10th December - Mary's House

Merry Christmas! And what a lovely Christmas party we had at Mary's. Everyone brought a dish and we had some lovely grub.

We discussed 'Sum' by David Eagleman, a collection of short stories about what the afterlife might be like. It was a little different to our usual books, there was no story line or characters we could talk about but the little ideas it planted gave us a good opportunity to discuss our ideas of the afterlife. Everyone liked the book, it was ideal for reading in short bursts.

Result: 6 of us liked this book.

We chose our book after next from the following:

• Generation X by Douglas Coupland
• The Memory Garden by Rachel Hore
• The Behavious of Moths by Poppy Adams

We chose 'The Behaviour of Moths' by Poppy Adams, although votes were tied with 'Generation X' but a toss of a coin decided for us.

The next meeting will be back at the Warwick Arms on Thursday 14th January 2010 (!)

Don't forget our Christmas (Oscar Wilde themed) walk on Sunday, lets hope the snow doesn't hamper our progress too much.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thursday 12th November - Warwick Arms

Apologies for the lateness of this update, life seems to have got very hectic recently. We met (ages ago) to discuss 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. To be honest there wasn't much to discuss! I think we were thinking that there might be some adult themes and hidden messages but it was exactly the same story I remember from childhood. I forgot to take a vote, but no one particularly hated it.

We chose our next book from the following winter themed books:

• The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
• The Winter House - Nikki Gerrard
• If on a Winters Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino
• Love Begins in Winter - Simon van Booy
• Skipping Christmas - John Grisham
• A Country Christmas - Miss Read
• The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell
• The True Deceiver - Tove Jansson

We chose 'The Winter King' by Bernard Cornwell. It was a close run thing with 'Skipping Christmas' running a close second.

The next meeting will be on Thursday 10th December. It was suggested in the October meeting that we hold the meeting at someone's house to avoid the Christmas rush in town. I'll confirm who's house it will be by email.

Thursday 8th October - Warwick Arms, Reading

A bumper meeting! 6 of us met to discuss 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson, this month's book. We had a lively discussion with most of us enjoying the story and characters, although we didn't really understand the legal stuff at the start of the book. A few of us guessed the twists in the story and Ros wanted to slap the main character for going to the murderer's house alone, but then she usually wants to slap at least one person in each book we read! As the book is the start of a triology we discussed whether we would read the other books, most of us would and wanted to know how the girl Salander would develop as the main character.

Result: 6 of us liked this book.

We chose our book after next from the following:

• December by Elizabeth H Winthrop
• Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife by David Eagleman
• The Sweet Smell of Decay by Paul Lawrence
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

We chose 'Sum' by David Eagleman, although votes were tied with 'Wolf Hall'. We decided on 'Sum' as 'Wolf Hall' is only out in hardback at the moment and our policy is only to read paperbacks to reduce on costs. We will be reading 'Wolf Hall' when it comes out in paperback in March 2010.

The next meeting will be in the Warwick Arms, Thursday 12th November. At the next meeting we will have another themed choice, the theme will be Christmas as we will be reading the book we choose over Christmas. So, get your thinking hat on I'm looking for any book linked with Christmas, snow or winter.

Thanks for those people who voted on doodle for the historical walk around Reading, Lisa will be in touch with the decided date.

You may remember me writing about the open air Shakespeare play some of us went to see in Oxford, well the same company are doing a Christmas production just outside Oxford (not open air). It's 'Beauty and the Beast' and runs from 27th November to 16th January. I've done another doodle poll so if you want to come, please do the usual and note your availability. I've chosen only Friday evening and Saturday showings as those are probably the one's most people can make, but they are doing a show most nights (apart from Sundays and Mondays). As the venue has some seats around tables near the stage, and some people mentioned wanting to bring friends and family, we thought it might be easier to organise a date where we can all go but then everyone organises their own tickets. We can meet for a drink before the performance but then have the rest of the evening with our chosen party. I'll send emails out to people in the next few weeks so please visit doodle sooner rather than later so we can get this organised.

September Meeting

Thursday 10th September - Warwick Arms Pub, Reading

Another select meeting of 3 due to a last minute flurry of cancellations, you missed a corker! We tried the food at the Warwick Arms (£10 for starter and main, Thai food) and it was delish. The start of the meeting was mainly in silence due to food appreciation but we soon got started on the book 'Engeby' by Sebastian Faulks. Feelings were mixed with Lisa having not finished it and Rachel not really getting into it. I, on the other hand, loved it! I didn't have a clue that this book was a murder mystery so my expectations were a life story of a strange man. I think that made the story more gripping than it was for others, they were waiting for the disappearance and eventual confession while I was happy reading about his university life. With questions supplied by Gail (thanks Gail!) we had quite a meaty discussion about his motivations and whether people really can suppress memories as he claims to.

