Posts Tagged Reading Group
Island Song by Pepsi Demacque-Crockett
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Resources on January 30, 2025
I’ve just finished reading Island Song, the debut novel by Pepsi Demacque-Crockett – published today, 30th January 2025 (No, I didn’t speed read 300+ pages! I received an advance review copy). 
If the name of the author seems familiar to you, you are right. Pepsi enjoyed a career in the pop industry in the 1980s and 1990s as part of Wham! and later in the singing duo Pepsi & Shirlie. Pepsi’s parents came to the UK in the 1950s from Saint Lucia and Island Song is inspired by their experience. I enjoyed this book in two different ways, as a reader and as a writer:
The blurb: When their father dies, Agnes Deterville and her sister Ella must forge their own paths in life. Headstrong Agnes dreams of a new life far away. Cautious Ella fears the world beyond their small village in St Lucia. When Agnes departs for a new life in 1950s London, they are both confronted by heartbreak, loneliness, and tragedy. Separated by an ocean, but bound by love, can the sisters keep their island song singing in their hearts?
My reader review: Island Song is a book of contrasts. The reader travels from the bright and colourful island of St. Lucia to grey and dismal London. We experience the friendly, inclusive Caribbean culture and then witness the hostility and suspicion of people in 1950s UK. We get to know Agnes and her adventurous, determined spirit compared with her older, much more cautious sister, who is very much a home bird.
Pepsi Demacque-Crockett weaves all of these threads together to create an absorbing, timely, thought-provoking but easy-to-read novel. It is reminiscent of ‘A Small Island’ by Andrea Levy and would make a great book club read.
With thanks to HarperCollins and The Reading Agency for my Advance Review Copy.
My writer review: The word ‘contrast’ sums up what I learned as a writer from Island Song. We are always told the importance of differentiating our characters to avoid them homogenising into one voice. However, this can be difficult if our protagonists are similar ages, from similar backgrounds and have similar lifestyles. Pepsi got around this difficulty by giving the two sisters, Agnes and Ella, very different personalities: Agnes wants to conquer the world but Ella fears even leaving their village. But they still share the same basic philosophy that family is all important. For me, the lesson to take away is that I should concentrate on what makes my characters different to one another, especially when they are conversing or otherwise interacting with each other.
Book Group Recommendation: Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Lifestyle on July 30, 2024
I run a monthly book group. There are 12 of us in the group and I choose our books from the numerous book group sets available from Birmingham Libraries. We always get a cross-section of opinions on each book; some members will rave about the book and others will detest it so much that they can’t finish it.![20240707_151310[1]](https://sally-jenkins.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240707_1513101.jpg)
Recently we read Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not the actress) and it provoked one of the best discussions we’ve ever had. It’s about an elderly lady in the late 1960s who joins several other older people as a permanent resident in a hotel. She longs for her grandson to visit so that she can show him off to the other residents. He doesn’t appear but Mrs. Palfrey strikes up an unlikely friendship with an impoverished young writer.
I found it an easy, gentle read but the novel has a lot to say about the issues and indignities of growing old, much of which is still relevant today, for example, loneliness, infirmity, abandonment by family and fear.
The ladies in my group are all retired and were open about their opinions on the treatment of older people, their fear of needing care, the advantages and disadvantages of ‘retirement villages’ and how we encourage our children to fly the nest and go away to university, but often they never return. We came to the conclusion that there has been no improvement in how we treat older people over the last 50+ years.
But the book is not all doom and gloom. The residents have eccentricities and there are lovely comic cameos plus a marriage proposal! I’d never heard of Elizabeth Taylor but she is a wonderful writer and creator of characters. Read her books!
On the subject of book group discussions, it was lovely to hear from a group who have read and discussed Waiting for a Bright New Future. They all enjoyed the book and found it uplifting (which was my aim!), the group favoured the character of Florence (she’s a colourful, middle-aged, tribute band singer and I loved writing her!), one member guessed the ending but the others were taken by surprise and there was general consensus that a sequel would be good in order to find out what happens to Stuart. I’m also aware of two other book groups borrowing the five copies of Little Museum of Hope in Birmingham Libraries. I have no idea what their verdict was! And I’ve just noticed that Amazon have reduced the price of the paperback to £4.65 (for how long, I don’t know), if you fancy a bargain.
If your book group has read a book that created a good discussion please share it in the comments!
Reading: Solitary or Social?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Lifestyle on March 13, 2020
Reading is a solitary pastime. We sit alone, in silence, our mind in another world and ‘do not disturb’ exuding from our concentrated expression. Reading is a hobby not easily shared with others.
Wrong!
Reading is becoming an increasingly sociable activity. Books connect people, both online, in the virtual world and in real, face-to-face society. Don’t miss out by reading in a bubble, try some of the following:
- Join a traditional book group. Most groups read one book a month and meet to discuss their opinions (depending on the group there may be coffee, wine or cake …) I’ve mentioned before that I run a book group at my local library and the library or bookshop is a good place to start if you’re looking for a group. Alternatively, start your own. A friend of mine formed a group with her neighbours and they take it in turns to host the meeting.
- Join a Shared Reading group. I’ve written before about these groups connected to The Reader charity. There is no ‘homework’ reading. It is all aloud during the (usually weekly) meeting.
Bookfest Sutton Coldfield Library
- A couple of weeks ago I was a volunteer at Bookfest in my local library. It was a festival of children’s books with lots of author events and activities. I was one of three people on the front desk answering questions and directing people to events. It was fun to be with like-minded book lovers making an event happen that would be too expensive to stage without volunteers.
