| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Coordinator: | |
| When: | Twice-monthly on Thursday afternoons Second and fourth Thursdays of the month |
| Venue: | Stonehouse Community Centre |
Mill on the Floss, George Eliot
The group is now meeting at Stonehouse Community Centre on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. We are beginning to read and discuss The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. If you like reading and talking about the best books, come and join us. More news soon.
A list of other works we have tackled is at the bottom of this page....so please read on...
Our Readers group is one of only two in England, as far as we know, that is sponsored by a u3a; others are run by universities as part of their role as Adult Education providers, and led by lecturers. We are u3a and do it ourselves!.
You are invited to join us for a least one meeting to find out what we do and help us – everyone helps as we learn together. We are a very sociable group.
If you are a reader, why not try the group? It is sociable and the discussions are entertaining.
What is a Readers Group?
A Readers Group is a particular kind of u3a group, though they also exist in some Universities. It is not a book group. Each group consists of people who have learned to read well, usually a long time ago, and who want to be even better readers. We think that the only way we can do that is to read carefully, perhaps more slowly than usual, and discuss the way the words affect us and our states of mind; it is important to read what are regarded as especially good examples of writing. Our aim is not to ‘read the classics’ (sometimes they were ruined for us because we had to take an exam) but to enjoy books for their own sakes while we improve our skill as readers. I have been practising reading for a long time and although I am now in my eighties there is plenty of room for improvement. The Readers group has helped a lot.
As Readers we are people who read and are interested in the effects that books and in fact all words have on us. For example, how can we trust any statement of fact that we read or hear? Can we always judge whether it is true? And when we look at a book that has been in print for over two hundred years we can ask ourselves, What is it about this particular book that has kept it going for so long when millions of books have vanished from memory? We are hoping to find out more about these things as we read and study.
The group always chooses its own book.
Meetings are in Stonehouse.
If you are interested in finding out more or in joining our group, please contact John by email using the group link above.