Result: 2 people liked this book (I think - correct me if I'm wrong).

Our book choice this month was restricted to 'Classics'. This was the first time we tried having a theme and I think it worked quite well. We chose our book from the following:

• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

We chose 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll.

The next meeting will be in the Warwick Arms, Thursday 8th October. No food this time, we decided to do food maybe once in 3 months as we know not everyone wants to eat Thai every month.

The theatre trip last month to see 'Twelfth Night' at Oxford was a huge success, 5 of us clustered together to watch the open air performance. It was rather chilly but great fun and something we'll definitely do again.

Lisa has volunteered to organise our next outing, a guided walk around Reading. I've set up a doodle poll here so please put your availability if you're interested.

We also discussed the themed book choices, I think they worked rather well as it focuses our choices on unusual books instead of choosing from the best sellers. If you have any ideas for future themes, please leave a comment on here so others can see them. The list so far is:

• Christmas (this will obviously have to be the book we choose in November to read over Christmas)
• Biography (auto or not)
• Historical Fiction
• Fantasy

We won't do this every month, just every so often to keep the books different and fresh. As always, this is up for discussion so new ideas are always welcome.

August Meeting

Thursday 13th August - Warwick Arms Pub, Reading

I am blaming the school holidays on the fact that only 3 of us were in the pub last night, a poor turn out but it gave us the opportunity to discuss more than books! We discussed 'The Truth About Melody Brown' by Lisa Jewell, a great summer read as the story was gripping, the characters easy to like and the whole book wasn't too complex or in depth, perfect for reading on the beach. Everyone enjoyed the book, we liked the teaser at the start and also the way Melody's returning memory gave short flashbacks which didn't read like a narrative but gave us an insight into what happened. We felt sorry for Melody, so much tragedy in a young life but didn't like her son who seemed altogether too perfect for an 18 year old. It was so nice to finally find out that Melody was so loved by so many people, including her step-mother and little step-sister. A happy ending and tying up all the loose ends of the story was perfect for closure and a very satisfying conclusion.

Result: 3 people liked this book (I actually forgot to take a vote but I'm assuming we all liked it).

We chose our book after next from the following:

• Poison Study - Maria Snyder
• In The Eye of The Sun - Ahdaf Soueif
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

We chose 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson.

The meeting will be in the Warwick Arms again, Thursday 10th September.

Thanks to everyone who filled in their availability for the theatre trips, I emailed everyone who is available on the most popular day (21st August) so hopefully I'll be able to book that soon.

We also discussed a few other things including themed book selections, the first we'll try will be classics. Classics can be any book really, use your discretion. The idea is that people may have read it before but it would be long enough ago that they might want to read it again, also any books which you've always wanted to read but never got round to it. So, for the next meeting, please bring a classic book review with you.

The Warwick Arms also does a meal deal on their Thai food, starter and a main for £10. The food smelt so delicious last night that I almost ordered some, so we thought that a meeting with food might be good. I'm open to suggestions on this one, shall we make it September or wait until October? Answers on an email please.

July Meeting

Thursday 9th July - Warwick Arms Pub, Reading

We had a group of 7 at this month's meeting and the kind man at the Warwick Arms turned some of the speakers off so it was lovely and quiet to discuss this month's book 'If Nobody Thinks of Remarkable Things' by Jon McGregor.

It was an interesting and varied discussion, we all liked the premise of the book being a normal street on the surface but scratch beneath and everyone had a story, everyone had a history and suddenly ordinary lives became extraordinary. Most of us guessed the ending, well the first part of the ending anyway. We mostly didn't think that the book was driven by the characters but by the fact that the author reveals that something happens at the end and that makes the reader carry on.

Result: 6 people liked this book.

We chose our book from the following:

• Kieron Smith, Boy - James Kelman
• Engleby - Sebastian Faulks
• Past Imperfect - Julian Fellowes
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
• Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
• Unless - Carol Shields

We chose 'Engleby' by Sebastian Faulks.

The next meeting will be in the Warwick Arms, Thursday 13th August.

Lisa and Ros are still investigating open air theatres, look out for emails from them and hopefully we can find a date where most people can make it.

