📚 The September Webcast
A reading from Half of a Yellow Sun as we begin to think about why it's such a brilliant book
Dear walking book clubbers,
How are you getting on with our September book Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? I’m really looking forward to sharing our thoughts on this phenomenal novel at our first meet ups of the season, THIS FRIDAY 13th September in Regent’s Park, THIS SUNDAY 15th on Hampstead Heath, and our Zoom next Monday evening.
Please scroll down to find details and booking links for this month’s events, as well as this month’s webcast in which I give a spoiler-free chat about the book, including a short reading. In case you missed last week’s email, with some introductory ideas and links to explore around the book, you can find it here:
Finally, if you’re free this Wednesday evening, do join me as a guest of the wonderful My Body, My Book Club to discuss A Touch of Mistletoe by Barbara Comyns as a fundraiser for Bookbanks, a new charity I’ve founded that brings books to food banks in the UK. You don’t even need to have read the book! Please do come along. You can book a ticket HERE.
Our September Half of a Yellow Sun 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 13th September, 12-1.45pm, setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8-15
Emily’s Hampstead Heath Walking Book Club: Sunday 15th September, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15
Emily’s Zoom Book Club: Monday 16th September, 8-9pm, £1-15
Buy Half of a Yellow Sun from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in Emily’s Walking Book Club if you’re buying it in the shop.
The September Webcast
I hope you enjoy a little chat at my desk about Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I introduce the book, read a bit out and discuss in detail how Adichie is such a talented writer. I also go off on quite a long tangent about mispronunciation - the bane of people (like me) who spend too much time reading!
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.
October
Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell
Mrs Bridge is a housewife and mother in 1950s Kansas City, raising her children and making a home for her husband. She follows all the rules: putting out special hand towels for guests (although she hopes they won’t use them, and is furious when her son does), judges people by “their shoes and their manners at the table”, and has never met a socialist. In a series of beautifully drawn, subtly ironic and yet devastating vignettes, Connell catches the contradictions, narrowness and fear that can shadow a life of comfort.
Intrigued? Read THIS RAVE REVIEW by Tom Cox in the Guardian.
In Regent’s Park: Friday 11th October, 12-1.45pm, setting off from Daunt Books, 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW, £8-15
On Hampstead Heath: Sunday 13th October, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB, £8-15
On Zoom: Monday 14th October, 8-9pm, £1-15
Buy Mrs Bridge from Daunt Books HERE and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in Emily’s Walking Book Club if you’re buying it in the shop.
Happy reading!
Emily