kennethw

I won't make it tonight, crazy week at work. Put me down for Lady Chatterley and the Satanic Verses. In that order. Thanks Kenneth

Lady Chatterley's Lover is filthy and I would be appalled that such a fine, upstanding, moral group of women would even think of reading it. Hehehe.

Thanks Cat, I won't be able to make it tomorrow, have a good evening everyone.

My bad Susan, I was going to do that this week.

I'm bringing a taser along next time to use on the phone pests. 😊

It was really good. The singing is very natural, and they both look great.

I'll go for A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, because I've never read it and feel I should.

We had a good night last night, even managed to speak about the House of Usher for a bit, which we liked enough to wish it had been a bit longer. We didn't set a date for December, or agree a list topic, so I guess I'll hand over to Susan for that one. :)

Thanks for all the replies, I've had an application for Crisis accepted and found some other possibilities for putting my skills to use as a volunteer.

From the votes, the Fall of the House of Usher is a clear winner, so we'll pick that and see you all on the 15th.

Hi, I'm going to be in London over Christmas this year and wondered if anyone knew of any local charities who might need volunteers or help during the holidays? I've got experience in working with kids and OAPs as a volunteer, also fundraise for Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Alzheimers Society. And I'm an IT professional, so happy to look at any IT questions or give advice. Thanks, Kenneth

Sorry, I should have asked people to PM me. My votes would be for House of Usher and Dr Jekyll. Currently Jekyll - 2 Usher - 3 Screw - 1

Hello Everyone, we had a good meeting this week, I volunteered to do a list for the next meeting, which will be at Tippler on 15 November at 7.45 for 8. :) We didn't manage a selection process this week, so if you post here we can pick the winner that way. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 46pp A good man takes a potion that turns him into a freak of pure evil. A reasonable scientist is transformed - through the agency of science itself - into the living embodiment of unreason. The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allen Poe 50pp A visitor to a gloomy mansion finds a childhood friend dying under the spell of a family curse. Roderick Usher?s fate is inextricably intertwined with that of his sister, Madeline, and that of their estate. As one falls, so do they all. The Turn of the Screw - Henry James 80pp An anonymous narrator recalls a Christmas Eve gathering at an old house, where guests listen to one another?s ghost stories. A guest named Douglas introduces a story that involves two children?Flora and Miles?and his sister?s governess, with whom he was in love.

The choice for next month is....The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, and we picked 13 September as a date, so see you all at the Tippler at 8pm.

I'm here, sitting in the back part of the bar. Wearing blue. ☺

Hi everyone, I'll be along this evening, I said I'd do a list on a feelgood theme as we all needed a bit of a laugh, and ended up putting together a list of diaries. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole ? Sue Townsend ? 276pp Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual', Adrian's painfully honest diary follows a year in the life of a teenager in the Midlands in the 1980s. Bridget Jones Diary ? Helen Fielding ? 324 pp A dazzling urban satire of modern relationships? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something? Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), supported by four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay. The P45 Diaries ? Ben Hatch ? 295 pp Jay is 18 and keeps a diary better than he keeps any job. His countless sackings and relentless taunting of his father?s BBC celebrity friends mix with the emotions of a family adjusting to loss. Jay dreams of running away to Africa to dig water wells, of becoming a freedom-fighter in Syria and of making it so big in the lawnmower business he owns a kidney-bean shaped swimming pool full of bunny girls. But first he has to stop watching Countdown in his pyjamas. The Diary of a Nobody ? by George Grossmith ? 229 pp This classic comic tale of Victorian suburbia was created by two brothers ; George did most of the writing and Weedon provided the famous illustrations. The book?s narrator, Mr Pooter, is ?a sublime comic creation? and the word Pooterish can now be found in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Diary of Samuel Pepys - by Samuel Pepys - 196pp The essential writings of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), a remarkable man who witnessed the coronation of Charles II, the Great Plague of 1665, and the Great Fire of 1666. Originally scribbled in a cryptic shorthand, Pepys's quotidian journal of life in Restoration London provides an astonishingly frank and diverting account of political intrigues; naval, church, and cultural affairs; and the sexual escapades and domestic strife of a man with a voracious, childlike appetite for living. (I know it's non-fiction but I saw the byline and thought I'd include it) Enjoy, Kenneth

I'm doing the list for next month, on a feelgood theme. Happy endings all round.

Hi, won't make it tonight, happy to go with whatever is picked, and hopefully see you all next month.

Hi, I won't be able to make it this evening. Happy to go with any choice on the list. Didn't get the Bees at all, unfortunately. See you all next month. Kenneth

Hello everyone, I've had a lot of fun compiling the Jackie Collins Memorial Shortlist. I'll see you all on Tuesday. Animal Print and Big Hair optional. Lucky ? 753 pp With the sensual grace of a panther, Lucky Santangelo prowled her Las Vegas casino, restless, ready, eager for action. That night began a dazzling odyssey, filled with dangerous passion and sun-drenched sex, sadistic vengeance and breathless suspense. From the decadent luxury of California, to Paris, New York and a private Greek island, Lucky fought for her father's honour, for ruthless triumph, for the wild card of a fabulous love. Her rivals; an ice-cold Hollywood wife?a much-married heiress strung out on cocaine?a jaded magnate hooked on power?a crazed hoodlum lusting for murder. But Lucky was a gambIer and a lover, a woman who ruled her empire and pursued her man with the potent Santangelo strength ? her way, on her terms, whatever the odds. The World is full of Married Men ? 305pp David Cooper cheats on his wife. She doesn't cheat - and that suits him fine. Until the young and beautiful Claudia appears and David wants out of his marriage. But Claudia has different ideas - different dreams: To be a model, an actress, a star. And she'll do anything to make it. Just name a price. A devastating exposure of the cut throat media business - the phony promises and the very real power of the casting couch. Hollywood Wives ? 705 pp They lunch at Ma Maison and the Bistro on salads and hot gossip. They cruise Rodeo Drive in their Mercedes and Rolls, turning shopping at Giorgio and Gucci into an art form. They pursue the body beautiful at the Workout and Body Asylum. Dressed by St. Laurent and Galanos, they dine at the latest restaurants on the rise and fall of one another's fortunes. They are the Hollywood Wives, a privileged breed of women whose ticket to ride is a famous husband. Hollywood. At its most flamboyant. Rock Star ? 497 pp Jackie Collins, "the queen of glamour fiction" captures the raw, electric thrill of life in the spotlight in this pulse-pounding novel. Three talented, ambitious dreamers have struggled for super-stardom - and lived hard and fast in a mind-bending whirl of parties, drugs, and sex. Now their fates collide at the plush Los Angeles estate of a powerful music industry magnate, where one man's secret vendetta will trap them in its sudden, murderous heat? The Bitch ? 273 pp She's a woman who's never short of a man. And they call her the bitch?.Fontaine Khaled has an Arab millionaire among her yesterdays and hard-gambling Nico for all her tomorrows. Which only leaves the problem of choosing a man for today? From London to Las Vegas, Hollywood to Athens - she calls the shots from her plush limos and black satin sheets.She is The Bitch and she is in control. And that could never change - could it?

Hi, We're going on tour to Peckham tomorrow evening, so we won't be at the Tippler at the usual time. If anyone wants to come along to discuss the Age of Innocence, please send me a PM. Thanks Kenneth

I dunno, I finally get my act together and get the first Tuesday of the month free, then it's all changed to meet on Monday. :)

Hi there, very sorry folks but I won't be able to make it tonight, I have an early start tomorrow morning. In other news, I got the keys to my flat just before Christmas so next month I shall be a resident of SE15. :)

Hi there, The good news is that I've read the book, but the bad news is that I've got a pretty bad cold and don't want to share it with anyone, so I will have to pass. I liked some things about the book, like the killer being revealed early on, so it's more of a howdunnit than a whodunnit, but I have a real phobia of violence against women, and found those bits pretty gruesome. Catch you all next time. I'll go for the shock of the fall as my choice. Then Life after Life. K

Sorry folks, I won't manage tonight. My vote goes for Dorian Gray.