Book Choices to take us out of Lockdown!

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

April 1468: The arrogant, newly ordained Christopher Fairfax is journeying to the remote Wessex village of Addicott St. George to perform a burial service, that of the village’s priest, Father Lacy. Dusk is gathering.

It's a crime to be out after dark, and Fairfax knows he must arrive at his destination - a remote village in the wilds of Exmoor - before night falls and curfew is imposed.

He's lost and he's becoming anxious as he slowly picks his way across a countryside strewn with the ancient artefacts of a civilisation that seems to have ended in cataclysm. 

What Fairfax cannot know is that, in the days and weeks to come, everything he believes in will be tested to destruction, as he uncovers a secret that is as dangerous as it is terrifying. 

The Librarian by Sally Vickers

Sylvia Blackwell, a young woman in her twenties, moves to East Mole, a quaint market town in middle England, to start a new job as a children's librarian. But the apparently pleasant town is not all it seems. Sylvia falls in love with an older man - but it's her connection to his precocious young daughter and her neighbours' son which will change her life and put them, the library and her job under threat.

How does the library alter the young children's lives and how do the children fare as a result of the books Sylvia introduces them to? 

Longbourn by Jo Baker

If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them.

In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take centre stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended.

Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars—and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own. 

We will choose our next read from these books on Thursday 25th March when we meet to review our current book, and meet the author: Cows Can't Jump by Philip Bowne on Zoom at 8pm

The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff

Twelve of us met to discuss this book, including 2 new ladies.

The initial response was mixed and initially the disgruntled group voice spoke loudest. Anna's seemingly disorganised and scatty approach to her running adventure annoyed and irritated members of our group. This prompted discussion about why she gave that impression? and that, in turn, led to consideration of how such an undertaking might feel and how that could lead one to appear somewhat flippant with regard to the enormity of the challenge. Perhaps, it was concluded, she didn't take the reality in, or she didn't want to take it all in?

Without any intention to pun, it seems what the reader takes from this book depends on their perspective. Some of us felt the risks that Anna took were irresponsible, others tried to understand her approach and process. The quality of the book can be judged by the quality of the writing or the qualities of an adventurer. Are we reading about why she was doing it, or what kept her going? There are so many angles to this story that, if nothing else, this is a book to talk about with friends. 

'I struggle to understand why she put herself through it' was countered by 'I learnt a lot from her and how she dealt with anxiety and physical problems.'

'How could she put herself through the pain?' - 'She is so totally focussed, has utter determination.'

'I was finally really annoyed - she didn't start running until 5 one day, eating cake in a coffee shop' vs. 'I liked that she wasn't pushing it - it made it more real.'

'She got on my nerves - I persevered but gave the book away.' - 'I deeply admired this woman, she was incredible. The sports psychology tips were really useful.'

'I was really anxious for this young, naive woman who had not thought it through.' - 'The Pants of Perspective are a great technique, and she had the foresight to plan new running shoes before she set off.'

So it seems, if you can see beyond the poor editing (and the resultant numerous 'inhalations' of food) and recognise that this is a better book than The Island by Victoria Heslop! then Anna shines through as an inspirational woman. She wasn't afraid to try, wants to achieve, is not an over-confident 'alpha' and is simply prepared to do seemingly impossible/stupid/ridiculous things. 

So did we enjoy this book? 9 of us did and 7 of us would read it (or another by Anna McNuff) again. 

Would we recommend this book? 10 would and 2 wouldn't.

As our conversation moved on to other things, one little voice said 'I'm so far from understanding it...'.

Our next read is Cows Can't Dance by Philip Bowne and Philip will join us on Thursday 25th March at 8pm when we will discuss our experience of reading his first novel and put our questions to him. 

Book Choices for Spring

Every now and then I get a round robin email from a self-promoting author. They are rarely interesting. In January, however, I received a nicely put together, well targeted message from an author named Philip Bowne: 

I hope you’re keeping well and enjoying a good start to 2021. I also hope that you won’t mind me writing out of the blue - I found your details on the Reading Groups for Everyone website, while I was searching for book clubs in the Ox/Bucks area. I’m a local author - I grew up in Bicester. My first novel Cows Can’t Jump was published last September.

When this most recent lockdown in the UK was announced, I decided to reach out to Book Clubs and offer an Author Book Club, to share my writing and hopefully provide a much needed boost for people. My debut novel Cows Can’t Jump was published at the end of 2020. It’s a fun coming-of-age story that transports the reader across central Europe. It won the Spotlight First Novel Prize and was shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. 

