We’re just an ordinary book club in lots of ways… we meet to discuss one, or sometimes two, books that we have agreed to read. Jeanette Acland is our facilitator—although she does not worship regularly with us she has many connections to this congregation and, importantly, she is a thoughtful and inclusive facilitator.

There are usually about 6 of us who meet monthly on a Wednesday evening between 7.30 – 9 pm from February to November (except September) in the Youth Hall.

The group is pretty informal. We chat about what’s been happening in our lives over the past month, then we go around the group to hear each person’s thoughts on the book we’ve just read. It is important to us that everyone has the opportunity to share their thoughts. We agree, and disagree and sometimes argue. Sometimes we love the book, sometimes we hate it, sometimes we’re indifferent to it. We rarely all reach the same conclusions but generally our understanding of the book is expanded or deepened as a result of hearing each others’ points of view.

We like variety – we choose literary and popular fiction, classics and non-fiction, sometimes prize winners. Often we read books that we would not have otherwise picked up. Generally we try to choose books that we can access through our public libraries.

A recent highlight has been the introduction of having one person bring along a children’s book that they love or loved as a child, so we often end the evening with a storytime… you are never too old to enjoy listening to someone read you a story!

Every month in the Olive Branch you will find the title of the book that we have chosen for the following month. If you see a book that you are interested in, or maybe one that you have already read, feel free to come along and join in the discussion.