Next Meeting: Tuesday 19th February 2013, from 5.30pm at Costa Coffee, Longfield Centre
Our Books For January
The Woman Who Stayed in Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend
The day her children leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there.
She's had enough - of her kids' carelessness, her husband's
thoughtlessness and of the world's general indifference. Brian can't
believe his wife is doing this. Who is going to make dinner? Taking it
badly, he rings Eva's mother - but she's busy having her hair done. So
he rings his mother - she isn't surprised. Eva, she says, is probably
drunk. Let her sleep it off. But Eva won't budge. She makes new friends -
Mark the window cleaner and Alexander, a very sexy handyman. She
discovers Brian's been having an affair. And Eva realises to her horror
that everyone has been taking her for granted - including herself.
Though Eva's refusal to behave like a dutiful wife and mother soon
upsets everyone from medical authorities to her neighbours she insists
on staying in bed. And from this odd but comforting place she begins to
see both the world and herself very, very differently...
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…
Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her
place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France,
she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of
marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous
Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter
finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is
forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers…Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.
Review of Toast by Nigel Slater
Overall we enjoyed this book, although it was felt that there was an overall sadness throughout, that was not just associated with the death of his mother when the author was very young. Although Nigel Slater has siblings, they are not often mentioned in the book, as we realised with at least a 15 year age gap, his brothers would have not shared the same experiences or memories. With this in mind its seemed like a lonely childhood with food becoming a comfort and focus in life.It was thought that although his TV programmes are enjoyable there is an air of melancholy about him, which is also felt about the book. We do like that fact that he appears not as a larger than life 'celebrity chef' but rather describes himself as a cook, with a love of food that clearly stems from his childhood experiences. On TV there are scenes of him pottering around in the garden, we wondered if this has resulted from the influence of his father and his own love of the greenhouse and garden, which is often referred to in the story.
As an autobiography, we liked the idea of using specific food stuffs to prompt the story telling, a format not seen by readers before and it did provide a nice thread to the story. Although there was an element of nostalgia, which we all associated with (and enjoyed), it did drive the story which felt genuine. There was a consensus that perhaps he may have been prompted by editors or publishers to spice things up, leading to some references to sexual experiences but only inferences to sexuality, which we agreed was wholly reasonable.
