This is a bit late - sorry all! Eleven of us met on 8th June and it was good to welcome Jenny back after all her eventful travels, and to welcome new member Maureen.

Our 'book under review' was 'The Little Paris Bookshop' by Nina George and the discussion was very animated. All agreed that the descriptions of France and the countryside as the barge progressed south from Paris were excellent. After that, about half of us really enjoyed the story and characterisation and the rest of us were a bit 'iffy' (comments such as 'I got bored half way through'...). If you've read the book or not, here are a few questions! What did you think of the characters? Some of us were frustrated by Jean and Cuneo, who didn't seem to be able to get over their lost loves. Some wondered why Manon had just left a letter for Jean and not talked to him about her reason for going. and why on earth didn't he open the letter - leaving it for Catherine to do years later (general answer - men!!)? Why did Luc put up with Manon having a lover? What about the strange author of 'Southern Lights'? And then there were all the references to the books on the barge and how they were suited by Jean to the needs of various readers. Some of us found so many literary references just a little pretentious.

So.... having had a good chew of the rag, the book group went on to do what it excels at, discussing the usual eclectic mix of other books we had read since our last meeting. The Excellence of the Hedgehog. The Secret Keeper. Life after Life. In the Unlikely Event. The Butcher's Hook. The Cake Shop in the Garden. The Reader on the 6.27. Icons of England. Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. And so on. Lots of reviews, laughter, gossip (sorry - news exchange), refreshments and everything else that makes for an enjoyable book group meeting.

Next meeting is on Wednesday 27th July at Eirlys's home. Details will be sent nearer the time. We'll be discussing 'Me before You' by Jojo Moyes. Until then, happy reading!

Book Club April 2016

Many thanks to Alison for sending me her notes from the last  meeting, as I couldn't be there. 

Book Club met in April, hosted by Eirlys. As always this popular group was well attended by its membership. 
At the last gathering we agreed that we would have one must read, with a possible two extra reads.  
"All the light we cannot see" author Anthony Doerr, was read by 7 of the group. The style of writing was an interesting concept, each main characters story was told in individual chapters, linked by a thriller type mystery running alongside. The book was well written and very descriptive in content, in fact one of the members knew the book location. References to the Hitler Youth and the WW2 were very harrowing, whilst this was in context with the story, some of the ladies found the book difficult to read.

 "Tight Rope" author Simon Mawer was read by 4 of the group. This was a sequel to the "Girl who fell from the Sky". As with many sequels the group felt that this book was not as good a read Again the torture descriptions experienced by the heroine were very gritty. At times its was difficult to follow were in the story you were. 

 "Rose of Tibet" author Lionel Davidson was read by 3 of the group. A re release of a book which is very much if it's time. A brilliant travelogue for Tibet, where apparently the author had never been.

In addition the book group members between them read a further 26 books, some from new authors, along with well established writers. It great to see that the group have a wide literary taste.  

 A discussion on what we wanted from the Book Club took place, decisions made were

 One book to be read and reviewed at each meeting 

A brief narrative to be submitted to the chair if you are not able to attend in person 

Each member will bring a book recommendation with brief description, a poll will be taken and the winner is the next book group read. 

 Date of next meeting 8th June, read "Little Paris Bookshop" author Nina George.

Book Club February 2016

We were almost a full house at Margaret's for our February meeting. There were 11 of us - two members were missed but we had three lovely new members, and we were very pleased to welcome them.

We discussed our Secret Santa books and many others that we had read over the past few weeks - my little notepad and I struggled to keep up! Here are some brief notes on some of the books:

The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year by Sue Townsend - funny, thoughtful, brilliant, loved it.

I Do Not Sleep by Judy Finnegan - an easy read, well written.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta - well written, unusual, thought-provoking, interesting.

Four Meals For Fourpence by Grave Noakes - interesting social history memoir.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez - intriguing. Highlights the unfair treatment of women in Afghanistan. The author had a cake shop in Kabul, so could write from experience of living there.

Daughter by Jane Shemilt - liked it, but felt 'enjoyed' wasn't the right word. A daughter is missing, and the events in the book peel off layers of the family relationships.

Moving by Jenny Eclair - too complex, like several books in one. Not as good as Life, Death and Vanilla Slices by the same author.

Emma by Alexander McCall-Smith - good read, well written. Like a modern Jane Austen novel.

Kate Morton books - Distant Hours, The Lake House and The Secret Keeper were all mentioned, several people like these.

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan - about a man who inherits an elephant. Very funny.

The Glass Painter's Daughter by Rachel Hore - very interesting to learn some of the history of glass painting.

The Year I Met You by Cecelia Ahern - refreshingly light. Enjoyable to read about a voyage of discovery.

These are by no means all the books we talked about - it was a very busy evening!

We will be meeting next on 20th April, details will be emailed to members nearer the time. The books we will be discussing (amongst others, no doubt!) are:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (this is our main choice, so please try to read this one if you can. The others are extras)

The Rose of Tibet by Lionel Davidson

Tightrope by Simon Mawer (this is the sequel to The Girl Who Fell to Earth, which we read for Book Club some time ago)

Happy Reading!

Book Club January 2016: late Christmas meal

We chose to go to Cristina's steak house in Barking for a change. Seven of us made it and enjoyed the meal, conversation and exchanging Secret Santa books.

When we arranged the date, we talked about discussing The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett, but the writer has no recollection of anybody mentioning it! There was a wide-ranging discussion on all other topics (as there usually is at book group) and when we meet in February we'll go back to our original purpose of reading and discussing books.

Sorry there are no pictures ladies, obviously talk was more important than cameras and we'll try harder next time.

