Showing posts with label Book Club. Show all posts

Book Club - How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

Monday, 18 May 2015 § 0




 
We've had a book club offshoot of Buns and Roses WI for a few years now and we've done all sorts of books over the last few years but the focus over the last 18 months has been either books by women or about inspirational female characters. We are a very free and easy book club in that we only have a couple of rules - namely you don't have to have finished the book (and not mind finding out what happens) and it has to be available from the library so that people don't have to buy it - though of course it is up to each attendee whether they purchase the book or not and some of the fun each meeting is looking at our various copies and seeing what kind of market the bookseller is trying to appeal to over the years - a book like Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell which we read (or in the majority of cases started and didn't finish) has had many different cover incarnations over the years, as had Charlotte Bronte's gothic masterpiece Jane Eyre.

We meet roughly every 6 weeks or so (exact date determined amongst those at the meeting) at 2.30pm on a Sunday afternoon in the Tiled Hall Cafe just inside the Art Gallery on the Headrow and the next one is Sunday June 28th when we'll be discussing Caitlin Moran's funny and frank latest How To Build A Girl. And it's also at the meeting that we decide what book we're going to read next - we all bring suggestions and sometime we reach a decision by consensus and sometimes by writing the titles on bits of paper and pulling them out of a bag.

So come along chat, eat cake, and meet other book loving ladies. Hope to see some of you there. 

April Book Club - Gone with The Wind

Wednesday, 9 April 2014 § 0


Once again we met amidst the Victorian splendour of the Tiled Hall Café – and once tea and cake and scones had been purchased we settled down to discuss Gone With The Wind. The Pullitzer prize winning novel by Margaret Mitchell that was first published in 1937 and the Oscar winning film version which was made in 1939 and remains the most successful film ever made in terms of box office.

It’s both a long book and a long film and although most of us had seen the film at some point and so knew the story none of us had finished the book itself – though one of us had got to 73% and was determined to finish it as she was at the point where Scarlett marries Frank and she just had to know how it turned out.

All of us struggled with the racism in the book, the opening pages which set the scene of late 19th century southern American society are extremely shocking to enlightened 21st century eyes and it’s part of the criticism which surrounds the book and the film as neither really comment on the dreadful inequalities but just describes them. But those issues aside we all agreed it was a rattling good albeit long tale and the descriptions of Tara the plantation are so vivid we could smell and see the red earth. None of us wanted to be close friends with Scarlett but we would love to watch her machinations from a distance and we all agreed she was a survivor, it’s been argued that rather than it being a love story it is in fact a tale of survival and Scarlett does exactly that.

One of the things we do at Book Club is to compare the different covers we all have – one was a tie in to the film version with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in a passionate clinch, a couple of others also had a bodice ripper look about them but one had a background of burning buildings. It’s interesting to see how the covers change over the years to attract different demographics.

Our next meeting is Sunday May 18th 2.30pm Tiled Hall Café (just inside the Art Gallery on the Headrow) and we’ll be discussing The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim – as always we don’t mind if you haven’t finished the book, just seen the film adaptation or read the Wikipedia entry about it – come along, chat and have some cake with us.

November Book Club

Saturday, 17 November 2012 § 0

By Lucy, B&R Secretary and Book Club Leader
 
When I joined Buns & Roses in 2010 I hadn't realised that they have their own Book Club and I was really pleased that they did - it would give me the impetuous to make sure that I finished a book by a deadline as well as giving me suggestions of books to read that I might not normally encounter (at the first meeting that I went to we discussed Jam and Jeopardy by Doris Davidson which was certainly a different read)  and have a chance to chat through them with friendly ladies eating cake. 

We meet at the Tiled Hall Cafe which is next to the Art Gallery and the Leeds Central Library. It's a really pretty venue and they serve gorgeous cakes - Earl Grey tea loaf, scones with clotted cream and jam, Caramac cake and neapolitan sake.  They also serve a great selection of drinks including wine and beer and my favourite - Suki tea - I love the Russian Caravan which is like a milder slightly less smoky lapsang souchong.

Our last book club was really fun - we had all finished reading the book that we were discussing - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky which we all enjoyed. 



The Buns & Roses Book Club is really friendly, we don't worry if someone hasn't finished the book, or indeed if they hate it that's fine too!  Everyone is fine to voice their opinion and most importantly it's fun - we talk about what we think of the cover of the book and who might play certain characters in a film version as well as discussing more technical things like characterisation and plot.

We all agreed that we liked how the book reminded us very much of being teenagers and in particular Susan who is from America said that it really reminded her and felt very well written and representative of her time in high school much better in comparison to some other books that she has read in the past.  

Sam who was new to Book Club mentioned that she had read the book slightly differently as she'd seen the film first, but really enjoyed the book and actually hadn't expected the form of the book to be the series of letters that are presented.

In terms of characters we felt that they were all very "real" and had a lot of sympathy with the main character - Charlie - and genuinely felt as though we were taken on a bit of a journey with him and saw how he developed.  

Lianne had been worried about how the ending of the book would transpire and how some of the fairly serious issues would be handled, but actually felt that it was effectively written.