One of the great disappointments of publishing my debut during the pandemic has been the inability to connect with readers. I am hoping that this might go some way in remedying that! 

If your group would be interested in reading the book, I would be delighted to offer an online Author Q&A session for the group if they wish. It would be fun to enjoy a drink, discuss the novel’s themes, characters, and ask any questions they may have. All in all, I want it to be a bit of fun, to help bring people together during lockdown, and to help spread the word about my novel! Debuting in 2020 was – as you can imagine – a bit of a nightmare, as it’s so difficult to connect with readers. I’m hoping the book club can help with that. 

If you are interested in finding out a bit more information, I’d be more than happy to discuss further! For a little more information on the book and myself: https://philipbowne.com

So I got in touch, explained how we choose our books and promised to pass his book details to Sue. We batted a couple of emails back and forth and agreed on 2 possible dates, for his book club idea, if we we would like to give his book a go: 25th March or the 8th April. 

If we decide we are up for a meeting with Phil, then this is the book. 

Cows Can't Dance by Philip Bowne

How far would you go for love?

Winner of the Spotlight First Novel prize, Philip Bowne's debut novel is an explosive coming-of-age odyssey. 18-year-old Billy is desperate to leave home. He's working the ultimate dead-end job as a grave-digger. His Grandad's engaged to a woman half his age, his Dad's become obsessed with boxing, and his Mum's certainly having an affair. Everything is changing, and Billy hates it.

Meeting the older, mysterious Eva, though, changes everything. She's passionate about Russian literature, Gary Numan, windfarms and chai tea, and Billy gambles everything for a chance to be with her. His scramble across Europe involves hitch-hiking with truckers, walking with refugees, and an encounter with suicidal cows. But the further he goes, the harder it is to be sure what he's chasing - and what he's running from.

This book is for everyone who wants to break out and follow their dreams.

By way of back up, or add on, we have 2 other books to consider:

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

First published in 1939, this novel obliquely evokes the gathering storm of Berlin before and during the rise to power of the Nazis. Events are seen through the eyes of a series of individuals, whose lives are all about to be ruined.

Goodbye to Berlin, evokes the glamour and sleaze, excess and repression of Berlin society. Isherwood shows the lives of people under threat from the rise of the Nazis: a wealthy Jewish heiress, Natalia Landauer, a gay couple, Peter and Otto, and an English upper-class waif, the divinely decadent Sally Bowles.

Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald

Animals don't exist to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.

From the bestselling author of H is for Hawk comes Vesper Flights, a transcendent collection of essays about the human relationship to the natural world.

Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best-loved writing along with new pieces covering a thrilling range of subjects. There are essays here on headaches, on catching swans, on hunting mushrooms, on twentieth-century spies, on numinous experiences and high-rise buildings; on nests and wild pigs and the tribulations of farming ostriches.

Vesper Flights is a book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make the world around us. Moving and frank, personal and political, it confirms Helen Macdonald as one of this century's greatest nature writers.

We will meet to discuss our current book: The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff at 8pm on Thursday 18th February by Zoom. We can decide then on Phil's offer to meet and whether to read one book, or perhaps two over the coming Spring months. 

My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay

Seven of our group met to discuss this book and did so uninterrupted for well over 40 minutes. Thank you Zoom!

This was an emotionally challenging story to read and, sadly, it's a factual account of Lemn's own childhood spent in the 'care' of his local authority. 

Lemn takes the reader through the files given to him by Wigan council in 2015: his files. He shares the reports and correspondence relating to his entire childhood from 1967 to 1985: 18 years. And he explains in detail the circumstances surrounding the documents. He changes no names. 

We talked around the story for a long time and yet it was a struggle for any of us to put into words how we felt about our reading experience. So this is a very short summary of our discussion. 

"Extremely frustrated for Lemn"; "So cross at the system". "Unbelievable". "I couldn't do anything". These are just words, and they do not really define how it feels to learn that authority took a child and condemned him to a life of bureaucratic decision making by arrogant white men in suits. And then there is the foster family Lemn lived with until he was 12, who let him down so very badly. There are no words for something we cannot even begin to understand. 

For Lemn though words, in poetry, gave him a way to express himself and shape himself and led him to where he is now. At the end of this book the reader is treated to just a few of his poems - don't put the book down until you have read them and read them again. 

