A belated Happy New Year!
Our first meeting of 2015 was on Wednesday 18th February, kindly hosted by Alison who also made some very delicious cakes.
We had an enjoyable evening, with much chatting as always, and a spontaneous bout of singing at one point! We compared notes on our Secret Santa books - as always opinions were mixed, which makes for an interesting discussion. We also talked about other books we'd read recently and swapped them around between us. Ones that I particularly remember being mentioned (or rather, the ones I happened to write down before I got distracted by the cake) were:
The Book of You by Claire Kendal
The Last Runaway and also Remarkable Creatures, both written by Tracy Chevalier who wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring
Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanna Harris, the sequel to Chocolat
A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I thought I'd note them down here for everyone's future reference, if you're looking for a recommendation for something to read sometime.
It was brought up that now the group is quite large, we are a bit of a crowd for people to host in their homes, and perhaps we would be better to meet at other premises. If anyone knows of anywhere suitable, please mention it at the next meeting.
We discussed having a couple of trips to tie in with our books (however tenuously...it's a good excuse for a day out!) There was interest in visiting the Dolls House exhibition at the Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green, and the Fashion on the Ration exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. We will discuss the trips in more detail next time we meet.
Our new book choices:
:: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. This is our main book, so if you are only going to read one, please try and make it this one if possible
:: The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson
:: The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin
:: Nella Last's War, the Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49, edited by Richard Broad and Suzie Fleming
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 15th April.
Happy Reading!
