31 Jan 2009 - Book Circles (6)
U3A Book Circles
The six Book Circle Convenors met together at the end of November to share experiences of running our groups and think of ideas for improvement. Topics included the format of our various meetings and exchanging reviews of books read and discussed over the past year. All the meetings are held in members’ homes and due to restrictions on space as well as ease of discussion, membership of each group ranges from eight to ten people. Once members settle in a group vacancies may rarely occur.
However if you would like to participate in this friendly and informal way of sharing a love of reading please contact Gill Jolly Tel: 01730 264 054 because new groups are very easy to form. What about a men’s group! So far, most, though not all of our members have been women.
U3A Book Groups 1- 5 Sorry, no additional information
U3A Book Group 6 (11/7/08)
On Tuesday 3rd June, some members of the U3A Book Groups attended an evening at the Petersfield Library to discuss the short-listed titles for the Orange Prize for Fiction before the official winner was announced the following day. The Library had kindly made available copies of the six books in advance. A vote was taken at the beginning to determine the most popular book, although very few people had managed to read all the books in the short time available, and this was followed by brief reviews and general discussion. At the end, when the vote was taken again, the group had changed their allegiance from 'The Road Home' by Rose Tremain (ultimately the winner for 2008) to 'The Outcast' by Sadie Jones. I hadn't read The Outcast, but have subsequently, and would recommend it to other Book Group members. It was an enjoyable, informal evening and many thanks to the staff of the Library for organising and hosting the event. Dawn Mason, Co-ordinator of Book Group 6
U3A Book Group 6 (15/3/08)
This group was started two years ago to accommodate a waiting list of new members. There are now eight members who usually meet on the second Thursday of each month, rotating the venue among the members’ homes. We use the excellent service provided by Petersfield Library in conjunction with Hampshire Library Service to order in sets of books each month. This involves titles being selected well in advance from the wide list of titles available, but has provided us with a very varied selection of books to read from classics to modern prize-winning works with some best-sellers thrown in.
Not surprisingly, we are all avid readers, but we find being part of the group makes our reading more focussed and discussions are lively and fun. It is always interesting and sometimes enlightening to hear very differing opinions. The meetings are rounded off with tea and biscuits (and sometimes cake!) provided by the host of the day.
We have just finished reading ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ by Sue Monk Kidd and will shortly be reading Laurie Lee’s ‘As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning’ – a revisitation for some of us of a book first read many years ago.