Introduction
Our group was formed in Autumn 2015 and normally has about eight members. Do get in touch if you would like to join us (either through 'Beacon' or by email contact clicking on the link above).

Our Next Meetings
The dates of our next meetings are on 'Beacon' (the Members System).

Previous Reviews
Some samples of the books we've read previously follow:

The Power, by Naomi Alderman. This chosen book was 2017's winner of the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction: review 1   review 2
 
The Cat who Walks Through Walls by Robert Heinlein

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1974)

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Beauty, by Sheri S. Tepper, 1991. "The princess Beauty sidesteps the sleeping curse placed upon her by her wicked aunt" according to the blurb on the back.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, also divided the group, but led to a wider discussion about two of the main themes — the function of religion, and the role of women in society.

Pavane by Keith Roberts (1968): we had to beg to differ on our review of this book. It's a book of linked short stories set in an alternative England, where Queen Elizabeth I's assassination in 1588 had ensured that the country remained Catholic — and where technological information was kept secret by a very small minority.

We discussed The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, a collaboration between a fantasy writer and a writer of hard science fiction. In general we thought that the collaboration of those two particular authors didn't work so well. Some even give up trying to finish the book!










Although our meeting was held on the day after the EU Referendum, we managed (almost) to steer clear of politics. We found that we all had similar views about our two John Wyndham books, The Midwich Cuckoos, and The Day of the Triffids.









The meeting discussed 2 books published even earlier than the ones we discussed in March; we went from H.G. Wells back to Jules Verne. The books were Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. We seem to like books set on islands!

The meeting frequently went off at tangents (what a surprise), often on the subject of the Mayoral/GLA elections. There will be another opportunity for similar tangents at our next meeting, as it will be on the day after the Referendum. We agreed that future selected books should not be anything like as long as Verne's The Mysterious Island !


The meeting discussed 2 books by H.G. Wells — The Island of Doctor Moreau and The War of the Worlds. 













The Neuromancer by William Gibson.














The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. 














The Martian by Andy Weir was one of our first books to be reviewed by the group back in 2015. The film of the same name was based on this book.