We are up to full complement again. Our latest recruit, Eileen, joined us in August for our last meeting in my garden. In September it became a bit chilly and we moved indoors with doors and windows open where we have been since.

We have continued to read a variety of books. In August we read ‘Milkman’ by Anna Burns, a book set in Northern Ireland while The Troubles raged in the 70s. It was the winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2018 and shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. However, the majority of us failed to gain enjoyment from it and found it a rather depressing read.

September gave us ‘The Romanov Ransome' by Clive Cussler. This was one of Cussler’s ‘Fargo’ adventures and enjoyed by the majority of us, though some more so than others. When a kidnapping captures the attention of treasure-hunting team, Sam and Remi Fargo, they find themselves on the trail of the legendary Romanov Ransom - a Russian fortune stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Hunting a neo-Nazi faction across Europe, North Africa and South America is their greatest quest yet. They must prevent the rise of a Fourth Reich, or witness the resurgence of the greatest evil of the modern world.

In October it was the turn of ‘A History of Wolves’ by Emily Fridlund. Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in an ex-commune beside a lake in the beautiful, austere backwoods of Northern Minnesota. The other girls at school call Linda 'Freak' or 'Commie'. Her parents mostly leave her to her own devices whilst the other inhabitants have grown up and moved on. So when the perfect family - mother, father and their little boy, Paul - move into the cabin across the lake, Linda insinuates her way into the family's orbit. She begins to babysit Paul and feels that she finally has a place to belong. But something isn't right. Drawn into secrets she doesn't understand, Linda must make a choice. But how can a girl with no real knowledge of the world understand what the consequences will be? This was another short-listed for 2017’s Man Booker Prize for Fiction and although we all agreed the descriptive phraseology was excellent, most of us felt it wasn’t a title we would wish to read again nor any other books by this author.

Now in November we are reading ‘In the Full Light of the Sun’ by Clare Clark. This follows the fortunes of three Berliners caught up in a devastating scandal of 1930s Germany. It tells the story of Emmeline, a wayward young art student; Julius, an anxious middle-aged art expert; and a mysterious art dealer named Rachmann, who are at the heart of Weimar Berlin at its hedonistic, politically turbulent apogee and are whipped up into excitement over the surprising discovery of 32 previously unknown paintings by Vincent van Gogh. Based on a true story, unfolding through the subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazis, this gripping tale is about beauty and justice and the truth that may be found when our most treasured beliefs are revealed as illusions. Brilliant on authenticity, vanity and self-delusion, it is a novel for our times. It remains to be seen at our group meeting in December whether we all agree.

At the u3a Open Day in September, Thelma Cook and I, who formed the very first Reading Group, or rather Literature Group as it then was back in 2006, ‘manned’ the ‘Reading Groups’ table. There was much interest and by the end of the day an A4 sheet of paper was filled with names of people wishing to join such a Group. Since this day one new group has been started - we all wish it well.

Pauline Brice

When I wrote the report on this reading group for the last Newsletter, the ‘Rule of 6’ had just come in, and we had arranged that as we only had 8 in the group at that time, 3 members would take the book and not come to the meeting and the other 4 plus myself would be able to space out really well in my lounge. We had 1 meeting like this in October and then the 2nd lockdown came in November and we moved into Tier 4 and then Tier 5 and further restrictions, so we have not been able to meet at all since then.

But I have been able to collect the books each month from the library and the members of the group come to my house and do the swap either safely from a distance or from my doorstep. It is not ideal but better than nothing. The person whose book choice it is for the month and in “normal” times would ‘lead’ the meeting is responsible for sending me the main review and notes on the author, but several others in the group e-mail me their thoughts also and I then put them together and e-mail them to all the group.

We continue to read a variety of books, some we enjoy others we do not, but that is the beauty of Reading Groups, we get to read books that we might not necessarily pick off the shelves ourselves and very often we enjoy the surprise - not always though!!

In the Autumn Newsletter I mentioned that I had a vacancy, I did think that I would have to wait until the u3a was up and running again in the Community Centre before I could advertise it, but to my delight I received an e-mail from Susan enquiring if she could fill it. I met her myself on a sunny afternoon in October, she took the book we had at the time and was looking forward to meeting 4 more members in November. But this was not to be, and so she has not yet met any more of the group, but is taking the book each month and it has been a joy to have her particularly as in January we read ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ - not a good read for the majority of us but Susan ‘loved it’. I do have another vacancy now, if anybody reading this article thinks they would like to join us, please do contact me. We hope it won’t be too much longer before we can get back to meeting in person, even if to begin with it is in the garden.