June Meeting

Thursday 11th June - Warwick Arms Pub, Reading

Thanks to everyone who came to this months meeting, 6 of us met in a very quiet Warwick Arms (makes a nice change) to discuss this months book 'The Story of Forgetting' by Stefan Merrill Block.

Thanks to Mary and Ros who brought some discussion questions which we kind of stuck to. We liked the symbolism of Isidora, a world were people forgot everything and it was a good thing, also when memories and speech came to Isidora at the same time Seth was doing his research and what the impact of both of these had on the inhabitants. We felt that Jamie's regression to childhood reflected the fact that that was when she was most happy, before her parents died and her uncle decided (on the day of the funeral!) to tell her he was her real Dad. We were split in deciding whether Abel was actually her Dad and whether they both new this by the onset of her illness. Most of us would want to know whether we had a disease like this which cut short your life at 35-40.

And all of us wanted to slap Seth's Dad for being generally useless.

Result: 2 people liked this book, 1 person was undecided.

We chose our next book from the following:

• Rabbit, Run - John Updike
• The Truth About Melody Brown - Lisa Jewell
• The Island - Victoria Hislop
• A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
• The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

We chose 'The Truth About Melody Brown' by Lisa Jewell.

The next meeting will be in the Warwick Arms, Thursday 9th July at 7:30pm. Can whoever proposed 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things' bring some discussion questions and can everyone bring a review of something they'd like to read?

To follow on about the discussion we've been having about borrowing books en masse from the library, Mary very kindly investigated this for us and we have to be even more organised to reserve the books we want. Our next book is not available until next year. I would suggest that if we wanted to borrow books then we need to pick a few from the library list and see when they are available. Then we can slot them into our book reading year. After a long discussion it was decided that this was more hassle than it was worth and that we would see how we go choosing books on a month by month basis. Most of the books we choose are available to borrow from the library on a personal basis anyway, so members don't have to buy a new book every month.

We also discussed going to see an open air theatre performance this summer, Ros and Lisa are investigating and I'll post any decision we make on here.

May Meeting

Thursday 14th May - Back of Beyond Pub, Reading.

A rather depleted group this month, 5 of us met at the BOB pub to discuss 'Three Cups of Tea' by Greg Mortenson and what a discussion we had! Thanks to Ros and Mary who provided some discussion questions, they really helped to extend and push our thoughts on the book. We were unlucky again with our choice of venue, it seems BOB has a curry night every Thursday and it was very busy. But we managed to bag two sofas near the front which was quiet enough to talk.

Everyone liked the book and how it portrays the Pakistani people, we all felt we learnt something about their culture and how important education is to them. We couldn't decide whether Greg's acceptance to the villagers was due to his courage and charity or whether his acceptance of their religion helped. We all felt that religion was played down in this book for whatever reason. Greg's risk-taking both climbing mountains and entering dangerous situations like being kidnapped by the Taliban provided a gripping story line and we all wanted to meet his wife to see how and why she puts up with it! All in all, a great read.

Result: 5 people like this book.

We chose our next book from the following:

• The Drowning Girl - Margaret Leroy
• If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
• The Other Hand - Chris Cleave
• The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway

We chose 'If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things' by Jon McGregor.

The next meeting will be back at the Warwick Arms, Thursday 11th June at 7:30pm. Can whoever proposed 'The Story of Forgetting' bring some discussion questions and can everyone bring a review of something they'd like to read?

We also discussed borrowing books from the library to save people buying each book, the book we chose this meeting is available on the Wokingham library book group list and as such I can borrow up to 15 copies of it. If you would like me to pick you up a copy, please let me know by Friday 5th June. You will need to be attending both the June and July meetings to pick up and bring back your copy. Can people also confirm if they are attending each meeting? I like to try and wait until everyone has arrived before starting the discussion and I need to know approximate numbers so we can save all the chairs needed.

See you all in June.

April Meeting

Thursday 9th April - Warwick Arms, Reading.

Thanks to everyone for coming to our second meeting, 10 people in all! Even though we choose the busiest mid-week night of the year (Thursday before Good Friday), we managed to have a very interesting and thorough discussion on 'The White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga.

It was decided that this was a really thought provoking insight into the dual world of India, the poorest of the poor alongside the richness of Delhi. We couldn't decide whether Balram was insane (he seemed happy to justify the brutal muder of his boss) or did what he needed to do (to get out of the 'darkness'). One member had found that his Indian workmates thought the book rather realistic which surprised a few of us who had assumed that this view was rather polarised. We also discussed whether we would read another of his books or whether he would be a one-book-wonder and also how representative book awards are of how good a book actually is.

