Reading Group Resolutions

The Between the Sheets team wants to introduce you to the joy of joining (or forming!) a good reading group and has a few suggestions on how to make sure your group gets off to the best possible start...

Have you ever finished a book and thought, I absolutely have to talk about that with someone? Then you should start a reading group. It's easy to do: all you need is a good book, some good friends and some good wine (or bad wine – it doesn't really matter). So make this your number one New Year's Resolution and get together. We've got everything you need to host a brilliant book group ...

A book

[Just when you thought it was an excuse to sit gossiping and drinking wine. When that's not what it is. At all. - Ed]

The best thing about organising your own reading group is that you can pick whatever book you like. It can be something you've been meaning to read for ages but haven't got round to, something you've spotted in the book charts and fancy dipping into, or something that's been recommended – either in the papers or on the telly, or maybe by a friend.

Whatever the book, you'll find something to say about it – even if you don't like it, that's still a point of discussion. And, as with anything, what one person hates another will surely love. Books with issues-/ethics-led narratives can be good ones to start with. Try Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One, Kate Furnivall's Under a Blood Red Sky or Mackenzie Ford's The Kissing Gates for a few ideas ...

Good friends

Actually, they don't have to be good friends – in fact if you get along some people you maybe don't have that much in common with, it can provoke some interesting debate. Plus if you get on too well with everyone, you'll just spend ages talking about totally unrelated things and come eleven o'clock you remember why your handbag's so heavy. Oh yes, that pesky hardback.

And if you don't know anyone who's up for doing a book group, fear not. You can join a reading group through your local library, or via the internet. People love to share their opinions on books online – visit www.amazon.co.uk to see what customer reviews all the latest reads are getting.

Some points for discussion

Between the Sheets is a big believer in the importance of reading groups, so we always try to give you discussion points for as many books as we can. Often the questions are compiled by the authors themselves, so you can talk through the key ideas straight from the source! Remember to go under the covers at Between the Sheets to catch our monthly reading group discussions. Plenty of food for thought!

Drinks

Chucking back a few glasses of wine oils the wheels of any discussion. If you've got several people coming, you may as well get a box.

Crooditays and assorted dips

OK so this is moving slightly into refreshments territory. Sorry. (But if you're still reading, you obviously really want some tips on how to start a reading group.) Um, so, chop up a few sticks of celery and a few carrots (peel them first, no brown filmy skin). Maybe a pepper. Red is best (green too sharp; yellow too sweet). You should also make sure there are several very large bowls of crisps dotted around. Kettle Chips are always a popular choice, but if you want something more dip-friendly, try Chipsticks or (controversial) Nik Naks. Ooh and breadsticks. Dips should be: something tomatoey like a salsa, guacamole and something white. Like hummus.

Any book's good for a reading group, but here are a couple that have been published this month to get you started ...

Finding Home

From the acclaimed author of Meeting Point and Singing Bird comes a gripping novel of tangled love affairs and tantalising secrets.

Louise and Rebecca are scouring the south of England for a suitable location for a movie about Elizabeth I. They stumble across Wooldene Hall, the ancestral home of Diana and her brother Henry.

Diana, widowed, feels her life is slowly crumbling along with the house, and yearns for new romance. She spends her time looking after Aunt Lucy, who, as she senses time running out, begins to share the startling secrets in her past.

Henry, retired from the army, is drawn to Louise – but the past has its grip on the present, and hidden connections threaten their happiness ...

Drama Comes to Prior's Ford

Who is about to disturb the peace in Prior's Ford?

Actress Meredith Whitelaw, axed from a popular television soap, has descended upon Prior's Ford to 'rest' – but instead she creates havoc for the local dramatic society.

Clarissa Ramsay, travelling the world, keeps in contact with her friend Alastair Marshall, who finds himself missing her more with each letter that arrives. Then Clarissa's aloof stepdaughter Alexandra bursts into his life, in search of refuge and consolation.

Unexpected news for Lewis Ralston-Kerr causes alarm and apprehension to his parents, busy refurbishing their tumbledown manor house. And Jenny Forsyth and her husband Andrew discover, when Jenny's long lost stepdaughter Maggie moves in, that the sweet little toddler has become a difficult teenager with a grudge to settle.

Check out these websites for more reading group ideas ...

www.readinggroupguides.com
www.pkc.gov.uk
www.encompassculture.com

Posted 23/01/2009 15:26:41 by Darren Turpin with 0 comments.