Christmas party booked!

I've booked a table at Aroma for Thursday, 15th December at 8pm for 8 people. It will be a Christmas menu and it sounds like there is something for everyone. I'll pick up a menu and post it on the blog as soon as I can.

The Small Hand, Time of Gifts and a slap!

We opened the meeting with a discussion of the BBC4 series of Slap (our August read) which began on Thursday. It is in weekly editions - 8 parts - one for each chapter. I'm not sure Chris will be delivering a final verdict at the end but I certainly aim to!

It was two months since we'd last met so we had two books to cover - A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor and The Small Hand by Susan Hill.

The unanimous verdict concerning A Time of Gifts was that, although it was essentially a travel book, it seemed in dire need of more storytelling and character building with the author drifting from place to place without any real sense of occasion. We felt that this could have been in no small part due to the the fact that the author didn't write the book until much later in life. The descriptions were at times engaging, as were the author's demonstration of his knowledge of history and the arts throughout the book. For example, at one point he depicts his backdrop to famous artists and their paintings and another time sees him embracing the charm of a wise old sage, with him musing how this experience provided more education in minutes than in years of history lessons.

We concluded that we wouldn't be seeking out Fermor's subsequent travelogues - life's too short!

Everyone greatly enjoyed The Small Hand, especially its short length - Mary even managed to finish it in one sitting on the train to London. The book felt a lot older than it was and apart from a couple of seasoned chiller readers in the group, most were mainly relieved it wasn't too scary. Our collective review of this book was short and to the point - just like the story - with the conclusion of a 'very satisfactory read.'

A lively debate ensued about future reads and we settled on Human Stain by Phillip Roth for December and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in January. I think there was then general acquiescence towards Chris's suggestion of Hunger by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun - and after reading a few reviews on Amazon I can't wait - so we can make that our February read.

Thanks for all of your valuable input! I think that's all for now - see you next week x

book suggestions?

I've just reserved copies of our next read Three Men in a Boat and thinking ahead to future books...perhaps it would be helpful if we could all bring along a couple of suggestions to our next meeting. Any suggestions for themes?

(I've just finished The Small Hand already - a refreshingly quick and easy read after wading endlessly through our last book!) See you soon x

Sunday's meeting has been cancelled

As most of us are unlikely to make Sunday's meeting I thought it best to postpone it - or perhaps we'll move straight onto October's meeting and discuss both books then? From the feedback I've received most of the group are struggling with our current read so that will probably work out better anyway. Can't wait to move onto our next read. Jo - I'll drop your book off over the next couple of days.

I've had a message from Emily to say she's hoping to read our next book and looking forward to meeting us at our October meeting so we may have a new member next time we get together.

See you in October - perhaps on 20th for our Another Year screening!

The Small Hand copies are here

All six copies of The Small Hand are already in my possession so if you would like an early copy please let me know and I'll drop you a copy over. Otherwise, I'll just bring them along to our next meeting on 25th. To whet your appetite I've just found this great Guardian review here. Just noticed it's a really short month for our read - hope my copy comes in soon :S See you all at The Big Cheese Film launch on Thursday!

Book lovers group at Nantwich Library

I thought I'd let you know that Nantwich Library will be launching a book lovers group on Friday 16th September. The aim of the group is to meet up every third Friday of the month to discuss books they have enjoyed. The topic for the first meeting, which begins at 2pm, will be holiday reads. If you go along don't forget to mention our book club.

I've ordered copies of The Small Hand at £1 a go

On my quest to make it cheaper for us all to partake in Bookworm activities, I'm experimenting with the library to find a way that works for us. I have just managed to bulk reserve six copies of our next read,The Small Hand by Susan Hill. It costs £1 for each reservation so perhaps we can start having a little collection on our book meets to cover this cost? No doubt the books will begin arriving earlier than our next get together so I will keep you posted as they arrive and if you would like an earlier copy let me know. If it works, £1 a book is far cheaper than any book we can buy and of course we are sustaining a crucial public service at the same time. If you think it's a bad idea let me know and I can cancel.

In the meantime, enjoy A Time of Gifts - I won't get my copy until 8th at least :( Glad it's a slim read.