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I'm a bit of a geek too ever since I was 15 I have kept a small flower covered book with a list of all the books that I've read since then (which is now going on for about 17 years!). Eventually I twigged that it might be interesting to look back on how many books that I had read each year and so from 1998 I've got a log of how many books I've read per year which is as follows:
1998 - 26
1999 - 28
2000 - 46
2001 - 34
2002 - 9
2003 - 13
2004 - 6
2005 - 11
2006 - 9
2007 - 18
2008 - 5
2009 - 2 (!!!)
2010 - 7
2011 - 6
As you can see I read the most books when I was at Uni from 1998 - 2001 which is to be expected as I had a lot more time on my hands, as well as the fact that I had to read about 3 books per week per semester which was 12 weeks in total (so actually I should probably have read a few more than I did!).As you can see apart from a blip in 2007 (not sure what was going on then!) my reading has really declined - probably as a result of the work that I do taking up a lot of my brainpower and making me fairly tired so I fall asleep very quickly if I try and read at bedtime. The stupid thing is that I really do love reading, I just struggle when I'm tired and don't have an end date to get things done to finish a book with momentum unless it's an incredible book and I'm hooked.
When I joined Buns & Roses in 2010 I hadn't realised that they have their own Book Club and I was really pleased that they did - it would give me the impetuous to make sure that I finished a book by a deadline as well as giving me suggestions of books to read that I might not normally encounter (at the first meeting that I went to we discussed Jam and Jeopardy by Doris Davidson which was certainly a different read) and have a chance to chat through them with friendly ladies eating cake. I've already read nearly twice as many books as I did last year so I think it's got a definite positive impact on my reading.
We meet at the Tiled Hall Cafe which is next to the Art Gallery and the Leeds Central Library. It's a really pretty venue and they serve gorgeous cakes - Earl Grey Tea Loaf, Scones with clotted cream and jam, Caramac cake and Neapolitan Cake. They also serve a great selection of drinks including wine and beer and my favourite - Suki tea - I love the Russian Caravan which is like a milder slightly less smoky lapsang souchong.
Our last book club was really fun - we met on Sunday and we had all finished reading the book that we were discussing - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky which we all enjoyed.
The Buns & Roses Book club is really friendly, we don't worry if someone hasn't finished the book, or indeed if they hate it that's fine too! Everyone is fine to voice their opinion and most importantly it's fun - we talk about what we think of the cover of the book and who might play certain characters in a film version as well as discussing more technical things like characterisation and plot.
We all agreed that we liked how the book reminded us very much of being teenagers and in particular Susan who is from America said that it really reminded her and felt very well written and representative of her time in high school much better in comparison to some other books that she has read in the past.
Sam who was new to book club mentioned that she had read the book slightly differently as she'd seen the film first, but really enjoyed the book and actually hadn't expected the form of the book to be the series of letters that are presented.
In terms of characters we felt that they were all very "real" characters and had a lot of sympathy with the main character - Charlie and genuinely felt as though we were taken on a bit of a journey with him and saw how he developed.
Lianne had been worried about how the ending of the book would transpire and how some of the fairly serious issues would be handled, but actually felt that it was effectively written.
We all enjoyed the book and I found that I really enjoyed the references to different music of the time and how his teacher recommended different books for Charlie to read to help him develop both intellectually and emotionally. I loved how one of these books was A Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger as the feel of this book was very similar to that, but the characters were much more likeable.
We tried to think of some Christmas themed books for our December Bookclub meeting, but went for Life of Pi by Yann Martel instead and will be meeting at 2pm on the 16th December at the same place - you are welcome to come and join us.
