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RISC Bookclub Future Meeting Dates and Titles
These titles are voted for by the bookclub members themselves.
If you are not a member of the bookclub, please email liz@risc.org.uk before coming along to a meeting. Thank you.

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
January 31st, Thursday, Room 3
From the author of The Kite Runner.
Set mostly in Afghanistan, this book traces the gradually interlocking lives of two women, Mariam and Laila, as they survive the seemingly never-ending carnage that has nearly destroyed their country over the past 3 decades.

Ines of My Soul –Isabel Allende
Feb 28th, Thursday, room 3, 7.30pm
The fictional memoirs of Ines Suarez, the first Spanish woman to live in Chile in the 1500’s. This book is another of Allende’s beautiful, passionate and powerful novels.
“Passionate, breathtaking and bloodthirsty, this is historical fiction at is very best.”

Drift Latitudes – Jamal Mahjoub
March 27th Thursday, room 3, 7.30pm
For lovers of Andrea Levy’s Small Island, a novel that weaves a wonderful story out of the mixed-up cultures of Britain, and the heritage of those whose parents came here in the 40s and 50s. The Drift Latitudes" is about how we improvise our lives and the chances we take. From the Nubian boy who flees the tedium of home to find the bright lights of New York's jazz scene, to Ernst's daughter Rachel who turns her back on Europe and follows her husband to the Sudan, it is about the movement of people around our globe and the interdependence of our dreams.

Iran Awakening - Shirin Ebadi
April 30th, Wednesday room 3 7.30pm
This is a powerful and uplifting account of events in Tehran over the last three decades, a compelling view from someone experiencing it first hand.

'The riveting story of an amazing and very brave woman.'
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

'inspiring' New internationalist

Reluctant Fundamentalist –Mohsin Hamid
May 29th Thursday room 3 7.30pm

This bold new novel is a daring, fast-paced monologue of a young Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. A riveting, brilliantly unsettling exploration of the shadowy, unexpected connections between the political and the personal.

Miss Chopsticks – Xin Ran
June 30th Monday room 1 7.30pm
A funny and intelligent story that follows the lives of three women, with little formal education, in modern day China. A real eye-opening look into this complex country from a woman’s point of view.
`A fascinating snapshot of the contemporary tension between rural
and urban China.' Observer