Friends, book discussions, food matching and food sharing. A private book group. Warning: may contain spoilers.
Tuesday October 10, 2023
Present: Gill F (S&G only); Gill C, Carl, Nic
Dr Ruth Galloway progress: Carl 0; Gill F 2; Nic 11, Gill C 15
Thursday Murder Clubs: Carl 0 (must try harder!); Nic 3; Gill C 4
Our conclusions on the night: Gill C is the reading champ. Sarah Lancashire is a national treasure. The Tory party is a national disgrace. Book group is fun. We should do this more often.
August 22nd, 2023
Sabine recommends the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Ely Griffiths generally and selects the first - The Crossing Places - as a book group choice. Before we even meet to discuss that, Gill C has finished all 15 in the series. I lag behind on 11. Jen's done at least 2.
The Crossing Places may be a Turning Point.
July 19th, 2023
Present: Sabine, Gill C, Jen, Nic
No official books to discuss but we do love Joyce and Elizabeth et al. Are we a book group any more? Who knows? Who cares with food like this!
November 30th, 2022
Present: Nic, Nat, Jen, Sabine
Well, tying this date and venue to the book may be stretching things, given that few have ever finished it and Gill C, who subjected us to this (I mean chose this), wasn't present.
Who started this tome, I am not sure. Who finished it, many, many fewer.
This may be the book that breaks Book Group. Whilst the first two books of this trilogy and Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (a previous LGAG read) were a delight, flowing prose carrying us effortlessly to the end, this is like wading through treacle. There's a tension to it, which comes from knowing what will happen to our "hero" but the prose is dense and difficult and much of it appears extraneous. Was Hilary too big and successful a name to edit any more? Will we ever read again? These questions haunted us. But we do know that Gill C uses it as a computer monitor stand.
Thank goodness for Richard Osman, come to save us with our unofficial book group reads The Thursday Murder Club series. How we love Joyce and Elizabeth et al. We are reborn.
May 4th, 2022
Present: Jen, Gill C, Gill F, Sabine, Nic
Our first post-Covid meet-up. The restaurant was chaotic, the service almost non-existent, one of those times when you had to repeatedly beg and plead to be allowed to pay and get out. It was also one of the first times most of us had seen the calories on a menu - we weren't fans. Who really needs that when they are eating out?!
As for the book, it was very well received by those who had read it (all but me) and I adored it when I finally got caught up. The talk was brief so as not to spoil my experience. Gill F was "Gripped at the first page". Top marks. Everyone should have a SixThirty. The jury is out on the already announced Apple TV dramatisation.
Pass the sodium chloride and let's get stuck into the food.
Sometime in October 2021
No meeting for this one and, possibly, not many readers.
Sabine really liked it and rolled swiftly on to the next one. I also really enjoyed it - a good, old fashioned spy story. However, Gill C gave up on it and Gill F never started, speaking for many of us when she wrote "I have to confess to falling out of the habit of reading. But I plan a comeback tour in the very near future.".
September 9th, 2021
Present: Jen, Sabine, Gill F, Nic
I was on my own in supporting this one. I danced through the pages, loved her prose, revelled in the atmosphere she invoked of a different era (albeit one I am happy to have dodged). Yes, it is dated but I was nonetheless enchanted by the tale. Others, less so. Jen disliked the “lazy” portrayal of the closed convent, Sabine the characters, Gill was in agreement.
September 9th, 2021
Present: Jen, Sabine, Gill F, Nic
My first draft said I hadn’t read this because everyone had panned it. Now I have to edit it. Damn Kindle - I can barely remember what I’ve read and what I haven’t! Well, it is either Kindle or old age. I am starting to feel like the protagonist in Elizabeth is Missing.
Universally revered by everyone here and, via What’s App, by Nat who declared it a “9/10 book”, “slick”, “dry humour”, “identifiable” and “LOVED IT”. Now that I’ve worked out which book it is, I agree with everything she says. A heart-warming story of adultery, rape, and rail disaster.
April 22, 2021
Present: Sabine, Vanessa, Nic, Gill F, may be Jen?
Ok, so I am recapping (relatively) recent books in reverse order and now I realise THIS is the book everyone was hating, not the next one. I haven’t read this one because early reviews from the group were “unpromising”.
Date: ? It’s a lockdown, people. Every day is the same.
Present: ?
People mostly felt frustrated by the repetition but I think that was probably, mostly, the point. Disappointed to miss the BBC adaptation with Glenda Jackson, I would like to see how they did it. For what it is worth, I rather enjoyed it but I was definitely in the minority.
Some time in January, probably.
Present: who knows?
People generally enjoyed the book. Some more than others and some not as much as other Ann Patchetts. There was a futility to the lives, to the obsession, to the hold that the property had, the shadow that it cast, despite being made of glass, that made the book difficult.
Sometime in December 2020 / January 2021
Present: me, Nathalie, beyond that, I cannot remember
Nathalie found the female voice unconvincing. I wanted a pet donkey. That’s pretty much all I can remember.
Date: ? Did we even talk about it? Ah, yes but when, exactly, I couldn’t say.
Present: ?
The trouble with Kindle is one only sees the title and the author once! Hence, albeit, that I initially couldn’t remember (writing in September 2021) this book, I then saw a What’s App saying I was ready to talk about it and it came flooding back. We all found this a powerful and uncomfortable and challenging read - not challenging to read, that is, but thought-provoking.
Wednesday October 26th, 2020
Present: Mark, Nic, Sabine, Gill C, Suza, Nathalie
A generally well received book, save by Jen who never got past the present tense narration. I struggled with that at the start too but found the story so interesting I had completely overlooked it by the end.
The passage about the journey of the flea was called out for special mention by several attendees.
Wednesday September 9th, 2020
Present: Jen, Nic, Nathalie, Gill C
Sabine was in Munich after her mega drive and Gill F was in the pub.
The rest of us were as one on how interesting, atmospheric and compelling the book was, and how frightful were the times depicted for young women.
Another success for Jen, I think we will have to stop lambasting her choices now! She finally lives down Daniel Deronda!
Wednesday August 19th, 2020
Present: Gill C, Gill F, Nic, Suza
Suza’s WiFi struggled like a book group reading The Restraint of Beasts. Why didn’t they just come clean about the first accident? We were fairly baffled by the whole thing but especially the ending. Were they building their own prison? Were they going to be sausages?
We didn’t know and I am not sure we cared.
Edit: Except Nathalie, who said, “I loved this one!”, “I thought it was so funny and could really conjure up the characters vividly” and “Ending was a bit weird though.” We can all agree with the last bit!
Wednesday July 15th, 2020
Present: Gill F, Gill C, Jen, Sabine, Nic
A quick, easy, fun read and a frustrating tale of moral ambiguity.
Wednesday 10 June 2020
Present: Doris, Sabine, Gill F, Gill C, Nathalie, Jen, Suza, Nic
A favourite of Doris, who allegedly read it first on my recommendation. I think that must have been a false memory: nothing about the book rang a bell with me.
I did enjoy it. Most of us did, except for the ending, which was declared “not credible” by Gill F and “too movie like” by Gill C. The relationship was clearly destined to failure and, although perhaps that was the point, it left us dissatisfied.