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!

Book Club Meeting 15th April 2015: Life, the Universe and Everything and whatever happened to the Devil in Marshalsea?

The April meeting took place at Sue's house, I wasn't there but the lovely Margaret has kindly passed me some notes, so these are mostly her words, just jigged around a bit by me. 

There was food, laughter, discussion about books both book club and otherwise, and the usual talk about 'life, the universe and everything' - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference there (Maybe we should read that sometime, if everyone hasn't done before?)

The Miniaturist - this was read with varying degrees of interest/sympathy/'it was a bit odd', though everyone felt they had learned something about 17th century Holland. 

Nella Last's War/Peace/In the 1950s (there are 3 books, based on the Mass Observation Wartime Diaries of a middle aged British housewife) - Nella was a remarkable woman who obviously felt very deeply about the state of of the country, her community and family and what was all that about her husband and the car! 

The Devil in Marshalsea - we don't have any notes on this - did anyone read it? 

The next meeting is at Margaret's house on Wednesday 17th June at 7.30pm, when we will be discussing the following books, eating no doubt and generally putting the world to rights.

'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins (our main book)

'Still Alice' by Lisa Genoa

'The Captain's Daughter' by Leah Fleming.

When we meet we can discuss the trips to the Fashion on the Ration and Dolls House exhibitions, if people are interested in these.

As always please come with suggestions for new books to read, and bring any books you want to for swapping.

Happy Reading! 

Debbie 

Book Club Meeting 18th February 2015: Secret Santa, lovely cakes and a bit of singing

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!

Book Club meeting 15th October 2014: vanished husbands, silk, Mrs Bennett and jam tarts (my favourite)

We met this month at Frances' house where we were met with very tasty refreshments as always.

We thought The Gallery of Vanished Husbands started well, but petered out somewhat and had some threads that didn't seem to follow through. We would have liked to read more about the Jewish issues which came up in the book as we found that very interesting.

Little Lies jumped around a lot, which was a little off putting at first but we agreed the book was a good psychological thriller and we were kept guessing. It was thought that the love interest part of the book was contrived and a bit twee, but overall we really liked the book.

The Last Telegram was enjoyed, it was good to read learn more about the history of women prior to and during wartime. The history of silk was interesting and the descriptions of London in the war were very good.

Pride and Prejudice was liked too, and we thought it was very funny. Some people had read it before so it was an old favourite.

Our next book choices are (links go to Amazon, where you can read more about them)

The Runaway Woman by Josephine Cox (this is our main choice. If you are only going to read one of our book choices please try to make it this one)
Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story by Michael Rosen
The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey by Rachel Joyce

You may remember that a few months ago Sandra told us about a lady she is in touch with, a doctor who has set up a charity to perform cataract operations on people in India. Lucy Mathen, the charity's founder, wrote a book called 'A Runaway Goat' about her experiences in India with the charity. The book is available from the website at a cost of £20, which goes direct to the charity and funds a cataract operation for one person. Some of us thought we would like to read Sandra's copy and then perhaps make a small donation  which Sandra will then pass on to the charity. If you are interested in reading the book, please mention it to Sandra. 

You can read more about the work of the charity at www.secondsight.org.uk

Our next meeting will be on Friday 12th December, which will be our Christmas meal. The venue is a different one from our usual and details will be sent out by email.

As always we will be doing our 'Secret Santa'. Please wrap up a book that you have read and enjoyed. We will swap the books randomly between us, and when we next meet in January, each pair who have read the same book can discuss it.

Happy Reading!

Book Club September 2014

September's meeting took place at Sue's house. I was away on holiday and Jo kindly took notes of the proceedings and passed them to me for inclusion here. 


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
One person said it nearly broke her heart, how black people were treated in the USA. She felt it was a thoughtful and remarkable book. Another said she didn't know whether to continue reading it or not. It made her cross about the injustice and poverty. She felt the book was a bit long winded.


Unreliable Memoirs.
It was agreed that the book was hard work and very Australian. 


The Last Dance
This was enjoyed, and one person had read others by the same author. 


La's Orchestra Saves The World
This was thought to be very much of a time and an era, it was interesting to read about the problems with sociability in World War Two and there was emotional turmoil. 


The books that have been chosen for next time are:

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons
Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Last Telegram by Liz Trenow

The group discussed a trip to a silk museum/factory, which would tie in with The Last Telegram. There are silk museums in Dartford and Braintree, I will look into these and be in touch by email to arrange a trip. 

Our Christmas meal will be on Friday 12th December at 7.30pm, usual venue. We will be doing our usual Secret Santa - please wrap up a book that you have read and enjoyed, and we will swap them. When we reconvene in January the giver and receiver can discuss each book. 

The next book club meeting will be on Wednesday 15th October at 7.30pm at Frances' house. Further details by email nearer the time. 

Happy Reading!