The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 23rd January

There was lots of varied opinion for our last book, Coal Black Morning. Everyone agreed it was well written, but many found the author's arrogance a bit much.

Our next book is Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
"To read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is to step into the garden shed of a maverick genius while he’s out, to discover what ideas he has left lying around." - Guardian

Other pitched books:
Putney - Sofka Zinovieff
Spacekid Ilk - Andrew Hammond
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace - Jeff Hobbs
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Let it Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Kiss Kiss - Roald Dahl

For our meetings, new members are always welcome. We meet in the upstairs room of the Rookery from 7pm which gives people time to eat and get drinks. Book chat starts at 7.30pm and pitches for the next month's book are afterwards.

Please join our Facebook page for the most up to date information, including our socials https://www.facebook.com/groups/claphambookclub/

Rebecca - 2nd September

For our last book, Pigeon English, people felt it was a world that is hard to comprehend but those with experience of this type of community felt is was authentic and the situations were not as unusual as you'd hope. Many (but not all) warmed to the character's naivety and funny situations.

Our next book is Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

" Rebecca is a Gothic novel by English author Dame Daphne du Maurier. A best-seller, Rebecca sold 2.8 million copies between its publication in 1938 and 1965, and the book has never gone out of print." Wikipedia

Other pitched books:

Handmaid's Tale - Margret Attwood

Sweet Sorry - David Nicholls

The Perfect Nanny - Leila Smith

Rules of Seeing - Joe Heap

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Blind Assassin - Margret Attwood

Wild - Cheryl Strayed

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society

Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann

We meet upstairs in the Rookery from 7 with official 'book chat' starting at 7:30.

New members always welcome.

Small Island - Summer Read - 14th September - Black Cultural Archives (Brixton)

It's time for our summer read again! This is a longer book that we read over the summer and have a themed meeting for in addition to our regular meetings. Our meeting will be on Saturday 14th September at the Black Cultural Archives to see their Windrush exhibition (£3), after we'll be heading to a restaurant in the area - to be confirmed soon. Meeting will be roughly 11am, check back or join our Facebook page for exact time.

Our book this summer is Small Island by Andrea Levy

Synopsis: It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was.

'A brilliantly deft and humane account of two ordinary couples in post-war London' - Evening Standard

Other pitched books:
Shanteram - Gregory David Roberts
The Nix - Nathan Hill
Testament of Youth - Veva Brutten
Burning Chambers - Kate Mosse
Cloud Atlas

Pigeon English - 31st July

Our next book is Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
"Stephen Kelman's [first novel] has a powerful story, a pacy plot and engaging characters. It paints a vivid portrait with honesty, sympathy and wit, of a much neglected milieu, and it addresses urgent social questions. It is horrifying, tender and funny ... Brilliant " -Daily Telegraph

Other pitched books:
1984 - George Orwell
Beyond all Reasonable Doubt - Malin Persson
The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walk
Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi
Transription - Kate Atkinson
The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh
Wild - Cheryl Strayed

24th April - The Secret Life of Cows

Our last book was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (follow our facebook group for most up to date info on meetings), which was probably our most popular read yet.

Next book is The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young, a book about what cows get up to on a farm and their different personalities.

Other pitched books

1984 - George Orwell

Long Way Down - Jason Reynold

Tangerine - Christie ...

Alys, Always - Harriet Lane

As always, we'll be in the upstairs room of the Rookery in Clapham from 7pm but official book chat is at 7.30. After 8pm we'll have our pitches, where anyone can pitch a suggestion for our next read that we all vote on.