Walsham le Willows

Reading Group

The Reading Group was formed in early 2003 by a group of people who were interested in discussing with others the books they had been reading and extending the range of authors and genres they were familiar with. The group now has in excess of one dozen members and a large back catalogue of modern fiction, classic novels, science-fiction, biography and travel books that have been shared. Monthly meetings are held on a Friday evening in various members' houses where they discuss the last month's book and choose new titles over a drink or two and nibbles. The format of the meeting is very informal with everyone free to speak as little or as much as they wish and of course it is always more lively when opinion is divided on the merits of the book under discussion. The books are either bought individually or they may be borrowed from the local library. The reading group does hold a library card which entitles them to borrow books for an extended period. There are no fees but every member takes a turn in hosting one of the monthly meetings and with the present membership this would then occur roughly once each year. New members are always welcome, and for more details contact Janette:

Future Titles and Authors

Date Author Title
Friday, 7th October at 8.00pm at Fran's Maggie O'Farrell The Hand that First Held Mine I liked the idea of these two women living in the same city, fifty years apart. Lexie and Elina have no inkling of each other's existence, but they hear each other's echoes through time. And, as it turns out, they are linked in other ways--in ways neither of them could ever have expected.
Friday, 4th November at 8.00pm at Jill and Robin's W. G. Seebald Rings of Saturn The Rings of Saturn begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. From Lowestoft to Bungay, Sebald's own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people and cultures past and present: of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms. The result is an intricately patterned and haunting book on the transience of all things human.
Friday, 2nd December at 8.00pm at Aline's Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre A novel of high romance and great intensity, Jane Eyre has enjoyed popular success and critical acclaim ever since its publication in 1847. Jane's journey from a troubled childhood to independence - and her turbulent love affair with the enigmatic Mr. Rochester - electrified Victorian readers with its narrative power.
Friday, 13th January at 8.00pm at Janette and Richard's Simon Sebag Montefiore Jerusalem The epic story of Jerusalem told through the lives of the men and women who created, ruled and inhabited it.
Friday, February Diana Setterfield The Thirteenth Tale Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family - fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Ameline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart... Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past - and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vidia Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life? As Margaret digs deeper, two parallel stories unfold, and the tale she uncovers sheds a disturbing light on her own life.
Friday, March Kathryn O'Flynn The News Where You Are Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter> Beneath his awkwardly corny screen persona, Frank is haunted by disappearances: the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor Phil Smethway; the demolition of his father's post-war brutalistic architecture; and the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city. Frank struggles to make sense of these absences while having to report endless local news srories of holes opening up in people's gardens and trying to cope with his resolutely miserable mother. The result is that rare thing: a page-turning novel which asks the big questions in an accessible way, and is laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely moving and ultimately uplifting.
Friday, April Jane Gardam Old Filth FILTH, in his heyday, was an international lawyer with a practice in the Far East. Now, only the oldest QCs and Silks can remember that his nickname stood for Failed In London Try Hong Kong. Long ago, Old Filth was a Raj orphan -one of the many young children sent 'Home' from the East to be fostered and educated in England. Jane Gardam's new novel tells his story, from his birth in what was then Malaya to the extremities of his old age. Brilliantly constructed - going backwards and forwards in time, yet constantly working towards the secret at its core - OLD FILTH is funny and heart breaking, witty and peopled with characters who astonish, dismay and delight the reader. Jane Gardam is as sensitive to the 'jungle' within children as she is to the eccentricities of the old. A touch of magic combines with compassion, humour and delicacy to make OLD FILTH a genuine masterpierce.
Friday, May Araminta Hall Everything and Nothing A gripping psychological suspense novel, from an exciting new talent. There's no such thing as a safe house... On the surface, Ruth and Christian seem like an ordinary working couple with two kids = and a home in chaos. As the cracks in their marriage widen, they decide to get their very own super-nanny, Aggie. Quietly efficient, she brings calm and order, and the children adore her. But why is Aggie so eager to gain their trust? Is there something sinister about her efforts to create the perfect family? And what is she really doing in their home? Everything and Nothing builds to a mesmerising climax in a story that is, at its heart, about thwarted and damaged love.

Previous Titles

Author Title
Colin Toibin Brooklyn
Mitch Albom The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Nick Hornby Juliet, Naked and How to Be Good
JG Farrell The Troubles
Roma Tearne Brixton Beach
Iain Banks The Steep Approach to Garbadale
A.S. Byatt The Children's Book
Haruki Murakami Norwegian Wood
Alice Munroe Runaway
Patrick Gale Notes from an Exhibition
Markus Zusak The Book Thief
Janice Frey A Million Little Pieces
Sarah Dunnant In the Company of Others
Kate Atkinson Case Histories
Amos Oz A Tale of Love and Darkness
Anton Chekhov Lady with Lapdog and other stories
Adrei Makine Le Testament Francais
Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Gambler
Bruce Chatwin Song Lines
Peter Carey The True History of the Ned Kelly Gang
Tim Winton Breath
Miles Franklin My Brilliant Career
Doris Pilkington Garimara Rabbit Proof Fence
Khalid Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns
David Mitchell Black Swan Green
William Boyd Brazzaville Beach
Ann Tyler Breathing Lessons
Amitav Ghosh The Glass Palace
George Orwell Burmese Days
Emma Larkin Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in a Burmese Teashop
Chimamnda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun
The Book of Illusions
Jonathan Raban Badlands
Carlos Castaneda The Art of Dreaming
William Boyd Restless
Sarah Waters Night Watch
A.M. Holmes This Book will Save your life
Anthony Trollope The Way We Live Now
Stef Penney The Tenderness of Wolves
Carlos Castaneda The Art of Dreaming
Claire Tomalin Samuel Pepys
Joseph O’Connor Star of the Sea
Peter Ackroyd English Music
Monica Ali Brick Lane
Simon Armitage Little Green Man
Margaret Atwood Surfacing
Beryl Bainbridge According to Queeney
Justin Cartwright White Lightning
Tracy Chevalier Girl with a Pearl Earring
JM Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians
Michael Cunningham The Hours
Louis de Berniere Birds Without Wings
Charles Dickens Great Expectations
Sebastian Falkes Human Traces
Karen Joy Fowler Jane Austen Book Club
Jonathan Franzen The Corrections
Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner
Kazuo Ishiguro When we were orphans
Henry James The Bostonians
TE Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Ursula Le Guin Left Hand of Darkness
Andrea Levy Small Island
Anne Marie Mac Donald The Way the Crow Flies
Yann Martel Life of Pi
Alexander McCall Smith No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Ian McEwan Atonement
Jon McGregor If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things
Ann Michaels Fugitive Pieces
Julie Myerson Something might happen
Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveller’s Wife
Orhan Pamuk My Name is Red
Ann Patchett The Magician’s Assistant
Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea
Salman Rushdie Midnight’s Children
Carol Shields Unless
Paullina Simons Tully
Dava Sobel Galileo’s Daughter
Abi Smith The Accidental
Manil Suri Death of Vishnu
Graham Swift Waterland
Amy Tan The Kitchen God’s Wife
Rose Tremain Music and Silence
William Trevor The Hill Bachelors (short stories)
William Trevor Lucy Gault
Ivan Turgenev Fathers and Sons
John Updike Beck is Back
Jill Paton Walsh Knowledge of Angels
Virgina Woolf Mrs. Dalloway

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