Book Group Planning Meeting 10am 25/09/20 chez Barbara
Mariannick and Rosie will jobshare, with Mariannick dealing with the website and money.
How and where will the Book Club meet over the next year?
Due to the current Covid difficulties, combined with the usual problems of traffic etc. we have decided, for the time being, to use video-conferencing in our own homes, using Zoom or Whereby. This will be tried out on 9th October, when we will be discussing The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, with Katharine Claringbull. I’m sure we will rise to this new challenge, age being no obstacle… Instructions will follow!
We will continue to meet on the second Friday each month at 2pm.
What do we want from our group?
From the books we want some intellectual challenge, but entertainment value counts most. All books proposed should have some literary merit. We are happy to read a variety of styles, biographies, the occasional book in translation, but no "fluffy" airport books. Indeed, we are open to reading any book that sounds interesting enough, and can get through the voting process.
The group discussion is very important to us, and should include discussion of the author, literary style, character development, context and so on.
Best Book of the Year: We shall vote at the end of each year for the book we have most enjoyed - this could be the one that we have found most memorable or challenging. This year A Gentleman in Moscow won the vote hands down, followed by Eleanor Oliphant and Sal.
Buying Books: We agreed that we should try to buy books from Le Bookshop. We will use the the 50 euros given by the club for this purpose and all try to "chip in " with a few euros to add to this sum.
What is the role of the Presenter?
People come to the meetings because they want to discuss the book: the presenter is there to generate and encourage the discussion, while avoiding the burden of giving a long dissertation on the book.
How? First by giving a short introduction, of up to five minutes or the equivalent of a couple of paragraphs. This should allow ample time for subsequent discussion:
- First paragraph could consist of information about the author, their background, and any other books of interest they have written.
- Second paragraph should be about the book. We need to avoid a long re-telling of the story, but it could be useful to include a brief summary to refresh the memories of those who read it sometime ago, or haven’t read it at all.
The discussion
In the main, we should keep to the book. Short references to relevant personal experiences are always welcome, but we need to avoid bringing long stories about our own personal experience, feelings, or family history into the discussion. The entire book can be discussed, including the ending. We should like the discussion to involve everybody in the group, where possible.
People in discussions often wish to refer to specific sentences in the book - it could be useful for the page number of these particular quotations to be noted against the relevant question on the their copy of the question list, for quick reference during the discussion.
Questions: Potential questions for book discussion…
We have agreed a list of useful questions for this purpose. There are many other possibilities, these are merely intended as a guide to help the presenters, who are of course free to try to stimulate discussion with any other questions or statements they wish to use.
What was your favourite part of the book? What was your least favourite?
What was it about this book that compelled you to read to the end?
What is it about this book that is memorable? Is it the writing? the characters? the setting? the style? the storyline? the historical or sociological context ?
Are there lingering questions from the book that you're still thinking about?
Do you think you'll remember it in a few months or years?
What did you think of the characterisation? the character development?
Were the characters believable?
What did you think of the plot or storyline? Does it work?
Which scene was the most memorable?
What did you think of the writing? Are there any standout sentences or passages?
What did you think of the style? Did the style fit the subject matter?
What surprised you most about the book?
How did your opinion of the book or author change as you read it?
How does the book's title work in relation to the book's contents? If you could give the book a new title, what would it be?
Did reading this book impact your mood? If so, how?
Would you ever consider re-reading it? Why or why not?
If you could ask the author anything, what would it be?
The books for 2021…
The books for next year were described and voted on. Given that everything could change, here is the provisional list of dates:
November - There There by Tommy Orange, Kathleen
December - Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, Katharine J
January - Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, Mariannick and Carla
February - Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, Katharine C
March - How Proust can change your lIfe by Alain de Botton, Peggy R
April - Women Talking by Miriam Toews, Denise
May - The Dutch House by Anne Patchett, Barbara
June - Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel, Carla
September - A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, Rosie
October - A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale, Maggie
We had lunch, and dispersed around 3pm.
