Alice Munro

A recent interview with Alice Munro:

feedback for aprons and silver spoons– dates for january meetings 2014

Please see attached feedback for Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran.

In January we are discussing Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan.

Choice of Dates for January meetings:

Wed 15th Jan at 18.15 at the Ingeborg Drewitz library, 3rd floor Schloss centre ( U9 and S Bahn Rathaus Steglitz) or

Thur 16th Jan at 18.15 at the Buchkantine, Dortmunderstr, ( U 9 Turmstrasse or Hansaplatz ) or

Fri 17th Jan at 10.30 am at the Ingeborg Drewitz library or

Mon 20th Jan at 19.30 at my flat.

Please let me know which group you are hoping to come to.

In February it will be The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro — Canadian Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2013.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year ! Looking forward very much to more lively discussions in 2014.

Jan

Additional meeting

There will be an additional reading group on Mon 9th Dec at 19.30 at my flat. We’ll be discussing Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran.

This is an opportunity for anyone who has not been able to come to any of the other groups. Please let me know if you would like to come. You’re also very welcome if you would like to join a group again!!

Looking forward to another lively discussion.

All best,
Jan

Choice for 2014

In the new year we will discuss Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

I’d also like to recommend Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan— which initially was Helen Dunmore’s suggestion- but unfortunately Thalia bookshops have said it’s impossible to buy in Germany so our next book will be Sweet Tooth. which is easily available.

 

– Jan

 

November/December meetings

Choice of Dates for our next meetings to discuss Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran

Friday November 29th at 10.30 am at the Ingeborg Drewitz Bibliothek, Rathaus Steglitz. ( 3rd floor Schloss Centre)

or

Monday Dec 2nd at 19.30 at my flat (contact me for details)

or

Wednesday Dec 4th at 18.15 at the Ingeborg Drewitz library

or

Thursday Dec 5th at 18.15 at the Buchkantine, Dortmunderstrasse ( U9 Turmstrasse)

Please let me know which of our next groups you are hoping to attend.

Looking forward very much to our discussions.

All best,

Jan

Hand me down world

The feedback for Hand Me Down World is now on the “books we have read”-page:

Highly Recommended

A cleverly structured novel, moving and very topical. Haunting and sensitive. Thought – provoking.

Feedback for Tom Franklin, dates for october groups

Please see the “books we have read”-page for the feedback for our discussions on Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.

I have to be in London in September so the next groups will be in October. Please let me know which group you are hoping to attend.

We’re discussing Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones in October.

 Choice of dates in October :

 Thur 10th October ar 18.15 at the Buchkantine, Dortmunder str. ( nearest U Bahn 9 Turmstrasse) or

 Mon 14th October at 19.30 at my flat or

Wed 16th October at 18.15 at the Ingeborg Drewitz library, 3rd floor Schloss Centre, U and S bahns Rathaus Steglitz) or

 Fri 18th October at 10.30 am at the Ingeborg Drewitz Library.

 

In November our book will be Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran – a charming picture of being “downstairs” in 1930 ‘s London.

Mollie Moran’s entertaining account of life in domestic service is a must for those who enjoy social history. Mollie’s accounts of scrapes, averted disasters and her fierce determination to improve herself are amusing and inspiring. This talented author is now 96 years old and shames many younger writers with her refreshing vitality. I turned the pages and could not put down this wonderful account of Mollie meeting a Blackshirt , her glimpse of Wallis Simpson and the touching account of cooking for Ambassador Neville Henderson just before he visited Germany in an attempt to prevent World War II.

Kitchen skivvy at 14 to cook aged 20 – Mollie is clearly a talented intelligent person who can also write a book which evokes the memories and culture of the 30’s as though they were only yesterday.

 

Thanks again for some very good discussions. Looking forward to some more in October.

 

All best,

Jan

Aprons And Silver Spoons

The choice for November

October Choice

A little preview for October:

feedback for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Please see attached feedback for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. (NB – there are no meetings in July.)

We’re discussing Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin in August.

Tom Franklin’s extraordinary talent has been hailed by some leading lights of contemporary literature — Philip Roth, Richard Ford, Lee Smith, and Dennis Lehane. Reviewers have called his fiction ingenious (USA Today) and compulsively readable (Memphis Commercial Appeal). His narrative power and flair for characterisation have been compared to the likes of Harper Lee, Flannery O’Connor, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy.

In this story of race and youth, of tragedies that time alone cannot heal, and the ways we still need each other even when it seems too late, Franklin beautifully captures human relationships in both their simplicity and unutterable complexities. An unusual American literary thriller.

In September we’ll be discussing Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones.

 

Hoping everyone has a lovely Summer. Looking forward to more great discussions in August.

 

All best,

Jan