Last night after cycling home, and as usual getting lost, I went out........ wandered up Rotherhithe Street and eventually came to a part of Rotherhithe I have never been before, discovered a job centre, health centre and the object of the search, a library! It was brightly lit and the doors were welcomingly open so after taking a deep breath I headed up the steps. Inside I could see a gathering of people so I aimed for that, chairs were set out in a circle and a number had already been claimed. In one corner a couple of women were pouring wine into glasses and chatting, after a couple of seconds of taking in the scene I introduced myself to a wine pourer and was welcomed into the fold, offered wine and asked to find a chair. I had made it into my first reading group experience!!!! The group was larger than I anticipated and quite diverse though I guess the majority were 50 something women there were exceptions.. the young Chinese man and 40 ish gay bloke being the most obvious. The book they had read last month was Washington Square by Henry James, obviously I was at a bit of a disadvantage as I hadn't read it but it turned out I wasn't the only one and the conversation was lively at times challenging at others and dire on a couple of occassions. Turns out that next month they don't have a book to read but are having a Christmas party, so it will be January before I can really expereince the whole reading group thing... I have to produce a list of my favourite 10 books before the Christmas Party though, so that will take some thought!!