📚 🚶Our May Webcast
A chat about The Children's Bach by Helen Garner | On Our Reading Radar special guest
Dear walking book clubbers,
I’m looking forward to our May events this week.
How are you getting on with our book, The Children’s Bach? Hope to see you either on FRIDAY in Regent’s Park, SUNDAY on Hampstead Heath, or MONDAY on Zoom. Links to book into all these events are below, as is this month’s webcast in which I read a bit out and share a few thoughts on the book to whet your appetite.
I’ve also got some exciting news about our May On Our Reading Radar live discussion thread next week…
And please do come along if you’re free this THURSDAY evening to listen to me interview Emma Tarlo, author of Under the Hornbeams - a beautiful book about her friendship with two rough sleepers in Regent’s Park during Lockdown - at the Owl Bookshop, Kentish Town. Tickets to that are HERE.
The May Webcast
Here is a little chat about The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner. I couldn’t resist getting out into the sunshine on our terrace, but it does mean I spend the entire thing squinting away - sorry! I discuss a few ideas and themes in the book and read out the most beautiful passage from the end. Hope you enjoy it.
If you like the webcast, I’d be grateful if you could like or comment on it over on YouTube so the algorithm knows we matter and more people can discover our books and book club. In case you’d like to see more of these little videos, you can find them about all our books from the past few years on my YouTube channel: @emilyrhodeswriter.
Our May The Children’s Bach events
Please note that for the benefit of your fellow walkers, you need to have read the book before coming along to a walking book club. If you’ve not read the book, you are very welcome to join the Zoom instead.
Emily’s Regent’s Park Walking Book Club: Friday 17th May, 12-1.45pm, setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8-15
Emily’s Hampstead Heath Walking Book Club: Sunday 19th May, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15
Emily’s Zoom Book Club: Monday 20th May, 8-9pm, £1-15
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 24th May, 1.30-2pm: Australia and New Zealand with special guest Catherine Chidgey
Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND- What other great Antipodoean novels and films should we know about? I’m delighted that we’ll be joined by a special guest from New Zealand, the prize-winning, phenomenally talented author, Catherine Chidgey, who’ll be typing away in the middle of her night with us!
Buy The Children’s Bach 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.
And do have a look at last week’s newsletter for my introduction to the book, including some useful links to read around it:
📚 🚶Introducing Our May book
Dear walking book clubbers, Thanks so much for all your positive feedback and support about last week’s letter introducing my new charity Bookbanks. Now May is here, and with it comes The Children’s Bach - small and lethal, shattering the domestic with luminous, pared-back prose. Read on to find our dates for our May meet ups, some thoughts about the bo…
June - tickets are now on sale
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
A landmark work of gay writing, Giovanni’s Room is about a fated love triangle: David, an American in 1950s Paris, who has a tormented affair with Giovanni, an Italian barman, while his fiancee is away in Spain. Baldwin begins his story on the eve of Giovanni’s execution, after David has abandoned him … What follows is a painful articulation of shame and powerful exploration of conflicted desire, convention and sexual identity.
Why did I choose it? Pride month seems like the perfect opportunity to revisit this classic novel that is such a key work of gay writing. Also, our recent discussions about To Sir with Love and The L-Shaped Room have made me keen to investigate writing about intersectionality - how one prejudice can layer on top of another. Garth Greenwell’s piece for the Guardian is brilliant, HERE.
In Regent’s Park: Friday 21st June, 12-1.45pm, setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8-15
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 23rd June, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15
On Zoom: Monday 24th June, 8-9pm, £1-15
On Our Reading Radar: Friday 28th June, 1.30-2pm: Intersectionality Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the month, as well as your recommendations on the theme of INTERSECTIONALITY - What other great books and films explore aspects of compounded prejudice?
Buy Giovanni’s Room 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