The Driffield library reading group
After two events this week, I’m now halfway through my Read Regional tour and despite the nerves that get me before each event, I’m always at ease by the end of it and that’s down to the readers who come along.
This week I visited two reading groups – in Driffield and Spennymoor – and found both to be very encouraging of me and my work and also very lively in their discussion of the book. As a former member of a book group, I know how animated the groups can be – as they should be. And at the events this week, although no one said they didn’t like Stolen, a few questions were raised about plot points or character’s motivations that caused heated debate within the group. In Driffield one lady said she thought the chapters were too short which is a characteristic of the book most readers previously have told me they loved. The majority of readers tell me they think Gardner is lovely, one even used the word adorable (which I’m not sure Gardner would approve of), but a reader at the group thought he was ineffectual. Just goes to show how people react differently to books and that you can never please everyone all of the time – something to remember when the reviews come out!
Chatting to members of Spennymoor reading group before the discussion kicked off.
So thanks to everyone from both groups for bringing so much to the discussion, and to Gary Smith at Driffield and Catherine Gillham at Spennymoor for being such great hosts.
rebeccamuddiman 