Come and join the
EuroMayenne Reading Group
We share a love of books !
This EuroMayenne group is for members to get together each month to discuss a book that they have all just read.
It will encourage you to read more books and books that you might not normally choose.
The reasons that people give for joining a reading group include reading a wide variety of books, making friends, having fun, meeting like-minded people and stimulating the brain cells!
So please come and join us for our second year in this venture. The first year was a great success!
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NEXT MEETING: on WEDNESDAY 29 MAY 2019 at 2:30pm
Book title – see table below.
Please let Pam or Kathy know (contact details at the bottom of this page) at least one week in advance if you will be going.
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The Books:
These are to be across a wide range of genres including general fiction, mysteries, historical fiction and non-fiction. They will always be available in translation – with discussion between both English and French speakers.
Future books to read will be decided by the group members.
This year’s books are all on the theme of “Time”.
When
Monthly on the last Wednesday at 2.30 pm.
So, make notes in your diary for
2018
| Month | Title | Author | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 26 | Outlander | Diana Gabaldon |
What if your future was the past? 1946 and Claire Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank – but one afternoon Claire walks through a circle of stones and vanishes into 1743.
|
| October 31 | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro |
In this highly acclaimed novel (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize) Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. |
| November 28 | The Dream Lover | William Boyd | Funny, moving and sharply observed these 24 short stories are gripping tales told in bold and distinct voices from around the world. |
| December | No meeting this month. Write to Father Christmas for a book or two? | ||
2019
| Month | Title | Author | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 30 | Marguerite de Valois:Queen Margot | Alexander Dumas |
From the author of The Count of Monte Cristo comes this classic novel. Massacres, conspiracies, clandestine trysts, secret alliances, daring escapes, sumptuous feasts and duels of wit propel the action in this delightful story of French royalty during the 16th century. |
| February 27 | The End of Eternity |
Isaac Asimov |
Generally acclaimed to be the best time-travel story since H.G.Wells’ The Time Machine, this is the story of Andrew Harlan, Technician and Eternal. A Technician who initiates “Reality Changes” that may affect the lives of as many as fifty billion people. |
| March 27 | Shylock is My Name – The Merchant of Venice Retold | Howard Jacobson | A re-envisioning of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice from the Man Booker Prize-winner Jacobson. With an absent wife and a daughter going off the rails wealthy art collector and philanthropist Simon Strulovitch is in need of someone to talk to. So when he meets Shylock at a cemetery he invites him back to his house. |
|
April 24 |
The Song of Achilles | Madeline Millar |
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, the boys develop a tender friendship, a bond which blossoms into something deeper as they grow into young men.But when Helen of Sparta is kidnapped, Achilles is dispatched to distant Troy to fulfil his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear. |
| May 29 | Du côté de chez Swann/ Swann’s way | Marcel Proust |
French novelist, essayist and critic, Proust is best known for his extended memoir/autobiographical novel , A la recherche du temps perdu ( In Search of Lost Time) and this first book of that masterpiece recounts the experiences of the Narrator while he is growing up, learning about art, participating in society and falling in love. |
| July 3 | Two Years Eight Months and twenty eight nights | Salman Rushdie | In the near future after a storm strikes New York City the strangeness begins. A down to earth gardener finds that his feet no longer touch the ground. Abandoned at the mayor’s office a baby identifies corruption with his mere presence marking the guilty with blemishes and boils. Unbeknown to all effected they are descendants from the whimsical, capricious creatures – the Jinns. |
What we read in our first year
September – "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert
October – "My Life in France" by Julia Child
November – "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery
January – "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
February – "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris
March – "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
April – "Charlotte Gray" by Sebastian Faulks
May – "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens
June – "Black Water Lilies" by Michel Bussi
Where
Françoise Koubaka has very kindly offered to have all our meetings at her home in the centre of Mayenne.
Françoise Koubaka's home : 32d rue du 130ème R.I., 53100 Mayenne
Tel. 02 43 00 28 41, or 06 81 72 32 48.
Suggestion: park along the river or in the main square of Mayenne.
Please ask if you need directions from there to Françoise's house.
Cost
There will be no cost other than the member purchasing/ downloading the book of the month.
Refreshments tea/coffee/cakes will always be available – all that is asked is for a small donation.
Interested ?
Contact the reading group:
Pam Davies 02 43 00 87 17 davies.pamela@orange.fr
Kathy Barbour 06 31 25 03 99 kathy.barbour@gmail.com
