The New List Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Apologies for not blogging more promptly: I have been knee deep in year 8 reports and have only just emerged!
We had a lovely time in NICE; the conversations were fantastic, even if we went off at various tangents; it was great to meet new faces; and if that wasn’t enough for us, we even managed to draw up a really varied and exciting book list.

We decided to start with Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith and the next meeting will be in NICE bar, at 3.30pm on June 13th.

I hope to see you there!

Book list:

The lacuna. Barbara kingsolver

House of Rules, Jodie Piccoult

The curious incident, Mark haddon

White jacket, Herman Melville

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Boy in The Striped Pajamas,

The book theif, mark zusak

The social consequenes of railway closures

The war with the newts,

Diary of nobody

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The Next Meeting is On the Way! Saturday, April 24, 2010

Keep your eyes on the site for details; how to get to us; and how to stay up to date with the latest.

The next meeting is only 24 days away; we’re going to be drawing up the reading list and hopefully there’ll be a pot of coffee and biscuits (if my budget with allow!)

Updates Wednesday, April 7, 2010

So as you can probably see, the site has had a refit which has taken longer than I wanted due to me assassinating my computer. However in the mean time I want to let you know about the new time and place for our meetings.

I’ve spoken to the manager at NICE who has said we’re more than welcome to drink and chat about books in the bar area. On top of that I’ll be getting in coffee for the meeting from the bar

As the bar is not open on Sundays this means that we will now be meeting on the second Saturday of the month, at the usual time of 3.30 (this will be open to discussion.)

I am not planning to have a book for our next meeting, which will now be in May (due to family commitments this Saturday is impossible.) Instead I would like to meet you, hear your ideas for books and the club so we can. If you are not already a member of the Facebook group, please join,

New Year, New Start Monday, December 21, 2009

I don’t want to say too much; nothing has really been arranged but I’m in the process of getting things in place to have a meeting at the end of January. It seems only fitting to use the original book-list.

In the mean time; let me know what you think of the new site…

Keeping Track of the New Book List Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Book List has Landed: Graham has already posted the new reading list for Rainbow Readers but for those of you who don’t keep a paper diary and love the 21st Century jiggery-internet-pokery then maybe you would want to check out Google Calenders.

It’s a free service and you can create your own schedule and also import events from public ones: like the Rainbow Reader’s Calender. So you can be abreast of Lancaster’s Premiere Reading Group for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and everyone else who loves a good read and a good old natter.

Rainbow Readers – Reading List August – November 08

At the last meeting of the Rainbow Readers book group the upcoming reading list was decided upon. It makes it a lot easier to know what is coming up in advance and buying books en-masse from the internet is also a lot easier.

Take a look at the list and if you feel that you would like to take part in any of the upcoming meetings then please feel free to let us know. You can either leave a comment for us here on the About Us page or email rainbowreaderlancaster@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully seeing you at a future meeting.

August 10th: Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis by Wendy Cope and The World’s Wife by Carol Anne Duffy

September 14th: Toast by Nigel Slater

October 12th: Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin

November 9th: Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

Rainbow Readers Lancaster – Meeting 7pm Sunday 20th July Sunday, July 20, 2008

Just a quick reminder that Rainbow Readers, Lancaster’s premier book group for the gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered  community will be meeting in Lancaster later today.

The meeting will be held at 7pm in the Sun Hotel on Church Street. We will be discussing Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant. Even if you haven’t read the book feel free to come along and say hello.

Tonight we will be discussing the reading list for the next 6 months which was drafted in preliminary form last month. The book group itself is still only a few months old and we are still finding our feet, but each meeting is now seeing some very interesting discussions.

The group is still looking to expand further and if you would like to come down to see what it is all about then you are more than welcome. We are a small, but perfectly formed!! and very friendly bunch of people with a mix of different social backgrounds.

Everyone at Rainbow Readers look forward to seeing you there.

Thoughts on Michael Cunningham’s The Hours Monday, May 26, 2008

Rainbow Readers met up last month to dicuss The Hours by Michael Cunningham. As the novel concerns the Lesbian, Gay, Trans. and bi, not to mention literary community it seemed fitting as a choice for our book group.

