Listening to my fellow book club members on tape I realised that the hostess, exhausted by the preparation of a sumptuous feast, speaks the least and that the discussion is not really like a normal conversation at all. We speak over each other and rarely allow anyone to finish their point. I have a tendency to shout towards the end of a sentence in order to be able to see it through to the end.

The tape clicks on to record self-conscious laughter

Alyson: It’s not Play for Today, we can be ourselves

Shirley: You going to kick it off then Alyson?

Alyson: The book either completely annoyed me or I thought it was very beautiful, relaxing, gentle and lovely

Chrissy: I find it weird he is supposed to be an undiscovered writer or an unappreciated writer.

Sarah: I thought he was a brand new novelist when I began the book.

Shirley: The beginning sequence of the arrival in Cherbourg was one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in ages, the first 90 pages were stunning and the whole sequence going through to Mont-Saint-Michel was a lovely travelogue and then they got to the chateau and it was just so dull.

Chrissy: Oh I loved the chateau…

Shirley: It has the atmosphere of being in one of those slightly musty French places

Chrissy: The embarrassment over money and things, I loved the embarrassment of it.

Shirley: I read a few reviews that described the Americans as a nasty, stingy couple but I didn’t think they were a selfish couple. I thought they were a nice couple actually who didn’t want to be ripped off

Times Recommends

• Superfreakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
• The Times picks the 50 best paperbacks of 2009
• Vincent van Gogh’s letters show the soul of the artist