Every month, GWL team members and volunteers share what we’ve read at our Book Picnic. Here’s what we’ve been reading recently:
Climbing Days by Dorothy Pilley
Gaby has been reading this book which was originally published in 1936 and has now been republished by Canongate. She has not yet read all of it, but found Dorothy’s writing style simple and fun. She writes about climbing on Skye, which may be familiar to many people. As Gaby is not a climber, she thought someone who climbs might appreciate it more than she did, but she found it relatable. She found it interesting that although Dorothy climbed a lot with men, she doesn’t mention anyone thinking much about the fact that she, as a woman in the 1930s, was climbing with them.
A Winter Book by Tove Jansson
Gaby has also been reading this book of short stories which she thought were very sweet. She has not been gripped by it in the same way that she often wants to return to a novel, and thought it might be better to read it in one sitting. Some stories are set in Helsinki and some on the island that Tove Jansson describes in The Summer Book but there are some lovely vignettes, like her childhood memories of the time when she had the measles.
The Night Of The Mi’raj by Zoe Ferraris
Pauline has been reading this book set in Saudi Arabia. In a wealthy compound, the 16 year old daughter of an affluent family disappears, days before her arranged marriage is due to take place. Desert guide Nayir is entrusted by the family to bring her home, but a few days later, her body is found. Nayir feels compelled to discover the truth about what happened. There is a very well qualified female forensic doctor who is in a lowly position just because she’s a woman, who helps him. It also describes the restrictions the women face in not being allowed to go out without a male family member escorting them. Pauline thought it was a really good read. There is also a sequel with another crime to solve.
She Speaks!: What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said by Harriet Walter
Pauline has also been reading this book by Harriet Walter, an actor who has played a lot of Shakespearean roles. Based on an imaginary scenario describing what she feels Shakespeare’s female characters might have said, but didn’t, the book included poems as well as some information about each character. It’s the voices of women who didn’t have a voice.
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Wendy has been reading this novel which begins during World War II. Evelyn is a 64 year old art historian who recalls a chance encounter she had with a maid and falling in love. She meets a young soldier and their encounter has an impact on the rest of his life.
Wendy found the characters to be interesting, complex and likable and is enjoying the book. She found the author to be an accessible and warm writer, even though the characters are dealing with difficult situations.
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
Anna has been reading this Japanese novel which she has really enjoyed. She felt it calmed down her whole system when she was reading it. It’s a book about a librarian and her encounters with seven endearingly hopeless characters who go to the library. The librarian tells them what books they need in their lives and also gives them felted objects she has made. Anna especially liked the story about a young mother who has a great job but no support. Anna thought the language was stunning and she found it very memorable. She recommended the book and thought it was lovely.
Everything Goes Out Dancing by Pat Sutherland
Aileen has been reading this book of poetry which is by one of the women in the writing group she has been going to for several years, who sadly died of cancer shortly after the book was published.
Pat lived in Glasgow and her stories reflect her life as a teacher, mother and grandmother, her appreciation for the city and the country she lived in and its people. Aileen read out the poem The Edinburgh Seven, which is about the first women to study medicine in any UK university.
Letters To My Weird Sisters: On Autism, Feminism and Motherhood by Joanne Limburg
Ren has been reading this book in which autistic writer Joanne Limburg writes a letter to women from history who might have been autistic, such as Virginia Woolf. Some of the people she writes to are well known but others are not.
Ren wondered if they would have enjoyed it more if they knew a bit about all the people the letters were written to. They found it a very lovely book, but thought it might be good to read a bit of it at a time rather than reading it straight through.
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Doreen has been listening to this novel as an audiobook. She thought at first it might be a love story but it isn’t just that, it’s about the holocaust. It starts with a nun leaving the convent to start a bakery, even though she can’t bake.
The young Jewish woman she hires as a baker has a facial disfigurement and sleeps during the day and works at night. Her grandmother is a holocaust survivor who was like Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights, she needed to write a fictional story for a German Officer during the day, which she read to him in the evening.
Doreen found the book harrowing but very gripping and hard to stop listening to. It reminded her a bit of Schindler’s List.
Wendy reminded everyone about GWL’s World Book Night Giveaway Party (which in fact takes place during the afternoon) on Wednesday 23rd April from 2.30 pm – 3.30 pm. With free books on offer as well as tea, cake and the chance to listen to our volunteers reading from their favourite books, it’s the perfect way to relax on a spring afternoon. Please come along if you are free!
