Will this be a grape book or will it incur our wrath.....?

Great meeting on Wednesday - Jean Brodie inspired a good discussion. Was it all in her master plan we wonder? Welcome to the new members, hope to see you again.

Apologies for the terrible title of the next meeting, I couldn't resist. So you might have guessed that we are next reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - finally it was an outright winner!

Lots of other good suggestions including:

Tender is the Night - F Scott Fitzgerald
Shooting the Elephant - George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer Stevie Davies
Room - Emma Donoghue

We're meeting in 4 weeks, instead of 3 which brings us to 4th May. Provisionally we'll meet in the Royal Oak BUT if the weather is as lovely as it has been this week and it's warm enough to sit outside then we'll be outside at the Bread and Roses.

I'll try to post the venue up on the day but if you arrive at one pub and find nobody then head to the other one!! Clear as mud?!

Opportunity to do your bit...

In case anyone can spare a free evening and is interested in doing their bit to promote a love of reading across the world, Book Aid International need volunteers to stamp and pack books prior to their shipment to Africa.

The next event is apparently on Tuesday 5th April and runs from 6-9pm. Their offices are in Camberwell.

If you are interested, please get in touch with Martina Armstrong on the email address below....

Book Aid International

39-41 Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, London SE5 9NR

Email: martina.armstrong@bookaid.org

http://www.bookaid.org

Registered charity number: 313869

Thanks!

In our prime......

Great meeting this week with lots of good discussion about 'On the road'. General consensus, Kerouac a bit of a misogynistic wanker but a very good writer. Lots to like, some stuff difficult to forgive.

Winner of the vote for next meeting is 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' by Muriel Spark. We meet again on the 6 April.

It was a close call with the other suggestions, especially 'I'll go to bed at noon' by Gerard Woodward, now on it's third suggestion (it will get there one day!)
The others were:
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Lolita by Vladamir Nabakov
The People's Train by Thomas Keneally

Just a short list this week!

Continuing to enjoy the Royal Oak so hope to see all there in three weeks, revel in the start of Springtime and avoid the April showers til then!

(ps. Couldn't resist this orange image although it's of the film poster and not the book cover. Potential confusion between Maggie Smith and Muriel Spark!!)

'Just can't wait to get on the road again'

Mixed feelings about 'the secret scripture'. Another one of those that basically most people seem to enjoy but we manage to rather pull it apart when discussing it! I think we agreed that after reading Calvino last maybe we were just hankering after something more challenging!

The luck of the draw, this week's winner was 'On the road' by Jack Kerouac. Time for some hedonistic revelry! We meet again 16th March, still at the Royal Oak, Clapham High St.

Runners up were...

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsover
Bliss by Peter Carey
Quartered safe out here by George MacDonald Fraser
The spy who came in from the cold by John Le Carre

Hope to see everyone in three weeks!

Shhhh...it's a secret

All round thumbs up for 'If on a Winter's night...' although everyone did get a little confused with the real and the fake! Good discussion and lots of interesting points.

Lovely to have some new members along, what a big group we were this week! We just managed to squeeze around the table!

Our next meeting is on the 23rd Feb, four weeks rather than three just to keep everyone on their toes. We are reading The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, several positive comments from those who have already read it so looking forward to that.

It was a close call between a couple of others actually, the runners up were;

Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Selected Tales by Edgar Allen Poe
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
I'll Go To Bed At Noon by Gerard Woodward

Hope to see everyone on the 23rd!

Not travelling too far on a winter's night...

A great start to the new year! Thumbs up for the new venue and nice to have a new face. Mixed views on Engleby, about 50/50 like to dislike, good discussion though.
Another fantastic selection of pitches for the next meeting, the undoubted winner (not unfortunately!) being:

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino

The runners up were:

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
I'll Go To Bed At Noon by Gerard Woodward
The God of Small Things by Arundnati Roy
Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace
Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Generation A by Douglas Copland

Phew!

We're meeting again on the 26th and sticking with the Royal Oak so hope to see you there!

New Year New Start

UPDATED INFO NOW INCLUDING THE ACTUAL BOOK CHOICE!!:

A very enjoyable Christmas meal, delicious tapas at Rebatos and quite a bargain too!

Very good choices of secret santa books, almost too hard to choose from but the vote was for:

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

Apparently one of his good ones (as opposed to another recently read at Brixton which wasn't so good).

First book group of the new year on Jan 5th! New venue to start the New Year, as much as we love the Bread and Roses we're sometimes getting a little squeezed what with the quiz AND the football. Going to try out the Royal Oak which is just opposite Clapham North Tube (check the name of the pub before you go in, there are three in that area!!) hopefully still fairly convenient for everyone .

Happy New Year!