Book Club: Monday 22 June. The First Man by Albert Camus.

This work was chosen by Theresa McMullin. Published posthumously, the unfinished manuscript was found in the car in which Camus had died in an accident. The story draws on the author's experience of growing up in an impoverished French family in Algiers. The political, philosophical and historical context of this tale were discussed by members It was thought that the manuscript was the first section of what was intended to be a much longer work. All agreed that the book painted a vivid picture of the area and the family life portrayed. In some ways it was frustrating not to know what outcome of the narrative component of the book was intended. The earlier chapters showed signs of having been more thoroughly edited than the final ones, which contained some sentences nearly three pages long, requiring more concentration than some of us could muster. Less well-known than his earlier works "The Plague" and "The Outsider", this book was an interesting discovery for all of us.

(The next meeting on 15 July will be on selected poems by Thomas Hardy, introduced by Gillian Southgate, who is going to circulate her choice by e-mail, and I will also try to post them on the blog. LY)

Meeting of Friday 19 June: Humorous readings by members

A quite well attended meeting was entertained by items of humorous prose or verse chosen and read by members. Nearly all those attending had a five minute contribution to share, and judging by the amount of laughter, the excerpts were well chosen. Among the prose authors featuring were P G Wodehouse, in an excerpt from an Ukridge book. P G Wodehouse also appeared later in a pastiche of a "Jeeves" story by Sebastian Faulks in the style of Raymond Chandler, first broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 "Write Stuff" literary quiz. Daisy Ashford's "The Young Visiters" featured, as did work in verse by Joyce Grenfell, Dylan Thomas, Edward Lear and Hilaire Belloc. About sixteen members contributed, with some providing two short contributions rather than a single longer one. Particularly memorable was the Chairman's contribution, an extract from Frank McCourt's autobiographical account of his introduction to teaching in a tough New York school, from his book "Teacher Man"