To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Sylvia Plath’s modern classic The Bell Jar, we have recruited five reading groups to read, review and blog about the book.
About Rampant Readers
Rampant Reader member Kath tells us a little more about their book group:
“Our book group has been running for just over three years. As a recently retired teacher, I was looking for a book group to join. There wasn’t one in our village so I decided to start one with the help of a new friend, whom I’d met on a walk in protest against the installation of wind turbines nearby.
“I took advice from our village library staff who supplied us with reading sets and helped us to advertise. We started with a core group of six who all agreed that we wanted to read more widely. Now a group of ten friendly females, ranging in age from 39 to 66, we meet in each others’ houses and choose books together. Cutbacks have reduced our library service so we usually source the books ourselves.
“I keep track of the range of books we’ve read to ensure breadth and variety – The Reading Agency offers have been great for discovering new authors. Now an established village organisation, we do a book sale once a year to support local events and I write book reviews for the Parish News magazine.”
Top reads
Our top three reads as a group are:
* The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
* The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid
* The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Bonus read: The Other Hand by Chris Cleave was equally popular! In our group photo (above) we’re each holding favourite reads.
Get involved
Read more about the groups participating in the project and find out how they are getting on.
Are you and your book club reading The Bell Jar this year? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or email.
