Upcoming Reads: February – May 2019

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book club in Richmond, book club reads, book group in Richmond, reading suggestions for book clubs

We met in The Roebuck for our first meeting of 2019 and had a great time working out a reading plan for the next three months. As usual, we followed our now standard pattern of: 1st week – Short stories (SS); 2nd week – Poetry (P); 3rd week – Novel (N), though occasionally a non-fiction title; and 4th week – Theme (T). There will be one 5th Tuesday – and we thought by April we would definitely be ready for a meal together at a local restaurant.

February 2019

5th       (SS)     PROPERTY by Lionel Shriver (Doreen)

12th     (P)       LUCK IS THE HOOK by Imtiaz Dharker (Tim)

19th     (N)      A ROSE FOR WINTER by Laurie Lee (Kay)

26th     (T)      Ghost Stories (Margaret – who suggested a good one for winter nights!)

March 2019

5th       (SS)      DINNER PARTY by Joshua Ferris (Doreen)

12th     (P)        RIVER IN THE SKY by Clive James (Kay)

19th     (N)       PARIS ECHO by Sebastian Faulks [due out in paperback in February] (Kay)

26th     (T)        Friendship – good or bad; life-enhancing or destructive (Margaret)

April 2019

2nd     (SS)       THE COLLECTED STORIES OF STEFAN SWEIG, published by Pushkin Press      [currently out of stock but also you may find some of the stories in their cheaper Pocket Collection] (Tim)

9th      (P)        A general theme of poems for Spring (Doreen)

16th    (N)        WARLIGHT by Michael Ondaatje (Tim)

23rd    (T)        Food writing (Margaret)

30th                 Meal!

May 2019

7th                    Planning

14th    (P)         COLLECTED POEMS BY VLADIMIR NAVOKOV (Tim)

21st     (N)        A BEAUTIFUL SUMMER by Cesare Pavese (Kay) [one in the Penguin European Writers series; Doreen suggested we do something European!]

 

 

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Reading our way into Spring

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book club, Richmond upon Thames, west london

Here is the latest reading programme for the Richmond Hill Reading group to take us up to the end of March – and a few of the ideas that didn’t make it to the list (but might next time?)

For any other visitors to the site – we read and discuss a wide range of novels, short stories and poetry, widen our horizons and revisit modern classics.

Drop in and join us any Tuesday. Upstairs at the Roebuck pub on Richmond Hill 7 pm.

As usual, a sequence of 4 topics in order of: Poetry; Short stories; Theme; Novel

• Where a month results in 5 Tuesdays, the fifth will be an “open session”, with attendees sharing individual recommendations and views on books in general (ie, 31^st March)

13/1/15 Poetry             D.H. Lawrence

20/1/15 Short stories   Hilary Mantel “Learning to Talk”

27/1/15 Theme            Evocation of place (under any heading)

03/2/15 Novel              Jhumpa Lahiri “The Lowland”

10/2/15 Poetry             The Romantics

17/2/15 Short stories    Richard Yates “Eleven Kinds of Loneliness”

24/2/15 Theme            Passage(s) that have made you cry

03/3/15 Novel             Claire Messud “The Woman Upstairs”

10/3/15 Poetry            Dylan Thomas (100^th anniversary of his birth – Oct., 2014)

17/3/15 Short stories   Lorrie Moore “Bark”

24/3/15 Theme           Particularly vivid portrayal(s) of family members

31/3/15 Open session – recommendations, wide-ranging readers’ discussion

07/4/15 Novel             Evelyn Waugh “Put Out More Flags”

14/4/15 Poetry            Sinead Morrissey “Parallax”

21/4/15 Short stories   Lydia Davis “The Collected Stories”

Other titles highly recommended: “Marriage Material”, Sathnam Sangheer; “The Quickening Maze”, Adam Faulds; “Girls of Slender Means”, Muriel Spark; ”; ”Soumission”, Michel Houellebecq – “Submission”, translation out in English by Heinemann soon; “Butcher’s Crossing”, John Williams; “The Dubliners”, James Joyce; “Sweet Water”, Edith Pearlman; “Flappers”, Josephine Mackrell; “The Miniaturist”, Jessie Burton; poetry by Michael Donaghy.

Upcoming reads for the autumn/winter

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book club, Richmond upon Thames, west london

Here are the reading choices for the autumn – watch out for the name change of our group – Richmond Hill Reading at the Roebuck

16 September: Theme

Scotland – choose your own reading, poetry, an article about

23 September: Short stories/novella 

Lady with the dog by Chekhov (Tim)

30 September: Poetry

My favourite First World War poem (Louise)

7 October: Novel

Lucy Gaunt by William Trevor (Cristine Baines)

14 October: Theme

A book review of the last month,

21 October: Short stories/novella

Paris Stories by Mavis Gallant (from current list)

28 October: Poetry

Charlotte Mew (Claire)

4 November: Novel

The well of loneliness (Tim)

11 November: Theme

Animals in literature

17 November: Short stories/novella

Nine stories by J D Salinger (Pippa)

25 November: Poetry

Thomas Hardy (Cristine Baines)

2 December: Novel 

The elegance of the hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (Doreen)

9 December: Theme (or planning?)

Children’s literature that adults love

16 December: Short stories/novella

The lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon (Louise)

23 December – NO OFFICIAL MEETING (but we might have a xmas outing)

30 December – NO OFFICIAL MEETING (but feel free to get together to toast 2015)

6 January: Poetry

D H Lawrence (Pippa)

13 January: Novel 

Quality of mercy by Barry Unsworth (Claire)

Additional novels  suggested: 

The lowland by Jumps lahiri (Pippa)

The pure gold baby by Margaret Drabble (Doreen)

(after Christmas)

The goldfinch by Donna tart