Book Club

A book club is a good idea in theory but difficult to implement especially if there are book snobs like me in it. Or if someone thinks the only books worth reading are those by Jeffrey Archer. Or if people think you're kind of crazy because you can STILL relate to Holden Caulfield even though you are no longer a teenager. (So I still have teenage angst in me, sue me!)

I really do have determined ideas about A Good Book and a Bad Book That Can Never Be Considered Literature. And I get really worked up about it, too. 

Some people only really like a particular story if they can relate to the protagonist or the context. Well not many of us can relate to having become obsessed with a black cat to the point of offing it or hearing the imaginary heartbeat of a corpse hidden underneath the floorboards thundering in your guilty ears when the police come round to investigate, but still, Edgar Allan Poe's macabre mad-man-first-person stories are thrilling. 

I love reading for all kinds of reasons: escape, language, boredom, re-living my childhood and so on. I LOVE reading. 


I do not have to relate to a character really but all good literature has a human element to it which allows you to relate, allows you to empathise, to imagine and place yourself in that character or situation. I think so. 

So a few friends have started a book club and we had our first reading from Catcher in the Rye. It was really interesting to see everyone's reaction to this cult classic. Some people like it, others don't. And that's perfectly OK - yes, I kind of realise that, I kind of concede this point. A bit grudgingly. 

Moving on, moving on....

The second book on the list is Wolf Hall and looks like a juicy read.