Editor’s Diary: Book Club Secret Santa


Shutterstock / WindNight © Book Club

Readers of this Editor’s Diary know that I’m a long-standing member of our company’s Book Club, along with several other “Friend” team members.

Our meetings are a monthly highlight. We have great conversations, lots of laughs and share reading recommendations.

Ours is a no pressure, no judgement book club – the best kind! So you haven’t read the book? No problem – come along anyway!

Over the years. it has pushed me to read new authors I would never normally have considered.

And yes, there have been a few choices I haven’t much enjoyed. But that’s all part of the fun. If you never try anything new, how will you know if you like it or not?

So I’m happy to take a handful of not-so-great books along with the many gems.

This week was our last Book Club meeting of 2022. The book we were discussing was exactly the kind of read I hoped to discover when I first joined Book Club.

I would never have read “The Appeal” by Janice Hallett if it hadn’t been chosen as our read for December. But I absolutely loved it!

Secret Santa

The very best thing about this month’s meeting was our Secret Santa.

In advance, we’d all signed up for an online method of anonymously drawing names from our group. We’d all then bought a book for each other and sent them out in good time for the meeting. (Addresses were also provided anonymously – technology is so clever!)

No peeking was allowed beforehand! We opened all our parcels on the video call on Wednesday evening.

It quickly became clear that we all know each other’s reading tastes very well indeed! Everyone was delighted with their gift from Santa.

Mine is “Demon Copperhead”, the new novel from one of my favourite authors, Barbara Kingsolver. I can’t wait to get started on it. Thank you, Santa!


Read Angela’s previous Editor’s Diary entries

Angela Gilchrist

Angela is Former Editor-in-Chief of “The People’s Friend” magazine. Her passions include cats, Highland ponies, good books, vegetarian food and long walks in the Scottish countryside. Her favourite place to get away from it all is the magical Isle of Skye.