📚 🚶Our October Walker's walk
Michael's City of London walk + details for Sunday's To Sir With Love walk
Dear walking book clubbers,
This month, Michael’s walk takes us to a hidden spot of reflection in the City of London, not far from the setting of our September and October books. Here is Michael, beside me, snapped in our Mrs Dalloway walk a couple of years’ ago.
But before we get to Michael’s walk, I’d love to know: how are you getting on with To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite?
I’m looking forward to sharing our thoughts, both THIS COMING SUNDAY for our Hampstead Heath walking book club, and the following MONDAY EVENING for our Zoom book club. Please see below for details about these and our October On Our Reading Radar.
If you’re intrigued by To Sir with Love, and would like to discover more about it, please see last week’s post for my introduction to the book and some useful links to explore further:
📚 🚶Introducing our October book
Dear walking book clubbers, This October, celebrating Black History Month, we are reading To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite. In this first email of the month you’ll find: Details of our October events Introduction to and ideas about our October book,
Our October Events
Emily’s Walking Book Club on Hampstead Heath:
Sunday 15th October, 11.30-1pm setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £5-15
Join me for a walk-talk on Hampstead Heath. Please ensure you’ve read the book before joining the walk.
Emily’s Zoom Book Club:
Monday 16th October, 8-8.40pm, £1-10
Feel free to tune in even if you’ve not read the book - our zooms are open to all.
On Our Reading Radar: October, Race relations
Friday 27th October, 1.30-2pm
Join this month’s discussion thread to share your cultural highlights from the 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.
Michael’s walk
Michael (in the photo at the top of this post) has been a stalwart member of Emily’s Walking Book Club for several years now, providing sparkling conversation with his dry humour and a splash of politics, on our walks, and also contributing masses of thoughtful recommendations to many of our On Our Reading Radar discussion threads (which you can browse through HERE). His film tips are reliably brilliant! Thank you Michael for all you bring to our community.
Here is Michael’s walk through Bunhill Fields. Incidentally, this is a welcome destination for anyone seeking out a peaceful spot of urban wilderness (see September’s On Our Reading Radar):
Living in Spitalfields, on the edge of the City of London, my favourite destination – or the first leg of a longer walk through the Barbican on to Smithfield and maybe even the West End – is Bunhill Fields. It’s not very far but given I currently need a hip replacement progress is getting slower and slower.
Bunhill Fields is a former Nonconformist burial ground established in the 1660s that is now a lovely peaceful garden, whose tall trees provide cool shade on hot days. John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake are buried there and across the road is the Wesley Chapel where Maggie married Denis Thatcher in 1950. It’s a great spot for reflecting on day-to-day dilemmas, reading the latest book club choice or trying to work out exactly what was happening to Dame Mary Page – answers on a postcard…
November - tickets are now on sale!
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.
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.
For details about December, check out this post:
Happy walking!
Emily