US | 2003 | 2019/2020 | |
| An Absolutely Remarkable Thing | Green, Hank | Novel | US | 2018 | 2019/2020 | |
| The Diary of a Bookseller | Bythell, Shaun | Memoir | UK | 2017 | 2019/2020 | |
| Misery | King, Stephen | Novel | US | 1987 | 2019/2020 | |
| Daytripper | Moon, Fábio / Bá, Gabriel | Graphic Novel | Brazil | 2010 | 2019/2020 | Graphic Novel Double Feature |
| Seconds | O’Malley, Bryan Lee | Graphic Novel | Canada | 2014 | 2019/2020 | Graphic Novel Double Feature |
| Station Eleven | St. John Mandel, Emily | Novel | Canada | 2014 | 2020 | |
| The Hike | Magary, Drew | Novel | US | 2016 | 2020 | |
| How to Stop Time | Haig, Matt | Novel | UK | 2017 | 2020 | |
| Talking to Strangers: A Memoir of my Escape from a Cult | Boucher, Marianne | Graphic Memoir | Canada | 2020 | 2020 | |
| House of Leaves | Danielewski, Mark Z. | Novel | US | 2000 | 2020 | Special Summer Project |
| Horrorstör | Hendrix, Grady | Novel | US | 2014 | 2020/2021 | |
| Little Fires Everywhere | Ng, Celeste | Novel | US | 2017 | 2020/2021 | |
| The Carpet People | Pratchett, Terry | Novel | UK | 1971 | 2020/2021 | |
| The Jungle Books | Kipling, Rudyard | Short Story Collection | UK | 1894 | 2020/2021 | |
| Superman Smashes the Klan | Yang, Gene Luen | Graphic Novel | China/US | 2019 | 2020/2021 | Graphic Novel Double Feature |
| The Gigantic Beard that was Evil | Collins, Stephen | Graphic Novel | UK | 2013 | 2020/2021 | Graphic Novel Double Feature |
| The Midnight Library | Haig, Matt | Novel | UK | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Divine Misfortune | Martinez, A. Lee | Novel | US | 2010 | 2021 | Reading Week Special “A raccoon god and a shapeshifting sidekick” |
| Nimona | Stevensen, ND | Graphic Novel | US | 2015 | 2021 | Reading Week Special “A raccoon god and a shapeshifting sidekick” |
| The Liar’s Dictionary | Williams, Eley | Novel | UK | 2019 | 2021 | |
| The Man in the Red Coat | Barnes, Julian | Non-Fiction | UK | 2019 | 2021 | |
| The Bromance Book Club | Adams, Lyssa Kay | Novel | US | 2019 | 2021 | |
| The Nickel Boys | Whitehead, Colson | Novel | US | 2019 | 2021/2022 | |
| The Song of Achilles | Miller, Madeline | Novel | US | 2011 | 2021/2022 | |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Baum, L. Frank | Novel | US | 1900 | 2021/2022 | Christmas Special “Oz Extravaganza” |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Fleming, Victor | Film Adaptation | US | 1939 | 2021/2022 | Christmas Special “Oz Extravaganza” |
| The Martian | Weir, Andy | Novel | US | 2011 | 2021/2022 | |
| The Shack | Young, William P. | Novel | Canada | 2007 | 2021/2022 | |
| Klara and the Sun | Ishiguro, Kazuo | Novel | UK | 2021 | 2022 | |
| The Sentence | Erdrich, Louise | Novel | US | 2021 | 2022 | |
| Salt | Roberts, Adam | Novel | UK | 2000 | 2022 | |
| The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper | Rubenhold, Hallie | Non-Fiction | UK | 2019 | 2022 | |
| Mary Poppins | Travers, P. L. | Novel | Australia/UK | 1934 | 2022 | Novel and Film Double Feature |
| Mary Poppins | Stevenson, Robert | Film Adaptation | US | 1964 | 2022 | Novel and Film Double Feature |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | Owens, Delia | Novel | US | 2018 | 2022/2023 | |
| A Ghost in the Throat | Ní Ghríofa, Doireann | Novel/Memoir | Ireland | 2020 | 2022/2023 | Christmas Extravaganza “Secret Santa Book Swap” |
