I have been very remiss, my dear fellow readers, in letting our book group lie for months without a word from me. As I've mentioned before, life has been hectic here over the past little while, and I've had much less time for reading (and indeed keeping up with the two blogs) than I'd like, and what began as a brief pause in group reads seems to have turned into a long break.
I've had a couple of emails from kind souls who say they are missing the group - as indeed am I - so I thought I'd see how people feel about getting going again.
If you haven't heard of the group before, it's a very informal, 'drop in/drop out' type of thing, with a book (which is usually very widely available and easy to get hold of) being read and then discussed via a post and comments here on Cornflower Books on a given day and the ensuing week or two. There is no commitment to join in every time, or to comment at length (or even at all), it's just a matter of as many of us as care to getting together to share and chat about what usually turns out to be a good read. The archive* will give you an idea of the sort of thing we read and how it all works.
Previously we read a book a month, with breaks over the summer or at this time of year, but if we pick it up again I'd propose making it every second month instead (again most likely with breaks) just to take some pressure off. I'd also give us plenty of notice of the next title so that we can fit the book into inevitably full and busy schedules, choosing something now for us to talk about in March, say.
So, what do you think? If you were with us before, would you like to join in again, and if you are new to us, would you like to give it a try? We are an unintimidating bunch, always courteous and respectful of one another's views, keen to revisit books which are perhaps old favourites, or to try something new - always with the aim of taking pleasure in our reading and of finding our shared discussions an enriching aspect of the process.
As I say, you are not commiting yourself to anything by expressing an interest here, but it would be helpful to know that there are sufficient keen participants to make it worth while, so are you game? I hope so!
*You will find there posts which introduce each book before we go off and read it, and ones in which the book is discussed after having been read.