Books for book club

It was book club tonight and as usual it was very enjoyable… tonight we were discussing ‘Letters to my Grandchildren’ by David Suzuki and we had mixed opinions on it – all of us did! Next month we are going to read a short Alan Bennet novel ‘An Uncommon Reader’ and I think the following month we are supposed to be reading ‘Dr Zhivago’ by Boris Pasternak… I say ‘supposed’ because it seemed tonight that some of us didn’t want to read it after all. So now I’m not sure what was decided.

So, how do we decide? Well usually it is a rambly process with people only half remembering books which were recommended by a friend, in a review, on a radio programme… or we decide we ought to try a different genre and then can’t decide what genre (‘I don’t like science fiction’/’I don’t like spy stories’/’I don’t like biographies’ etc) However we decide we usually end up with something most people like – although I confess I am a very fussy reader but I do try my best to engage with the chosen book and talk positively about some aspects of it… although I struggled with David Suzuki!

I have suggested various books:

• The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
• The Bees , Laline Paul
• Cold Comfort farm, Stella Gibbons
• The Old Ways, Robert MacFarlane

and then Dr Zhivago which of course we’re reading in July!

Someone suggested maybe we should take it in turns to choose a book, but to be honest the rest of us weren’t very keen, I think we like our rambly way of deciding what to read for next time! I’ve been introduced to some wonderful books by this method, the C.J. Sansom books, the Shetland novels by Ann Cleeves and Secret History by Donna Tartt.

… and for my other book club? We’re next reading a graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman… I’ll let you know what I think!