Tuesday 17 July 2012

Start Your Own Club!

You guy’s will be proud! I have been actively resting... yeah you read it right! I haven’t been gallivanting across the globe, I haven’t attended a hen do or wedding in over a week and I have said “No” to social invites!?! ...Ok I did meet up for one coffee but that was a special circumstance (I’ll blog about that soon!).

I can’t quite believe it myself I spent Friday through to today (Tuesday) napping, catching up on TV, reading, sleeping, a few e-mails did I mentioned I slept ALOT?

I needed the rest so bad and I have accepted the fact that this will be a regular routine in the coming weeks or months, not to say I won’t be a little busy....

Mike’s coming home in two days and the day after we’re heading to Sussex to see his family for my nieces 2nd Birthday, 5 days later we have the last wedding of the season to attend. I cannot wait to see the boy and I’m beyond excited by the up and coming events.

But if soon I can’t go to the entertainment I’ll bring the entertainment to me; so last week (before the mammoth resting session) I hosted my first ever book club.

Talking to my friends Sarah and Kylie and my brother’s girlfriend Kate at the Jubilee weekend BBQ we commented that we needed to find new ways of meeting up that A. Didn’t assault our bank balances and B. Didn’t mess up our diets and involved alcohol for once!

So the Jubilee Book Club was formed.


Since we all had a copy of Room by Emma Donoghue from me being a World Book Night Giver it seemed like a natural starting point.

Being somewhat over enthusiastic about the club I opened our private Facebook group, started work on a logo and read Oprah Winfrey’s guide to starting and running a successful book club! Neither I nor the other three members had ever been in such a group and if anyone can start a success venture it’s Oprah.

I was hosting the first meeting so I made a tea time buffet of sandwiches, mini cakes and crisps with tea and orange juice aplenty. Tea was of course inspired by Afternoon Tea at the Roslin but I currently have no cooker, hob or kitchen sink so sandwiches on paper plates was as fancy as I could go!

Being that we are all friends there was a great amount of gossiping before we actually got down to business.

When we finally got there we discussed;
How often we’ll be meeting? Once a month
How will we chose the next book? Who ever hosts the meeting chooses the next book – I’ve chosen Dear Fatty by Dawn French
Genre preference: We’re happy to read all and any suggestions!

... You get the picture, but Oprah says you must establish ground rules!

Then we got on to the subject we were actually meeting for; Room by Emma Donoghue, I think we surprised ourselves how much depth went into our discussion; character narration, the book’s language and reflection on society, the books affect on us emotionally and simply whether we liked the book or not – we all loved it - a innocent narrative woven into a disturbing theme, with complex characters and an attention into the mindset of a 5 year old was astounding – see we do sound intelligent!


Haven’t you ever got to the last page of a novel and thought... “I must tell _____ about this book” only to have that conversation halted because they haven’t read it and they don’t want you spoiling literacy surprise!?

I highly recommend starting your own book club, it doesn’t cost more than a few refreshments and a copy of the book (if you’re really strapped for cash all bring nibbles to share, you could share copies of the book or use your local library). You get to see your friends on a regular basis and make new ones when you gain new members... in fact I’m about to e-mail a friend to join Jubilee book club right.....now!

L x



1 comment:

Thank you for posting. Should you wish to contact me privately e-mail Lynsey_Ellard@hotmail.com