When I was updating the list of books we have read at book club, I found that the meetings started at the beginning of 2010. This is what I posted on the 28th February of that year.
When I last met up with my brothers, my sister in law Miranda mentioned she had joined a book club. This encouraged me to look for one locally, as it had been on my mind for some time. I found one at Tring School and the book list for the year looked quite interesting. I emailed Tring Learning Centre, found out a little about the group and sent off an application form.
It was only a small group and they had already met for their first meeting. So this gave me a couple of weeks to read "Enduring Love" by Ian McEwan and "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad. I had already read the former when it first came out 12 years ago which meant I could recap whilst waiting for the other to arrive. So on Thursday evening I found my way and joined six ladies and Amanda, our group leader, for our meeting. I was made to feel very welcome and I enjoyed the contributions from all the members.
We were not at Tring School for very long, the course was cancelled after a couple of terms. So we found our way to the Bell at Aston Clinton (as photo above) famous for accommodating Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor when they were visiting Richard's brother who was recuperating in Stoke Mandeville Hospital after falling from the outside of an upstairs window, trying to break into their house when he had forgotten the key. Also famous for hosting the reception after the wedding of yours truly.
So here we are, twelve years later and 134 books read. We were five and then six and now five again. And we take it in turns to choose the book. Here is the list of those we have read.
TRING BOOK CLUB
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Nightime by Mark Haddon
The Black Dahlia by James Elroy
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk
Kidd
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo
Ishiguro
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl
Bainbridge
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
Headlong by Michael Frayn
One Day by David Nicholls
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
Room by Emma Donoghue
Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
Fasting Feasting by Anita Dessai
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate
Atkinson
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn
Great House by Nicole Krauss
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
The Midwife’s Confession by Diane
Chamberlain
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer
Egan
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller
The Silent Land
by Graham Joyce
Charles Dickens – Various
Mr Phillips by John
Lanchester
Pure by Andrew Miller
The Children’s Book by A S Byatt
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar
Wilde
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz
Zafon
There but for the by Ali Smith
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander
Masters
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Engelby by Sebastian Faulks
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Sea by John
Banville
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Girl with the Pearl
Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler
The Garden of Evening
Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie
O’Farrell
The Ice Palace
by Tarjei Vesaas
Dear Life by Alice Munro
Waterland by Graham Swift
A Long Walk Home by Judith Tebbutt
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Harvest by Jim Crace
One Hundred Years of Solitude by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich
Maria Remarque (and other WW1 novels).
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda
Grant
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
A Common Place Killing by Sian Busby
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony
Doerr
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas
Keneally
The Green Road by Anne Enwright
The Secret River
by Kate Grenville
The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
Sweet Caress by William Boyd
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
House of Orphans by Helen Dunmore
Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner
The Loney by Andrew Hurley
This Boy by Alan Johnson
Remarkable Creatures by Track Chevalier
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia
Highsmith
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
The Girl who Fell from the Sky by Simon
Mawer
The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon
Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty
The Muse by Jessie Burton
Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
The Story of Lucy Gault by William
Trevor
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by
Gail Honeyman
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Canon
The Cleaner of Chartres by Sally
Vickers
The Bees by Laline Paull
The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark
Love is Blind by William Boyd
Pastoral by Nevil Shute
Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars
Mytting
Someday I’ll Find Me by Carla Lane
Milkman by Anna Burns
A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth
Taylor
Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
The Confessions of Franie Langton by Sara
Collins
The God of Small Things by Arundhati
Roy
The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane
Gardam
The Soldier’s Return by Melvyn Bragg
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid
Girl by Edna O’Brien
The Dig by John Preston
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Far Sweeter than Honey by William
Spencer
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Undue Influence by Anita Brookner
The Midnight Library by David Haig
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Holding by Graham Norton
Mrs England by Stacey Halls
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