Our next books are as follows
Mon 7th September - Jenny Erpenbeck - Go, Went, Gone
See below for more information on the upcoming titles.
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck: The plight of African asylum seekers in Europe is vividly drawn in this powerful, candid novel, written by an author from Berlin, based on an academic in that city becoming more aware of the people and events around him, including the groups of migrants with different back stories.
- Goodreads - One of the great contemporary European writers takes on Europe's biggest issue. Richard has spent his life as a university professor, immersed in the world of books and ideas, but now he is retired, his books remain in their packing boxes and he steps into the streets of his city, Berlin. Here, on Alexanderplatz, he discovers a new community -- a tent city, established by African asylum seekers. Hesitantly, getting to know the new arrivals, Richard finds his life changing, as he begins to question his own sense of belonging in a city that once divided its citizens into them and us.
- Waterstones - At once a passionate contribution to the debate on race, privilege and nationality and a beautifully written examination of an ageing man's quest to find meaning in his life,
Previous Selections:
The Names by Florence Knapp, Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris, Knife by Salman Rushdie, Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell; Restless by William Boyd; The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin; The Marriage Act by John Marrs; There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak; The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller; Blast from the Past by Ben Elton; The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne; Taft by Ann Patchett; The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes; American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins ....
(All selections taken from recommendations from members of the group, aiming to get titles that are readily available in paperback or on kindle. Most will be a few years old, so typically available from libraries or second hand from Bookcycle, World of Books or Charity Shops).