Next meeting will be on Wednesday February 24th at 7.30, details will be emailed nearer the time. We'll be discussing our Secret Santa books and The Lady in the Van (if anyone has read it!!).

Look forward to seeing you.

Book Club October 2015

I wasn't at Book Club this time but Eirlys has kindly updated me as follows:

There were only five of us there but as usual there was no break in the chat! Three of us had read Queenie and thought it was on the whole more humorous than the Harold Fry book and it has an unexpected twist at the end that none of us had seen coming. None of us had read 44 Scotland Street but one of us had read one of the Sunday Philosophy Club series and thought it was good. Some other books mentioned were - Witness by Kath Staincliffe, Glass Blower of Verona (didn't get the author!), The Return by Victoria Hislop (which I enjoyed a lot more than The Sunrise!). also books by Ken Follet were mentioned.
Chat wasn't only about books of course and subjects ranged from cats, Strictly and Great British Bake Off. We decided that since our next meeting was the Christmas meal that we would catch up on books that we haven't managed to read throughout the year and of course bring a wrapped book for the Secret Santa book!
Big thank you to Frances for the lovely spread and hospitality.

Book Club August 2015: terrapins, grubby library books, beginnings and endings and a unique cake topping

This month we convened at Margaret's house to discuss our two books. We were few in number this time, though two members sent some comments by email. Of those of us who were there just over half had read a book this month, let alone one of the books we were supposed to read. One of us had read numerous books and couldn't remember most of them. Another said she had read two beginnings, two ends and no middles, I'm not sure how many books the beginnings and ends involved. Were they from the same books or were they from four different books? These are the questions that keep me awake at night. 

Regardless of who did and didn't read what, it was nice as always to see each other and catch up. We enjoyed a lovely cake made by one of our members with a unique but very tasty topping. We learned that there is apparently an adult version (by which I mean grown up, not x-rated) version of 'Janet and John' and we thought we would look into that.  We universally agreed that grubby library books are disgusting. We discovered that there are terrapins in Barking Park lake - well there is at least one, as Margaret saw it. When I was at school, some of the boys used to skinny dip in that lake at lunchtime (yes I was in the audience). I wonder if the terrapins were there then. I also wonder if they bite! 

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop had mixed reviews. One loved it, one enjoyed it and found it an easy read and most other people didn't enjoy it though there were positive comments about the social history and that it made us aware of what went on in Cyprus at that time. Some people found the book overly descriptive and the characters not very sympathetic, one person said it was depressing. We felt it was historically very well researched and there was a lot of attention to  historical detail. We also appreciated the fact that although there was some violence, it was not too graphic and so not too uncomfortable reading. The two people who did enjoy the book made it sound really fascinating, and at least one person might have another go at reading it (that would be me!)

Now for the J D Salinger books. The voice of the author was found to be annoying in Catcher in the Rye and it was felt that the book wouldn't  be interesting to young people today. One person read Franny and Zooey and said it was interesting to re-read it having read it before as a teenager, and that there was practically a cult of J D Salinger and she didn't understand why anymore!

Our book choices for next time are The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey by Rachel Joyce and 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith. We also would like to read the adult version of Janet and John that we heard about but I can't find anything on the internet, so we need more information about that one!

We will be meeting again on Wednesday 14th October, details by email nearer the time. We also set the date for our Christmas meal, Friday 11th December. 

Happy Reading!

Book Club June 2015: grandbabies, new homes, the continuing story of the travelling book and how to get to Southend for half price

We met this time at Margaret's, where as usual we discussed lots of things other than books. Sandra is smitten with her gorgeous new grandchild and Sue is sadly (well, happily for her, just not for us) moving out of the area. Two of our number had recently been on a trip and it was brought to our attention how cheaply you can travel to Southend with a Freedom Pass (by someone who doesn't qualify yet and had to pay double, to her chagrin! However apparently the fish and chips were lovely).

The Girl on the Train had mixed reviews. Some enjoyed it, though several of us didn't really like the main character and found the things she did rather odd and disturbing. We identified with watching people from the train though, and I think we all enjoy looking at people's houses and gardens as we go past. One person felt the story was too pedestrian, similar to many other books around at the moment and rather boring.  

The Captain's Daughter had also been read by several people. Although the book is fiction, it gave us an insight into the aftermath of the Titanic disaster and how the survivors and families were affected in the immediate aftermath and longer term. It was interesting to see how society was changing around that time. We felt that the book was well written and the story flowed well. 

We enjoyed Still Alice. Mostly we found this book to be written well although it was also said that the timeline was strange and the story progressed oddly. We found the story was moving. 

We chatted generally about books we've been reading or would like to read and ones that were particularly mentioned were A Man called Ove by Fredrik Bachman, The Heroes' Welcome by Louisa Young, which is the sequel to a book we read previously called My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You and Life, Death and Vanilla Slices by Jenny Eclair. Also The Humans by Matt Haig and When We Were Friends by Tina Heskis.

Sandra's copy of The Runaway Goat by Lucy Mather is still doing the rounds, you may remember that I have mentioned it on the blog before. It is written by a woman who set up a charity with the aim of eliminating cataracts in one part of India. The charity has no overheads at all, everyone works for free and a £20 donation pays for one cataract operation. We've been passing the book around between us. Some of us have donated and also Margaret was talking to someone at Winchester Lions Club about another subject, mentioned the charity and they have now made a donation of £1000. If you'd like to read the book, please see Sandra.  You can read more about the work of the charity at www.secondsight.org  

We decided to take a different approach this time and read just two books - a modern one and an older one. 

We will be reading The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop and then also one of the following books by J D Salinger (your choice):

Catcher in the Rye

Frankie and Zooey

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter

Our next meeting will be on the 19th August.

Happy Reading!