📚 🚶Our May Walker's Walk
+ a gorgeous Natalia Ginzburg GIVEAWAY
Dear walking book clubbers,
No… this picture isn’t a portrait of the latest addition to our walking book club, but a sighting from Liz’s walk. Scroll down to discover more about her favourite stroll, and keep on scrolling for details of our June events, discussing A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood.
First, a little more about our May book The Little Virtues, including an incredibly generous GIVEAWAY from Daunt Books - our beloved local bookshop, and the UK publisher of Natalia Ginzburg. In case you missed it, you can discover much more about this life-changing collection of essays in last week’s post here:
Natalia Ginzburg Giveaway
I can’t wait to see you on Hampstead Heath THIS COMING SUNDAY to share our thoughts on The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg. If you’ve not yet booked your spot for this month’s discussions, you can do so here:
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 14th May, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 15th May, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 26th May, 1.30-2pm This is a chance to share what else we’ve been enjoying over the month, and also our recommendations for all things ITALIAN!
GIVEAWAY ALERT!
Thanks to the generosity of Daunt Books, one of you lucky people will walk away with this beautiful set of Natalia Ginzburg’s novels. As well as The Little Virtues - her superlative collection of essays - you’ll get Family Lexicon, The Dry Heart, The Road to the City, All Our Yesterdays, and - hot off the press - Sagittarius and Valentino.
For your chance to win, all you need to do is introduce a friend to Emily’s Walking Book Club by doing the following:
Share this newsletter with at least one friend by using this share button:
Ask your friend(s) to subscribe (free or paid).
Reply to this email to tell me their name or email.
You need to do this by the end of WEDNESDAY.
I’ll let the winner know and then they can collect their beautiful set of Ginzburgs from Daunt Books Hampstead at their convenience.
Good luck!
Liz’s walk
Liz joined Emily’s Walking Book Club during the summer of 2020, not long after The Pandemic had turned the world upside down.
I think back to those days of Emily’s Walking Book Club, and the month-to-month challenge of wondering whether we will have to meet on Zoom, or if 30 of us can meet in person, and how far apart we all have to walk, with or without masks, and I remember what a challenge it was to weave our way through all the varying regulations … but whenever we did meet - on screen or in person, one metre apart or two - it was such a joy to connect with each other. It really made me realise quite how special our walking book club is. It was a great time for Liz to have joined us!
Here is a little more about Liz’s walk, in her own words. I love the way she has discovered nature on her doorstep, reminding us that even the smallest things can inspire. Thank you Liz.
One of my favourite walks is on my doorstep – around Bentley Priory Park in Stanmore (at the northern end of the Jubilee Line.) Stay on the main path to find the deer park - bring carrots if you want them to get close. You’re also very likely to come across a small herd of free-roaming long horn cattle – they are not as fierce as they look although it’s quite easy to forget you’re in the London Borough of Harrow when you suddenly come face-to-face with one! Walk through some woodland, around the lake or straight up the hill to see Bentley Priory - an 18th-century mansion which became the Air Ministry’s Battle of Britain HQ (and now a great little museum.)
The loveliest thing about exploring the same area regularly is noticing the seasonal changes. We’ve learnt where the first patches of snowdrops will appear, and later, the bluebells and wild garlic. We know where to go blackberry picking and where you’re likely to see the red and white fly agaric toadstools come up in Autumn. There’s always something to marvel at and a moment of awe, no matter how small, is always uplifting.
And how about your walks?
I would love to hear about your walking life. When you have a chance, please reply to this email with a snap or two of a walk that is meaningful to you (please check you have permission to share if anyone else is in your photo; landscape format rather than portrait tends to sit best), along with a couple of lines about the walk and why it’s special to you.
June
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
A Single Man is a breathtaking work of compressed brilliance. This slender, achingly powerful novel, charts a day in the life of George, an English 58-year-old professor in 1960s California, who is grieving the loss of his lover, Jim. Through Isherwood's cool, camera-like gaze, we see George go through the motions of life, while suffering a shattered emotional world. Celebrated as a masterpiece from its first publication in 1964, the novel continues to enthral.
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 11th June, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
On Zoom: Monday 12th June, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 30th June, 1.30-2pm These threads are a chance to share what else we’ve been enjoying reading and watching and listening to over the month, as well as sharing any great recommendations about GAY LOVE.
Buy A Single Man 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 walking!
Emily