The Fireside Book Group
The ‘fireside’ bookgroup was originally started as a way of helping us cope with the dim winter months by gathering around the fire in the little Puhoi Library to discuss a book.
On both counts it has rather exceeded its mandate – it now runs all year round (invalidating the ‘fireside’ epithet) and the conversation rarely stays on the book concerned. Digressing into history, psychology, politics, village events and colourful local gossip has become something of a speciality. There’s always a warm welcome, some delicious nibbles and a few bottles of wine bought along to lubricate the intellects.
So come along and join us – not having read the book is certainly not a barrier to entry (indeed I’m pretty sure some members haven’t read the proscribed one yet;-)
We meet on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm (as so many groups seem to have snatched the first and last Tuesdays). Just come along and see or use the contact form below for more information.
| Month | Proposer | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Diane Newcombe | The Fallen | David Baldacci |
| February | Jenny | Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman |
| Mar | Val | The Best of Times | Penny Vincenzi |
| Apr | Brian | Plumb | Maurice Gee |
| May | Cat | Cutting for Stone | Abraham Verghese |
| June | Sandra | Bulibasha | Witi Ihimira |
| Jul | Jackie | A Little Life | Hanya Yanagihara |
| Aug | Chris | The Road | Cormac McCarthy |
| Sep | Steve | The Fox Boy | Peter Walker |
| Oct | Kate | A Surfeit of Lampreys | Ngaio Marsh |
| Nov | Judith | Story of A New Zealand River | Jane Mander |
| Dec | Mike | Tenth of December: Stories | George Saunders
978-0812984255 |
| Jan 2020 | Gabrielle | TBD | |
| Feb 2020 | Diane Newcombe | TBD | |
| Mar 2020 | Annie | Where the crawdads sing | Delia Owen. |
As we had more than 12 at our selection ceremony, we’ve already allocated the first 3 months of 2020:
| Month | Proposer | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Mike | ||
| February | Judith | Story of a New Zealand River | Jane Mander |
| Mar | Kate | A Surfeit of Lampreys | Ngio Marsh |
Previous years…
| Month | Proposer | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Kate | London Fields | Martin Amis |
| February | Pat | Alias Grace | Margaret Atwood |
| Mar | Jackie | Season of the Jew | Maurice Shadbolt |
| Apr | Derek B | The Children Act | Ian McEwan |
| May | Sandra | The History of Bees | Maja Lund |
| June | Judith | Old Filfth | Jane Gardam |
| Jul (swapped from June) | Annie | The Mountain | Drusilla Modjeska |
| Aug | Gabrielle | Being Mortal | Atul Gawande |
| Sep | Ngaire | Best Laid Plans | Kathy Lette |
| Oct | Jenny | Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan |
| Nov | Mike | Post-truth: why we have reached peak bullshit and what we can do about it | Ewan Davis |
| Dec | Val | Daughters-in-Law | Joanna Trollope |
| Jan 2019 | Diane Newcombe | TBD |
| Month | Chooser | Book |
| Jan | Val | The Lost Child of Philomena Lee – Martin Sixsmith |
| Feb | Pat | Miss Garnet’s Angel- Salley Vickers |
| March | Derek | High Society – Ben Elton |
| April | Mike | Sun Storm – Åsa Larsonn |
| May | Annie | The Winter Rose – Jennifer Donnelly. |
| June | Kate | The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan |
| July | Jenny | Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
| Aug | Gabrielle | tbd |
| Sep | Judith | Winter In Madrid – C.J.Sansom |
| Oct | Sandra | All The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr |
| Nov | Diane | tbd |