We meet once a month to discuss a chosen book, which always leads to other topics. There is never any shortage of ideas and experiences. Mary Gaskin and Joan Sene are presently caretaking the group. Please contact Mary or Joan for more information.

We meet at 10:30 at Fort Stamford on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, a bit earlier if you want a drink, and the coffee is good.

We take it in turns to choose a book, which means that we have a good variety of subjects. The person who chooses the book usually leads the discussion and we have some lively chats.

Selected Books

Once again we have enjoyed, or have been interested in, a varied selection of books.

In July we read The Great Gatsby, which we all decided was based on the rather sad life of the author Scott Fitzgerald. If you were rich in America in the 1920s life was lavish - the poor were ignored.

Our September book was Flappy Entertains. Once again the rich ruled, this time in a Devon village. Flappy was Queen of the village until Hedda Harvey-Smith moved into the biggest house in the village. Read on!

October we will be reading The Island of Missing Trees. This involves the civil war in Cyprus, between the Turks and the Greeks.
November we move on from the island of Cyprus to Ireland, reading Small Things Like These. A lovely family story which also tells us of the hardships of unmarried mothers.

December our book is The Coffin Road by Peter May.

We have had some good discussions about the books. It is quite good if not everyone enjoys the read, as it makes us think about it from a different perspective.

We are all enjoying these last few days of summer and doing jobs in the garden. When we can no longer work outside we will be reading and getting ideas for next year's books.

April 2026
In March eight of us enjoyed discussing `Jane Eyre’. We decided that even though the writing was a bit flowery, it was a good read. The social differences were very obvious but having inherited money from her uncle, Jane got her man!

For April our book is `I Never Promised You a Rose Garden’ by Joanne Greenburg. This might be a challenge as it is about a girl with schizophrenia. We will probably learn a lot.

Previous books:

The Tenderness of Wolves' by Stef Penny. It is set in Canada in 1867 and is a murder mystery with a difference. The community is small and isolated and it is winter. There are various suspects being tracked through the snow by well portrayed characters. This was a really interesting book.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. This is set in Kentucky in 1937. Once again an isolated male dominated town. Alice leaves England to marry Bennett who lives there. She joins a group of ladies who form a Book Club. They deliver books to isolated homesteads, and in some cases teach them to read. As in the previous book, weather conditions are severe but they carry on! Various things are happening in town. A good read.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.