The book ended but we want to know more. Here is a bit more:

Click on the link below for a post-publication discussion in which Lemn Sissay tells Alan Yentob what it was like to grow up as the only black child in a sleepy market town outside Wigan in the 1970s.

Imagine - an interview with Lemn Sissay

Would we recommend this book? Yes, it's a short read that is easier to read than to explain what it is like to read. It is powerful. 

You can't help but fall in love with Lemn Sissay -  his talent and his intelligence and his determination has led to him becoming an incredible asset to the country that so badly let him down. 

Our next book is: The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff and we will meet to discuss her travel adventures on at 8pm on Thursday February 18th 2021, almost certainly by Zoom.  

I hope you all manage to enjoy what will be an unusual Christmas and New Year.

Book choices for the start of, what we will hope will be, a much better year!

 The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin by Stepanie Knipper

In the spirit of Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers--and with a touch of the magical--The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a spellbinding debut about a wondrously gifted child and the family that she helps to heal.  

Sisters Rose and Lily Martin were inseparable when growing up on their family’s Kentucky flower farm yet became distant as adults when Lily found herself unable to deal with the demands of Rose’s unusual daughter. But when Rose becomes ill, Lily is forced to return to the farm and to confront the fears that had driven her away.

Rose’s daughter, ten-year-old Antoinette, has a form of autism that requires constant care and attention. She has never spoken a word, but she has a powerful gift that others would give anything to harness--she can heal with her touch. She brings wilted flowers back to life, makes a neighbor’s tremors disappear, and even changes the course of nature on the flower farm.

Antoinette’s gift, though, comes at a price, since each healing puts her own life in jeopardy. As Rose--the center of her daughter’s life--struggles with her own failing health and Lily confronts her anguished past, the sisters, and the men who love them, come to realize the sacrifices that must be made to keep this very special child safe.

Written with great heart and a deep understanding of what it feels like to be different, The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a novel about what it means to be family and about the lengths to which people will go to protect the ones they love.

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide…

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets…

The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff

"When I ran, I ran for pleasure. I didn’t run for times, to win, to impress: I ran for me. When I ran my bum cheeks rubbed together, so much so that if I was going on a long run I’d have to ‘lube up’. I maintained that I was not a ‘real’ runner – I just liked to run so that I could eat cake." Anna was never anything like those ‘real’ runners on telly – all spindly limbs, tiny shorts and split times – but when she read about New Zealand’s 3,000-kilometre-long Te Araroa Trail, she began to wonder… perhaps being a ‘real’ runner was overrated. Maybe she could just run it anyway? Travelling alone through New Zealand’s backcountry for 148 days, she scrambled through forests, along ridge-lines, over mountain passes, along beaches and across swollen rivers. Running up to 52 kilometres in a day, she slept wild most nights, and was taken into the homes and hearts of the kiwi people in between. The Pants of Perspective is a witty, colourful and at times painfully raw account of a journey to the edge of what a woman believes herself to be capable of. It is a coming-of-age story which will lead you on a roller coaster ride through fear, vulnerability, courage and failure. For anyone who has ever dreamt of taking on a great challenge, but felt too afraid to begin – this story is for you.

We will meet to discuss our current book: My Name is Why by Lemn Sissay, and perhaps a little festive chat and tipple! at 8pm on 17th December by Zoom. 

Three Stories by Alan Bennett

I failed to count how many of our members joined this meeting but there was a good turn out. Lively and enthusiastic conversation flowed, and the group opinion of Alan Bennett glowed!

Each of the three stories were cited as 'my favourite' by different members. 

The Laying on of Hands takes the reader into a memorial service, full of colourful and high profile 'mourners' observed by an undercover archdeacon who takes great delight in following the highs and lows of the service. This is a 'comic' story. 

The Clothes They Stood Up In is an hilarious, and quite insane, story of a couple who find themselves in extremely unusual circumstance, and later (much to our amusement) in Aylesbury!  This is a 'funny yet sad' story.

Father! Father! Burning Bright containing black humour surrounding illness and death. This is a 'very sad' story that, for some of our group 'touched a nerve'.

All three stories were meticulous observations of human nature and written so well that it is difficult not to love the writing, even if you don't like the stories themselves.

The conversation flitted between the three stories but generally came back to Mr and Mrs Ransome and their relationship (or lack of it). We debated the Aylesbury ring-road comment as only locals can, but agreed that he chose his 'bland' town exceptionally well.