We all enjoyed the book and I found that I really enjoyed the references to different music of the time and how his teacher recommended different books for Charlie to read to help him develop both intellectually and emotionally.  I loved how one of these books was A Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger as the feel of this book was very similar to that, but the characters were much more likeable.

We tried to think of some Christmas-themed books for our December Book Club meeting, but went for Life of Pi by Yann Martel instead and will be meeting at 2pm on the 16th December at the same place - you are welcome to come and join us.

June Book Club

Saturday, 16 June 2012 § 0

"The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly





High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

As usual we met up in the Tiled Hall Cafe in Leeds Art Gallery for Book Club to discuss "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly which was suggested at the last Book Club by Susan.  We had a good mixture of previous bookclubbers as well as some new faces.  

In general the group really enjoyed the book and Susan had said that when she had first read the book it had really grabbed her and she couldn't put it down and was struck by the very poignant tone of the book.    Lianne really enjoyed the escapism of the book and Jenny said that the descriptions of the strange beasts and creatures in the book made her feel quite inspired and as if she wanted to draw pictures of how she had imagined them all to look.  Claire liked the fact that the female characters in the book were all quite villainous.  Ruth was less keen on the book and felt perhaps as though it was trying a bit too hard to be childlike and was perhaps too formulaic.

Comparisons were drawn between the book and Labyrinth (both the David Bowie version and also Pans Labyrinth) and Jenny said that she enjoyed being frightened by her imagination of all the strange creatures.  We all agreed that the biggest villain in the book was perhaps the most ordinary in description - The Crooked Man - and Lianne said that as she'd been reading it she initially imagined him as similar to one of Noel Fielding's characters in The Mighty Boosh, but that this evolved and changed as the book progressed.  We discussed the heroes and villains of the book and decided that there were quite a lot of villains - The Crooked Man, the King, Snow White, the female hunter, Red Riding Hood, but fewer heroes - the Woodsman and  Anna, although maybe she was more of a catalyst.

Most of us were very happy with the way that the book ended and found that it was a satisfactory conclusion and discussed just what was "lost" during the book including innocence, selfishness, David's mother and his OCD rituals, but also concluded that a lot was also found that wouldn't have been had there not been losses first.    

About half the group had read the book electronically (Kindle / i-books) and the rest had read it in hard copy and when we compared and contrasted we noticed that the hard copies had additional material at the end including fairy tales that had been referenced and an interview with the author.  The Kindle readers felt cheated!

The next book was chosen and to keep things fresher in our minds we've opted for a shorter time interval to read the book as well as agreeing a further four books that we will read for future meetings.  (Lots of the members mentioned that they felt inspired and motivated by the Bookclub and that it had re-ignited their interest in reading!)  We are now reading "How to be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran and will be meeting on Sunday 29th July at the Tiled Hall Cafe at 2pm. We hope that you will be able to join us.  

Our forthcoming books following on from this will be: "Fifty Shades of Gray" by E L James, "Lolita" by Vladimir Navokov, "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan and "The Living Dolls" by Natasha Walter.  If you have any other suggestions, please get in touch and let us know.
Review by Lucy Rider, Buns & Roses WI Secretary 

Buns & Roses goes global!

Wednesday, 31 August 2011 § 0

August's Book Club took place at Dock Street Market on Sunday, 21st and our read was The Last Block in Harlem by Christopher Herz.

After discussing the book, we were very honoured to be joined by Christopher via the wonders of Skype.

It was great fun to be able to speak directly with the author and get a bit of a sneak peek into his New York life.


This is what he woke up to on Sunday morning! As we enjoyed a glass of wine on a lovely sunny afternoon, Christopher was on the strong coffee!

We would all recommend the book, so do please give it a read!

You can find out more at Herz Words or follow Christoper on Twitter @herzwords.



Buns & Roses goes back to school and hits the books!

Friday, 1 July 2011 § 0

It seems ages since our last blog post, but we have been so busy it's difficult to find time to write about it all!

Book Club
Our Book Club met on June 19th to discuss Death by Chocolate by Toby Moore.


On the whole, we weren't that impressed with it and felt it was lacking in both style and substance. Although the ideas were there, it wasn't executed particularly well and failed to grip or move us in any way.

It is an interesting read - chocolate is banned and people have weight allowances, with police officers enforcing the rules. A woman is murdered and found covered in "brown" (chocolate) and the mystery into her death unfolds, taking the reader into the underworld of eateasy restaurants and chocolate smuggling.

There's a lot going on, but we found it hard to fully appreciate the story. It felt a bit like the writer wanted to emulate other great novels (such as Nineteen eighty-four and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) rather than concentrating on his own work.

It did raise some interesting debates though, and is easy to read so if yo spot it in a charity shop it is worth a go!


Carr Manor Primary Craft Fair
On June 25th, Gemma and one of our members, Sam, had a stall at the Carr Manor Primary Craft Fair.


Doesn't it look beautiful!


They had many goodies for sale - cards, stitched items, decorated bags for life, jewellery, Suffolk puff brooches, art work etc.



Sam makes bath and beauty products - salts, scrubs and bubbly bits - so our little corner smelt amazing too!

We're always on the look-out for more goodies to sell, so if you're a member of Buns & Roses and have handmade items you want to flog, give us a shout!

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