📚 🚶Announcing our Autumn 2023 line up
These are the books you need
Dear walking book clubbers,
Here we go! These are the books you need to see you through the Autumn! I’m beyond excited to share this quartet of books with you in the months to come.
Our Autumn titles at a glance
September 17 (18 on Zoom) The World my Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
October 15 (16 on Zoom) To Sir With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
November 19 (20 on Zoom) Just Kids by Patti Smith
December 17 (18 on Zoom) The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
If you’d like to book on to all four of our Autumn walking book clubs, you can do so here:
Scroll down to discover more about all these books, or take a stroll with me:
July walk
Before we get TOO excited about the Autumn, a reminder that you can book on to our Noel Streatfeild Saplings walk this Sunday and Zoom on Monday, and discover more about the book here:
📚 🚶Introducing Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Dear walking book clubbers, Welcome to July - and our last book before we break for the Summer. Fear not, I’m hard at work on our Autumn programme, which is shaping up rather well. I’m sure that many of you know and love Noel Streatfeild from her famous children’s book,
📚 🚶Who we are and what we do
Briefly, I hope it’s helpful to share a few lines about our book club:
I began Emily’s Walking Book Club in 2012, and we’ve been meeting ever since to walk and talk books on Hampstead Heath. We now have over 2,000 members, and Saplings is our 128th book! As well as our popular monthly walks on Hampstead Heath, we also have other forums for our community to share their thoughts: relaxed Monday-evening Zooms, On Our Reading Radar discussion threads with expert guests, webcasts and of course this weekly newsletter.
I love to think of us dotted all over the world, connected by reading these books!
The secret ingredient that makes our book club so special is … ALL OF YOU! Thank you for being such an enthusiastic community of book lovers! I appreciate your help and support so much - from taking photos on our walks, to suggesting books to me, to bringing along a friend, or offering an arm to a fellow-walker over a muddy patch. Thank you. Remember, please feel free to drop me a line anytime with feedback - good or bad - so that I can keep adapting the book club to our needs.
N.B. The walks themselves work on a donation basis, where you pay what you can between £5 and £15 each time. I’ve considered upping this to a £10 flat rate, but would like to keep the walks as financially accessible as possible. I can only keep it on this donation basis, if the people who can afford to pay a bit more cover those who can’t, so please have a think about where you are on the £5-£15 scale when you buy your ticket to the walks, thanks.
Now, on to the books!
September
The World my Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
It is 1946 when seventeen-year-old Barbary is transplanted from her mother’s home in Provence to live in London with her father and his new wife. Struggling to adapt from running wild with the French Resistance to proper behaviour in drab postwar London, Barbary discovers the flowering bombed wastelands around St Paul’s Cathedral; in this urban wilderness, she confronts the wilderness within herself.
Why did I pick it? This was the book I unwrapped from last year’s wonderful Christmas book swap! Thank you so much to whoever gave this to the group; I’m thrilled it ended up with me as I’d been meaning to read Rose Macaulay for ages and this was the ideal prompt. The novel picks up rather neatly from where our July book Saplings leaves off in terms of time-scale and the impact of war. As I read it, I especially loved the vivid descriptions of nature reclaiming a city ruined by war, and I can never resist a good coming-of-age novel; it really is a gem. You can get a feel for the book in Lucy Scholes’ erudite and insightful Paris Review column HERE.
Tickets are now on sale for our September events:
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 17th September, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 18th September, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 29th September, 1.30-2pm: Urban Wilderness Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from this month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of URBAN WILDERNESS - Where are your wild spaces in the big cities? What books / films / music / art aid your explorations?
Buy The World My Wilderness from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
October
To Sir With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
Ex-RAF pilot Rick Braithwaite starts working in a tough East-End school out of desperation, after failing to get a job in British engineering due to the colour of his skin. With no experience and little guidance, he attempts to govern his class of unruly teenagers, confound prejudice and teach. Stark in its depiction of racism, this slim, powerful, autobiographical novel is ultimately positive in its portrait of overcoming discrimination and the power of education.
Why did I pick it? Black History Month is a welcome opportunity to discover and share a book by a writer of colour, whose voice might otherwise all-too-easily be overlooked. I loved our Lonely Londoners discussion a few years’ ago, and was hunting around for more Windrush voices, when I came across this. What a book! I raced through it in one sitting, and was intrigued to find in it, alongside its portrait of racism and education, a nice counterpart to the Rose Macaulay - set at the same time, same place, but offering such a different perspective. There’s a great introduction by Caryl Phillips that you can read on the British Library website, HERE.
Tickets go on sale on 1st September
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 15th October, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 16th October, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 27th October, 1.30-2pm: Race relations Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from this month, and any particular recommendations on the theme of RACE RELATIONS - What books / films / music / art have provided you with insight into the complex relationships within a diverse group of people?
Buy To Sir With Love from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
November
Just Kids by Patti Smith
In her evocative and inspiring memoir, artist Patti Smith tells us how it was to be young, talented, passionate and broke in New York in the 1960s-70s, and chronicles her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, before his tragic death from AIDS. Fascinating for anyone remotely intrigued by the iconic scene of Coney Island, Warhol’s Factory, the Chelsea Hotel and its many notorious characters; required reading for anyone struggling to pursue their dreams against the odds.
Why did I pick it? I remember reading this when it first came out a decade or so ago and being completely floored by it. I gave many copies to friends, including - I fear - my own! And it was only when I recently came across it again on display at the lovely Gay’s the Word bookshop, that I decided it was time to rebuy and revisit it. Once again, I was moved to tears by Mapplethorpe’s death, and loved immersing myself in the wild time of New York in the 60s/70s, but above all I’m inspired by Patti Smith’s absolute devotion to her art. You can listen to her discuss the book on NPR radio, by clicking on the little player HERE.
Tickets go on sale on 1st October
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 19th November, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 20th November, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 1st December, 1.30-2pm: New York Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from this month, and any particular recommendations to do with NEW YORK - Where do you love in the Big Apple? And what books / films / music / art have proved to be reliable travelling companions for you?
Buy Just Kids from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
December
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
When Will Stanton turns eleven on Midwinter’s Eve, he discovers that he has the power of the Old Ones, and must embark on a quest to vanquish the terrifying evil of The Dark… First published in 1973, this deeply loved, highly acclaimed children’s classic is both a thrilling imaginative adventure and a deep engagement with British folklore and landscape. With adult fans including Robert Macfarlane and Simon McBurney - and me! - it’s one to treasure, especially at this time of year.
Why did I pick it? I have read this book countless times, both as a child and as an adult. I hesitated about choosing a children’s book for the group, in case people were dismissive of it, but I think there is so much in this that goes beyond the bounds of kids’ books - particularly about the myths and connection to the past found in the English landscape. It is extra special to read this book around mid-Winter, when it’s set, and when I found myself absolutely hooked on the Complicite radio adaptation that aired last Christmas (HERE), I decided we simply HAD to read this together. THIS piece about it by Robert Macfarlane for the Guardian is absolutely brilliant.
Tickets go on sale on 1st November
***N.B. All of these December dates have changed - please make sure you have the right ones! ***
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 10th December, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 11th December, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
Buy The Dark is Rising from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
Here’s the button again to book onto all four walks:
Happy reading!
Emily
Amazing !!! So excited to start 📖 reading .
💚 what you do & how you do it, Emily 🙏🏼