Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Book Club meeting in July, especially some more new members. We had lively discussions on three very different books – Booker prize winner ‘Prophet Song’, publishing sensation ‘Yellowface’ and Dreamland by local writer Rosa Rankin-Gee.  We also enjoyed a entertaining talk and Q&A with Jenny Parrott on a varied and high profile career in all aspects of Publishing that was full of inside stories on some best-selling authors, suggestions for future Bookclub reads and useful tips and insights into getting in print for budding writers. 

We continue to build an exciting community where anyone who enjoys meeting other readers and chatting about books over a drink, is very welcome. 

Our next meeting is Wednesday 7 August 2024 – 6 – 8pm and this month’s book selections are below

If you would like to join us at the Lighthouse Bookclub just read one of these titles ( or more if you have time) and ‘drop in for a drink to tell us all what you think’. A warm welcome awaits and we look forward to seeing you.

‘The Fraud’ by Zadie Smith – From Victorian London to slavery in Jamaica (446 pages)

Based on a truly bizarre court case that gripped the British public in the 1870s. Sir Roger Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy and a fortune, was thought to have been lost at sea, but a cockney-born butcher in Australia declared himself to be Sir Roger and set out to London to prove his identity. The hearings extended over several years and was the source of much gossip, intrigue and humour. The Fraud is a curious combination of gloriously light, deft writing in a compelling construction.

‘Tom Lake’ by Ann Patchett – Homespun happiness (318 pages)

Patchett’s message is that life is precarious, but precious too. Set on a Michigan cherry orchard, it is narrated by the gentle Lara, 57, mother to three girls. The girls’ lives have been abruptly curtailed by the restrictions resulting from Covid and, as they pull together to harvest the fruit, they ask their mother for stories about a romance she once had with a famous Hollywood actor. Those who want fiction to soothe, bolster and cheer will love it.

‘I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home’ by Lorrie Moore – Bring out the dead (210 pages)

Finn, a high school teacher in a midwestern town, is visiting his brother, Max, in a hospice in New York. Finn tries his utmost to make his brother laugh, or at least to keep him awake. He starts by telling Max the story of how he was temporarily suspended from his job after the headteacher’s wife came on to him. Before long, he is sharing conspiracy theories about the moon landing and a lot more. A triumph of tone and, ultimately, of imagination. Death doesn’t necessarily mark the end of a story.

‘The Glutton by AK Blakemore’ – The man who ate everything (308 pages)

This novel is inspired by the real life story of Tarare, a showman in 18th-century France who made his living by demonstrating a prodigious ability to devour things: heaps of fruit, corks, stones, live animals, offal. Born to a peasant family, by his teens he was able to eat his own weight in meat in a day and was driven from home for fear that he would ruin his parents. He became a street performer in Paris during the revolution and, in the wars that followed, he was a soldier and briefly a spy. This is clearly a tale that begs to be fictionalised, and it’s hard to think of a better writer to do it.