The picture shows some recent titles we have read along with the cups for the tea and chocolate biscuits. We just need the people again!!

Pauline Brice

This is an article published in the Spring 2021 edition of the Hayling Island u3a newsletter

Our first book for 2020 was ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus - very apt we told ourselves 2 months later!! It was acclaimed and an immediate triumph when it was first published in 1947 as it is in part an allegory of France’s suffering under the Nazi occupation and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, resist the terror.

We did find it a rather depressing read.

In February we moved on to ‘The Silk Roads’ by Peter Frankopan - The sun is setting on the Western world. Slowly but surely, the direction in which the world spins has reversed: where for the last five centuries the globe turned westward on its axis, it now turns to the east.... For centuries fame and fortune were to be found in the West - in the New World of the Americas. Today it is the East that calls out to those in search of adventure and riches. The region stretching from Eastern Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia, deep into China and India, is taking centre stage in international politics, commerce, and culture - and is shaping the modern world. This region, the true centre of the Earth, is obscure to many in the English-speaking world. Yet this is where civilisation itself began, where the world's great religions were born and took root. The Silk Roads were no exotic series of connections but networks that linked continents and oceans together. Along them flowed ideas, goods, disease, and death. This was where empires were won - and where they were lost. As a new era emerges, the patterns of exchange are mirroring those that have criss-crossed Asia for millennia. The Silk Roads are rising again. A major reassessment of world history, The Silk Roads is an important account of the forces that have shaped the global economy and the political renaissance in the re-emerging East.

In March we had ‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’ by Madeleine Thein. However although this novel was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s prize for fiction in 2017, also for the Man Booker prize in 2016 and the winner of the Scotiabank Giller prize in 2016, none of the group were fans of it and several of us did not finish reading it. Lockdown came 2 weeks into March and the library closed. The instructions were that books could be put through the letterbox of the library or retained until they reopened.

In July I received an e-mail from Hampshire Libraries informing me that from 1st August book sets could be re-ordered if we so wished. After discussing via e-mail with group members whether they wished to continue it was decided that we would and we began in August with Edna O’Brien’s ‘Little Red Chairs’. We all felt that although the author is an acclaimed writer over several years, this novel could surely not be one of her best. She wrote it in 2015 at the age of 85 and after a gap of 10 years since her previous book. We were unanimous in not enjoying the book at all, feeling it was very disjointed, dark and depressive.

We do read a variety of books, chosen each year by the group from the lists of New Additions that are on the Hampshire Libraries website. I then e-mail the choices to Matthew at Hayling Library and he orders them for the year for us and kindly tries to ensure that as many of the group as possible get one of their choices. There are 10 books in a set and there has for several years been 10 in this group. However just before lockdown one lady decided she wouldn’t come any more; although she had always enjoyed it she felt her age had caught up with her. Another member is unwell at the present time, but we hope she will return to us. When we are back to some sort of normality again I will advertise the vacancy.

We all enjoy the afternoons; after discussing the book we have all read (or not), we talk about other books we have read during the month. We then enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of home-made cake while catching up on what else we have done during the month. Things are a little different now and for the meetings since re-starting we have been able to space out in my garden.

However now we are limited to 6, it is a little more difficult. Two ladies in the group have decided they will take the book each month but not come to the meetings, they will send in their reviews. If any of the other members cannot come for any reason then one or the other of them can stand in. Hopefully this state of affairs won’t last for very long.

Pauline Brice

This is an article published in the Autumn 2020 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter .

This is an article published in the Winter 2017 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter...

It is hard to believe that it is nearly 7 years since I was asked to take over Reading Group 3. At the time I was unsure how it would work out, having never done anything like it before. However I approached the members at that time and proposed that I was quite happy to host the meeting, collect the sets of books and return them to the library and make the tea, and sometimes even make a cake and the group would have to run itself. We began this 'system' in January 2011 and it seems to be working out ok, we are still going and have a full complement of 10 once again. We have had a few changes of membership along the way, a few decided it wasn't for them and unfortunately a couple have passed on, but all in all, it has been a successful venture. The members of the group select books from those available. The person who chooses the book leads the discussion meeting the following month. Some books we all like, there have been a few that none of us have liked but mostly there is a mixed reaction and we are able to enjoy a good discussion. As we all say, Reading Groups are great for discovering books that we would probably never have chosen in the first place. Over the tea and cake we discuss holidays and whatever anyone wishes to share since the previous month.

Long may we continue!!

Pauline Brice