The Night Circus - Thursday 30th April - Zoom Meetup

We had our first digital meeting this week on Zoom, it was different but worked quite well. The general consensus about the last book, the Heart of the Sea, was that it was a bit dull to start with, but interesting although dark read.

For our next meeting, we're trying something a bit different. To avoid pressure on delivery services during the Corona virus, the pitches were for books our members are planning on reading next month. We asked members to then vote on books they've read/own/planning to read and so our next meeting will discuss a variety of books.

Books will be discussed in order of popularity, with the Night Circus being our main book. To join in with our next meeting, you don't need to have read a particular book and definitely not all of them! If you want to join in with one of the reads below that you don't already have at home, we recommend using Kindle, Audible or Waterstones (approved shop we're supporting as they have given their workers flexibility to not come in + not had their pay reduced).

Books to discuss:

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Becoming - Michelle Obama

Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evarosto

Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver

Heartburn - Nora Ephron

Other pitched books : (less than 5 votes)

Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

The Changeling - Matt Wesoloeski

Mrs Dalloway - Virgina Woolf

The Hobbit

Black Leopard, Red Wolf - Marlon James

The Invisible Man - H.G Wells

Women Who Fight Back - Stacey Dooley

Theodore Boone - John Grisham

In the Heart of the Sea - Tuesday 24th March

Our last book, When All Is Said, was loved by nearly everyone. People found it a moving and heart-warming book.

Our next book is In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

'In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a book by American writer Nathaniel Philbrick about the loss of the whaler Essex in the Pacific Ocean in 1820.' - Wikipedia

Other pitched books:

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

My Name is Leon - Kit De Waal

3 Women - Lisa Taddeo

The Glory of my Father and my Mother's Castle - Marcel Pagnol

The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

My Cat Yugoslavia - Pajtim Statovci

Netherland - Joseph O'Neil

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Meetings take place in The Rookery in Clapham, in the upstairs room from 7pm.

When All is Said - 27th February

Our last book, Hitchhiker's Guide, was enjoyed by most. It was a fun, unpredictable read.

Our next book is When All is Said by Anne Griffin. 'Through one man’s twilight-hour toasts to five people who defined his life, Griffin weaves a powerful and tender depiction of ordinary existence in all its flawed and quiet glory. Warm, compassionate and wryly funny, When All Is Said is an understated literary gem.' - Waterstones

Other pitches:

Bookworm - Lucy Mangan

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika L. Sanchez

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Middle England - Jonathan Coe

Uncommon Type - Tom Hanks

Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield

My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite

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