Our next Book Group meeting will be on Tuesday September 20th. We are currently reading The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. As we’re not meeting in August we’ve chosen a longer book so you’ve got plenty of time to get through this.

Our monthly book group has been running for several years and now we are out of Lockdowns we have returned to face-to-face meetings.

The books are chosen by the members of the group and everyone has a chance to put forward their choice for the book for next month. 

The rules are: – you can’t have read the book already – no getting the group to discuss a book you read three months ago – and if you come to a meeting you really should have read the book.

The books we chose are usually written by women, because we support other women in all their endeavours.  The books will be out in paperback, and we have a loose upper limit on the number of pages – so no Schmidt or Proust – because we are busy and we noticed we couldn’t always finish the longer books.  (Plus, why are books so much longer bow than they used to be?) (Actually, we do know – and it’s not because contemporary people have more to say.) And obviously audio books are a totally acceptable way to access literature.

We meet either in each other’s homes (but there is no need for you to volunteer for this) or in a pub.  We usually meet in the evening on the third Tuesday of the month.

The July book was Longbourne by Jo Baker which is the events in  Pride and Prejudice  retold from the point of view of the servants at Longbourne.  There is a massive Janite industry (which purists loathe) but this is an interesting take on the original book.  Some of the big set pieces of the novel are in there, and it’s fun to spot them, but Jo Baker has built a separate cast of characters from slight references in the original book and given them a life of their own.   It bowls along nicely and can be recommended for a holiday read.

This year so far we’ve read:-

All Quiet at the End of the World – Lauren James

Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell

Colour Purple – Alice Walker

My Sister the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite

Silence of the Girls -Pat Barker

The  Lamplighters – Emma Stonex

If you are interested in joining the book group, please send an email to the de Beauvoir WI and ask to be added to our Book Group WhatsApp.  Then you’ll know when we’re next meeting and where and the book we’ll be discussing.