NOTES 

FROM

A 

SMALL

BOOK GROUP

About this blog

This blog grew out of a general feeling in our book group that it might be good to have a bit of help now and again when we're choosing our next book.

Sometimes we look at reviews before we choose. But we may not always want to read a full review as this can spoil the excitement of discovery.  Or maybe we just don’t have the time.  What we’d like is a taster.  So Notes from a Small Book Group aims to be just that. If you're in a book group and wondering what to read next I hope you'll find it useful. 

Here's how it works:

What is it?  

- gives a short introductory summary of the book. I'll avoid plot spoilers where possible but a few are inevitable. 

Why read it?  

- outlines what we felt were its strengths.  

Why give it a miss?  

- does the same for what we felt were its weaknesses. 

What we asked 

- lists some questions and issues that we discussed.

Score 

- this is the score out of 5 that we gave the book at the end of our discussion. 5 is the top score, 1 (or occasionally even 0) is the lowest. 

Keep?

-  we force ourselves to decide whether the book would get a coveted place on our overcrowded bookshelves, or whether it goes in the pile for the charity shop  – often a hard decision but interesting to see how it focuses the mind!

A quick point about the discussion questions in the What we asked section of each Note: as a writer I tend to focus on a book as a created work and by that I mean it’s an expression of the writer’s creative intention. We often look at the choices the writer has made about language, structure, theme, tone etc and what their effect is,  as well as on plot, characters and so on.  Of course every book group and reader will have its/their own focus and these Notes are not meant to tell anyone what to talk about or indeed what to think! They just reflect our own discussions.  Sometimes we’ve had useful and surprising insights into the book (or they seem so after a bottle of wine and supper!). So I hope the questions will be interesting to others too. If you'd like to let us know what your book group thought about the book then do post a comment. 

Who are we?

There are five of us - yes it really is a small book group!  We meet approximately once a month and take it in turns to host and provide supper.  At the end of the discussion, the host puts forward three or four books for us to choose from for the next meeting and we make up our minds. 
We've known each other for years and are all good friends - even when we disagree about a book.  Some of us work, some of us don't. What we all share is a love of reading. If you're reading this then chances are you do too!


@NotesfromASmallBookGroup