Booklovers
We started Booklovers because we wanted to talk about the books we’ve been reading and to introduce those we’ve enjoyed to others.
We each take turn to speak about our chosen book and this invariably leads to discussion of broader topics. Four times a year we agree on a shared title to maintain the value of close reading and to hear each other’s interpretations of different aspects of those works.
We are a friendly group of people, meeting on the third Thursday of each month in a member’s home. You’ll find you’re never short of ideas for a new book to read and we warmly welcome others to join us.
For further details, please contact Christine Roberts.
For upcoming meetings, please visit our events page.
We each take turn to speak about our chosen book and this invariably leads to discussion of broader topics. Four times a year we agree on a shared title to maintain the value of close reading and to hear each other’s interpretations of different aspects of those works.
We are a friendly group of people, meeting on the third Thursday of each month in a member’s home. You’ll find you’re never short of ideas for a new book to read and we warmly welcome others to join us.
For further details, please contact Christine Roberts.
For upcoming meetings, please visit our events page.
Notes from the Booklovers Meeting held on 7th January 2025
Present: Denise, Di, Nick, Christine
Di read: This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell (2016). A complex novel with multiple narrators and time slips but mainly set in the 1990s and an accurate overview of that decade. Described as an irresistible love story that criss-crosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary marriage, and an unforgettable family, with wit, humour, and deep affection. According to Di you become interested in all the narrators, the main one of whom is Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and a wife, Claudette, a reclusive ex–film star who she staged her own disappearance and retreated to blissful seclusion in an Irish farmhouse. It has laugh out loud humour and Di enjoyed it very much.
Nick read: Ted – a Pawtobiography, My Adventures on ‘Gone Fishing’ (2024) by Ted The Dog. For those of you unfamiliar with the BBC2 programme ‘Gone Fishing’ featuring comedians Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, this book will come as a surprise. Ted, the dog, is owned by the producer of the show and by the third programme became a fixture against the background of two men fishing, fooling about and talking easily. His life story is amusingly sympathetic without being twee, shows great understanding of dogs, answers big questions like why dogs smell each other’s bums when meeting. It also shows insights into the making of the programme. Nick recommends this as a light read and believes it is even better if you have seen at least a few of the episodes.
He also read ‘Around the World in 80 Games’ by Marcus du Sautoy. This is a history of games, how they spread and changed and their variety – not necessarily an easy read but fascinating.
Christine read: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989). A re-read for her of Ishiguro’s Booker prize winning novel. At the time of she read it, Ishiguro had just been made a Companion of Honour and of course he has also been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Christine feels that the book is a masterpiece in the way its totally unreliable narrator, Stevens, the butler at Darlington Hall, finds his way to self-awareness having a lived a life by a set of values which have become outdated and are at the very least questionable.. His allegiance to his employer, Lord Darlington, has led him to ignore the growing threat of Fascism and the approach of war as the latter surrounds himself with dubious pro-Nazi sympathisers. At its heart it is a love story or rather a failed love story. Stevens’ lack of emotional literacy leads him to miss out on a loving relationship with Miss Kenton the housekeeper. Christine felt that the book really deserves to be read or re-read if you want to see a master writer at work. Ishiguro was born in Japan and only came to London when he was six and his ability to observe British culture and comment on it so objectively is remarkable.
Denise read: The Life and Death of Lord Erroll: The Truth Behind the Happy Valley Murder by Errol Trzebinski (2011) This is the story of the life and mysterious murder of the most talked-about and glamorous member of Kenya’ s notorious Happy Valley set just outside Nairobi in 1941. An account of a highly sensationalised trial which has continued to give rise to speculation as to the culprit and motive for the murder of a Lord High Constable who was good at everything he did, especially in Kenya and who had political friends around the world The author’s investigations into the case lead her to astonishing conclusions about the true motive for his murder and a conspiracy of confusion that finds its source in Whitehall’s War Office. Although Denise felt that towards the end the book became unnecessarily complicated, she felt overall that this was a brilliant snapshot of Kenya at that time.
Di read: This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell (2016). A complex novel with multiple narrators and time slips but mainly set in the 1990s and an accurate overview of that decade. Described as an irresistible love story that criss-crosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary marriage, and an unforgettable family, with wit, humour, and deep affection. According to Di you become interested in all the narrators, the main one of whom is Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and a wife, Claudette, a reclusive ex–film star who she staged her own disappearance and retreated to blissful seclusion in an Irish farmhouse. It has laugh out loud humour and Di enjoyed it very much.
Nick read: Ted – a Pawtobiography, My Adventures on ‘Gone Fishing’ (2024) by Ted The Dog. For those of you unfamiliar with the BBC2 programme ‘Gone Fishing’ featuring comedians Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, this book will come as a surprise. Ted, the dog, is owned by the producer of the show and by the third programme became a fixture against the background of two men fishing, fooling about and talking easily. His life story is amusingly sympathetic without being twee, shows great understanding of dogs, answers big questions like why dogs smell each other’s bums when meeting. It also shows insights into the making of the programme. Nick recommends this as a light read and believes it is even better if you have seen at least a few of the episodes.
He also read ‘Around the World in 80 Games’ by Marcus du Sautoy. This is a history of games, how they spread and changed and their variety – not necessarily an easy read but fascinating.
Christine read: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989). A re-read for her of Ishiguro’s Booker prize winning novel. At the time of she read it, Ishiguro had just been made a Companion of Honour and of course he has also been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Christine feels that the book is a masterpiece in the way its totally unreliable narrator, Stevens, the butler at Darlington Hall, finds his way to self-awareness having a lived a life by a set of values which have become outdated and are at the very least questionable.. His allegiance to his employer, Lord Darlington, has led him to ignore the growing threat of Fascism and the approach of war as the latter surrounds himself with dubious pro-Nazi sympathisers. At its heart it is a love story or rather a failed love story. Stevens’ lack of emotional literacy leads him to miss out on a loving relationship with Miss Kenton the housekeeper. Christine felt that the book really deserves to be read or re-read if you want to see a master writer at work. Ishiguro was born in Japan and only came to London when he was six and his ability to observe British culture and comment on it so objectively is remarkable.
Denise read: The Life and Death of Lord Erroll: The Truth Behind the Happy Valley Murder by Errol Trzebinski (2011) This is the story of the life and mysterious murder of the most talked-about and glamorous member of Kenya’ s notorious Happy Valley set just outside Nairobi in 1941. An account of a highly sensationalised trial which has continued to give rise to speculation as to the culprit and motive for the murder of a Lord High Constable who was good at everything he did, especially in Kenya and who had political friends around the world The author’s investigations into the case lead her to astonishing conclusions about the true motive for his murder and a conspiracy of confusion that finds its source in Whitehall’s War Office. Although Denise felt that towards the end the book became unnecessarily complicated, she felt overall that this was a brilliant snapshot of Kenya at that time.
Read the notes from previous sessions here.