The novel it’s self is structured around the lives of three women who each affect the next in different ways; Virginia Woolf is imagined, at her death and at the time she is writing The Hours, the novel which later became Mrs Dalloway; Laura Brown a dissatisfied and lonely housewife in California, reading Mrs Dalloway in the fifties and Clarissa Vaughn a contemporary woman in New York City whose own life echoes that of Clarissa Dalloway in the novel

Without wanting to spoil the novel and tell the whole plot I do want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the way that it blends reality, imaginings and fiction. I especially love the part in the book where Meryl Streep appears and causes a commotion; it’s at this point in the film the author of the book is actually visible as an extra for a fraction of a second.

One of our members also said ” it was beautifully crafted (even if “Mrs Dalloway – to which it continually made literary reference – had sent me into  a literary coma years ago.)  Good to read a novel laced with gay and lesbian characters and references, sharp characterisation and a shocking denouement.”

All in all the book was well received. 

Rainbow Readers is a Lesbian, Bi, Trans and Gay reading group, the discussion is all inclusive and everyone is welcome. It’s not necessary to finish the book before the meeting, however it’s recommended that you read as much as you can or be left behind! All suggestions for books will be made at the meetings. The next meeting for the reading group is June 8th, and we are reading “The Well of Loneliness” accompanied by “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis” Please email rainbowreaderslancaster@gmail.com for more info.

Rainbow Readers – Swept away at Chesil Beach Sunday, May 18, 2008

After a busy week at work picking up the threads that were left before I went away on my holiday I have finally made time to pass on my comments about Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach.

For those of you that don’t know, this isn’t an official book of the Rainbow Readers Book Groups. This was my own choice to slip in my case should I find time to pick up a book. At only 166 pages this small but perfectly formed offering, published by Vintage, was an excellent choice. I didn’t have the time to spend reading I am pleased to say and so had to finfish it off on the flight back home.

I don’t really want to go into too much detail as I do hope that Lancaster’s Rainbow Readers, and I am sure many other book groups, will select this as a choice at a future date.

In short it is a love story which from the outside seems to have all the makings of seeing the central characters, Florence and Edward, live “happily ever after”. As the reader is transported backwards and forwards from the present to the past we slowly start to understand the make up of these fragile and flawed people.

What struck me was the fact that throughout the majority of the book it was the author’s narrative which relays the story, there is next to no speech from anyone, and when it is used it carries with it a weight and ferocity which makes the story all the more life like.

I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for something viewed from a different perspective and who wants to become immersed in a well crafted study of life and attitudes in the 50’s and 60’s. If you have read it, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a member of the Lancaster Rainbow Readers or not, then feel free to share your comments on the book on our blog.

 

The Beginnings of Rainbow Readers Friday, May 16, 2008

Rainbow Readers is a pretty new book group on the Lancaster scene; and new for the book group scene and also the gay, lesbian, bi and trans scene. I came back to Lancaster from a stint abroad in Milan where I was surprised to find gay groups meeting up to all sorts of things; swimming, skiing, reading, political groups, parent groups, hiv groups and even just plain old socialising groups. Milan isn’t a metropolis on the scale of Paris, London or New York though, and while it’s Italy’s largest city I think it may even be slightly smaller than Birmingham in terms of it’s size.

Lancaster on the other hand is a small town and when I came back I knew that there wouldn’t be as many groups to get involved with other gay, lesbian, trans and bi people but I was surprised that a google search returned few listings in the area.  

So rather than sit about fantasizing about a move to Manchester or Brighton I thought I’d get on the job myself and start an area book group for lesbian, bi, gay and trans people (and their friends) in the area. It started with me emailing all of my friends and facebook aquaintences and starting a group there, where response was a little slow but promising none the less.

Soon after I met three other friends who now co-run the group,  (if you get in first you get power!) originally called Queer Book Group Lancaster, but I was gracioulsy advised this may be a little too provocative a title for a social book group. Now we seem to be going from strength to strength, with a wonderful blog (thanks, Graham and monthly meetings- the next in June, 2nd sunday of the month as always, The Well of Lonliness) and it makes me proud to think now when lancaster book group is entered into google our group shines at the top of the board, where only a few weeks ago the only results were in Pennsylvania, USA. (I’m also proud of my attempts of publicity with the flyer I made- however this has received mixed results.) I’m looking forwared to seeing our entry in Wikipedia, but it hasn’t happened yet, but as soon as I work it out, we’ll be immortalised forever in the internet annals (don’t snigger). It may take some time so if you’re a local historian it may be quicker to make an entry yourself.