Book Clubbing

I was all set to write about the books I’ve loved getting my literary teeth into during 2021 but it struck me that the biggest difference in my reading world this year has been book club.

Since January I’ve been running a monthly book club so I’ve been pushed to read titles, genres and authors that wouldn’t usually have been my thing.

I was worried that reading a book because I felt obliged to would kill my buzz for reading like my BA in English Lit did. My degree stopped me reading for fun. I felt guilty if I was reading for pleasure rather than reading something for an essay, seminar or tutorial. I devoured books in sixth form but got through very few in Uni, aside from a couple of stand outs like Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

Back to book club and it hasn’t felt like a chore. I’ve loved meeting new people from all sorts of backgrounds in my area, people who have very different lives from me but who all share a love of reading. We have varied tastes, but I think I’ve made it a safe space for us all to have respect for opposing points of view.

One of the highlights has been a live Q&A session with an author and another with an editor. Huge thanks to the Reading Agency for making those happen. It also felt important to explore the work of local authors, something the group’s particularly keen on.

Being part of a book club has exposed some of the members to concepts and ways of life that they have never encountered, and it’s been quite moving to see how a book opened their eyes and gave them a new understanding of people of different races, sexualities, cultures, or periods in time.

It’s the only clubbing I’ve done all year. 10/10 would recommend. No hangovers, no sore feet and far cheaper than the other clubbing. If I were pushed to choose some personal faves from the books I’ve read in 2021 so far, my top five would be:

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins

Young Skins by Colin Barrett

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The Survivors by Jane Harper

Which books have your book club delved into this year? Any titles you’re keen to tackle in 2022? Let me know in the comments.

Home Learning: the reboot

My social media is full of references to being “back in lockdown”. The only difference this week to the last few weeks is that now we’re back to home learning. We’ve been at Alert Level Four (yes, in Wales we are not in tiers but alert levels, which is disappointing for a pun lover like me “we’re all in tears/tiers”) since before Christmas so I’ve only been to the supermarket, daily dog walks around the same local park and to drop things to family and friends. We haven’t been on walks with other people because we’re not allowed.

I’m not shocked at being trapped at home again because it doesn’t feel like anything has wildly changed for us.

Home learning is a kicker, but I think we’ve got it nailed this time (she says with a warily smug tone). It’s early days but on our fourth day in I feel a lot calmer and more in control than last March. My kids are used to the platforms and the tech they need to get their tasks done and to communicate with their teachers. There’s a vague routine rather than any timetable or sticker charts. It’s a bit like in Lord of the Flies when they start using the conch shell, a little bit of order in the pandemonium. (Here’s hoping things don’t spiral in the same way). We’re breaking for lunch together and they can finish at 3pm to watch telly or play.

In the first few hours I’d sat in my home office flanked by a primary and secondary aged child being bombarded with a constant stream of seemingly random questions:

How do you spell apocalypse? What’s a parody? How do I work out 1 5/13 + 2 5/13? How many rebellions did Henry VIII have? Which animals could eat me?

I’m trying to have a tad more structure this time around so things can feel a bit more normal and less chaotic. The younger one finished all his teacher assigned activities by lunch time, so I sent him off to read his book in bed. After that he did some Zombie proofing (DIY to you and me) with his Dad who works shifts so happened to be home. The older one is sullenly spiralling (both literally on his office chair and mentally) as the perfectionist in him stresses out over an unsatisfactory (to him) attempt at his art lesson. At least I know what he’s winding himself up (and down) about this time.

We are the lucky ones. We have enough devices for them to use a laptop each (thank you Grandpa for donating your old one), we have WiFi (which as anyone who’s had dodgy Zooms or Teams with me knows isn’t great but it’ll do) and I’m fairly confident with helping them when they get stuck. I’ve only had to brush up on a few maths bits I had wiped from memory.

For all the middle-class mum memes of pouring Baileys onto Bran Flakes, we know there are plenty of families really struggling.

It’s all pants compared to what we were able to do this time last year but 2020 has ground down my expectations. Last January I saw in NYE at a bar in Bristol, went ice skating, to the museum, the beach, Wagamamas, saw Six at Wales Millennium Centre, had a rooftop brunch in London and a work trip to see some awesome work like Death of England at the National Theatre. Maybe January 2020 over achieved but it blows my tiny little frazzled mind to compare that month to this month. We’re only just a week in but there’s no way I’ll be getting my kicks anywhere other than treating myself in Morrisons. By “treat” I’m thinking posh yoghurt instead of an own brand version. Oh the thrills with no frills.

Whether you’re balls deep in lockdown after a bit of festive freedom or, like us, there’s not been a huge change in your day to day liberties, be kind to yourself and to others. Remember school staff are human too and they could’ve done without panicking parents poking them with questions on their weekend when they had no idea what decisions would be made either. It’s hard to be a school leader when everyone finds out the same information at the same time and wrong dates get shared through WhatsApp groups and mis-spelt Facebook posts (ginpig I’m looking at you). If you’re struggling, tell the school, tell your employer, ask for help. And for the love of cheese, wash your hands, stay at home and wear a mask when and where you can.