HLSI members have formed several Reading Groups, some of which are general, others for those with more specific interests. Each group is led by a member of HLSI who arranges the time and place of meetings.

If you are interested in joining one of these groups, or in starting a new one, please contact the office in the first instance.

Members of Reading Groups pay a modest annual fee:

• £25 for HLSI members
• £40 for non-members

Current Reading Groups

• Hazel’s Reading Group: We read fiction written in English or in translation which is in print and available in paperback. We recently widened our reading to include one biography/autobiography/memoir per year. We meet usually between 14:40 to 16:30 on the first Monday afternoon of the month. Example of books read: 'Long Island' by Colm Toibin, 'The Life of an Unknown Man' by Andrei Makine and 'Between Friends' (short stories) by Amos Oz.
• Reading the New Testament in Greek: Our Greek New Testament reading group began in January 2023 specifically not as a religious group, but for the pleasure and challenge of reading the New Testament in the original Koine Greek, treating it as a literary text set in a historical context. Using English translations side-by-side with the Greek, we can go at a lively pace and examine grammar if it is of particular interest. Beginning with the Acts of the Apostles (full of drama), we then read Paul’s Epistle to The Galatians; next was Mark’s Gospel, which has much lively action and often slips into the present tense for immediacy; and what could be more appropriate at Christmas than to look at the Nativity as told by Matthew and Luke? Our small group includes classicists, the self-taught, and everything in between. We meet approximately once a fortnight from 11.15am - 12.45pm on Tuesdays in the lovely Coleridge room, taking it in turns to read aloud in Greek, translate and discuss anything from etymology to social history. Zoom can be available for those who can’t travel to HLSI.
• Russian Book Group: The Russian Reading Group is a diverse group of readers united by their wish to explore the great richness of Russian literature, past and present, and to share the insights into Russian culture and history that exploration brings. They discuss Russian literature in translation. The books are chosen and introduced by Elisabeth Winter, who is the former Russian and Eastern Europe editor at The Times Literary Supplement. Examples of recent books read are: 'There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children Until They Moved Back In', by the immensely popular Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, and 'The Village', the bleakest of visions of village life by the Nobel prizewinning Ivan Bunin. The group meets on the second Monday of the month between 14:30 and 16:30.
• Play-reading Group: The Play-reading group meets once a month during term time in the Victoria Hall on Thursday mornings.  It is a large group of 23 members, and we read one complete play each session with everyone taking a role or roles in a congenial atmosphere. The plays we read are varied and international, and we belong to a playreading library which enables us to use scripts of the play for each session.  At the beginning of this year (2026), we read two excellent plays written by one of our members about Shostakovitch and Dido Belle of Kenwood respectively, complete with superb music. We hope to be reading Arthur Miller, Tom Stoppard and the Spanish dramatist Lorca later in the year.
• Monday evening Reading Group: We read anything in print. Usually we meet on the last Monday of each month between 19:30 and 21:00. Example of books read: 'The Age of American Unreason' by Susan Jacoby, 'Orbital' by Samantha Harvey, 'My Friends' by Hisham Matar, 'The Island of Missing Trees' by Elif Shafak, and 'Four Thousands Weeks' by Oliver Burkeman.
• History Reading Group: The history reading group meets at 3:00 pm on the last Wednesday of each month at the HLSI. We discuss a work of history which the group has read in the previous month. We aim to choose books about different eras and different geographies. Books we have recently read, or are currently reading, include George Macaulay Trevelyan's book about Garibaldi and the making of Italy, Stephen Alford’s 'All his Spies: the Secret World of Robert Cecil' and John Julius Norwich’s 'Short History of Byzantium'. Sometimes we discuss a book written by a member of our group. Recently we discussed Munro Price’s book about the fall of the French monarchy and Nick Sayers' book about the modern history of the Jews of Lithuania.
• Wednesday evening Book Group: We read current and classic books, mostly fiction. We meet usually on the last Wednesday evening of the month between 19:30 and 21:00. Example of books read: 'Thunderclap' by Laura Cumming, 'Wavewalker' by Suzanne Heywood, 'Three Days in June' by Anne Tyler, 'Dubliners' by James Joyce and 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck.