Wednesday night book club - the Clockhouse at 7.30 to 8.00

[Chick]

Silvia & Fairy,

please do come along;

Our next book is ?The Life of Pi? by Yan Martel.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Our next meeting is on the 16th January and will be held in The Draught House in Lordship Lane.

Hope to see you both. If you send an email address I'll put you on the mailing list.

Have a look through previous postings to get a flavour.

Cheers

Chick

[Chick]

And don't forget our facebook page: [www.facebook.com]

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers.

Happy new year to you. Is any one interested in going to a recording of BBC radio 4 book club on the 30th January at 5.40 in Broadcasting House, Portland Place, W1?

The book is Homage to Catalonia, in my opinion one of his best.

I am also thinking of a trip to Bletchley Park on the 12th or 19th January. It?s ?12.00 and there is a rail link?

Let me know please and I will delegate some poor soul the job of checking rail tickets.

Chick.

[dquinn23]

Hi,

I'd love to come along to! Roughly how many people attend? I have recently moved to Dulwich and a friend and I have been looking for a local book club.

Thanks,

Danielle

[Chick]

Hi Danielle,

Please do come along. There are usually 8 to 10 people but it does vary. Our main venue is closed till March hence we are meeting in the Draught House. Hope to see you there.

I am putting Bletchley Park off until February and will post/email nearer the time.

Cheers

Chick

[EmED]

Hello,

I was wondering if I could come along to book club too? What time do we need to be there in the Drafthouse? I will try to read as much as I can of the book before then!! :)

[badger]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/538840479475233/

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

Just a reminder that we are meeting in a new venue, The Draught House in Lordship Lane Wednesday at 7.30 for 8.00. It?s located between The Bishop & the EDT. Hope to see you all there.

Hugs

Chick

[badger]

https://www.facebook.com/events/156328387849150/

[badger]

details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/156328387849150/

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

A big to thanks to every one who came to last weeks meeting and a big welcome to Austin & Alison, it was a very good night.

Our next book is;

New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

City of Glass

As a result of a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, a writer of detective stories, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might have written.

Ghosts

Blue, a student of Brown, has been hired by White to spy on Black. From a window of a rented room on Orange Street, Blue keeps watch on his subject, who is across the street, staring out of his window.

The Locked Room

Fanshawe has disappeared, leaving behind his wife and baby and a cache of extraordinary novels, plays, and poems. What happened to him--and why is the narrator, Fanshawe's boyhood friend, lured obsessively into his life?

The next meeting is on Wednesday 13th February in The Draft House on Lordship Lane:

http://www.drafthouse.co.uk/

Alistair- can you order five copies of the above book please, these are for Austin, Sarah, Chloe, Alison and me.

Hoots and haggis.

Chick

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

I have received this email and wonder what you think. I am personally keen to help new authors and would appreciate your feed back. We can discuss further at the next meeting. The book?s ordered from Rye Books have arrived.

Chick.

Dear Charles,

When I heard about your reading group I was very eager to contact you. I hope you don?t mind. I am a secondary school teacher who has written a humorous novel based on my experiences and I am hoping you will add my book to your reading lists. I believe you would find the story entertaining. The book is very light hearted and would appeal to anyone with a keen sense of humour.

If your group were to include my book on your programme I would be pleased to provide background information prior to reading. I would also be quite happy to undertake an internet based question and answer session afterwards.

I hope you will give me the opportunity to enjoy some lively discussion with your members.

Best Wishes,

Edwin Matthews

http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1738

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wager-Edwin-Matthews/dp/1780881665/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335545166&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wager-ebook/dp/B00632QBHA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335545166&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0064OIZX0

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

Just to confirm the Draught House is booked for 13th February from 7.30pm. Soon I?ll check and see when the Clockhouse reopens, I think its March 16th which may be too late for our March meeting.

On Sunday on radio 4?s book club will be reviewing Orwell?s Homage to Catalonia which will be worth listening too. It was recorded last night and I was meant to be going but they rejected me. Fools.

Does anyone have a copy of ?When Things Fall Apart? by Chinua Achebe that I could borrow pls?

See you all soon, can you please give an idea if you intend to come to the meeting? Only just started the book and it seems to be pretty good.

Cheers

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

Just to remind you we are meeting this Wednesday at the Draught House in Lordship Lane at 7.30 to 8.00.

Hugs

Chick.

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

A big thanks to everyone who came along on Wednesday for another very good meeting.

The next meeting is on March 20th in the draught House again, in April it will be back to the Clockhouse which should be finished by then.

Our next book is The road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell. A brief synopsis:

The Road to Wigan Pier is a book by the British writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions amongst the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II. The second half is a long essay on his middle-class upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. Orwell states plainly that he himself is in favour of socialism; but feels it necessary to point out reasons why many people who would benefit from socialism, and should logically support it, are in practice likely to be strong opponents.