- Search out a Facebook group that discusses books. A few to get you going:
Imogen Clark’s Book Café – Imogen is a best-selling author
The Book Club – a large and busy group with occasional ‘real-life’ meet ups
Romantic Fiction Book Club – run by the Romantic Novelists’ Association
If you can recommend any others, please add them in the comments at the bottom of this post. - Review your favourite books online. This could be on Amazon, Good Reads or NetGalley (where you can request advance e-book copies of new novels to review). Or start your own book blog and get social in the virtual world, interacting with readers and writers.
- Start a book exchange at work, church or wherever groups of people meet. See if you can encourage non-readers to try a novel. What greater gift can you give someone than the love of books?
Reading and the love of books can be as solitary or as social as you choose. Whichever way you do it – happy reading!
Shared Reading
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Lifestyle, Non-writing on November 5, 2019
I’ve run a book group for several years and hearing several different opinions of the same book is always a fascinating experience. A book’s themes often lead to interesting conversations and we usually have a laugh too.
However, recently I’ve discovered an alternative type of group; Shared Reading.
Shared Reading is championed and supported by the charitable organisation The Reader. The charity “builds warm and lively communities by bringing people together and books to life”.
The groups are free to join and open to all. However many of the groups are located in places to help those living with conditions such as dementia, complex mental health issues and chronic pain, as well as those recovering from addiction or feeling lonely.
The groups meet on a weekly basis and all the reading is done out loud during the session, with both the group leader and the participants doing the reading. At appropriate points in the poem, short story or prose extract there will be a pause and the leader will start a conversation about the text. Group members might talk about the impact the words have on them, their interpretation of the text or simply whether they are enjoying it or not. No one is forced to contribute or to read aloud but it’s hoped that the groups’ inclusive atmosphere gives everyone’s voice and opinion a chance to be heard and appreciated.
This week I had the chance to shadow the leader of two Shared Reading groups in north Birmingham; one in a care home for the elderly and another in a community centre. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
The older people looked at two poems: New Every Morning by Susan Coolidge and Moon Compasses by Robert Frost. It was a lovely to hear the positive message they took from the first poem about each new day offering a new beginning. The second poem took more concentration but the description of love at the end pleased them all.
The community centre group were looking at the chapter, ‘Mother’, in Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. They had looked at the first half of the chapter the previous week but I was soon brought up to speed. We talked about the chaotic home over which Laurie’s mum presided and her constant hope that one day the husband who’d walked on her would return. The session finished with the poem My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth and us agreeing that even though we are no longer children, it’s still lovely to see things in nature that bring us joy.
These groups are a million miles away from a school English Literature lesson. They are all about personal interpretations of the texts and how they make us feel.
All the Shared Reading group leaders are volunteers and have been specially trained for the task. I’m contemplating putting myself forward.
Notes From A Big Country by Bill Bryson
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Non-fiction, Travel on July 14, 2016
If you want to learn the art of writing humour based on everyday life, this is the book to read.
It’s also the first book by Bill Bryson that I’ve ever read. It came into my hands not through choice but because members of the library reading group that I coordinate requested something by Bill Bryson.
Notes from a Big Country is a collection of Bill’s columns about life in America that appeared in the Mail on Sunday‘s Night & Day Magazine in the late 90s. Despite being twenty years old the topics addressed are still interesting today, things such as the death penalty, Americans driving everywhere instead of walking, the devastating effect of a skunk spraying in your home, the history of diners (they came in prefabricated kits on the back of lorries) and how low key Christmas is in the US compared to here.
Bill Bryson has a wonderful turn of phrase and this quote made me smile in particular: My father, who like all dads sometimes seemed to be practising for a world’s most boring man competition.
I read the book straight through from start to finish because of our looming reading group meeting but I would advise others to dip in and out so that each column can be savoured like a favourite chocolate.
I had another American connection this week when I was congratulated on Twitter for my article in the Washington Post. Unfortunately I had to be honest and admit to never having written for the Washington Post and explain that the article was probably written by my doppelganger, the US sports writer Sally Jenkins. This is the second time I’ve been mistaken for my more famous counterpart. A couple of years ago I was contacted by someone who wanted help with their autobiography following ‘my’ success ghosting Lance Armstong’s It’s Not About the Bike. Perhaps one day the US Sally Jenkins will be mistaken for me!
The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books on May 29, 2014
I’ve just read The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson and attended my first ever Reading Group meeting. 
The book is a cleverly structured and utterly absorbing work of fiction based on the real Suffolk Red Barn Murder of working class Maria Marten by her upper class lover, William Corder in 1827.
The book is set in the 1930s and the main character is Josephine Tey, who inherits a cottage from her godmother, close to the site of where the murder took place. Josephine Tey is based on a real person of that name, a playwright and novelist from the inter-war years.
The story revolves around the cottage and its previous occupants. One of whom is Josephine’s godmother and the other a young woman, who was Maria’s fictional best friend.
I loved the twists and turns, the evocative descriptions of 1930s England and the concept of a story within a story. It’s spooky, atmospheric and highly readable!
The Reading Group has just been formed at a local library and I have volunteered to help with it, along with another lady. Neither of us has experience of any other reading group and everyone around the table just put forward their general feelings about the book (and it was interesting to hear the views of those who weren’t as impressed as me).
But I’d like to hear from all you experienced book group members out there. Do you have a structure to your meetings? Do you go through a list of points for discussion? Does someone lead the meeting or is it a free for all?
It would be good to know how to get the best out of these meetings so that everyone goes away satisfied that they’ve had their say and maybe learned something from what others have said.
Sally Jenkins 