I am part of the Anglesey Federation of Women’s Institutes, and part of the Trearddur Bay branch. We have just started a Book Club and had our second meeting.
The chosen book which was Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I reviewed it on here.
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.
There were just four of us to start with and we are hoping to grow our group from WI members.
We began by chatting about some of the points in the story and one that we agreed on was the introduction of second female protagonist. It was unexpected so late on in the book and to have to leave Mariam and delve into someone new didn’t fit.
As with all stories, we were soon caught up in Laila’s life. As she became Mariam’s husband’s second wife, it was easy to understand that neither girl liked the other. They soon found kinship and stuck together as times became difficult.
The horrors of the book affected us all, and it made it worse because it was based on truth. Even worse, what we read is still happening today, and that is chilling.
I read out my review from this blog, the link to that is at the top.
Ann announced the next book which is Angel of Death by Ben Cheetham A crime thriller which is completely different and should be interesting reading. I know I will enjoy it more.
As avid readers we all had books on the go.
I’m reading Looking Good Dead by Stephen Puleston.
Ann was reading Richard Osmond’s The Murder Club
Morfydd’s book was The Appeal, The Remarkable Story of Welsh Women’s Peace Petition by Dr Jenny Mathers and Mererid Hopwood.
Patricia could recall what she reading, but had it in the car and reads at every opportunity.
The next meeting is Wednesday the 12th June.
Come and join the Trearddur Bay WI Facebook page to find out more about what we do. Apart from the Book Club, we also have a Walking Group that visit some wonderful places on Anglesey. The write up and pictures appear monthly on our page.
World of Stories 