Reading groups
Dickens Champions
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles
Dickens' birth. Hollingbourne Reading Group in Maidstone has been
selected by The Reading Agency to be one
of 10 reading groups nationwide who will be Dickens Champions. The
groups will take part in a Readathon between February and December
where they will read, review and blog about 5 titles.
Groups will also shadow the BBC adaptations of
Dickens and any other Dickens activity in their
communities.
Hollingbourne Reading Group say: “We were
involved in ‘The
Great Expectations Project’ based at the Guildhall Museum in
Rochester. This ran for a year and had monthly meetings. It
was fascinating and ended with a talk by
Claire Tomalin. We then decided to involve ourselves in Dickens
going on trips and having a guided tour of his haunts in
Rochester.
Dickens was a master story teller and his work
has been an example to children and adults. We often compare the
modern fiction we are reading with Dickens - especially his
descriptions of people and places.
It is exciting and we are looking forward to
it.”
Image © Guildhall Museum,
Rochester
Maidstone Carers' favourite reads
Rather than review a book they had all read, Maidstone
Carers group each talked about a personal, favourite book.
They enjoyed that meeting so much that they have decided to make it
an annual event. These are a few of their favourite books:
The author shows a deep understanding of why people behave
as they do. He can create complex, interesting and unusual
characters and writes good people really well. A lovely, modern,
moving story about friendship, family and love.
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The story, written between 1864 and 1865, is a history
of London and the social conditions of the day but it is also
funny. It describes a divided society which feels much the same as
today with the great ones in their palaces and the small ones
having no importance and where a man can earn a living pulling dead
bodies out of the Thames.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Written in 1964, the story is based on the terrible events at an
isolated farm. The author tells this true story with extraordinary
verve, making it read like the best fictional whodunit. It is a
substantial book but keeps and builds the readers’ interest until
the last page. Our reviewer read it by his pool in “Rhodesia” and
it has travelled the world with him as his favourite.
Join an existing group in your area
Reading groups are a
great way of meeting people and sharing your views about books.
Recently there has been a real surge in their number nationally.
They generate exciting debates and may lead you to consider books
that you would never have imagined reading.
There
are many reading groups in Kent for you to join and most welcome
new readers.
Ask our team or check out the reading group pages being developed
on our discussion forum. There are groups for
adults,
teens and
children.
You can find many more
virtual readers groups, book clubs, book blogs and discussion
forums on the internet, depending on your area of interest or
favoured authors.
How about starting a reading group?
In Kent we offer a
reading group card. This allows the group leader to reserve a set
of books and pick them up from their closest library. Have a look
at the
Reading Group Charter leaflet which sets out our commitment to
reading groups and what you can expect from us. Some libraries can
act as venues, while other groups prefer to operate from members'
houses. There is no right or wrong way to do it, just choose what
suits you best.
The following
film highlights some of the benefits of reading groups to
participants.
For information about setting up a reading group,
have a chat with a member of staff at your local library or
look at some of the following
websites:
Reading Groups and Online Reservations
Great news! Customers can now reserve more than one copy of the
same book from our online catalogue. For each copy you will
need to place a separate reservation.
Some books are more popular than others and therefore you will
need to order them in advance to avoid disappointment for your
group.
