Book Club

Sat 5 Feb 2011, 14:28

Charlie, I have just emailed Heather to say I won't be able to come to the book group meeting on 10th February. I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know details of subsequent meetings and books, if that's possible. Many thanks

Sat 22 Jan 2011, 12:43

Hello everybody
I have just seen the messages about a possible book group and I would be very interested in joining. Would that be possible?

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 20:30

Me too - thanks, Charlie, for getting this together.

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 18:41

I'll be there too. Looking forward to meeting you all.

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 17:19

Sounds good. I'll be there. I was in a book club before so know how that one worked, but that doesn't mean we have to follow that as some of the ideas put forward so far sound better.

See you next week then...

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 15:50

Yes, good idea. Just thought easier to recognise book club wannabes if outside, but sure it'll soon become apparent. Not sure about room upstairs at The Bell. Have to admit to only having been a couple of times so if you want to arrange room upstairs, go for it. Look forward to meeting you too!

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 15:37

Hi Charlie. Agree to your proposal with the exception of one particular - can we meet inside The Bell rather than outside as it might be cold, dark and raining? So speaks a wimpy bookish person! There used to be a room upstairs that one could hire (for free) for meetings - is this still the case or not? Anyway, look forward to meeting you next week.

Wed 12 Jan 2011, 14:40

Hi all,

I have had a few people show interest in Book Club - many thanks to you all. As I cannot even begin to imagine when might be an equally suitable time to first get together, how about we meet next Thursday, January 20th outside The Bell at 6 pm? If there is a massive objection to time and place - I will rearrange, but otherwise hope to see you there!

Thanks all for your interest.

P.S. I do reiterate I have NO knowledge of how book clubs work so by establishing this group please don't feel I'm automatically going to take the club over or chair - happy to let someone more knowledgeable take the reins!

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 17:09

The OCC website has many endearing qualities but short web links is not one of them!

Our code that recognises URLs in forum postings doesn?t like certain characters (for good reason; it has to know when the link ends and the sentence resumes). If you have a URL like that then, as Graham suggests, the best thing to do is to throw it through tinyurl.com or bit.ly or another shortener first.

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 16:13

It's no problem if you use TinyURL (or similar services). It reduces to just this: tinyurl.com/64kjlz8

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 15:17

Ha. That doesn't work. You'll have to copy and paste the link!

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 15:16

(long link which was breaking the page wrap removed -- Richard)

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 13:03

Hi Charlie. Like you, I've not belonged to a book club before but I think what generally happens is that members of the group take it in turns to recommend a book that they think the others would enjoy reading. Everyone reads said book and then gets together to say what they thought of it, discuss the issues raised by it, etc. Of course, we can do things differently if desired. Agree with you that any group we start up should be fun and inclusive. Like you I work from home so could do either daytime or evenings. Hope it comes to fruition...

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 11:21

Hi all,

I have to confess to having no knowledge of how to run a book club! But I certainly love books and love talking about them. More importantly though, it may give us a chance to meet like-minded people.
Regarding the 'you have to be invited to join' - I couldn't think of anything worse! It's meant to be a casual get together to discuss books, not a secret society.
Richard - thank you re: community page. Will certainly let you know if we do get up and running.
Penny - thank you too. That's a great idea.

Let me know your thoughts and if you'd like to meet. As I say, my emphasis is on the casual and friendly nature of a club. If we all love books, that's a jolly good start! I work from home so can do day times and the occasional evening. Perhaps a good start would be anyone who is interested email me their availability and I'll try and find a suitable time for everyone. Plus suggestions for locations i.e. Bell/Bull or other.

Thanks everyone for comments so far.

Mon 10 Jan 2011, 10:43

If anyone is interested in startimg another book club in Charlbury then call into the Library and find out about the Reading Group Membership which allows you to have a list of our book collections.
A set of books can be ordered on line and collected from Charlbury Library and returned there when finished with. This is a free service and very user friendly.
Penny Price - Library Manager. (01608 811104).

Sat 8 Jan 2011, 20:03

Let me know when you require your community page for the new club!

Sat 8 Jan 2011, 12:42

Ah, but I think that's slightly different Jon. I certainly wouldn't wish to snipe at small groups of friends getting together to talk about books. However, the question that was originally posed on this Forum (and it's several years ago now so forgive me if I get the details wrong) was along the lines of "Is there a Charlbury Book Group?" The answer that came back was "Yes, but you have to be invited to join". The implication was that only one such group was in existence. It just seemed odd to me that such a group should have a series of stringent entry criteria in place and that one had to be positively vetted before one could join! The situation sounds more healthy if, as you suggest, a number of small groups are already in existence. Hopefully there is room for one more drawn from among people on this Forum. If we all buy the books for discussion from Evenlode then everyone will be happy!

Sat 8 Jan 2011, 10:54

Now there are three of you, surely you can get started, meet up and advertise for more members.

People ask in the bookshop from time if there is a book group in the town. The ones I know of are basically groups of friends, so it's not surprising that they don't advertise. It seems odd to snipe at them. When people ask me, I always suggest they put a note on the website and/or in the newsagent's window or in my window. As far as I am aware, no one ever has.

Sat 8 Jan 2011, 07:21

I would love to be involved in a book club in Charlbury, and strangely I received the same response when I enquired about joining one when I first moved here...

Fri 7 Jan 2011, 17:23

This question was raised on the Forum a few years ago. The (somewhat snooty I thought) answer given at that time was "There is a book club, but you have to be invited to join it". Some people might say that this tells you everything you need to know about living in Charlbury...

Anyway Charlie, if you do get one off the ground I would certainly be interested in taking part.

Thu 6 Jan 2011, 17:04

Hi, just wondering if Charlbury has a Book Club of any sort? If not, is anyone interested in that kind of thing? I'm not talking anything high brow, but more a chance to have a drink/coffee and discuss book and/or have a general chat!