Please note there has been a change of date for the next meeting of Book Angels, the MHWI book club.   We will now be meeting on Monday, 11th December 2017 at 8pm in the downstairs bar of The Angel Hotel, High Street, Market Harborough.

Members will be discussing ‘Good Omens’ written by Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman.

In 2018, Book Angels will be changing their meeting time to the third Monday of each month, as follows:

Monday, 15th January

Discussing a book of own choice set in India, over a curry at the Cinnamon Lounge, Market Harborough

Monday, 19th February

Poetry and Prosecco night, with a poem of your own choice

Monday, 19th March

Discussion of ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman (a copy of this book will be included as a prize in the MHWI Christmas Raffle).

New members always welcome.   Come regularly or just occasionally – whatever suits you.   It’s a great opportunity to have a relaxing, social evening and get to know other WI members a little better.

This is just a reminder that there will be NO Craft Club in December due to the Christmas festivities.

Craft Club will resume again on Thursday, 4th January 2018 at 7 pm in The Lounge at the Congregational Church, Market Harborough.

New members always welcome.

A great night was had by all at the MHWI Cocktail Evening held at the Waterfront Restaurant, Market Harborough on Wednesday, 8th November 2017.     Members were shown how to make and sample (of course) a variety of cocktails, as well as enjoying delicious platters of food.

Also, welcome to our recently elected President, Anne Clayton, shown below.   It’s great to see that Anne is quickly developing a taste for her new role!

Other members joined in enthusiastically too!

Look out for details of our Social Events Programme for 2018

Coming soon.

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the Skittles evening at the Railway Inn, Kibworth, tonight as a number of members have dropped out.

We hope to re-arrange again in the near future.

The WI Book Club, now known as ‘Book Angels’,  has been busy over the summer enjoying a wide variety of different books.   Here are our thoughts on the latest two books reviewed in July and August:

‘Commonwealth’ by Ann Patchett     Rating:  ******* (7/10)

A Christening, a bottle of gin, a stolen kiss, and an affair begins.  When Bert Cousins, deputy district attorney, gate crashes a Christening party for Franny Keating to grab a few moments away from his four kids and weary wife, he finds himself immediately drawn to Beverly, the beautiful wife of Fix Keating, a cop.  The novel explores the subsequent breakdown of two marriages and the consequences on their six shared children.   Here the ‘Commonwealth’ could be thought of as the joint offspring of the two families.

While their parents sort out their own relationships, the children often escape close supervision.   One ill-fated Summer’s day, Cal, Bert’s eldest son, mysteriously dies while the children are all out together.   Tantalisingly, the reasons for his death are not revealed until later in the novel.  By then, Franny has grown up and her partner, Leon Posen, is a writer.    She reveals the circumstances of Cal’s death to him and he then incorporates this into his latest successful novel, which other family members then see.   The novel explores the effects on each family member through a series of non-sequential recollections.

‘Not in Your Genes’ by Oliver James     Rating: ****** (6/10)

This month we explored a non-fiction choice which led to some very lively discussions.   Oliver James throws a whole new light on the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate about how our personality and behaviour is determined.  He has researched the possibility that our genes might play very little part in defining who we are and puts forward the theory that our individualism is almost entirely due to our upbringing and environment.   More pressure on mums, we hear you say!

He gives lots of interesting examples, often using famous people’s case histories to illustrate his points, such as Paula Geldof and Peaches Geldof.  He also disputes previous work that has been done using twins.

We found the book a very thought-provoking read, but most of our members were not entirely convinced about his arguments.  Have you considered whether you might be passing down behavioural ‘traits’ to your children rather than genes?  Give these books a read and let us know what you think, even if you unable to attend ‘Book Angels’:

Send your comments and ratings to:   marketharboroughwi@gmail.com