What we thought of “Hard Times”

At our meeting on Tuesday 17th November, 2020, we discussed "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens. Our views were perhaps best summed up by Andrew P. who described the book as being like a "lumpy mattress". Much of it was enjoyable, but there were lumps you needed to get over. David T. provided the following questions …

What we thought of Maupassant’s short stories

There were 8 of us at our online meeting on Tuesday 20th October, with Andrew C. having provided comments in advance as he was unable to attend. We discussed the Penguin Classics collection of Maupassant's short stories called, "A Parisian Affair and other stories". Most people hadn't read any Maupassant before, but most enjoyed the …

What we thought of Rebecca

Our August book, "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier, was warmly welcomed after a couple of interesting, but challenging, reads. At the meeting responses ranged from "really loved it" to "really, really, loved it". When it came to talking about the book it almost felt as if a book which everyone liked generated less discussion than …

And marmite it turned out to be

There were fewer people than usual at our Classic Book Group meeting on Tuesday 21st July. Whether because people were taking advantage of the easing of the lock down, or they didn't want to discuss "At Swim-two-Birds" by Flann O'Brien, we'll never know. In O'Brien style I'll interject the authorial voice here and state that …

What we thought about “I Know why the Caged Bird sings”

The book at our May 2020 Classic Book Group meeting was "I Know why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. So, what did we think of it? To begin we were asked what one word we would use to describe the book. The answers were: Depressing, Powerful, Surprising, Beautiful, Grim, Shocking, Courageous, Iconic, Enlightening, …

Maya Angelou, an Easter Island Grammar, and Royal Leamington Spa

At an auction in 2012 we bought part of the book collection of the late Dr. Veronica du Feu of the University of East Anglia. Veronica was an internationally-known scholar of Slavonic languages, as well as the author of the definitive grammar of Rapanui, the aboriginal language of the Easter Islands. But amongst the Bulgarian …

What is a Classic?

In his book "Why read the Classics" Italian writer Italo Calvino  produced 14 definitions of a "classic" book. The classics are those books about which you usually hear people saying: 'I'm rereading…', never 'I'm reading….' The Classics are those books which constitute a treasured experience for those who have read and loved them; but they …

How long are Dickens’ novels

Having decided that the first book to be read and discussed by our new Classic Book Group would be a Dickens novel, and having specified that we wouldn't choose a book that was longer than 500 pages in a standard edition, we needed to work out how long Dickens' novels actually are. Fortunately most of …

The Classic Book Group

As a library we thought we ought to have our own Book Group, but we wanted to try something a little different. So, we asked if people would be interested in joining a Book Group which concentrated on reading, and discussing, the classics of literature. You know, all those books you knew you ought to …

Romance Awareness Month

Did you know that August 2019 is Romance Awareness Month? Check out the Warwickshire Libraries blog for recommendations if you're looking for a dash of romance during you summer holidays. You can also search our own Blue Label Collection for romance, including books by local author, and library volunteer, Ellie Darkins. If you have your …