Reading
We meet every third Tuesday at Washington Town Centre Library at 10.00 - until approximately 11.00
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Important notice
The Reading group is looking for a new group leader. If anyone is interested in running the group please let the committee know.
Hopefully reading will be able to continue...
Thank you
15/04/24
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November 2023
The group has been paused until Spring 2024. We don’t know exactly when it will start again. The library is closed for refurbishment so I’m hoping for more comfortable meeting rooms. Fingers crossed.
Jean
June 2023
We had an exceptionally pleasant meeting this month. Only a few of us but it was very enjoyable. The book, Nights at the Circus, was a bit of a challenge but one we agreed was worth the effort, even if at the end we still weren’t sure what had happened.
We won’t be meeting in July or August. We’ve found in the past that life gets in the way in the summer months. Our next meeting will be September 19th. Same time 10.00 and place, Washington Library. We will be discussing Home Gpoing by Yaa Gyasi.
I know some people resist being told what to read, but we all agreed that we have read books we would never have looked at and in some cases never have heard of if it had not been for coming to reading group. If you start a book and really don’t enjoy it then you should stop. Life is too short.
Hope to encourage a few more people to join us in September.
Jean
May 2023
Our next meeting will be June 20th. At 10.00
We will be discussing Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter.
Anyone is very welcome to join us
April 2023
Apologies for being so slow to update the page.
Our next meeting will be May 16th when we will be discussing Life of PI. There is a film and it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has seen the film and can compare the two.
Hope to see you there.
Jean
February 2023
Small gathering this time but we managed to talk for over an hour! It’s safe to say we were underwhelmed by Sons and Lovers. The Guardian called it ‘ a bad book by a great writer’. About sums it up. It was repetitive and a bit weird in places. Glad I reread it though, I read it first many years ago, and thought I’d enjoyed it.
Please return any copies you have and pick up Tigers in Red Weather.
Next meeting will be back to its regular slot so should be 21st March. Hopefully we’ll see you then.
Jean
January 2023
We had a very interesting meeting last month. We talked about The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller . It wasn’t universally liked and was a puzzle to some of us, including me.. I tried to do some homework and answer some of the questions raised but there was no consensus online either.
I will be away again on the regular date of the next meeting so I’ll consult with the group and l update this post. The book next month is Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence . There are still copies available if you’d like to read it and maybe come along.
Jean
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November 2022
Last month we read Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
I think we all enjoyed it. It is not without faults but it is an engaging read told around a woman who claimed to have had a virgin birth. Maybe the odd wrinkle in the plot but well worth reading. It had taken as inspiration a competition run by the Sunday Pictorial in the 1950’s , open to women who claimed to to have had a virgin birth. A good read i nothing else.
We wont be meeting inDcember but will be back in January to discuss The Song of Achilles . It would be great to see any new members then. Plenty of copies at the library.
Jean
October 2022
The Woman upstairs was interesting but not everyone would recommend it.
I thought it might be interesting for potential grou members to see what we may be reading next year. We chose these from a list.
A Man called Ove. - Frederick Backman
The word is murder - Anthony Horowitz
The offing - Benjamin Myers
The Memory Police - Yoko Ozawa
The Island of missing trees - Elif Shafak
Sons and Lovers - D H Lawrence
Home going - Yaa Gyasi
A Night at the Circus - Angela Carter
As I Walked out one Midsummer Morning
Death Comes to Pemberley - P D James
Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stower
We are all completely beside ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
Our next meeting will be November 15th. We will be reading Small Plasures by Clare Chambers.
September 2022
We had a very enjoyable meeting but we all agreed the The Sleep House was not one we would recommend. The cover said it was hilarious in places, still searching for that. We have a new member which is great.
Next month our meeting will be October 18th. We will be discussing The Woman Upstairs by Ruth Heald.
As always we welcome anyone who would like to come along. No matter if you haven’t read the book. There are spare copies at the library. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
September 2022
After a couple of months off we are back again on September 20th. We will discuss Where the Crawdads Sing which was last month’s book and the new book which is The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe. Plenty to be getting on with for sure. As usual 10.00 downstairs in Washington Town Centre Library. There is a lift if you need one and this month we have a new member, whoo hoo. Anyone else who wishes to join us is more than welcome. The library will supply copies if the book, if they have them of course. Or just turn up and see what goes on. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
June 2022
Quite a small gathering this month and I was the only one present who had read the book to the end. It didn’t matter at all, those who hadn’t finished it decided to keep the book as they were enjoying it. It was again a very enjoyable meeting. We still talked about the book and how well it is written and how interesting is the background to the Black Death, Shakespeare, his wife and family, life in his day. Very enjoyable but not a book you can easily skim. We were all in agreement, it’s a book worth reading.
I was trying to gauge whether we should meet next month but because we couldn’t decide we said we’d see what people think nearer the time.
Our next book will be Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Ive read it already but will read it again, in my opinion it’s excellent.
If we meet in July it will be July 19th.
Watch this space.
Jean
May 2022
This month we discussed Piranesi by Susannah Clarke. I might not have persevered with this book had it not been a book group choice. I’m glad I did. What started as a slow meander through an adult fantasy world became a real page turner. Several people hadn’t finished it but took their copy away again to complete after hearing the views of others, that’s the magic of reading in a group.
Looking forward to hearing what members think of the next book Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. She’s a wonderful writer and her writing flows but you have t concentrate.
We’d love to see you on 21st June if you’d like to join our super friendly group. There will be a copy of the book at Washington library so please collect one and come along, or just come along to meet the others.
Jean
April 2022
Our book today was The vanishing Half and it sparked quite a lot of discussion about identity. The plot centres around twin sisters, one is black and the other passes for white, we have no personal knowledge about this but it is an interesting concept. One of the characters is transsexual and that was never fully explored in the story.
Our next book is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. We will be discussing that on May 17th at 10..00 as usual in Washington library. Looks interesting. Please come along if you fancy it, no need to have read te book, but there are copies in the library should you like one.
March 2022
I think we all enjoyed My Sister the Serial Killer. We had different views on the behaviour of the sisters but we all appreciated it was a plausible if unlikely story which was well written. Recommended.
Our next meeting will be April 19th when we will discuss The Vanishing Half. I’ve started it and it promises to be a good read. There are copies still at the library so if you’d like to join us please do. 10.00 downstairs in Washington Library. There is a lift if you need one.
February 2022
Before The Coffee Get Cold was an interesting read. It concerns a cafe in Tokyo where if you sit in a particular chair you can travel in time, but only once. It was originally a play and its easy to see those origins, only one set and a limited number of characters. It was generally enjoyed and stimulated quite a lot of discussion.
Next month we meet on the 15th March when we will be discussing My Sister the Serial Killer.
I had already read it but it will be no hardship to read again, I enjoyed it. If you wish to come along, by all means do so.
Please return any group reading books you may have, they are finding it difficult to keep the set numbers at a useful level.
January 2022
We returned to the library last week and I was very pleased to see so many of our members came. We were discussing The Green Road by Anne Tyler. I had enjoyed the writing and story line but many were underwhelmed by it. It was good to hear why people felt as they did but in the end it was a book that didn’t really stimulate much discussion.
We had been asked to choose books for the coming year and there were quite a lot of new ones, but we also chose a non fiction an an older novel.
Next month’s book is translated from Japanese - Before the coffee gets cold by Toshiguazu Kawaguchi.
I’ve started reading it and I’m enjoying it very much, there are more copies at the library if anyone would like to collect one and come to the next meeting. It’s an example of a book I don’t imagine I would ever have chosen for myself, another reason why I love the reading group.
November 11th. 2021
Our meeting is going ahead as planned but I’m sorry I can’t be at the Wessington meeting on Monday. I’m ashamed to say that our new member gave me her email address which I lost. I can only apologise. I hope she will return for the next meeting. Anyone else who wishes to come along is also very welcome and I’ll do my best not to lose their email address.
October 19th 2021
Yesterday’s group was much depleted with one thing and another. The good news is we have a new member which is brilliant, and the promise of another next month. I was the only one who had read the book, The Light we cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I found it quite difficult at first but the writing is so beautiful. He paints very bright pictures using words, I loved it. Set during the last few months of WW2 it follows 2 young people, one German, conscripted into the army and the other a blind French girl. Apparently it is a film so I’ll look out for that.
The librarian has asked if anyone has a library book if they turn it to any Sunderland library. They’re finding it difficult to put sets together for groups because so many are missing.
Our next meeting is November 16th and we will be discussing Forgive Me Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. 10.00 at the library as usual. You can pick up a copy by just asking at the desk.
Ther won’t be a meeting in December
Hope to see you there.
Sept 28th 2021
I was very pleased with the turn out, it was great to see so many. We talked about what we had read and generally caught up.
Our next book is The Light We Cannot see by Anthony Doerr. We will meet again on October 19th at 10.00 downstairs in Washington Town Centre library. There are still a couple of copies of the book in the library so if you fancy it just ask and mention our group name.
We would be very pleased to see anyone who would like to join us.
Just to remind you, if you start a book and hate it you don’t have to finish it, that’s fine. If you haven’t read the book, feel free to join us and listen and join in anyway.
I send emails out often but lots of people don’t reply so I’m not now sure who is still interested in receiving them. If you want to stay on the list please let me know, you don’t have to reply to general emails but I don’t want to be a nuisance and fill your inbox with stuff that doesn’t interest you.
September 2021
I’ve arranged to begin the reading at the library on September 21st. There isn’t a book at the moment so we’ll pick up a new one then. 10.00 in the downstairs room as before. See you then hopefully.
I did say 28th in the last post but for this month at least it will be the 21st.
Jean
June
Our last meeting was different from the norm because so few were able to attend and the book wasn’t terribly popular. We decided to take July and August off and restart in September. Hopefully we will be back, face to face, in the library. The date will return to the 4th Tuesday of the month, as before, that would make it September 28th. I don’t have any details of the book we will be offered but I will contact the library nearer the time. Looking forward to seeing people once again.
23rd April
Just to let you know that we’ve had to cancel Monday’s meeting. Watch this space for the new date.
22nd March 2021
Today we had a real treat because Susan Gray set us a literary quiz. Not too long or too hard, made a lovely change. It was especially welcome this week because The Nursemaids Secret was not well liked by anyone, I didn’t even finish it, I did read more than 700 pages but gave up expecting it to get better, but it didn’t, 2 of our group were more diligent than me and did read to the end. Well done to them.
Next month’s offering from the library was another pot boiler and no one fancied that so we decided to buy a book from Kindle, 99p and it has been shortlisted for a literary prize. So next time we’ll be discussing Dominicana by Angie Cruz. Looks interesting.
If you’d like to join us you’d be more than welcome.
The next meeting will be Monday 26th April at 10.00.
Maybe we’ll see you there.
22nd February 2021
Last month we discussed Red Ribbon. It is written for young adults about the sewing room in Auchweitz, based on truth and while clearly fiction it has many elements of history interleaved with the plot. We spent a long time discussing the attitude of the guards, the commandant’s wife and the others in the camp.
Next month we will download The Nursemaids Secret by Sheila Newbury.
Our meeting will be 10.00 March 22nd. The site is open from 9.30 so you can join for a general catch up if you wish. We were joined by a new, to us, member which was really good to see. Please get in touch if you’d like to join i too.
As far as I can see the click and collect service at the library has been suspended.