London Wine and Dine Book Club

For our first meeting in July, we will delve into Lucy Cooke's 2022 popular science book, Bitch: A revolutionary guide to sex, evolution & the female animal. Zoologist, author, television producer, director, and presenter, this book is Cooke's fifth. '[This] brilliant new book will change how you think – about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in animals and also the very forces that shape evolution.' (Daunt)

'Captivating, revisionist and incisively argued, Cooke’s thrilling book dismantles outdated binary expectations about sexual identity and sexuality in animals by exploring the behaviours of females in various species.'
-Waterstones

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59228221-bitch

This meeting will be a picnic in Regent's Park, so bring along some food and drink to enjoy as we discuss this fascinating dive into evolutionary biology. If the weather does not cooperate, we will have a back-up booking at a nearby pub (details circulated if required).
[To celebrate our animal brethren, if you have a pet that can play nicely with others, please bring them along!]

N.B. We will be charging an event fee of £3, non-refundable, to discourage no-shows and contribute to the running costs of the group. Please only sign up if you intend to come along as space is limited to make for an effective discussion!

In our second meeting in July, we will again return to the classics, this time for Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. 'The first of Hardy's great novels, and the first to sound the tragic note for which his best fiction is remembered.' (Margaret Drabble) The work published in 1874 'originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership.' (Wikipedia)

'Thomas Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with evocative descriptions of rural life, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.'
-Waterstones

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31463.Far_From_the_Madding_Crowd

The meeting will be at All Bar One Butler's Wharf, where will be sat outside (the space is covered, so should it be raining in July, we still sit outside). So come along for a nice meal by the riverside as we delve into this classic of 19th century literature!

N.B. We will be charging an event fee of £3, non-refundable, to discourage no-shows and contribute to the running costs of the group. Please only sign up if you intend to come along as space is limited to make for an effective discussion!

For August's first meeting, we will be discussing Josie Ferguson's 2024 historical fiction novel, The Silence In Between. The book was short-listed for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Award on its way to being a bestseller. 'Based on true stories, The Silence in Between is a page-turning, emotional epic that will stay with you long after you finish reading.' (Book jacket)

'Moving between WW2 Germany and Cold War Berlin, this hauntingly beautiful debut about a mother separated from her baby boy and the daughter who years later tries to reunite the family is a quietly powerful study in trauma, hope, and individual lives altered by seismic historical moments.'
-Waterstones

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213572648-the-silence-in-between

In the eternal hope that the weather in August in London will be nice, we will hold the meeting at Zizzi St Katharine's Dock, in their lovely outdoor area (note this area is covered and down some stone steps). So come along for a tasty Italian meal overlooking the docks as we dive into this fascinating book.

N.B. We will be charging an event fee of £3, non-refundable, to discourage no-shows and contribute to the running costs of the group. Please only sign up if you intend to come along as space is limited to make for an effective discussion!

For the second August meeting, we will discuss Warren Adler’s 1981 novel, The War of the Roses. The novel ‘tells the story of Jonathan and Barbara Rose, and their descent from a picturesque family life into a world of macabre self-destruction.’ (Wikipedia)

‘Published in the UK for the first time, Adler's classic 1981 black comedy about an ever-escalating and increasingly vitriolic divorce has lost [none] of its acerbic, satirical edge.’
-Waterstones

[A film adaptation is due out in early September, so we will organise a book group outing to go see it for all that are interested!]

This meeting will be a picnic in picturesque little Hanover Square. So bring yourself a picnic to enjoy the hopefully good August weather as we dive into this sumptuous novel!
[Should the weather not cooperate, an alternative nearby location will be announced.]

N.B. We will be charging an event fee of £3, non-refundable, to discourage no-shows and contribute to the running costs of the group. Please only sign up if you intend to come along as space is limited to make for an effective discussion!