Book Group

Last night I went to a meeting of our village book group. In fact I don’t think it is the only reading group in the village, but it is very much ours. Started in December 2003 we are nearly 4 years old and still going strong. Although when we started we would sit around and discuss various books and have the odd glass of wine, we have over the years become much more sociable. The host provides the wine and a few nibbles, but we all contribute about £2 towards the drinks and take our turn to be invaded. We tend to vary the themes quite a bit and not simply read one book, we have had themes of, comedy, travel ( spiritual or actual), poetry or even an author’s work or a single book. Last night was Doris Lessing in tribute to her winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in October this year. We had a selection of readings and a lively discussion, which wandered about to include Alfred Nobel himself, how sad people who blog are ( ahem!) and how her work seemed to have a constant theme of disenfranchisement and her early card carrying communist years. Books which were discussed included, The Grass is Singing, her first novel published when she first came to England in 1949, Walking in the Shade, part 2 of her autobiography, The story of a Non-Marrying Man and Martha Quest.

So in tribute to a great bunch of friends and to another productive and entertaining four years, hello to Ruth, Catherine, Gill, Irene (our leader), Michelle (welcome back), Joyce, Shelagh and Christopher, and to those who couldn’t make it last night, Karen, Robin, Jackie, Hilary and Steve. I had a ball.