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A gay and lesbian reading group has begun based at Waterstone’s bookshop in Leeds. It is the brainchild of Dominic who already runs the gay and lesbian shelves in the store. He was pleasantly surprised when more than 30 individuals turned up for the inaugural meeting. By the second meeting the numbers had passed 40 and we needed to split into two groups. Apart from all being lesbian and gay we are a very mixed bunch indeed. There is a good split amongst men and women, young through to mature and there was a very diverse history of patterns of reading. He group has decided to pick a new book each month and to ensure we move from one literary genre to another. The first book that the group tackled was the ‘lesbian classic’ Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. It tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a young girl who is adopted into a terrifyingly fundamentalistic, homophobic Christian family in Lancashire. The story is of the girl’s painful escape from the family as she gradually understands her sexuality.
When it was published over 20 years ago it was a surprising hit. It went straight to paperback on release, hardly received a newspaper review and was ignored by the big book chains. However sales steadily grew by word of mouth through small book stores. It was only stocked by WH Smith when it won the Whitbread first novel prize in 1985. It then went on to become a very successful TV drama. The reading group reacted well to the book. Many were surprised that in a book with such a dark theme there was so much humour. The characters were so well drawn and though Winterson herself describes the book as threatening, it’s also fundamentally optimistic. The author is a great English language stylist. There was some disagreement as to how relevant the book is today. Some saw it as a historical piece whilst others saw it as frighteningly relevant in an increasingly intolerant world.
If readers are interested in attending the reading group it happens on the third Tuesday of the month at Waterstone’s, Albion Street, Leeds. If you are planning to come along to the next meeting make sure you have read The City and The Pillar by Gore Vidal first.
John Rossington
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