About six weeks ago, I was asked by a friend if I would consider running a book club. I wasn’t too sure about this, as I don’t seem to have the time to read a book nowadays, although I have written one, but I thought, “It’s about time I made the time to read a book,” and so our book club was formed.

Our first meeting was a month ago, we met at a local café, who kindly kept the doors open for us to purchase coffee etc., there were ten of us, all like minded people, who shared a love of books.

For a gentle ice-breaker I asked everyone to share which genre of books they all liked and the diversity was astonishing. The one that most people seemed to like was historical fiction with fantasy adventure coming in last.

We all agreed that we needed to read different genres, in an effort to broaden our minds and not stick to the same genre each time we choose a book.

Then came the hard task of choosing a first book, something that wasn’t too heavy going and not too many pages. Amidst much debate, and a lot of going off topic, we decided on Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.

One of the ladies had already read it and she was sure it would be an ideal first read for all of us.

We already have a Facebook Group, but we also started a WhatsApp Group, just so that we could keep in contact and see how everyone is getting on.

I finished my book in three weeks, I still haven’t got much time, but I set aside a couple of nights each week to read it and judging by the WhatsApp comments, everyone was doing well with some finishing within a week of starting the book!

So at our next meeting, which is again being held at the local café, unfortunately it doesn’t have a drinks licence, so it’s coffee and tea all round, with maybe a slice of cake, we are going to discuss this book and share everyone’s thoughts about it.

We are each going to bring in the title of the next book we would like to read on a slip of paper and draw it out of a hat, in great, “And the winner is,” style. So after our next meeting, I will do a follow up blog which will contain the reviews from our book club and the next book we will be reading.

See you then!