Book Choices for Autumn

We will meet at 8pm, at The Hundred, on Thursday 27th October to discuss our current read: The Hound in the Left-Hand Corner by Giles Waterfield. The choices for our next read are below: 

Thunder God by Paul Watkins

In this time of violent change a young man, struck by lightning, is believed to be marked by the gods as a keeper of the Norse religion's greatest secret. 

To save the Norse faith and himself, he embarks upon a journey, where he must confront not only his own gods but the gods of a people yet more savage.

Every Day Is Mother’s Day by Hilary Mantel

A story of suburban mayhem and merciless, hilarious revenge.

Barricaded inside their house filled with festering rubbish, unhealthy smells and secrets, the Axon family baffle Isabel Field - the latest in a long line of social workers.

Isabel has other problems too: a randy, untrustworthy father and a slackly romantic lover, Colin Sidney, a history teacher to unresponsive yobs and father of a parcel of horrible children. With all this to worry about, how can Isabel begin to understand what is happening in the Axon household?

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings - asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass - offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. 

In a rich braid of reflections ranging from Turtle Island's creation to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. 

Only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the earth's generosity, and learning to give our own gifts in return.