I can’t remember how I landed up joining what was originally the Wilmslow Ashdene School mums book group in 2003, but the Book Group file doesn’t lie, and I can see my name has been squeezed between Anne and Clare and weirdly that my e mail was my husband’s!
I wasn’t a scholar, or a great reader so was a bit apprehensive as to whether I’d even manage to get through the book at all, let alone be able to analyse it succinctly and spit out some constructive comments at the next meeting. However, I need not have worried. Yes, the wine on arrival did help, but I soon realised it wasn’t a competition after all and, although at the end of the evening, we did each give the book marks out of 10 and tot up the average, the proposer wasn’t usually ostracized if their choice wasn’t so great.
Much to my surprise I discovered I was reading much more than I’d ever done and found I was listening to authors on Radio 4, scouring book recommendations in the newspaper and watching out for the best picks of the year. I enjoyed hearing the vast array of what others were reading – gripping or dismal and looked forward to the next choice. Listening to the opinions of the group on a specific book was a revelation – there was no knowing who’d love or loathe it! The individual Interpretations of characters, place or meaning were wide and surprising. You couldn’t predict who would be madly enthusiastic about the book or give up on page fifty. Similarly, if it had a cliff-hanger ending, we’d often interpret it in a unique way. I started to keep my own little box of filing cards (1970s style) for a few notes on every book and have found this invaluable when I’m racking my small brain trying to recall a certain book or one by a specific author.
Sometimes choosing a book can be quite trying. Several things come into play: (1) trying to avoid a book we’ve already read; (2) not necessarily choosing a prize winning book (e.g. Man Booker, Costa, Women’s Prize for Fiction etc. and (3) deciding whether you want to recommend something you’ve already read or risk suggesting something you’ve heard about or picked up at random but not actually read a single word, other than the back cover!
In recent years I’ve taken to ordering my book from the library which has worked well at minimal cost. There’s only been a couple of occasions when they’ve not been able to help, so then I’ve resorted to my Kindle which is good (especially for holidays), though I miss the satisfaction of seeing how much I’ve read or got to read by the flick of the pages. The downside of a Kindle is that it isn’t easy to regularly reference a map or family tree at the front of the book, but you can burn the midnight oil without disturbing your other half. Charity shops often offer good finds not to mention in those converted red phone boxes, now mini libraries! (Donna’s Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ was a recent phone box find which succeeded in giving me many sleepless nights!)
As most of us have been members of the book group for some years, in between discussing the book, there have been numerous conversations on life’s ups and downs. The ups of watching our children develop, work successes, weddings, travel exploits, sporty challenges, and in more recent years for most of us, the joy of grandchildren. The downs have been hard to swallow – managing the decline of elderly parents, the loss of siblings and devastatingly for us all, losing two of our much-loved members. Their absence leaves a deep void as we reminisce about them, their choices of books over the years, the memories of shared laughter as we try to come to terms with the fracture in our bibliophile circle. Long may their names keep slipping between the leaves of our books.
My life is complicated, so, thank you Book Group for helping to keep me afloat, putting up with my sometimes-dubious choices, and for not leaving too may pistachio shells down the back of the settee!
With fond memories of Julie (Carne) and Pippa (Jones)
