Well-Kitchen Well-Read Book Club

Our March 2025 meeting at the Well-Kitchen Cafe

Our themes this month were Youth and Winning & Losing. Our discussions ranged over many areas. The way young people struggle for acceptance, the lessons we learn throughout our lives about what is actually worth winning and what’s best let go. The 11 plus - who was included and who was excluded? The difference a good teacher can make to the life of a child and how to win, even though absolutely everything is against you, including your family!

All this good company AND Cinnamon Buns… What more could you wish for? Thanks as always to Amita for being a splendid hostess.

• The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn follows the story of three children as they grow into adulthood. They live in a manor house by the sea, reading things they shouldn’t and eavesdropping on the adults.
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Orphan Pip is wandering on the Kent Marshes when he has a terrifying encounter with Abel Magwitch, an escaped convict. The encounter changes Pip’s destiny. A tale of love, loss and learning what is of real value in life.
• The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim. A satire about an Edwardian caravan holiday in Kent, narrated by the pompous and self-important Baron von Ottringel, a Prussian Major. He shares his pained bewilderment at the bizarre behaviour of the English people with whom he has chosen to spend a month in a convoy of horse-drawn holiday caravans.
• The Outsiders by SE Hinton - a coming-of-age novel. The book details the conflict between two rival gangs of White Americans divided by their socioeconomic status: the working-class "Greasers" and the upper-middle-class “Socs”. The story is told in first-person perspective by teenage protagonist Ponyboy Curtis. Hinton began writing the novel when she was 15; she was 18 when the book was published.
• Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. A sociological novel about the emptiness of contemporary existence.
• Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan. An unflinching autobiographical account of how it is to grow up on the very edges of society, told with honesty, courage and above all, generosity.
• Educated by Tara Westover. A coming-of-age memoir that chronicles a young woman’s efforts to study her way out of a tough childhood in Idaho and find herself through books.
• Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - an elegiac memoir. Vera Brittain recalls her experiences during the First World War, when she abandoned her Oxford studies to enlist as a nurse in the armed services. She saw the hopes of her generation turn to despair during a conflict in which she lost all the men she loved.
• To Hell and Back by Niki Lauda. Lauda drove a car for sport, but crossed the line between life and death and fought back to even greater glory. He reveals how he battled fear to stage a comeback that seemed beyond human endurance.
• A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. A modern Classic Life is tough for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can, discovering through her the passion missing from his life. 

Next Meeting:  Saturday 5th April at 1.30. Randomly Generated Themes:  Prejudice and Ambition

Sue Brice

If you would like to know more talk to Amita or Sue on suzeou@gmail.com.

 “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss