The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
2013 – Title Favourites
What’s in a title? I mean, where did Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World come from? And how would we refer to dilemmas from which there is no escape because of a mutually conflicting condition if Joseph Heller had gone with his first title idea: Catch-11.
Yes, titles take time and are often best formulated once the story has been written and examined from all angles for a period of time.
So, for six years now, we have referred to ourselves solely, and factually, as “bookclub”. While there were occasional discussions about an official name, nothing eventuated; enough time seemed to have not passed. Now we have come to realise that the couple of descriptors we have come to use when we talk of ourselves must be incorporated into titles of some kind.
First there is free range. Free of boundaries and limitations. Free to roam with our ideas and opinions. And then there is the word coined by our husbands but embraced by us: nerdy. Perhaps it is time to incorporate both names. The Free Range Bookclub we will be officially. But amongst ourselves (and our husbands) we’ll always be nerdy bookclub.
🙂
Recently we welcomed a fifth member – we have never been so abundant! – and that is the lovely Nicole. Welcome!
As far as book choices go this year we have opted to each pick two of our favourites of all time, so we can share our true literary loves. Lots of re-reading for some, a luxury we don’t get often enough, which introduces a whole new level of understanding and conversation. Oh yes, what a schedule we’ve got lined up:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
Perfume – Patrick Suskind
The Catcher In The Rye – J D Salinger
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
The Member Of The Wedding – Carson McCullers
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Flowers In The Attic – Virginia Andrews
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The God Of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
We’re currently reading:
Books read:
How many books have we read for bookclub in the past 17 years?
The Free-Range Bookclub 
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