INSIDE BOOK CLUBS
THEY START WITH BOOKS BUT THEIR MEMBERS OFTEN GO ON TO SHARE SO MUCH MORE. ANNA MOORE HEARS THE STORIES BEHIND FIVE VERY DIFFERENT CLUBS
THE STORIES
BEHIND FIVE GROUPS OF WOMEN WHO MEET TO TALK ABOUT THE LATEST READS
THE GUERNSEY BOOK CLUB STARTED IN 2010, HAS 12 MEMBERS AND MEETS ONE WEDNESDAY LUNCHTIME A MONTH.
LIZ STORER, 47, A FULL-TIME MOTHER OF THREE, WANTED A WOMAN’S GROUP THAT FOCUSED ON BOOKS, NOT BOOZING AND SOCIAL CHAT. WORD WENT OUT, FRIENDS AND FRIENDS OF FRIENDS GATHERED. RULES WERE SET: TALK WOULD BE ABOUT BOOKS – AND WHAT WAS SAID IN BOOK CLUB, STAYED IN BOOK CLUB. “BOOKS CAN STIR UP TEARS AND EMOTION, SO WE WANTED A SAFE, PRIVATE SPACE,” SAYS LIZ. MEMBERS TAKE TURNS TO HOST, MAYBE AT HOME OR BOOKING A QUIET CORNER OF A RESTAURANT, OR EVEN ON A BOAT BOBBING ON THE HARBOUR. EVERYONE BRINGS A MINIMUM £5 TO EACH MEETING THAT IS DONATED TO CHARITY, AND THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN RAISED FOR CAUSES SUCH AS GUERNSEY’S CHILDREN’S LIBRARY, PARK PLAYGROUNDS
AND A PREMATURE BABY FOUNDATION. CHOOSING THE BOOKS? “EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO SUGGEST A BOOK DRAWS TOGETHER A BRIEF SYNOPSIS AND TRIES TO SELL IT TO THE REST OF US, THEN WE VOTE BY A SHOW OF HANDS. IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR BOOK THROUGH, YOU CAN KEEP TRYING. ONE LADY TRIED FOR FIVE YEARS TO GET US TO VOTE FOR When God was a Rabbit BY SARAH WINMAN – WHICH WE LOVED WHEN WE FINALLY DID!”
HIGHLIGHT? “SOMETIMES PEOPLE HAVE PICKED UP ON THE THEME IN
A BOOK. WHEN WE DID The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, SET IN 1970S, THE HOST DID THE WHOLE SPREAD – BABYCHAM, ADVOCAAT, CHEESE AND PINEAPPLE ON STICKS! BUT THE REAL HIGHLIGHTS ARE THE IN-DEPTH DISCUSSIONS – MORAL, HISTORICAL, PERSONAL – THAT SPRING UP EVERY TIME.”
A BOOK THAT BROKE YOU? “Tampa BY ALISSA NUTTING, ABOUT A FEMALE TEACHER IN FLORIDA WHO GROOMS HER 14-YEAR-OLD PUPIL. PAINFUL AND HORRIFIC, ESPECIALLY AS WE’RE ALL MUMS, SO WE HAD MEMBERS REFUSING TO READ IT OR BEING UNABLE TO FINISH. NOW WHEN THINGS GET HEATED BETWEEN US, WE CALL IT ANOTHER ‘TAMPA MOMENT’.”