According to Orwell biographer Bernard Crick, publisher Victor Gollancz first tried to persuade Orwell's agent to allow the Left Book Club edition to consist solely of the descriptive first half of the book. When this was refused Gollancz wrote an introduction to the book. "Victor could not bear to reject it, even though his suggestion that the "repugnant" second half should be omitted from the Club edition was turned down. On this occasion Victor, albeit nervously, did overrule CP objections in favour of his publishing instinct. His compromise was to publish the book with [an introduction] full of good criticism, unfair criticism, and half-truths." [2]

The book grapples, "with the social and historical reality of Depression suffering in the north of England, - Orwell does not wish merely to enumerate evils and injustices, but to break through what he regards as middle class oblivion, - Orwell's corrective to such falsity comes first by immersion of his own body - a supreme measure of truth for Orwell - directly into the experience of misery." [3]

If you want Rye Books to order a copy please email me at [email protected]

Thanks.

Chick

[sn17]

Hi, for anyone who wanted to come and have a few drinks to celebrate my birthday I will be in the actress from about 7.30 this Sunday, everyone is welcome to join in! Sarah

[Chick]

Ho kay see you there.

[Josiehendrick]

Hey, just wondered if anyone can join your book club? If so I'd love to!

[Chick]

Of course just turn up, you'll be made very welcome!

[Josiehendrick]

Brilliant, looking forward to it!

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

Cloud atlas is now out on film. I am planning to go to the Ritzy next Saturday 2nd March. Listings aren?t available yet but I plan to go in the afternoon, it?s three hours which gives us time for beers maybe in the Gowlett later. I will be going on bus, 37 from ED to Brixton. Let me know if you want to come and we can arrange booking, listings wont be open until Tuesday.

Hope you are enjoying Orwell.

Cheers

Chick

[Chick]

Greetings book clubbers,

We are organising an Historic beer hunt on Monday 25th February starting at the Black Friars opposite Blackfriars station just on the north side of Blackfriars bridge meeting between 5.30 & 6.00 pm:

http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theblackfriarblackfriarslondon/

Then on to The Jerusalem Tavern, 55 Britton Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M5UQ, a fantastic pub with a lot of history (which is the point of the walk).

http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/london-pub/

Next if I can find it a local Young?s back street pub.

After that Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in fleet St, frequented by Dr Johnson when compiling his dictionary.

http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=154

Lastly The Princess Louise, 208, High Holborn WC1 7BW.

http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=182

All of these locations are walking distance from each other.

The 63 bus goes from East Dulwich to the BlackFriar.

The weather should be dry but 3 degrees C so wrap up well.

Please let me know if you are coming.

Thanks to Chloe for the inspiration.

[Chick]

The following emails always bounce back. If I have them wrong could you please send me a correction. Thanks, Chick

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[Chick]

All the above bounced so can you please send new email address's.

[Chick]

Dear Book clubbers,

Once again we have been successful in applying to be givers for World Book Night which happens on 23rd April as explained below. Last year we stuck to April 23rd which was a Monday, our venue was the Gowlett but it was very quiet being Monday. This year I propose Saturday 20th April and probably the Clock House but that I will have to check with Lisa and will let you know.

World Book Night is a charity dedicated to the promotion of literacy and the celebration, sharing and enjoyment of reading amongst teenagers and adults. The first World Book Night was held in the UK in 2011. In 2012 World Book Night was celebrated in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the USA on April 23 and saw tens of thousands of givers share the joy and love of reading with millions of people who don't regularly read.

Q. Why April 23?

A. April 23 is the UNESCO International Day of the Book, chosen in honour of Shakespeare and Cervantes who both died on April 23 1616 (and it was also -- probably -- Shakespeare's birthday).

In the UK World Book Day is an initiative to encourage children to read and engage with books and it is celebrated on the first Thursday of March each year. When World Book Day was first launched 15 years ago April 23 was chosen as the date but the shifting Easter holiday meant that it regularly fell within the school breaks and so the celebration date was moved to March to enable schools to celebrate World Book Day as effectively as possible.

We got our first choice which is The secret Scripture by Sebastion Barry:

Nearing her one-hundredth birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene, and their relationship intensifies and complicates. Told through their respective journals, the story that emerges is at once shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland's changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope.

?An incredible, beautiful book from one of Ireland?s greatest writers. Poignant, heartbreaking, mesmerising it will have you questioning everything and second guessing right to the very end.?

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955 and educated at The Catholic University School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he was later Writer Fellow in 1996. His plays include Boss Grady's Boys (1988), The Steward of Christendom (1995), Our Lady of Sligo (1998), and The Pride of Parnell Street (2007), and his novels, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), Annie Dunne (2002), and most recently A Long Long Way (2005), which was the Dublin: One City One Book choice for 2007 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Dublin International Impac Prize. He has won among other awards the Irish-America Fund Literary Award, The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Prize, the London Critics Circle Award, and The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife Ali and three children, Merlin, Coral and Tobias.