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Hello booklovers,

We are steadily edging towards the end of February – I hope you are all surviving the absolute weatherly lashing we have been receiving over the past few weeks. Hopefully some exciting news of some upcoming festival events will stoke you up for better (and brighter!) things to come…

Firstly we are very much looking forward to the next Cuppa Book Club which will be held on Tuesday 3rd of March at the delightful Cuppa Cafe – we are still utterly over the moon at the support we have received from you lovely booklovers and we look forward to seeing you all again next week. This month’s theme is ghost stories and we will be looking at Haverscroft by S.A. Harris and Ghostland by Edward Parnell. Look to our lovely local bookshops, such as Stillwater Books, Poor Richard’s and the Treasure Chest, to get your mitts on some copies soon.

Time to warm up those brains as we are gearing up to host the 2020 Felixstowe Book Festival quizzes. Your are most cordially invited to join us on the 27th of March and the 19th of June at Broadway House, for an evening of quiz fun and a posh ploughman’s supper. Teams are made up of 6 people with a ticket cost of £8 per person. Be there or be square for a 7.30 start! To book your team, call 01394 549567 or email vivienne.aspinall@yahoo.co.uk.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day! Why not show your love through sharing a good story with loved ones or trying out a tale that you haven’t encountered before?

If you are struggling for inspiration, look no further than the Felixstowe Book Festival blog: we asked you a few weeks ago for stories that you love and you gave us some rather wonderful examples. Read on to find out more…

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

‘Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’

Whilst I certainly wouldn’t aspire to the disturbing extremes of the passion of Cathy and Heathcliff, their love cultivated on those wild Yorkshire moors is undoubtedly the stuff of romantic legend. A thrilling tale mixing intrigue and gothic overtones is well worth an atmospheric read.  

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien was not noted for interesting depictions of his female characters, however one of our lovely festival fans quite rightly pointed out the ‘understated love’ of one of the novel’s heroes, Aragorn, for the Elvish Lord Elrond’s daughter Arwen. Tolkien’s depiction of love in his adventurous trilogy lies also in the depiction of binding friendships and the importance of home to those who wander far from it.

The Unseen by Katherine Webb

This was suggested to us by one of our fans purely because she found the story ‘gripping, the characters are so interesting and it’s so beautifully written, as are all of Katherine Webb’s books’. What an excellent recommendation!

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks 

‘You are, and always have been, my dream.’

This truly is an ultimate and sumptuous love story, packed with drama and romance, separation and grief, but ultimately fortitude and what it is for a couple to grow old together. Set from the Second World War to many years later, this truly is a novel to be swept away in.

We hope you have enjoyed our little guide to the books that our festival fans love – they just go to show that love can be found in all sorts of different forms. Maybe you have found some inspiration for your next read?

It seems appropriate to conclude our Valentine’s blog post with a quote from one of our best beloved authors, Jane Austen.

‘There is no charm equal to tenderness of the heart.’

Have a good weekend!

All our love,

the Felixstowe Book Festival team x

 

Hello booklovers,

I think it is safe to say that our first ever Cuppa Book Club, which took place last Tuesday, was a barnstorming success. Thanks to you lovely lot we had about 40 booklovers attend, showing a wonderful amount of support for our festival and the cracking Cuppa Cafe! We would like to wish Sarah of Cuppa fame an enormous thank you for providing such a brilliant venue, it truly was a fantastic evening.

Our next session will be on Tuesday 4th February at Cuppa – doors will open at 6.30pm for a 7.15pm start. The February theme will be biography, with particular attention paid to Loves and Lives of the Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie. Hope to see you all there!

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

Here we are, steadily crawling through January 2020. It may be a little early for nostalgia for 2019 and the past decade so forgive me for what is to follow! Last week we asked you for your best reads of the past ten years. In a bid to brighten up this dreary January Monday, we have compiled a list of some of your suggestions…

Brightfire by P. M. Sabin Moore, 2010

Brightfire depicts key events that occurred during the rule of Raedwald, the Saxon King of our local historic treasure Sutton Hoo and is a sequel to Storm Frost (2009). Dealing with both historical and religious issues, this is a fascinating fictionalised account of events which shaped Suffolk and the rest of East Anglia.

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman, 2011

In this novel we follow the life of Elly from childhood to adulthood, with all the pitfalls, joys and tragedies along the way. ‘God’ in fact is the name of Elly’s pet rabbit, given to her by her beloved older brother, who accompanies her through her experiences. A quirky and powerful read.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, 2013

This extraordinary tale details the life of a young woman born in 1910. She is living through a time of world wars, suffrage, a rise in socialism and fascism, revolutionary art, fashion and music. Without wishing to give too much away, our central character Ursula manages to live a life after a life after a life, where her future takes on multiple versions due to individual events and many near misses which change her future forever, many times over.

The Good People by Hannah Kent, 2016

Set in the countryside of Ireland in the 19th century, The Good People is the tale of  three central female characters, grandmother Nora, her friend Mary and local healer Nance. In her novel, Kent depicts the constraints and prejudices dominating society, as well as the fierce bonds of grief and love that tie families and communities together.

Machines like Me by Ian McEwan, 2019

In an alternative 1980s, London is the battleground of Tony Benn and Margaret Thatcher and Alan Turing lives to invent a brand new form of artificial intelligence, a synthetic human. Our central character Charlie, besotted with the unattainable Miranda and newly flushed with funds, decides to purchase a new synthetic human named Adam. Charlie and Miranda design Adam’s personality and cultivate his tastes and interests, until they reach a moral problem which is, despite everything, incredibly human. McEwan drives us to ask what makes us authentically human…

The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr, 2019

A truly engrossing read about how throughout the history of humanity we have always depended on stories, from ancient scriptures to children’s picture books, from the first novel to the current trend for boxed sets. Will Storr uses a captivating mix of neuroscience, psychology and historical and contemporary research to show how, with a bit of help from the oldest tools in the business, the art of storytelling is far from dead. Well worth a read for those with good intentions for the new year!

I hope this has provided sufficient literary inspiration booklovers and has showcased the bookish delights that we have been able to enjoy over the past ten years. Who knows what further brilliance the next decade will bring?

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

Wishing you all a very happy 2020! We hope here at the Felixstowe Book Festival that you have enjoyed the festive season. Now we enter a new year and a new decade – what better way to start than by joining the CUPPA book club?

We mentioned this a few weeks ago, during the merry craziness of book Advent – read on for a gentle reminder…

We are delighted to present to you, new for 2020, the CUPPA Book Club. Situated in the CUPPA Cafe (located at 81 High Road West), in conjunction with the Felixstowe Book Festival, join us for monthly meetings lead by wonderful local authors Ruth Dugdall and Liz Rastrick.

Our first meeting is on January 7th at 7pm, kicking off with Harriet Tyce’s Blood Orange and Nicola Upson’s Sorry for the Dead. Click here for information about further book club meetings: https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/6205/exciting-news-for-2020

There is no charge to attend, but we do encourage you to treat yourselves to a cuppa!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x