It is hard to work out what the authors attitude is to his characters, but we all agreed that he is 'waspish' toward them. He leaves the reader feeling quite uncomfortable about these feeble people but, we believe, that is alright and probably how he intended us to feel. 

Some read with Alan Bennett's voice in their head, some are ardent fans and enjoyed reading this book for a second (or possibly more) time. 

Now, I make an admission - I struggled with the first story, thoroughly enjoyed the second and couldn't finish the third. I expected a downbeat meeting of our book group. By the end of our discussion I realised that what I had read was high quality, inspired literature written by an author worthy of the huge following he has. This is a brilliant choice for a book group read.

Would we recommended this book? Yes.

Our next read is My Name is Why by Lemm Sissay. We will meet on 17th December, at 8pm, by Zoom to discuss and to choose our Christmas book from a selection of what will aim to be ho, ho, ho novels!

Book Group Choices for 2020 LOCKDOWN TWO

How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak

A political theorist and Booker Prize-nominated novelist – observes that, with rising unemployment, economic inequality, environmental catastrophe and now a pandemic, a parent can no longer assume their children will have more than they did. Indeed, before telling us how best we might cope in the face of assorted crises, the author explains how, given the extent of misinformation, polarisation, corruption, injustice and inequality at the moment, we are justified in feeling utterly depressed.

It is important to state that this book – which is just 90 pages long and was written earlier this year during lockdown – offers no magic solutions. What Shafak does provide is a calmly rational response to extraordinary circumstances, and validates our feelings of discombobulation without stoking them. Part polemic, part therapeutic tool, How to Stay Sane asks us to consider the emotions we are experiencing, which may include anger, apathy and anxiety, and accept them without yielding to them.

She also puts current events into a broader context, looking at power, wealth, technology and mental health. She argues that narcissism is less a problem of the individual than a collective affliction, exacerbated by social media, which creates ideological echo chambers and discourages us from engaging with theories and arguments that are not in line with our own. “If wanting to be heard is one side of the coin, the other side is being willing to listen,” she explains. “The moment we stop listening to diverse opinions is also when we stop learning.”

Identity is a recurring theme, a result of Shafak’s own experiences of an increasingly loud “us and them” rhetoric. She was born in France and raised in Turkey, but has also spent time in Spain and the US. Home is now the UK. Among the most common questions she is asked is: “Where are you really from?” “Belonging,” she explains, “is not a once-and-for-all condition, a static identity tattooed to our skin; it is a constant self-examination and dynamic revision of where we are, who we are and where we want to be.”

Ultimately, Shafak asserts, stories are what matter – “Whether it’s 5,000 refugees who have died or 10,000, the difference doesn’t and won’t register unless we know the personal stories behind the statistics.” Understanding breeds empathy, and empathy can lead to a collective desire to help.

Shafak also shows that to get through dark times, we need to understand how we got here, which takes energy and commitment. To ask for a quick solution to the rolling calamity is to ask for the Moon on a stick. But there is comfort in having a voice like Shafak’s to guide us. “It is,” she notes, “totally fine not to feel fine.”

Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on B.S. by Jess Phillips

At a time when many of us feel the world isn’t listening, Jess Phillips offers inspiration to those of us who want to speak out and make a difference.

No stranger to speaking truth to power herself, she will help you dig deep and get organised, finding the courage and the tools you need to take action.

As well as bringing us hope through her own experiences Jess talks to the accidental heroes who have been brave enough to risk everything, become whistle-blowers and successfully fight back.

Entertaining, empowering and uncompromising, TRUTH TO POWER is the book we all need to help us call time on the seemingly unstoppable tide of bullshit in our lives.

My Name is Why by Lemn Sissay

At the age of seventeen, after a childhood in an adopted family followed by six years in care homes, Norman Greenwood was given his birth certificate. He learned that his real name was not Norman. It was Lemn Sissay. He was British and Ethiopian. And he learned that his mother had been pleading for his safe return to her since his birth. 

Here Sissay recounts his life story. It is a story of neglect and determination. Misfortune and hope. Cruelty and beauty. Sissay reflects on adoption, self-expression and Britishness, and in doing so explores the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home. Written with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation's best-loved voices, this moving, frank and timely memoir is the result of a life spent asking questions, and a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity.

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana’s pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome’s occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus’s life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman’s bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.

Remember Remember: We will meet to discuss our current book: Three Stories by Alan Bennett at 8pm on 5th November by Zoom. Let me know if you haven't received the Zoom link .