The Otherside of the Bridge

Hello all!

Fantastic discussion on Monday – everyone seemed to have enjoyed the book immensely. In fact, I believe everyone struggled to think of anything that grated about the book or just didn’t work. For most, it brought back a great sense of nostalgia. Though, for some, the nostalgia seemed a little suffocating! It was a beautiful story, though very sad. I think the majority of us will be looking out for more of Mary Lawson’s work in future and getting hold of her debut novel (I think some already have).

I hope everyone’s enjoying Metroland! I look forward to seeing you all in May.

Leanne

Reads from 19th July onwards

Hello all!

I’m assuming you have all received the message from Joan that the next reads have been arranged! But just to make sure, they are as follows:

19th July ~ Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (L)

16th Aug ~ Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (L)

20th Sept ~ Restless by William Boyd (L)

18th Oct ~ Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck (L)

15th Nov ~ John the Revelator by Peter Murphy

17th Dec ~ The Year of the Flood by Margaret Attwood

21st Feb ~ Two Caravans by Marina Lewcyka (L)

21st Mar ~ Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance by Matthew Neale (L)

18th April ~ The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

16th May ~ The Good Mayor by Andrew Nichol

(L) – indicates the library set books.

Looks like a fantastic line-up to me! If anyone wants to get books in advance, I know that Zoe Heller’s Notes on a Scandal is on 3for2 in Waterstone’s! And I imagineNorthanger Abbey is, too, as the Oxford World’s Classics editions are often on 3for2.

Leanne

Comments

Hello all! It was lovely to see everyone last night.

If anyone has any comments they want to put into the blog post on the Lawson book, whether they were there last night or couldn’t make it, could you please forward them to me by Sunday?

In the mean time, enjoy Metroland!
Thank you

Leanne

Questions and Choices, Choices, Choices!

Hello all!

I hope you’ve all had a fantastic Easter and plenty of chocolate!

I have put up the questions for Lawson’s The Ohter Side of the Bridge from Joan on the questions page.

I hope you have all received the following email from Joan:

“Dear all,

I hope you are all well ….and who knows we may soon be able to move from reading our books indoors to reading them outside …roll on a warm spring/summer.

We have chosen books up to July and think we should look beyond and line up some more choices.

Firstly it would be good to read books recommended by members of the group.  Here I have picked a selection from what you have already sent me to reflect different genres:

*
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
*
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
*
John the Revelator by Peter Murphy
*
The Good Mayor by Andrew Nichol

Secondly I have looked through the list of sets held by the library and I think an interesting selection would be:

*  Restless by William Boyd ….a ripping yarn in which a woman finds out her mother is ‘James Bond’ and what happens next
*  Two Caravans by Marina Lewcyka  ….dark (grey edging to black) comedy about E European friut/veg pickers in E Anglia.
*  Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance by Matthew Neale  …..short stories with ironic twists from previous Whitbread prize winner
*  Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck  ….vintage down-beat America with Hispanic overtones from nobel prize-winner.

If you agree I think we should line up the books from the library and interperse them with your choices.  Please get back to me if you think you could do something else in our planning.

Meanwhile ….  a number of people have sent me their choices but we have had new people join the group since we started.  If you have not already done so, please send me what you think would be a good read for the group.  I hope to get round to everybody’s in due course.

Also …. if there is something special in the library sets perhaps you could suggest this.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 19th and hearing your take on The Other Side of the Bridge.”

See you all on 19th April!

Leanne