Book Club

Miss E wants to study English at university and then work in publishing.
Apparently universities don’t care any more that you can play grade 8 piano or did Duke of Edinburgh. They want ‘super curricular’ interests - things that display a wider interest in and commitment to your chosen subject - rather than extra curricular. I said it might be a good idea to show wider reading interests when it comes to interviews!! I said if she only has to come to a few so she can say she “regularly” went to book club and talk about reading books outside her normal choices. Discuss one she was surprised to love, and one she didn’t like and why. They’re not going to interrogate her about every discussion that was ever had!!
But she does need to come to some, so tonight was the night. It didn’t hurt that the book - The Garden by Nick Newman - was something she’d have read anyway!! Post apocalyptic, folky horror.
Nick Newman was lovely. A less polished speaker than Robert Thorogood last month but very interesting and thoughtful. It’s so interesting hearing authors talk about how they do it!
We had a chat with him at the end which was nice. He’d said earlier that his next book was in the early stages of thought. It’s about a couple having a baby later in life and would either be set in a lifeboat(!) or in the far arctic north of Norway:
When we chatted afterwards we said Norway got our vote as we love it. Miss E told him she’d taught herself Norwegian and they talked about how she’d done it. Duolingo and the Mystery of Nils (a fiction book which starts off simply and teaches you vocabulary as you go.)
He was really interested so hopefully a) the book will be set in Norway and b) we’ll get a mention!!!!