This evening we had a Book Club meeting and as ever it was a very good time. At my house, with tea and cake and chocolate and most importantly lots of talking and catching up. Our book club is not particularly high brow or intellectual and we read a mix of books including popular fiction and classics. The group is a sub-set of a larger friendship group and so we all know each other well and enjoy each others company. We spend time chatting and discussing a variety of topics including the books.
Tonight we discussed the two books we had read which were:
Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle (v interesting especially about the strange visits to eastern bloc countries, communists in Liverpool and eccentric mothers)
The Last Runaway by Tracey Chevalier ( a good read, interesting about the Quakers and Runaways, main character a bit selfish mainly due to be young and naive).
Our books for next time are The Blackhouse by Peter May and May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes.
I have just sent round the email to everyone with the titles for next time and also included a list of all the books we have read so far. It is fascinating to look back at what we have read and to realise that we have been Book Clubbing for nearly seven years - it has been a great experience.
(I've included the list below)
December 2013 The Blackhouse by Peter May
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes
November 2013 Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle
The Last Runaway by Tracey Chevalier
September 2013 Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
July 2013 The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri Murari
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Short Stories by Somerset Maugham
June 2013 The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
April 2013 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
March 2013 The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
November 2012 The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Hundred Year Old Man ..........by Jonas Jonasson
September 2012 The Thread by Victoria Hislop
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
July 2012 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
June 2012 The Moment by Douglas Kennedy
Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson
April 2012 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Pigeon English Stephen Kelman
Feb 2012 A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
November 2011 Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
October 2011 We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver
Battle hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua
The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
July 2011 Money - Martin Amis
The Tent, the Bucket and Me - Emma Kennedy
May 2011 The Darling Buds of May - H E Bates
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
March 2011 Room - Emma Donoghue,
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre
January 2011 Guernica - Dave Boling
The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
Nov 2010 The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith
Going Gently - David Nobbs
September 2010 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
June 2010 The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
The Bean Tree - Barbara Kingsolver
April 2010 Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
March 2010 Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsamea
The Pirate's Daughter - Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Jan 2010 Desert Ascent - Simon park
New Europe - Michael Palin
Family Life - Elizabeth Luard
November 2009 The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Marie Barbey
Dreams from my Father – Barack Obamah
St Agnes Stand – Thomas Eidson
Sept 2009 Lady Chatterley – DH Lawrence
The Almost Moon – Alice Sebbold
Cider with Rosie – Laurie Lee
April 2009 Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
Gentleman Players – Joanne Harris
March 2009 Under Milk Wood – Dylan Thomas
When will there be good news? – Kate Atkinson
Jan 2009 Rabbit Run – John Updike
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
Nov 2008 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
Cloning of Joanna May – Fay Weldon
19 Minutes – Jodi Piccoult
Sept 2008 Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Notes from an Exhibition – Patrick Gale
June 2008 Blood River – Tim Butcher
Join Me – Danny Wallace
Master & Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
April 2008 Mitford Girls – Mary Lovell
Jekyll & Hyde
March 2008 Jane and Prudence – Barbara Pym
What Ho Jeeves – PG Wodehouse
Jan 2008 Bitter Sweets – Roopa Farooki
Suite Française – Irène Nemirovsky
Nov 2007 The Two of Us – John Thaw – Sheila Hancock
Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Sept 2007 Knots and Crosses – Ian Rankin
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
June 2007 Purple Hibiscus
Handful Of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
Matricide at St Martha’s – Ruth Dudley Edwards
History of Love
Feb 2007 Promise of Happiness – Justin Cartwright
Tales of the City – Armistead Maupin
January 2007 Picklehead by Rohan Candappa
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