We had a great meeting in December, fuelled by Christmas treats and cheer provided by both the fantastic library staff and the book group members.
We had a lively discussion about Cold Comfort Farm. Another book that was liked by some of us and really disliked by others.
A few of us thought it was quite a feminist book, with the protagonist Flora Poste being an independent, determined young lady tackling her own homelessness, whilst sorting out the lives of her distant relatives at Cold Comfort Farm. On the other hand, others felt that it portrayed women as victims of their gender, with a lack of independent means and no security unless they were married.
The general consensus was that the novel needed to be viewed from the perspective of the time in which it was written.
Finally, many of us could not find the humour in what is described as a humorous, satirical book that was designed to be a parody of the dark, rural romantic novels popular at the time.
Nevertheless, there was general agreement that most of us were pleased to have read such a famous novel and enjoyed the fact that it was set in Sussex, albeit not necessarily a Sussex that we now recognised.
“Flora was so startled at being addressed in a respectful and normal manner by anyone in Sussex that she almost forgot to answer, but habit is strong, and she recovered her wits sufficiently to agree graciously that the day was, indeed, nasty.”
The next book to be read will be "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Shute.
This will be discussed on Friday 9th January 2026.