28 January: Jane Austen and bookclubs

The weekend's movie with the friends was The Jane Austen Bookclub. In fact, the friends are all members of our own bookclub: Eleanor's Reading Circle, to give it its grand title. We have been happily 'bookclubbing' for the last nine years. The highlight on our monthy calendar is the meeting at one another's houses. We take turns to choose three or four new books to purchase from a selection on appro from the local bookstore and talk non-stop about our latest read. It is very informal - a merry muddle over tea and cake - and we all love it! Crises and joys are shared at the same time - illness, new jobs, new grandchildren, retirement, even bereavement. But nothing as glam as the characters in the movie.

Here's the only existing portrait of Jane! Where would our lives have been without her and Mr Darcy, Captain Wentworthy, Fanny Price, Mrs Bennett and....