Pamela Young is behind the new book club, which started this week, and she is keen to share her love of all things literary with other like minded souls.
Passionate about books and reading, it’s not the first book club she has been involved in and she said: “I have belonged to book clubs all over the world. The thing about book groups is you meet different people and they suggest totally different books that you would never think of
“It widens your whole horizons.”
Her first foray into book clubs was whilst living in Bahrain in the Middle East and it allowed her to meet new people, something she also hopes will happen in Lockerbie, where she moved to last summer.
But her love of reading goes right back to childhood and was inherited from her bibliophile mother.
“I enjoy reading, it’s a great comfort,” said Pamela, pictured. “It drives me mad when people do not know how precious books are.”
Throughout her career, teaching English around the world, she has always tried to share that love and encourage reading.
Indeed, she was involved in setting up a library in a secondary school in Zambia, made up of books donated and sourced in Dumfries and Galloway.
She also was part of a successful experimental teaching programme in Hong Kong, which saw new teaching methods introduced into the classroom.
This allowed Pamela to emphasise the ‘read, read, read’ message to her students, their parents and fellow teachers.
Furthermore, in Vietnam she was thrilled to be able to present some adult students with their first ever books.
Her own tastes are vast and varied but she particularly enjoys autobiographies and historical tomes.
“I have so many favourite authors,” she said. “Two I enjoyed recently were Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. All The Light We Cannot See was another.”
Future meetings are open to all and Pamela would love to see a mix of ages sharing their top titles.
Social distancing measures will be in place and anyone wishing to attend can turn up or message Pamela in advance via Facebook.
