If your book club is looking for a novel that will provide plenty of themes for discussion when you meet, then Iris Murdoch might be a very good choice. Iris Murdoch was on the Philosophy curriculum when I was at college and I’m ashamed to say that somehow that put me off reading her again until now. Ironically, The Sea, The Sea‘ – her Booker winning novel – makes me nostalgic for essay-writing. There are so many themes that could be explored: self-delusion, metaphor (the sea, the house, the monster, etc), character, the device of the diary/memoir, comparisions with The Tempest (the mayhem of Shakespearian comedy is gloriously tangible), and so on. I will be reading more of Iris Murdoch – and soon!