Dear All,
First of all, many apologies for the late posting on Meetup. I have been a bit snowed under dealing with 3 poorly relatives and work.
We had a very lively an well-attended February meeting. It was great to see so many regular and new faces!
We are usually a bit divided in our attitude to books, but reactions to Sanatorium were extremely mixed, with scores ranging from 1/5 to 5/5! In the end, the average was 2.8, which rounds up to 3.
March's book is Rory Stewart's 'The Places In Between'.
This is a 'moving account of a death-defying walk across war-torn Afghanistan in January 2002 from Rory Stewart, bestselling author of Politics on the Edge and host of the hit podcast The Rest Is Politics.
Caught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, at the time Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mogul Emperor, Babur the Great, Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions.
Only with the help of an unexpected companion and the generosity of the people he met on the way did he survive to report back with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.'
It has attracted positive reviews:
'With a deft, at time poetic vividness, he describes an awesome landscape . . . His encounters with Afghans are tragic, touching and terrifying – Daily Telegraph
And it won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Award and the Spirit of Scotland Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and the Scottish Book of the Year Prize.
For those of you who like to read ahead, here are forthcoming books:
April: Audrey Niffenegger, 'The Time Traveller's Wife'
May: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'No One Writes to the General'
June: Bridget Collins, 'The Betrayals'.
July: Kingsley Amis, 'Lucky Jim'
The books are all chosen by members-I merely place them in order, so that we get a good variety of reads. My list is getting a little short, so please do suggest books!
I hope that you have a great February! Happy reading!
Best wishes
Tracey
