West Cheshire Rural

Pageturners (Reading Group 2)

Hello and Welcome to Pageturners

We are one of two Reading Groups in our u3a; the other being Chapter Chat.

Pageturners began in July 2021. We subscribe to CW&C Council Library’s Reading Group Scheme which provides up to 12 copies of the same book per month for group members to read.

Each member of Pageturners can nominate up to 5 titles for the group to read and, every month, one title is selected at random from our nominations’ list. Whoever nominated that title is invited to start off our discussion when we next meet. At the end of our meeting, just for fun, we each score the book out of 10 and the average score ranks the book in our League Table.

The group meets on the third Friday of each month at 11.00am in the Community Room at St. Alban’s, Tattenhall.

Given the wide range of our members’ interests and tastes, our reading over the past year includes personal memoir, historical fiction, science-fiction, short stories, an anthology of poems, fantasy, adventure & a couple which defy definition!

If you’re interested in joining our group, send me a message via the Mail icon in the top, right-hand corner of this page. We can arrange for you to read our book-of-the-month and then come along to our next meeting before you decide whether to become a full member.
Linda Davenport (Group Leader)

Our Latest Read ….

The Buried Giant by Kasuo Ishiguro (discussed on 21.07.23)

If you are looking for another Remains of the Day – look elsewhere. This novel takes place during the Dark Ages – after the Romans have left Britain and the Arthurian legends hold sway. Our main protagonists are an elderly couple, Beatrice & Axl, both Britons & Christians, and we join them as they start out on their journey towards the village where they believe their son now lives.

A red mist pervades the country and Beatrice & Axl complain about not being able to remember events that happened in the past - this experience is shared by everyone around them. They try to remember why their son left home to live elsewhere, but cannot bring the reason to mind – only emotions are stirred, but they do not understand why they are having these feelings or what they may mean. As their journey progresses, Beatrice & Axl experience more of these 'shadow memories' triggered by their emotional reactions to people and events around them and we, as readers, start to fill in the blanks of our couples' sometimes tumultuous lives.

On their journey, Beatrice & Axl meet the Arthurian knight Sir Gawain and the Saxon warrior Wistan. Each is on a quest - the purpose of which will eventually clash with the other’s. Along the way, we learn that both King Arthur & the wizard Merlin have had a hand in the nation’s mysterious state of forgetfulness, but was their purpose noble, benign or deceitful?

Many themes are explored and questions posed during Beatrice & Axl’s experiences as they wander through the country – meeting both humans and mythical beings; ogres, dragons, pixies – until they meet the nameless ‘boatman’ whose sole task is to row people across to ‘the island’ where they stay for eternity. But will eternity be with their loved one or alone? Who decides? And can there be 'true love’ without memories of a life shared?

One member of our group referred to The Buried Giant as probably a Marmite book and so it proved to be. Many of us found it a difficult book to get into – slow plot development, too obscure to be engaging, lacking direction – which, for some of us who don’t enjoy elements of fantasy and myth anyway, proved too much – this book was not for them. For others, persistence paid off and the book finally delivered on the rich vein of universal themes, timeless questions and plot explanations it had been promising for so long. For Beatrice & Axl, the book's ending is both poignant & ambiguous – Ishiguro does not offer pre-wrapped certainties – we’re left to ponder on possibilities. LD.

Our scores within the group ranged between 6-9.

To contact Linda Davenport, please click on the mail icon and follow the instructions

More Group Pages
Art Appreciation Bridge Canasta Canasta
Chapter chat (Reading 1) Cryptic Crosswords Dining 1 Dining 2
Discussion Drawing Historic Places and Gardens Mah-Jong for Beginners
Map Reading for Walkers Music Appreciation Pageturners (Reading Group 2) Poetry for Pleasure
Sunday Dining 2 Sunday Lunch Group Ukulele Walking Group
More Group Pages
Art Appreciation Bridge
Canasta Canasta
Chapter chat (Reading 1) Cryptic Crosswords
Dining 1 Dining 2
Discussion Drawing
Historic Places and Gardens Mah-Jong for Beginners
Map Reading for Walkers Music Appreciation
Pageturners (Reading Group 2) Poetry for Pleasure
Sunday Dining 2 Sunday Lunch Group
Ukulele Walking Group