I don’t seem to have been anywhere very long this week. This is not very conducive to reading- rather shamefully, I’ve still not started my recap of Wide Sargasso Sea – but my head has been full of book group business. On Wednesday I went along to a course in Newcastle organised by the Reader Organisation, an organisation based in Liverpool that I hadn’t heard of before last week (http://thereader.org.uk/). That seems quite unbelievable now- it’s one of those strange serendipitous moments when you find out that people on opposite sides of the country are pursing remarkably similar goals. They coordinate all sorts of reading related activities but much of core of their work is a network of reading groups, many in unexpected places (drug rehab, age concern, sure start etc.) and they were catapulted into the spotlight when Blake Morrison wrote a very interesting article about them in the Guardian last year (see link below). Their technique is a bit different to ours- they meet weekly and actually do the reading aloud in the group, a short story, a few poems or they work their way through a novel a chapter at a time. Obviously not all of their method is useful to us (don’t fear!) but I was struck by the common aims; the wonders of reading, concentration on the book and the encouragement of a diversity of views- the idea that a book isn’t a problem to “solve” with a right or wrong answer but something to explore and enjoy. So I might sneak a few new ideas next session and see how they go down. Prizes for those who spot them.
As I say, I have been sadly negligent and I’m going to get down to some serious Jean Rhys this weekend. I have been flicking through some of the reviews of the new Rhys biography that I gave out last meeting though- she had quite a rock n roll/ tragic life! It might be interesting to think about what effect this knowledge has on our reaction to the book- does it aid or hinder our understanding? Do you like to know background r would you prefer just to read? It’s a vexed question and I’d love to know what you think.
Anyway, I’m off to get reading. I just wonder whether this week’s going to let me…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jan/05/fiction.scienceandnature
0 Responses to “One of those lightbulb moments..”