09 June 2015

The group, the book and the library...

Last week we met to discuss C.S. Lewis 'The lion, the witch and the wardrobe' and tried out a new way of running discussions AND welcomed new members to the group (*waves emphatically).

We have decided that if we have a large group on the night, anything over 12 members, we will split into two groups to discuss the book and then meet up at the end to go over any key points and compare views of the groups.  We all agreed that it worked fairly well and seems to be the best way for the group moving forward.

But to the best bit, the review...
Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/333973

The majority of the group had read the book as a child and were re-reading as an adult.  There was a bit of a debate on whether or not it was still relevant for children today but we did agree its not as dated as some books of the same generation.  We felt the roles of females in the book were quite weak but possibly more empowered than books of a similar generation e.g. the famous five.

There was also a debate of whether or not it could be seen as a christian allegory or is it just a nice story?  On that some enjoyed the simplicity, the lack of description and allowing your mind to make it up but some wanted more detail - it had the bones of an epic tale but never really got there

Most were able to enjoy it for what it was but we did wonder if reading a modern children's book would be better and highlight the same issues?

Next month we are reading and discussing 'Anna of the five towns' by Arnold Bennett.  We are reading this as Deborah Moggach recommended 'The old wives' tale' but it was a bit too long for the reading group so we've gone for something shorter and hopefully just as interesting.  Available from the library, free library ebook and free ebook via project Gutenberg.

As usual and comments below or to our Facebook group.  We are now full, 25 members in total...wow, so please feel free to read along with us and post comments online.

See you next month :)


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