Well-Kitchen Well-Read Book Club

Our April 2025 meeting at the Wonderful Well-Kitchen Cafe

The themes for our April meeting were Prejudice and Ambition. Another wide ranging discussion with an equally wide ranging selection of titles. Thanks to Amita for lovely coffee and most excellent cake.

• (THUG) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Inspired by the Black Lives matter movement. This is the story of Starr who moves between two worlds: one privileged one poor. What she says or does not say could endanger her community and her own life.
• Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. Hardy’s final and most controversial novel. Class prejudice, academic prejudice, prejudice against women - all leading to the squashing of ambition. Two boxes of tissues at least…
• To Sir With Love by ER Braithwaite. The novel is based on the true story of Braithwaite who accepted a teaching post in a post-war secondary school. It gives a powerful insight into the politics of race and class in postwar London.
• The Reckoning by Martina Murphy. A rattling good crime novel! He couldn’t possibly have done it - could he? She was a tart - she asked for it? When is the right time to throw a colleague ‘under the bus’ to get a promotion?
• White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Booker prize winner in 2008 a satirical novel about the wide gap between India’s haves and have nots.
• Horse by Geraldine Brookes. Based on the true story of record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington. Horse is a gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.
• The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. How well do you know your friends and colleagues? An autobiographical and biographical true crime book about serial killer Ted Bundy. Rule knew him personally before and after his arrest for a series of murders.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
• How Not to Murder your ADHD Kid by Sarah Templeton. Insider knowledge of how ADHD kids' brains really work. It will help you understand their thoughts, actions and behaviours and give you the very best ways of managing an ADHD child, ensuring these kids go on to be the leaders and winners they were born to be.

Next Meeting: Saturday May 3rd at 1.30. Randomly Generated Themes: Inspiration & Impossibility

Sue Brice

If you would like to know more talk to Amita or Sue on suzeou@gmail.com.

 “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss