Maida Vale Library Reading Groups
Maida Vale library hosts three different reading groups:
Reading Group
Welcome to everyone interested in books!
Do you enjoy talking about books with other people? If so, why not come along to Maida Vale Library's Reading Group?
Normally meet once a month, from 5.15 - 6.45pm on Thursdays, although there will be a break until April whilst the library is refurbished. A friendly welcome is extended to all newcomers so please just come along.
Our upcoming discussions
| Date & time | Title & author of book being discussed |
|---|---|
| Thursday 17 May | Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist |
| Thursday 14 June | Julian Barnes’s The sense of an ending |
Library copies can be requested free of charge by group members.
Play reading group
This is a popular group which meets monthly. Play-reading groups are a good way to get your feet wet if you have always wanted to act but have been too shy or have not had the opportunity.
We read the play aloud with group members being allocated parts by the director Robin. No one has to read if they don’t want to and parts are swapped around so no one gets stuck with a tiny part, or a huge one! Perfect for anyone who has always wanted to have a go at acting or who has enjoyed amateur acting or acting at school; it is great fun for all.
Come along, read a character or just listen.
Next reading
The Hypochondriac (La Malade Imaginaire) by Moliere
Monday 14 May at 7.30pm (we are meeting on this date because the first Monday in may is a bank holiday and the library is closed).
The meeting in June will be on Monday 11 June (due to the bank holiday). AA Milne will be the lucky author – perhaps Toad of Toad Hall?
Please come along on the day or ring Kate on 020 7641 8969 for more information.
Our amateur director is Robin Lansman.
Please book early to avoid disappointment. Book by phoning 020 7641 8969, or emailing Maida Vale Library at maidavalelibrary@westminster.gov.uk
Previously read plays
Share a Book Group
Every Wednesday, from 10.30am to 12noon
This group is open to all and including users of the Home Library Service who are brought to Maida Vale Library by minibus every Wednesday from 10.30am to 12noon, where they meet in the quiet room.
The group is read aloud to by a trained facilitator, then has an opportunity to share their thoughts about what has been read (a book, short story or poem) and what it means to them.
Tea & biscuits and a warm welcome guaranteed!
We're currently full!
This reading group is currently at full capacity. Please register your interest in joining the group by passing on your contact details to a member of staff or emailing: gcarrick@westminster.gov.uk You will be contacted when a place within the group becomes available.
Plays previously read
Mother Goose (a traditional panto)
Old actors never die they simply lose the plot by Lynn Brittney
The Simple Addition of Love by Barry O’ Shea (New writer)
I have been here before by J. B. Priestley
Plough and the Stars by Sean O’ Casey
Say Goodnight to Grandma by Colin Welland
Love's the Best Doctor, by Moliere
The Rose Tattoo, by Tennessee Wiliams
The Anniversary by Bill MacIlwraith
La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler
Fairy tales of New York by J. P. Donleavy
Hysteria by Terry Johnson
Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller
Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden
Books discussed in previous Reading Group meetings
| Date | Book details |
|---|---|
| April 2012 | Anne Enright's The gathering |
| January 2012 | We are a Muslim, please by Zaiba Malik |
| December 2011 | |
| November 2011 | |
| October 2011 | |
| September 2011 | |
| July 2011 | |
| June 2011 | Hans Fallada’s Alone in Berlin |
| April 2011 | Sebastian Faulks’s A week in December |
| March 2011 | A.S. Byatt’s “The children’s book” |
|
February 2011 |
Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss |
| January 2011 | Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society |
| December 2010 |
Howard Jacobson's Kalooki Nights (read about it on books & the City) |
| November 2010 | Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother (read about it on Books & the City) |
| September 2010 | David Mitchell's Black Swan Green (read about it on Books & the City) |
| August 2010 | Philippa Gregory's The other queen (read about it on Books & the City) |
| July 2010 | Paul Torday's Salmon fishing in the Yemen (read about it on Books & the City) |
| June 2010 | Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach |
| April 2010 | Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 |
| March 2010 | Stieg Larsson's The girl with the dragon tattoo |
| February 2010 | Aravind Adiga's The white tiger |
| January 2010 | Robert Harris's The ghost |
| December 2009 | Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A vindication of the rights of woman' |
| November 2009 | Joseph O’Connor’s 'Redemption Falls' |
| October 2009 | |
| September 2009 | |
| August 2009 | |
| July 2009 | |
| June 2009 |
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World |
| May 2009 | |
| April 2009 | Kate Mosse's Sepulchre |
| March 2009 | March's book was Lisa See's Peony in love |
| February 2009 |
February's book was Kathy Reichs's Bare bones |
| January 2009 |
January's book was Peter Robinson's Not safe after dark |
| December 2008 |
December's book was Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles |
| October 2008 |
October's book was Lee Jackson's A most dangerous woman |
| August 2008 | Our discussion in August focused on the National Year of Reading's monthly theme of "Read the Game", so we will be reading Nick Hornby's definitive football memoir "Fever pitch". |
| July 2008 |
Our discussion in July focused on the National Year of Reading's monthly theme of "Rhythm and Rhyme", so it was poetry on the menu. Group members shared some of their favourite poems, including Gerard Manley Hopkins's "Easter", William Blake's "London" and Philip Larkin's "The Whitsun Weddings". |
| June 2008 | Our discussion in June focused on the National Year of Reading's monthly theme of "Reading Escapes". We talked about books or authors we regularly escape to - children's or adult books and authors we find ourselves returning to as a kind of "literary bolthole" when we just want to indulge ourselves. The group's favourites included Agatha Christie, Maeve Binchy and the "Just William" books. |
| May 2008 | Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close |
| April 2008 |
Jodi Picoult's The Pact |
| March 2008 | Marion Molteno's If you can walk, you can dance |
| February 2008 |
Tim Winton's Breath |
| January 2008 | Richard Benson's The farm |
| November 2007 | Alan Hollinghurst's The line of beauty |
| October 2007 | Isabel Allende's City of the beasts |
| September 2007 | Steven Levitt's Freakonomics |
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