Venue: Lower Shaw Farm, Old Shaw Lane, Shaw, West Swindon, SN5 5PJ.
Time: 7.30pm
Cost: £2 per session
January 2014 to July 2014
Dear Reader
The 132nd monthly meeting of
the Swindon Artswords Reading Group took place on the evening of 10th December.
- We talked about Candide by Voltaire. Things
like this were said. ‘Relentlessly
grim.’ - ‘How lucky we are to live now, not then!’ – ‘Romp and farce, sans
depth.’ – ‘The French are no good at satire. Sh*t happens. So what?’ – ‘Raises
key questions, about how we live, even now.’ – We then made time, between
mince pies and munchies, to consider titles for the first half of 2014. Here, determined by suggestion, suitability,
and availability in paperback, are the six choices for the first half of the
year.
7.30pm Tuesday 21st
January – All Quiet on
the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Schoolboys, young men,
patriotism, a ‘glorious’ war, life and death in the trenches, and the First
World War, in words, one hundred years on.
7.30pm
Tuesday 25th February – Regeneration
by Pat Barker. Set early in the
twentieth century in a Scottish hospital, that treats shell-shocked soldiers, and
aims to make them healthy enough to fight. An exploration of wars and warfare.
7.30pm
Tuesday 25th March – Stoner by John Williams. What is the significance of an individual life unrecorded by history? Who
are we if our challenges, conflicts, and joys remain untold? Do our stories
matter, and to whom?
7.30pm
Tuesday 22nd April – Truth by
Michael Palin. How close can fiction get to “the truth”? Who or
what can we trust? A novel, and a
thriller, by a Python.
7.30pm
Tuesday 17th June – The Cone
Gatherers by Robin Jenkins. Two
brothers gather cones from a forest, before the trees are cut down. Together,
their life is harmonious, but not with the gamekeeper . . .
7.30pm Tuesday 15th July –
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes. Reckoned to be ‘the great
American novel for our time’ it tells the story of two other brothers for whom
things do not always go well.
All
meetings are held at Lower Shaw Farm, Old Shaw Lane, Shaw, West Swindon, SN5 5PJ. Start
time is 7.30pm. - The cost is £2 per
session. Note. Swindon’s brilliant independent bookshop, Pen & Paper
in Old Town, tel. 01793 421641, can readily supply all these titles. For most
of them, advance notice is required. Of course, other sources, bookshops, and
book suppliers are available.
If there is anything else you
need to know, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
New Year’s greetings and
happy reading!
Matt Holland
ARTSWORDS & LITERATURE
DEVELOPMENT 01793 771080
matt@lowershawfarm.co.uk
LOVE LITERATURE! LOVE READING! LOVE LIFE!
CULTURE SWINDON - Making culture visible, valued, enjoyed and easily accessed by the people of Swindon. http://www.swindon.gov.uk/artsandculture.htm