Result: 9 people liked this book, 1 person was undecided.

We chose our next book from the following:

• When Will There Be Good News - Kate Atkinson
• The Story of Forgetting - Stefan Merrill Block
• Brodeck's Report - Philippe Claudel
• The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin
• The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
• The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
• The Outcast - Sadie Jones
• The Warrior's Princess - Barbara Erskine

We chose 'The Story of Forgetting' by Stefan Merrill Block.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 14th May, 7:30pm at Back of Beyond pub on Kings Road. This venue will hopefully be quieter and have a big table we can all sit around.

Other things decided were:

• The person who proposed the chosen book would bring a list of questions (your own or from the internet) to prompt the discussion.
• I will bring a list of bookclub books which my local library (Lower Earley) has in stock. We will see if any books take our fancy and include those in our list for choosing the next book. This would mean we don't have to buy the book instead I would borrow all the copies, hand them out at the meeting and gather them back at the next meeting.
  

If I missed anything out or you'd like to add anything, please feel free to leave comments. Hope you all had a good Easter and I'll see you in May!

March Meeting

Our first meeting was last night, it was lovely to finally meet everyone and we had a good old natter. As I discussed at the meeting, this blog is open to the world so if you do add any comments, please don't include any personal information. If you feel the need to share personal stuff, please join the facebook group 'Lower Earley Book Group' which is a closed group and only members of it can see the wall and discussion board.

So, here's what was discussed and decided on:

• Choosing The Book - Everyone will bring a review to the meeting, read it out and we'll take a vote on each book (you can vote for more than one book). The book with the most votes wins! We will try to choose books from a different author each time. If a book had been read by one or more members then it's up to those members to say whether they would mind reading it again. We won't restrict books by genre, so if you want to read poetry, biographies, new fiction etc, just bring along a review. We will choose paperbacks as opposed to hardbacks, to reduce the costs. I will investigate with the local libraries if they will order in copies of our book after next to save people buying a new book every month. At each meeting we will be choosing the book after next, so we chose 2 books this meeting: one for April and one for May's meeting. At the next April meeting we will choose the book to be read for June and so on. This means we all know what book we're reading next so you can skip every other book if you don't have time to read one book every month, or if you just don't fancy the next book.
• Hosting Meetings - We will be meeting each month in The Warwick Arms at 7:30pm.
  
• Frequency of Meetings - Meetings will be held on the 2nd Thursday of each month, so the date for the next meeting is Thursday 9th April and the one after that will be Thursday 14th May.
  

At each meeting there will be an opportunity to discuss the above and we can change anything which isn't working out.

The following books were submitted:

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
• The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
• The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
• Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
  

We will be reading 'The White Tiger' for 9th April and 'Three Cups of Tea' for 14th May. As I said above, I will contact a few libraries and see if we can get some copies of 'Three Cups of Tea', if you'd like a copy please let me know either in the comments below or email me by 19th March (next Thursday).

So, again thanks to everyone for coming, I had a great time. I'll see you all in April, please bring a new review and your thoughts on 'The White Tiger'.

First Meeting Date

Our first meeting is Thursday 12th March, where we'll decide on the first book. I'll post details of it here so people other than our little group can follow the discussion.

Starting a book group

To give you a bit of background, I attended my first book group in 2004 when I moved to a new town and didn't know anyone. They had their own website which I found one day and were very welcoming. It seemed that everyone in the entire village was part of this group and I met some wonderful people, read some wonderful books and even got a holiday to Cornwall out of it!

When I moved away (again) I started my own group with a bunch of friends which was great and lasted about a year before people started getting too busy and meetings were pushed further and further apart. So we decided to call it a day and now that book group (would you call it an ex-book group?) meets every month or so to have a girlie evening out which is great.

So, I've decided to take the plunge again and start a new book group from scratch. I advertised on a book group website and got quite a few replies, it seems Reading is calling out for a new book group! I also asked some of my friends who'd either been part of the last book group or had expressed an interest and we suddenly have 9 people.

We're currently trying to decide when the first meeting will be via a very cool tool where we will decide on how the group is going to be run, when, where and also which books to read.

I'm planning on keeping this blog updated with what our current and next book will be and also give a summary of the discussion from the meeting so anyone can join in. It's also going to be useful for members who can't make the meeting and I welcome comments on posts as a way of expanding the discussion even further.

Happy reading!