Bouncing all the way to Clapham....

Finally managed to sit outside at the Stonhouse this week, even a little drizzle and a damp bench didn't put us off. Very animated conversations going on about the Princess Bride, enjoyed by everyone (how could you not?). If you haven't watched the film yet it will certainly cheer you on this rainy bank holiday weekend!

Next book is The Big Bounce by Elmore Leonard, RIP as of Tuesday last week. 

A short but excellent list otherwise:
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Wise Children by Angela Carter

Back to a Wednesday for next meeting on the 11th September and we're holding out for an Indian summer so will still be at the Stonhouse, outside again hopefully, from 7.30pm.  

The Princess Bride!

A rather short meeting this week - we started early and finished very early, sorry to all those who were up for a bit more! Good discussion about Arthur Ashe, mixed reviews in terms of the writing style but those that reached the end (not the majority) agreed that he had some very interesting things to say. 

Our next read is The Princess Bride (finally!) by William Goldman NOT William Golding as I managed to type last post! A good light-hearted summer read I think!

Other suggestions were:
Don't tell mum I work on the rigs, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse by Paul Carter
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

We will continue to meet at the Stonhouse and keep fingers crossed for an Indian summer. Please note that our next meeting is on THURSDAY 22nd August, from 7.30pm as usual. See you all soon.

Days of Grace, and tennis..

Great discussion on Flight Behaviour this week and the Stonhouse was a nice venue despite not being able to get a table outside AND the theft of a bag :( Sad ending to a nice evening. 
Next book choice is 'Days of Grace: a memoir' by Arthur Ashe. Think it will be an interesting read.

Other suggestions were:

Behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo
The Princess Bride by William Golding
Light Years by James Salter
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Ten days in the hills by Jane Smiley

Four weeks until the next meeting on Wednesday 31st July - we're obviously getting slack in the heat. Going to say meet at the Stonhouse http://www.thestonhouse.co.uk/ again unless it's actually raining then we'll be at the Kings Head http://kingsheadclapham.com/ as usual.

Please follow on-board instructions.....

Apologies for the delayed post... A great discussion on Wednesday, lots of varied opinions on 'Was' always making for interesting chat. Next read is 'Flight Behaviour' by Barbara Kingsolver. Other shortlists were: She came to stay by Simone de Beauvoir American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach Please note that we are next meeting on Thursday 4th July- hope that doesn't put too many of you out. Default venue is The King's Head, 100 Clapham Park Rd but we agreed that if the weather looked warm enough (don't hold your breath) we will meet in the garden at The Stonhouse in Clapham North. Will post a message if this is the case. Whoever gets there early try to bag as many chairs as you can!!

The Crow Road

A large group for us this week and lots of different thoughts about 'if nobody speaks'. General consensus: some lovely ideas, lovely prose although not loved by all (!) but some clunky story lines.

Next choice - an outright winner of the vote this week - is 'The Crow Road' by Ian Banks.

We had a great list to choose from though including:Dominion by CJ Sansom
Black Dogs by Ian McEwan
The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
What is the what by Dave Eggers
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Trial by Franz Kafka
There but for the by Ali Smith

Not quite warm enough to sit outside last night but ALMOST! We will stick with the King's Head, 100 Clpahma Park Rd for next meeting but maybe think of another venue with more outside space after that. 

 

Next meeting is in FOUR weeks, on the 22 May, so plenty of time to read Crow Road!  Meet at 7.30pm for an 8pm start...

Enjoy the sun (please stay!) in the mean time...

Speak up!

I think all enjoyed Capital - even if we didn't think it was the greatest literary novel. It was still way better than The Slap. Sticking with a theme the next book is 'if nobody speaks of remarkable things' by jon mcgregor (lack of capitals obviously in direct contradiction with our previous book). A great shortlist requiring a second (and almost third!) round, comprising of: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick Persuasion by Jane Austen King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild Sticking with The King's Head in this BLOODY MISERABLE WEATHER so see you there  on Wednesday 24th April I hope...

A Capital choice!

As predicted, a fairly heated discussion about The Slap. What can we say? Certainly NOT 'one of the truly great novels of the millennium'!! 
Another interesting list, the next read is Capital by John Lanchester and his short and digestible book about the financial crash, Whoops! why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay, as a 'bonus' extra!

Others on the list were:
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Born Wierd by Andrew Kaufman
Kraken by China Mieville

Meeting on 3rd April from 7.30pm at the Old Kings Head as usual- a bit warmer this week and hopefully the sun will be out by then anyway!