Brian

The novel tells the story of Brian, a solitary middle-aged man living a carefully ordered life in London. He works at the Camden Council, eats lunch at the same cafe every day, and returns to his quiet flat every evening. His general approach to life can be summed up as "Keep watch. Stick to routine. Protect against surprises." However, despite his preference for solitude, he does yearn for a bit more, as he enters his forties. Weekly football matches are too raucous for his liking. One day, he visits the British Film Institute (BFI) and he decides to sign up for a membership.

With weekly visits that soon become daily visits, the BFI soon becomes his home away from home. Through the films he watches – by directors like Yasujiro Ozu, Federico Fellini, and Agnès Varda – Brian discovers a wider cultural landscape and unexpectedly finds a sense of belonging among a group of fellow film enthusiasts at the BFI. We follow Brian over a period of twenty five years, with cinema and daily screenings at the BFI an integral part of his life.

It's a tender portrayal of a quiet and gentle man finding connection and a deeper understanding of the world through his passion for film. There are elements of film criticism as Brian thoughtfully processes the movies he watches and how they relate to his own experiences. Even if you are not a cinema buff (and I am not), it won't take away from your experience of the novel because you read about these films through Brian's perspective.