Book club: "Jill" by Philip Larkin CHANGE OF DATE: now Thursday 24th February

Charlo

The date of next week's book club meeting has been changed from Wednesday 23rd to Thursday 24th February. Apologies if this means that anyone who was planning to come is now unable to make it.

The next book club meeting will be at 8pm on Thursday 24th February at the Old Dairy and we'll be discussing "Jill" by Philip Larkin.

Published in 1946, Andrew Motion has described it as "a classic of its time" which "shows many of the qualities that were later to distinguish Larkin's great, mature poetry ... It is a novel about writing, about discovering a literary personality, and about the sorts of consolation that art can provide."

(Which sounds a bit pretentious but I've heard great things about it!)

There are second hand copies on Amazon and a few copies in both Haringey and Islington Libraries.

New members welcome!

Donna

Can't wait!

sophie

excellent! so sorry to miss it last night. i had lots to say, good and bad. what was the general consensus?

sarahc

I came (i was quite late!) yesterday and couldn't find anyone - did the group meet in the end? I can make the next date and like Philip Larkin so look forward to it...

Donna

We were there but not in the usual place because some OTHER BOOK CLUB was there discussing The Secret History. It was totally bizarre! Sophie, wish you'd been there because to be frank, I don't think any of us really had much to say either way. We all quite liked the way it (Snow falling on cedars) was written, laughed at the sex scenes (how big must that tree have been???), didn't really like/care about any of the characters very much and couldn't work out why so many people have recommended it and why it's won so many prizes. Maybe it was interesting from an historical p.o.v, but we all felt it jumped around too much and was a very slow read. So overall, a thumbs down I think!

Annbag

Hi there, I'm from the OTHER BOOK CLUB! We are the Islington book group and use the Dairy sometimes. You were welcome to use the same room though :)

Anyway, it's a good thing you popped in or I wouldn't know about the stroud green book club!

How do you decide on a book each week?

miss annie

We meet monthly, there's no way we could do a book a week! Most of us come to the book group with an idea for the next book and at the end we have a chat about the various suggestions and make a decision that way, or occasionally we've made a list and talked about it on here if a few regular members haven't been at the meeting. We've been meeting since, I think, March of last year. You?

Annbag

Ooops I meant each month! We do the same, but there has been a bit of controversy lately about taking votes from long books!

Hopefully I'll be able to make your next meeting :)

miss annie

Yes, do come and join us.

Donna

Hello OTHER BOOK CLUB member you are very welcome! we should totally have stayed in the room but we were a bit shy as there were only 4 of us. Your group is huge! And everyone seemed really friendly. So funny that you meet in the same room of the same pub to discuss a book on the same night and it happens to be the same book we discussed the month before.... Spooky!

Marquis

Kafkaesque almost. I wouldn't worry too much though, unless you consequently had to live the rest of your life as a bug.

Donna

so far, so good Marquis OK, bought the book from amazon and it's arrived. So far, only read a couple of pages of the introduction, but it sounds really interesting - am very much looking forward to this one Charlo!

Annbag

I can't make the 23rd, but will try and be at your next one :)

miss annie

Is there any chance that we could reschedule? The literary evening has been arranged for that same night and it would be good to support a local author. <http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/2519/a-literary-evening-in-sg/>;

Charlo

That would be fine with me - I didn't realise it was the same night. What do you all think? I could do Monday or Thursday that week but I remember when we were discussing it that those nights weren't good for some people. Should we change the week perhaps?

Donna

Hello, Shall we reschedule to Thursday the 24th? Unless anyone has any objections, I'd say let's change the headline of the post. cheers Donna

Jenny

I think I can do the 24th so that is OK with me - but I seem to recall on the evening when there were just 4 of us there was a reason why we didn't go for the Thursday. I can't remember what though - so that's pretty useless of me!

Angelab

I can do the 24th. I think we changed the day as Sophie said she couldn't make Thursdays.

I have finished the book so looking forward to discussing it. Has anyone read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood? I would like to make this my suggestion for this month.

See you all soon!

sophie

the thursday should be fine for me as i don't have a meeting that week. thank you for thinking of me when you arranged the date! i've already finished the book and forgotten it. i promise i'll come to the meeting though. i've got some suggestions too... i started oryx and crake once and had to put it down as i hated it so much. but i would love to try again. and i don't mind reading something i don't like if i have a group of people to complain about it to!

Charlo

Shall I change the heading to 24th then? If anyone would prefer not to, please let me know before tomorrow!

miss annie

Yes, I'm in.

Jenny

Have read quite a few Margaret Atwood books but not Oryx and Crake so happy to give that one a try.
Look forward to seeing you all next week.

miss annie

Oddly enough I was looking at that the other day so I'm happy to give it a try too. @Annbag, Now we've moved the date perhaps you might join us?

Alex

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Jenny

Hi All
A few months ago I registered with 'World Book Night' to be a World Book Night Giver and I've been chosen. This means that I will soon have 48 copies of 'Selected Poems' by Seamus Heaney to give away. I should be able to collect these later this week so if I have them by Thursday I will bring copies along to book club for anyone who would like one.
I'm hoping to donate some through work but any ideas on how I can ditribute them are most welcome. Suddenly the thought of giving away 48 copies of the same poetry collection is very daunting...

Charlo

Jenny, World Book Night sounds good - have just had a look at the website. I would love a copy of the book please if you do bring them on Thursday.

I've phoned the Dairy to see if the curtained off area of the restaurant where we usually meet will be free on Thursday and it was fine to reserve it, although there's a small chance we might need to move if the restaurant gets very full.

Looking forward to meeting up with everyone - I just have to get on with reading the book!

sophie

i would love a copy too jenny. i was thinking of signing up to give out a fine balance, but in the box where you had to say why you liked it, i couldn't find a way to make it not sound like i just wanted to spread misery.

sarahc

Just checked the forum and seen that the date has changed - that's good as it gives me another evening to finish the book off! I'm travelling back from a meeting in Birmingham tomorrow evening but will still try to make it. Hopefully see you all then.