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Heaven: November Book Group Choice - The Lost Words

SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
edited April 2021 in Limbo
November's choice is The Lost Words by Rober MacFarlane and Jackie Morris. Unlike a lot of book group choices this is one where you have to see the physical book. I hope you can lay your hands on a copy if you want to join in. I managed to get one from a charity book shop.
Some questions will be posted on or around the 20th

Comments

  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Oh dear, no one interested? I'll write some thoughts on or around the 20th anyway.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    As promised a few thoughts. Firstly this is a very beautiful to look at book, but something about it made me feel less engaged than I should have been, maybe the size of the hardback I obtained which is pretty big and not the sort of thing you could curl up with easily. I also found the premise that it was about lost words a little misleading. It is a collection of poems about things in nature, but they are all fairly common things, acorns, conkers, herons etc. Maybe children (the target audience) don't use these words anymore, but I thought the words would be more unusual ones than that.
    I took the book to my mother's care home and read a few of the poems. We then used the idea of acrostics to write our own rather odd poem. I left the book there for the residents to enjoy, and I will be interested if I get any feedback from them.
  • I am interested and just not been noticing the thread. I am one of those mad people who travelled miles to see the exhibition. The good thing about seeing both the book and the exhibition is that it debunks the idea of there being a standard form for this. I was attracted to the exhibition by the picture of the hare and the goldfinches.
  • MarkDMarkD Shipmate
    edited November 2019
    I enjoy reading novels now though I've enjoyed some poetry too and fairly regularly get out to see art exhibits. If this is a monthly group I'd be interested in knowing the next book as soon as possible. I try to get all my books from the library now as we have too many books sitting about already and we live in a big, musty old warehouse. So waiting for a hold to go through can take a while for very new and popular books. Do I need to do anything to join in?
  • TrudyTrudy Heaven Host
    MarkD, you don't need to do a thing except check out the Book Group thread which is always here in Heaven (that's the 2019 thread, but we've started one for 2020 as well), see what books are coming up, read and join in on the discussion for the ones you're interested in. We have the general thread to discuss what books we're going to do for the year, and then a specific thread for the book of each month. It's the easiest book club you'll ever join; you don't even need to bring snacks.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Hi Mark and welcome. Trudy has posted the link to the 2019 thread, this is the 2020 thread. As you can see the programme is already filling up nicely, and you'd be very welcome to suggest titles for us to read. Leading the group is straightforward, you start a thread at the start of the month and then post some questions around the 20th. Some people provide interesting background to the book in the run up to the start of the discussion, but that isn't essential. You don't have to lead on a book you recommended either, but it's good to have different people involved, rather than the same people all the time.
    The next read is Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River, if you want to make a start on reading it.
  • MarkDMarkD Shipmate
    Thank you Sarasa. It seems my library only has it for e reader or to listen to. I'll look to do a group read another time.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    That's a shame. You might be able to pick up a second hand copy in a charity bookshop with a bit of luck.
  • MarkDMarkD Shipmate
    Hah, good news. I looked again and this time it showed that not only do they have it but I can pick one up immediately. I'm a bit of bumbler technologically so maybe I inadvertently searched it in a way that returned only alternatives to books? No matter.

    However I think I'd like to finish the book I just started last night, Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson. I really like writing and humor in it. Is Once Upon A River going to be the book for December or January?
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Once upon a River is December’s book, but no worries if you don’t finish it in December, we sometimes carry on discussing books for several months.
    If you come across anything you think would be worth us discussing just post in the Book Group 2020 thread.
  • MarkDMarkD Shipmate
    Great. Looking forward to it.
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