Double feature June and July 2025
Due to changes in the library opening hours we didn’t meet in June so had a double feature meeting in July to discuss both books.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus first.
Against all the odds Elizabeth Zott is a scientist in the 1960’s. Her passion is chemistry and she has to deal with the prejudices of the time, including verbal and physical abuse, to follow her heart. But she is a force of nature in her own right, rolls up her sleeves and gets on with her life regardless.
Unexpectedly her path collides with Calvin Evans, a brilliant Nobel prize winning chemist who has his own background which is gradually revealed. This meeting of minds leads to some unexpected chemistry between them. Sadly he is taken from her leaving her a single mother in less accepting times. This leads to her being dismissed from her post and converting her kitchen into a laboratory so she can continue her work.
Problems between her daughter and another girl at school lead to her meeting a local TV producer who suggests that she host a cookery show. She reluctantly accepts and delivers a show that not only teaches women how to cook but makes them question what they can achieve and reach higher.
Through the book we see the story through the eyes of the various characters along the way, Elizabeth, Calvin, Madeline, Harriet and others. Not forgetting Six Thirty, her dog, who provides some very sage like wisdom along the way.
Nine of us met to talk about the book and eight of us liked it. We had a great discussion about the story itself and the issues it bought up. It’s always interesting to see how our vies of the book change and develop as we hear other people’s views and I often leave meetings with a richer view of a book than when I arrived.
We gave the book a marking of 8.3 out of 10.
Then we had a briefer discussion on our June book Somebody I used to know by Wendy Mitchell.
This book is autobiographical as Wendy tells her own story of what it’s like to develop, be diagnosed with and live with dementia. The book is harder to read in parts because of what Wendy is going through but we learned a lot from it. While we all hope we will never be in her shoes we felt that this was a book we would want to be given should we, or one of our loved ones, face such a diagnosis.
The topic meant that three members of the group weren’t able to finish the book or read it at all. The six of us who read it gave it a marking of 8 out of 10.
We have also started to recommend other books we’ve read and enjoyed. If you’re looking for a new read try Abraham Verghese’s book The Covenent of Water.