About Us

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Réans, Armagnac, 32 Gers, France
Our objective is to promote friendship between women of all nationalities living in Gascony, SW France, to share our interests and to offer help when needed. The Club started in 2008, with twenty English ladies living in Gascony, using a foreign language and experiencing a new life. Since then, several different groups have been added and our membership has grown into the hundreds, with new ladies moving to the area and ladies who have lived here a while, who have discovered us, who want to make new acquaintances and discover new areas of interest. Today we have eleven nationalities, and our speaking/working language is English. The GLC meets on the second Tuesday of each month, excluding July and August.Every member receives an email each month, giving the name of the restaurant, the chosen, menu and a booking form. In 2014, we became a non-profit making Association, known as Ladies Lunch Club de l’Armagnac and was re-named in 2019 to Gascogne Ladies Club. Our annual subscription fee of 10 € is payable in January each year. Each member of the Club may participate in some or all of our various groups

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Book club meeting May 2013 and outlook for June, July and August 2013

Thank you to everyone for an enjoyable meeting on Thursday to discuss the Doris Lessing book.  I’ve written a short précis of the book and our thoughts.

 The next meeting is on Thursday 20 June at 2.45,
 when we will discuss 



The Long Song paperback cover


"From the critically acclaimed Andrea Levy, Orange Prize winning author of SMALL ISLAND, comes this breathtaking, hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and longlisted for the Orange Prize.
July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was present when slavery was declared no more." 


Caroline suggested books for the July meeting (and August) and we chose: 

Thursday July 18th                           
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

 Garden of Mist

Wednesday August 14th               
The Girl who fell from the Sky by Simon Mawer



We have decided to have aperos after 6pm for the August meeting, Wednesday 14th, to celebrate Pam’s small birthday.  She has said she would be happier if we again met at her house and we can all bring some canapés and fizz.

NB. A correction from Carole about a book she liked by Angela Carter.  It’s called Wise Children.

Wise Children

Here is a review of the meeting on May 23rd:
Doris Lessing, The Diaries of Jane Somers
Front Cover

Aren’t we lucky to be able to have books to read written by such good writers.   Doris Lessing has written many epic books and The Diaries of Jane Somers certainly provoked praise of her marvellous descriptive writing and storytelling.   The book is actually 2 books, bound into one, featuring the same heroine in the difference stages of her life.  As a successful magazine editor with a ‘clean and perfect’ life we watch her see her husband die, then her mother, then befriending an old woman who she cares for and grows to love, perhaps to help ease her emotional guilt.  The second book finds her falling in love again and caring for her young despot niece.

Some found the book an uncomfortable read evoking memories and thoughts of old relatives, old age homes and care workers.  Also it probably ‘struck a cord’ with us as we’re all more sensitive about getting old.  Doris Lessing, through her characters, gives us a clear insight into old age with old people fiercely clinging to their independence and creating their own isolation. Not necessarily an enjoyable read but emotional, thought provoking and highly descriptive with strong characters.

Have a look at when Doris Lessing received the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007.  I wonder who the guy with the artichoke and onions is in link 1?!!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBODHFBZ8k



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IwEBHz0Lo

For more information about any of the above or our next meeting and venue, please contact:

Ladieslunchclub secretary: 
lunchclubgascogne(at)gmail.com


For all other publications regarding the LLC bookclub please see our page here

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