The club that began before the internet
THIS BOOK CLUB STARTED IN 1991, HAS SIX MEMBERS, AND MEETS UP EVERY SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS IN LONDON.
ORLA DUNN, 55, AND A PROPERTY DEVELOPER, SAYS: “WHEN WE
STARTED THERE WAS NO INTERNET TO HELP FIND THE ‘NEXT GOOD READ’, NO GOOGLE TO CHECK OUT PAST REVIEWS, NO ‘TOP 100 NOVELS’ AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. WE WERE A GROUP OF FRIENDS AND THEN FRIENDS OF FRIENDS, AGED 25 TO 30, AND GOT TOGETHER TO FIND GREAT NEW BOOKS AND BRING EACH OTHER OUT OF OUR LITERARY RUTS. BACK THEN NONE OF US HAD CHILDREN, WE MET IN ONE ANOTHER’S
FLATS AND HOUSES, AND BROUGHT £1
EACH FOR THE WINE. NOW, 25 YEARS ON, WE HAVE 12 CHILDREN BETWEEN US AND HAVE ALL MOVED OUT TO DIFFERENT PLACES, FROM ST ALBANS IN HERTFORDSHIRE TO TEDDINGTON. BECAUSE OF THAT WE
MEET BACK IN LONDON IN TWO BRYDGES PLACE, A PRIVATE CLUB, AS ONE OF OUR MEMBERS, BERNADETTE, A FORMER ANIMATION PRODUCER, IS A MEMBER.”
CHOOSING THE BOOKS? “AFTER 25 YEARS, WE’VE READ THE BOOKS WE’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO READ. IT BECAME HARDER TO CHOOSE, SO WE’VE STARTED DOING THEMES. WE DID ‘BANNED BOOKS’ – INCLUDING Lady Chatterley’s Lover AND UPTON SINCLAIR’S The Jungle. THEN WE DID FIRST NOVELS BY AUTHORS BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT WORKS. THEN WE DID A MINI-HENRY JAMES FEAST, ENDING WITH A WEEKEND TRIP TO SEE HIS HOUSE IN RYE.
A BOOK THAT BROKE YOU?
Anna Karenina. “I LOVED IT BUT WE DID IT WHEN EVERYONE WAS REALLY BUSY, AND SOME PEOPLE FOUND IT TOO LONG AND INACCESSIBLE. WE ENDED UP HAVING A VERY FRANK DISCUSSION AND DECIDING THAT WE’D ONLY DO LONG, HEAVY BOOKS IN THE SUMMER FROM THEN ON.”