The sun sets on a Book Group Day that should have been a humdinger given the weekend news,that all was not quite as Salty as it should have been on the Saltpath written by Raynor Winn. Or as we now know her to be, plain old Sally Walker*
Even the name change is a bit of a hint,who would conceivably give up on the surname Walker for a book featuring walking. Someone who couldn’t let her real name be known.
But no Salt Path discussions for the Bookworms today. Just 5 of us rocked up and out of respect for the other 7 we just discussed politics, the trials and tribulations of the ‘ burner’ phone for activists over 70 and a book of short stories by Ali Smith.
August’s meeting will be fascinating. A whole month for the Salt Path to unravel.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I was never comfortable with the writer and narrator of the Salt Path. I even gave up an interest in a local folk band, Gigspanner when they invited her to join them.
It is ironic that this revelation has come just as I have ended my Raynor Winn reading session. People helpfully suggested I read her second and third book to educate myself into liking and understanding her and her story more. The attempt to scrub my cynicism and replace it with some compassion had already failed when the news broke this weekend.
It gave me no pleasure at all to be proved right, because whatever I think of the author and her book, a lot of people have been inspired by her to walk the South West Coastal Path or to attempt seemingly impossible tasks when illness strikes.
I always hoped I was wrong about her, I excused myself from my dislike by thinking that I was misreading what I was reading, while reading ‘ between the lines’.
But to write one untruthful memoir could be considered an accident.
Two might be a coincidence.
Three is a pattern of deceit.
And to allow a Movie* to be made is asking for trouble.
And that appears to be exactly the tipping point. Although the film is less awful than the books because it can easily be viewed as a work of fiction. But now I feel some discomfort for the Actors, Gillian Anderson and Jason Issacs who gave excellent performances as people who were not who, or what they thought they were.
Books and bookclubs! They make you think.
Evolving Bookworms. I belong to a small bookgroup. We provide ourselves with book sets loaned by Cornwall Library Service, we’ve just read our last book issued before libraries closed their doors as part of Coronovirus. The system is pretty easy, groups choose a years worth of book sets from a list on the Library website. The sets are then delivered to our local library once a month. The system is not foolproof and we don’t always get a set that we selected but every month there is a set of books waiting for us at the library. Unexpected books have given us the opportunity to read something none of us would have chosen, we always have lively discussions regardless of how much the book was enjoyed.
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