Book club – second edition

I am so happy and grateful to finally make it happen!!!! Book club – the second edition took place in Varna at the occasion of Women’s Day 2020.

The first edition of the Book Club was in Utrecht and it was more than perfect!!!! More about the event, read here: My first book club: 5 ladies, 5 books and one tiramisu!

First, a little bit about the get-together.

The place: 43.12 Cafe in Varna.

Awesome place, top location (in the city centre), delicious coffee and stunning interior. The best place in town for a Book Club! We were sitting in a separate and quiet room, so we could exchange our book preferences noiseless.

The participants: 4 adults and 1 teenager. I was surprised by the interest the older daughter of a colleague showed to the event and the books we were talking about. She recommended the book, “Katy” by Jacqueline Wilson. Victoria is pretty young and the story of the book might be hard for her, but she said that this book was her favourite. One of the ladies decided to read it and Viki landed it to her. I will give it a chance as well afterwards.

The next book on the list was King Rat, a novel by James Clavell. I didn’t read the book, I don’t know anything about it, but I heard a lot of positive feedback about it. Snezhina presented it with such a fascination, that I am sure I will read it once I’ll finish what is currently lying on my bookshelf.

The third book on the list: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

The action of the novel takes place in Moscow. Even though I read Russian classics, I’ve never dived into a contemporary book that takes place in Moscow. It looks like it is a bestseller and TV series will be released soon. I am not sure about the book, but I have the feeling that the series will be a success!

Katalin Street by Magda Szabo came next

The title sounds lugubrious and the thoughts and the feelings of the characters look like sorrowful too. The presenter of the book said it’s heavy and specific to digest reading, so for the time being, I will not consider it.

“Home” by Kamelia Kucher was introduced by Elena. I heard about the book and the author recently. The book is about “Home” and all the endless different stories that happen behind the walls of each “Home”. Every family has its story and no one else can understand it unless putting oneself in others’ shoes. I was intrigued and I will put it on my reading radar for sure.

The last books during the Book Club were recommended by myself

I started with “In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom” by Yeonmi Park. This book kept me awake for two nights and I believe it’s worth reading. My review of Yeonmi’s story can be found here: Five books for real-world explorers

The next book on my list was “Zuleikha opens her eyes by Guzel Yakhina. Needless to say again, this is one of my favourite novels of all times. For more information, check my review here: Book review of ”Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” by Guzel Yakhina

And the last one I actually finished recently is Daring to Drive by Manal al-Sharif. A very good book to remind all of us that a woman is everything she dares to be.

I am planning already the next Book reunion and hope that my idea will spread around.

Thanks for reading and keep reading!