| Shit Cassandra Saw | Kirby, Gwen E. | Short Story Collection | US | 2022 | 2022/2023 | |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Chbosky, Stephen | Novel | US | 1999 | 2022/2023 | |
| Heartstopper I | Oseman, Alice | Graphic Novel | UK | 2019 | 2022/2023 | Valentine’s Special |
| Gallant | Schwab, V. E. | Novel | US | 2022 | 2022/2023 | |
| Anatomy: A Love Story | Schwartz, Dana | Novel | US | 2022 | 2023 |  Fascinating concept—underwhelming execution: “Anatomy: A Love Story” |
| Looking Backward: 2000–1887 | Bellamy, Edward | Novel | US | 1888 | 2023 | Reading Week Special “Time Travel Past and Present” |
| This is How You Lose the Time War | El-Mohtar, Amal / Gladstone, Max | Novel | Canada/US | 2019 | 2023 | Reading Week Special “Time Travel Past and Present” |
| Cemetery Boys | Thomas, Aiden | Novel | US | 2020 | 2023 | Pride Month Special Charming and magical despite some flaws: “Cemetery Boys” |
| Gender Queer: A Memoir | Kobabe, Maia | Graphic Memoir | US | 2019 | 2023 | Pride Month Special Important and touching: “Gender Queer: A Memoir” |
| Indian Killer | Alexie, Sherman | Novel | US | 1996 | 2023 | A deep-dive into human identity—but not into detective work: “Indian Killer” |
| A Night to Remember | Lord, Walter | Non-Fiction | US | 1955 | 2023 | |
| Lessons in Chemistry | Garmus, Bonnie | Novel | US | 2022 | 2023 | Not living up to the hype: “Lessons in Chemistry” |
| The Fall of the House of Usher | Poe, Edgar Allan | Short Story | US | 1839/1840 | 2023/2024 | Post-Halloween Special Classic horror retold: “The Fall of the House of Usher” & “What Moves the Dead” |
| What Moves the Dead | Kingfisher, T. (Vernon, Ursula) | Novella | US | 2022 | 2023/2024 | Post-Halloween Special Classic horror retold: “The Fall of the House of Usher” & “What Moves the Dead” |
| Mister Magic | White, Kiersten | Novel | US | 2023 | 2023/2024 | Christmas Extravaganza “Secret Santa Book Swap” Intriguing premise—disappointing plot: “Mister Magic” |
| Yellowface | Kuang, Rebecca F. | Novel | China/US | 2023 | 2023/2024 | A meta-novel on writing, publishing, and racism: “Yellowface” |
| Ninth House | Bardugo, Leigh | Novel | US | 2019 | 2023/2024 | A rollercoaster, a tour-de-force: “Ninth House” |
| What I Leave Behind | McGhee, Alison | Novel | US | 2019 | 2023/2024 | Novel and Graphic Novel Double Feature Important messages—unconvincing stories: “What I Leave Behind” & “The Sad Ghost Club” |
| The Sad Ghost Club I | Meddings, Lize | Graphic Novel | UK | 2021 | 2023/2024 | Novel and Graphic Novel Double Feature Important messages—unconvincing stories: “What I Leave Behind” & “The Sad Ghost Club” |
| The Day of the Triffids | Wyndham, John | Novel | UK | 1951 | 2024 | |
| The Secret Garden | Hodgson Burnett, Frances | Novel | UK/US | 1911 | 2024 | Reading Week Special “The Secret Garden Party” |
| The Secret Garden | Wilcox, Fred M. | Film Adaptation | US | 1949 | 2024 | Reading Week Special “The Secret Garden Party” |
| The Titanic Survivors Book Club | Schaffert, Timothy | Novel | US | 2024 | 2024 | |
| The Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Novel | US | 1850 | 2024 | |
| Ghost Species | Bradley, James | Novel | Australia | 2020 | 2024 | |
| The Measure | Erlick, Nikki | Novel | US | 2023 | 2024 |
The Honorable Mentions
This list includes some selected texts PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club has considered but ultimately not scheduled for a discussion.
| Title | Author | Format | Provenance | Year of Publication | Term of Suggestion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard | Felton, Tom | Memoir | UK | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories | Proulx, Annie | Short Story Collection | Canada/US | 2006 | 2023 | |
| Daisy Jones & the Six | Reid, Taylor Jenkins | Novel | US | 2019 | 2023 | |
| Dracula | Stoker, Bram | Novel | Ireland | 1897 | 2023 | |
| In the Dream House | Machado, Carmen Maria | Memoir | US | 2019 | 2023 | |
| Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury | Nunez, Sigrid | Novel | US | 1998 | 2023 | |
| Nettle & Bone | Kingfisher, T. (Vernon, Ursula) | Novel | US | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Palestine | Sacco, Joe | Graphic Novel | Malta/US | 1993 | 2023 | |
| The Book Eaters | Dean, Sunyi | Novel | US/UK | 2022 | 2023 | |
| The Friend | Nunez, Sigrid | Novel | US | 2018 | 2023 | |
| The Leviathan | Andrews, Rosie | Novel | UK | 2022 | 2023 | |
| The Mysterious Benedict Society | Stewart, Trenton Lee | Novel | US | 2007 | 2023 | |
| The Time Machine | Wells, H. G. | Novel | UK | 1895 | 2023 | Reading Week Special “Time Travel Past and Present” |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Lee, Harper | Novel | US | 1960 | 2023 | |
| Witchmark | Polk, C. L. | Novel | Canada | 2018 | 2023 | |
| Across the Nightingale Floor | Hearn, Lian (Rubinstein, Gillian) | Novel | UK | 2002 | 2023/2024 | |
| Alone with You in the Ether | Blake, Olivie (Farol Follmuth, Alexene) | Novel | US | 2020 | 2023/2024 | |
| Bunny | Awad, Mona | Novel | Canada | 2019 | 2023/2024 | |
| Disobedient | Fremantle, Elizabeth | Novel | UK | 2023 | 2023/2024 | |
| Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus | Shelley, Mary | Novel | UK | 1818 | 2023/2024 | |
| It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth | Thorogood, Zoe | Graphic Novel | UK | 2022 | 2023/2024 | |
| Juniper & Thorn | Reid, Ava | Novel | US | 2022 | 2023/2024 | |
| Piranesi | Clarke, Susanna | Novel | UK | 2020 | 2023/2024 | |
| Talk to Me | Boyle, T. C. | Novel | US | 2021 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents | Pratchett, Terry | Novel | UK | 2001 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Graveyard Book | Gaiman, Neil | Novel | UK | 2008 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Adams, Douglas | Novel | UK | 1979 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare | Chesterton, G. K. | Novel | UK | 1908 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Outsiders | Hinton, Susan E. | Novel | UK | 1967 | 2023/2024 | |
| The Tea Dragon Society | O’Neill, Kay / Temofonte, Saida | Graphic Novel | New Zealand | 2017 | 2023/2024 | |
| Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear | Gilbert, Elizabeth | Non-Fiction | US | 2015 | 2024 | |
| Dead Poets Society | Kleinbaum, Nancy H. | Novelization | US | 1989 | 2024 | |
| Fourteen Days | The Authors Guild | Novel | US | 2024 | 2024 | |
| Matilda | Dahl, Roald | Novel | UK | 1988 | 2024 | |
| My Year of Rest and Relaxation | Moshfegh, Ottessa | Novel | US | 2018 | 2024 | |
| The Diary of a Nobody | Grossmith, George / Grossmith, Weedon | Novel | UK | 1892 | 2024 | |
| The Great Gatsby | Fitzgerald, F. Scott | Novel | US | 1925 | 2024 | |
| The Stranger Times | McDonnell, C. K. (McDonnell, Caimh) | Novel | Ireland | 2021 | 2024 | |
| The Watchmaker of Filigree Street | Pulley, Natasha | Novel | UK | 2015 | 2024 | |
| Woman, Eating | Kohda, Claire | Novel | Japan/UK | 2022 | 2024 |