Buffy's Book Club Recap

Our June 2025 book club at Bistro Freddie in London, and upcoming events.

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all enjoying the start of summer - London has been almost insufferably hot but has now cooled down a little, though still warm enough for pints in pub gardens, which works for me. This warm weather is perfect for The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch, this month’s book which we discussed last night in person at Bistro Freddie in London.

When possible, I am going to begin sending out summaries of the previous night's bookclub. I am loving seeing the Buffy community grow so much, and seeing those who regularly attend the book clubs make friends with each other (one group is planning a holiday as we speak!). I’m aware the tickets sell out very quickly, and a lot of people feel they are missing out, so we are working hard at Buffy’s to create more community based events to bring people together, and in the meantime hopefully these summaries bring a bit of the energy of the events to the Substack. Plus can help open up the discussion even more!

I have had an incredible month with The Sea, The Sea. I listened to it initially, the Richard E Grant narration, and absolutely loved it. I was bereft when it ended and at a loss of how to go about my day without Richard E Grant talking to me! This is my first ever Murdoch, and I can confidently say I am a fan. Her writing, in the wonderful (and sometimes inexplicable) way some authors do, really spoke to me. The snappy dialogue that made me laugh out loud, the rich descriptions of the landscape, the farcical characters… she weaves a truly readable story balanced with a tension of quite opposing features.

Charles Arrowby, the thespian protagonist who has moved to an unnamed town on the coast of Northern England, embarks on a unrelenting mission to win back his childhood sweetheart. Certain inconveniences, like her husband and lack of apparent interest in rekindling anything with Charles, do not deter him. His rambling self-delusions were as entertaining and they were infuriating, and his egotism so over wrought at points that he became a caricature of himself. Written in the style of memoir, that then proclaims to move into the realm of a novel, we are at the mercy of our unreliable narrator. It makes everything he counts feel slippery, his point of view so deluded and so built on fantasy, I was constantly trying to grasp an idea of what really did happen. It made me engage with the characters more than I usually do in a novel, and as a result had made this a book unforgettable.

The bookclub was hosted at Bistro Freddie in Shoreditch. We had the whole space to ourselves, and it was a gorgeous location for a summer’s evening! We always opt for light bites at the book clubs (it’s been an ever evolving trial and error, and the one I did with a full meal felt like it interrupted the flow of the evening). I started my night with a martini and moved onto orange wine which was very popular with everyone.

The formats of the evening run like this: arrival and mingling for around 30-45 mins. Then we sit down and start the discussion, which I lead with my own thoughts on the book before opening it up to the guests! The conversation is very relaxed and free flowing, I always have questions and themes in mind to guide us back to, but sometimes I don’t even need to refer to them. The book chat usually lasts between 1 hour and 1 hour 30, and naturally reaches an end, at which point we continue to mingle! Almost everyone always comes alone, so if you are tempted to join one, please don’t be intimidated! I am so proud of the community we are building, it is warm and welcoming, and there is never any pressure to talk aloud about the book if you don’t feel comfortable.

As for your opinions on The Sea, The Sea… it was a mixed bag!! Some guests found the unreliability of Charles, and the character in general, pretty unbearable. Spending the entire 500+ pages of this novel in Charles’ perspective does get tiring, and I think Murdoch deliberately makes it repetitive in order to really demonstrate his obsessive nature. Others shared my love for it, and really found it humorous at points and hard not to feel sympathy for Charles despite his dreadful behaviour. It was pretty much a resounding yes to reading more Iris Murdoch, I think I am going to tackle The Severed Head next.

I will be announcing the next venue and book this weekend! As always, please send photos of yourselves reading July's book, I love to see the cover variations and where everyone is in the world (bonus points if you’re on a beautiful holiday somewhere ;) ). In August, Buffy’s is heading North to Edinburgh Literary Festival, for our first event outside of London or New York, at the beautiful Elliot’s restaurant, poster below. We will be also hosting a book club in London that month, at another extremely exciting, newly opened venue, and there are further Buffy’s events to be announced - Substack and Instagram is the best place to keep up with all of these, so please do subscribe.

I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on The Sea, The Sea below - did you love Charles Arrowby as much as I did?

Until next time!

Lizzy x

Photos by Emily Krouse.

Poster design by Ben Smalley.