SE1 Book club 2014

The first 2014 meeting of the book club will be on Wednesday 5th February at The Bridge House Bar on Tower Bridge road from 7.30pm

The book to be discussed
The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)

Tattie to shortlist the next 3 books


And as always everyone welcome

The SE1 book club will be 10 years old in October and here is the complete list of the books we have read so far


Star of the Sea – Joseph O’Connor
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
Popcorn – Ben Elton
A short history of nearly everything – Bill Bryson
Don’t drop the coffin – Barry Albin-Dyer
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Do not pass Go – Tim Moore
Aberystwyth Mon Amour – Malcolm Pryce
Last Tango in Aberystwyth – Malcolm Pryce
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon
We need to talk about Kevin – Lionel Shriver
The best a man can get – John O’Farrell
Never let me go – Kazuo Ishiguro
The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
Misfortune – Wesley Stace
And Still I Rise – Doreen Lorence
The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
The Secret River – Kate Grenville
First Casualty – Ben Elton
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian – Marina Lewycka
Service Wash – Rupert Smith
Restless – William Boyd
Black Swan Green – David Mitchell
Post Birthday World – Lionel Shriver
Salmon fishing in the Yemen – Paul Torday
The house by the Thames – Gillian Tindall
The Bookseller of Kabul – Asne Seierstad
The Other side of the Bridge – Mary Lawson
On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan
Engleby – Sebastian Faulks
The Dice Man – Luke Rhinehart
Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
Wish you were here – Mike Gayle
Call The Midwife – Jennifer Worth
The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
Shakespeare: The world as a stage – Bill Bryson
Mary Reilly – Valerie Martin
The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalin
The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Five quarters of the orange - Joanne Harris
The Remedy - Michelle Lovric
The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenger
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
The Sorrows of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Suite Francais - Irene Nemirovsky
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living - Carrie Tiffany
When I lived in Modern Times - Linda Grant
Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult
The Alchemist - Paul Coelho
A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening - Mario de Carvalho
Foolish Lessons in Life & Love - Penny Rudge
Secret History - Donna Tartt
Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Post Birthday World - Lionel Shriver
Dr Sax - Jack Kerouac
Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
God's Own Country - Ross Raisin
The Reindeer People - Megan Lindholm
The Children's Book - A.S. Byatt
One Day - David Nicholls
When God was a Rabbit - Sarah Winman
Dan Leno and the Lime House Golem - Peter Ackroyd
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Mary Ann in Autumn (Tales of the City), by Armistead Maupin
The Milkman In The Night by Andrey Kurkov
"Snowdrops" by A.D.Miller
,"Mother's Milk" by Edward St Aubyn
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), John le Carré.
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
"The Hypnotist" by Lars Kepler
"The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey.
The Strangers Child by Alan Hollinghurst
If on a winters night a traveller by Italo Calvino
How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran By Light Alone - Adam Roberts
What a Carve Up- Jonathan Coe
Dubliners - James Joyce
The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Alone in Berlin, Hans Fallada
SKIOS by Michael Frayn
Agent Z and the penguin from Mars – Mark Haddon
The universe Versus Alex Wood by Gavin Extence.
The ballad of Peckham Rye, Muriel Spark,
The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion – Book for feb
Snow White Must Die - Nele Neuhaus – Book for March

Thanks for the list Jac! I'm going to work my way backwards through the list, starting from the book before I joined the bookclub. Should keep me busy for a while
;)

Hi Jac,
Am just wondering how a bookclub works here - does everyone read the same book or is there a few different books to choose from each session?
Mia

Hi Mia

We take it in turn to nominate 3 books and then 1 book is choosen by voting when we meet which we all read and then discuss.

At next weeks meeting we will be discussing The rosie project and we will vote on Tatties choice of books, which will in turn be discussed at the April meeting (allowing plenty of time to get and read the book). The book for March has already been picked and will be Snow White Must Die - Nele Neuhaus.

