📚 🚶Catching up on A Fortunate Man
November's webcast, links and remembering Gilly Taylor
Dear walking book clubbers,
Thank you for two fiery discussions about John Berger’s classic book about the life of a country GP in the 1960s, A Fortunate Man. I loved the way this book provoked such strong reactions amongst some of our readers - some serious thumbs down as well as thumbs up!
Medicine is something that has touched all of our lives, whether its those of you who are / were doctors, or have doctors in the family, or those who have been on the patient side of the relationship; thanks so much for sharing your own personal experiences in our discussions. It was fascinating to consider the things that have changed in this field - for better and worse - since the 1960s.
We are meeting one more time this month to discuss A Fortunate Man: our Live Discussion Thread is at 2-2.30pm THIS Friday 25th November - the link to join it will appear in your inbox just beforehand. Our thread is also a lovely chance to share what else we’ve all been reading this month, so please come along and let us know your own recommendations. See you there!
Webcast
I hope you enjoy November’s webcast about A Fortunate Man. Watch it to discover some of the book’s case studies, Jean Mohr’s stunning photographs and to wrestle with Berger’s ideas about the influence of Conrad, the importance of recognition, and the childlike aspect of anguish.
You can find webcasts about all our books from the past couple of years over on my YouTube channel @emilyrhodeswriter. I really appreciate it if you could like or comment on the YouTube videos as it helps other people discover our books and share in our reading experience.
More links
Thank you for the positive feedback about the links in our previous email - HERE is that email again in case you missed it. A few people mentioned they were especially keen on the Between the Lines podcast, so I’m relinking to the relevant episode HERE.
On our walk, I mentioned Bait - a stunning recent debut film that engages with the local / out-of-towner dynamic in Cornwall; it’s a great film to watch to accompany Berger’s A Fortunate Man - masses to say about class, resentment, community and similarly beautifully shot in black-and-white, and the perfect illustration to Berger’s opening gambit that landscape is a curtain behind which … [people’s] struggles, achievements and accidents take place. You can watch it via the excellent Curzon home cinema HERE.
A surprise addition to our Zoom discussion was the superbly talented Patrick Galbraith, whose debut book In Search of One Last Song is a beautiful investigation into Britain’s disappearing birds and the people who are trying to save them. Keen-eared Backlisted fans amongst us might have recognised it as John’s pick in their recent, reliably fascinating EPISODE about Dervla Murphy; I agree with John that one of the book’s great strengths is the diverse mix of people featured, and how good Galbraith is at meeting them and expressing their points of view. It’s a little bit like Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways in that respect. You can buy a copy of Galbraith’s book from Daunt Books HERE.
Slightly off topic, but I always mean to tell you about my other book club… I run a monthly book club for Age UK Camden. You can sign up HERE to its monthly newsletter, which has loads of info and discussion points about each month’s book (November’s pick is The Promise by Damon Galgut, December’s is Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner), and come along to whichever one of our 3 meet-ups suits you: at Henderson Court in Hampstead with me, or at the British Library or Belsize Community Library with other people leading the discussion. Sign up if you fancy it (or please forward this on in case you know someone in Camden who might enjoy it?), or hit reply if you’d like more info.
Finally, another of Jean Mohr’s powerful photograph from A Fortunate Man. This was the one that Stina mentioned in our Zoom discussion, which so perfectly captures how the patient is - literally - in the doctor’s hands:
Gilly Taylor
I am so sorry to share the news that Gilly Taylor, a stalwart and very jolly walking book clubber, died in August. She is pictured here, just beside me, holding a red umbrella, as we were about to set off on our rainy Daunt Books Festival Ukraine fundraiser walk in May. Her sister Felicity wrote me this:
Gilly died on 19 August this year. Following a terminal cancer diagnosis in December 2020, she went to Dignitas in Switzerland to end her life. She loved the walking book club, and told me about it often. Thank you for all the pleasure you gave her in the final phase of her life.
I know I’m not the only one to be saddened and shocked by this news, and of course it makes us reflect on other walking book clubbers who have passed away over the decade of our existence, like Carrie, who we remembered together on our walk in September. I am clinging on to Felicity’s words that we book clubbers gave Gilly such pleasure in her final days; perhaps we can find some comfort here.
If anyone would like to write to Felicity, please email me and I’ll forward it on. I suggested that some book clubbers might like to remember Gilly with a charitable donation, and Felicity says that’s a lovely thought, and that as a family they have always supported St Martin in the Fields, particularly their vicar’s relief fund. You can read more about this charity HERE, where you can donate using the red button at the top of the page. My memories of Gilly will be particularly tied to The Peregrine by JA Baker, which we discussed in October 2019 - she loved this book and went on to re-read it entry by entry in real time.
December
TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE
A Touch of Mistletoe by Barbara Comyns
Some 'mistletoe' for our Christmas meetup! N.B. This book is 300 pages - longer than our usual picks - I’d advise getting started soon…
This wonderful, utterly absorbing novel (not, in fact, a Christmas tale) is about two sisters embarking on adulthood in the interwar years, and the fortunes and misfortunes that befall them.
An alcoholic mother, extreme poverty, awful jobs, childbirth, depression, abortion, the Blitz ... It's a far from cosy novel, but somehow Comyns' calm, wry voice succeeds both in giving weight to the daily tragedies and transforming them into moments of hilarity. Who else could describe a character's 'unwashed knees' as smelling 'of roast chicken', or could state: 'when we children heard the word ‘poorly’ applied to anyone who was ill, perhaps an innocent child suffering with measles, we took it for granted that they had been drinking bottles of port or sherry'?!
At what might be a difficult time for many of us, Comyns' blacker-than-black humour is a vital tonic.
On the Heath: Sunday 11th December, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB. N.B. Watch this space for a seasonal surprise on our walk…
On Zoom: Monday 12th December, 8-8.40pm
Live Discussion Thread: Friday 16th December, 2-2.30pm (Note the date change)
Buy A Touch of Mistletoe 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.
Happy reading!
Emily