Hale Barns Book Group

Unexpected Pleasures

In 1986 when two members of the local branch of the National Housewives Register first

thought it would be a good idea to get together once a month to discuss a book I didn’t

think they imagined it would still be going without a break ever since. The members meet at

each others' houses once a month on a Wednesday for eleven months of the year – we do not

meet in August because of holidays. Our book group reflects the changing times it has been

through and we have adapted to survive. Originally started by young (thirty something)

mothers it had to be organised around our young children. The meetings started at ten

o’clock in the morning. A quick cup of coffee and a biscuit (we never encouraged the ‘I can

bake a better cake than you’ attitude) some adult conversation, about the book, before it was

time to dash off to the local nursary school to collect a child or two. As the years went by

and children grew older and went on to junior and secondary schools many of us found

ourselves with time on our hands. A part time job was the answer. Some worked two or three

days a week but some got jobs which required them to work every morning. We considered what

to do. Should we meet in the evenings? But what about homework, Cubs, Brownies and Yoga

classes? So a decision was made to meet at one-thirty in the afternoon. We now had tea and

biscuits before dashing off to the school gates to pick up our larger and larger children.

These days none of us have children to collect except the occasional party from pubs or

university. But we still look forward to our afternoon meetings. Not everyone who started

with the group has stayed the course. Some have followed their husband’s jobs to different

parts of the country and some have been seduced into full time work. But new people have

always been found to plug the gaps and sometimes people have stopped work and returned to

the fold.

 Our group has always been organised on very egalitarian lines. We don’t have the

formality of a diary: everyone is encouraged to have a say about the book but if someone

hasn’t finished reading a book they are never censored. Everyone has busy lives. We do have

a sort of unofficial secretary who kindly types out the lists of books for the next six

months. Every half year we have a discussion at the end of the meeting to decide on the

books we are going to read next. The following system has evolved over the years. In each

list we try to include a classic, a modern novel, an autobiography or biography, a foreign

writer and a detective novel (just for fun)! Everybody has a say and suggestions for books

come from many different directions. A television programme, a magazine or newspaper

article, an author who has won a Booker or a Pulitzer or maybe a favourite book someone read

years ago. Over the years we have read one hundred and eighty books or perhaps to be more

honest chosen 180 as all of us haven’t real all the books.
 
 What sort of book makes a good discussion? Well, we have discovered that books of

topical interest are not always the most stimulating. Life Lines by Edwina Curry (January

1991) must have been the dullest book we have ever chosen. Few people actually read it to

the end. The more contentious the book the better. The most talked about book we have ever

read is probably The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (March 1986) even members who joined the

group later and have never read it feel as if they have. Someone once said that she didn’t

think we ever had a meeting when it wasn’t mentioned, although, that is a slight

exaggeration! Occasionally, some innocent or foolish member suggests we read another Ian

McEwan. She usually has to dive behind a sofa to avoid the soft furnishing and ornaments

that are hurled in her direction. One of the most poignant books we have ever read was

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (March 2002). It was written in the form of a diary

kept by an educationally subnormal man who is temporally turned into a genius by a

scientific experiment. Everyone a the meeting was deeply moved by this book. It reminded us

all how lucky we are to be able to read.

 Will our Book Group ever stop? Not unless it is made illegal, in which case we will

go underground. At the moment we have twelve members (a larger group might make it difficult

for everyone to have a say) most of whom attend regularly. We have watched the rise of

reading groups with interest and tried not to feel smug after all we’ve been doing it for

years.

Recent reading list:

Breathing Lessons, Anne Tyler
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
White, Rosie Thomas
Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett
Astonishing the Gods, Ben Okri
Daughters of Britannia, Katie Hickman