If you would like to come along and give it a try do and you are welcome to come along next week even if you have not read the current book.

As is anyone else we can be found towards the back of the room.

and the winners are..... well, at least my three choices are:

The Last Kestrel - Jill McGivering
Two strong women. Two cultures. One unifying cause: survival. Ellen Thomas, experienced war correspondent, returns to Afghanistan's dangerous Helmand Province on assignment, keen to find the murderer of her friend and translator, Jalil. In her search for justice in a land ravaged by death and destruction, she uncovers disturbing truths. Hasina, forced by tradition into the role of wife and mother, lives in a village which is taken by British Forces. Her only son, Aref, is part of a network of underground fighters and she is determined to protect him, whatever the cost.
Ellen and Hasina are thrown together - one fighting for survival, the other searching for truth - with devastating consequences for them both.
The Last Kestrel is a deeply moving and lyrical story of disparate lives - innocent and not-so-innocent - caught up in the horrors of war. It is a book which will resonate with fans of The Kite Runner and The Bookseller of Kabul

*****
The Dress Maker of Khair Khana - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
'The Dressmaker of Khair Khana gives voice to many of our world's unsung heroines. Against all odds, these young women created hope and community, and they never gave up. This book is guaranteed to move you - and to show you a side of Afghanistan few ever see.' (Angelina Jolie)
'Kamila Sidiqi's unforgettable story shows just how far we are willing to go for those we love, and proves once again the power of girls to remake our world. This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.' (Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea)
'Gayle Lemmon's riveting portrait of Kamila, told with grace, elegance and passion, captures the extraordinary tenacity and ingenuity of one woman who quietly broke the rules to defy the Taliban and save her family. A powerful read.' (Tina Brown)
' . . ..an exciting, engrossing [story] that reads like a novel, complete with moments of tension and triumph, plus well-researched detail on daily life in Kabul under Taliban rule. . . It's a fascinating story that touches on family, gender, business, and politics and offers inspiration through the resourceful, determined woman at its heart.' (Publishers Weekly, Pick of the Week)
Books on Afghanistan usually fall into one of two categories: policy oriented polemics, or simple tales about do-gooders. Rarely has an author been so successful in turning on-the-ground reportage into a dramatic and yet deeply informative story.

***
The Surgeon of Crowthorne - Simon Winchester
Subtitled "A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words," this is a remarkable account of the life of W.C. Minor. Not a famous name, but a quite extraordinary man. Minor was an American Army surgeon and millionaire who contributed enormously by post to the first, epic edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) while hidden away in obscurity in Berkshire, England. As the author points out, the OED is the most important work of reference ever created, and, given the globalisation of the English language, is likely to remain so for centuries. But when in 1896 Sir James Murray, the formidable editor of the OED, at last travelled down to Berkshire to find this elusive lexicographer and thank him for all his work, he found Minor in Broadmoor: patient Number 742.
Minor was educated, gentlemanly, industrious, and a psychopathic killer, who had gunned down a man at random in the London streets because he believed his victim was an Irish terrorist after his blood.
Simon Winchester won't win any prizes for the elegance of his prose style, but he has dug up a strange and extraordinary life story and turned it into a compelling piece of historical detective work. He never really penetrates into the central mystery of Minor's madness, because no one can. The mystery remains, inviolable, and makes his tale all the more darkly compelling. --Christopher Hart

And the winner is...... the dress maker od khair khana. Extra points if you can pronounce it properly ;o)

And the winner is...... the dress maker of khair khana. Extra points if you can pronounce it properly ;o)

Thanks Jac sounds like an awesome system. Unfortunately, being a mum with a little one I wouldn't be able to make the meetings - is there an online forum you discuss the books read on?

miaki wrote:

Thanks Jac sounds like an awesome system. Unfortunately, being a mum with a little one I wouldn't be able to make the meetings - is there an online forum you discuss the books read on?

I'm afraid not. Maybe when the little one is a bit older you will get a chance to join us.