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.