Tokai Book Club marks 50 years of literary passion and community

The Tokai Book Club continues to blossom after 50 years of reading and discussing books from local and international authors.

The founding members of the club are Sheila Scott, 79, Maud Purves, 88, and the late Cherril Charman. Before they even thought about reading books, Ms Purves said they first met during the day as a discussion group, then a babysitting group.

“We were all young mothers at the time, we ran a very efficient babysitting club, though we were all passionate readers, and we decided to start the book club,” she said

Ms Purves from Fish Hoek said they would then move their book club to the evening, as they did not want to have any children running around.

Ms Scott from Fish Hoek said they first met at a member's home in Dennendal, Tokai, though each member would have an opportunity to host at their homes every month, where they would meet for their book club.

“However, now that we are all retired, we meet once a month during the day for our book club,” she said

It has always been an all-women’s book club. Ms Purves said the men may come at the end of the book club to pick up their partners, and they would pop in for a glass of wine.

“Over the years, many members of the book club came and went,” said Ms Purves

Currently, they have 10 members, with past members like Ms Charman and Moira Truter who have died.

Anne Ray, 81, from Tokai, joined the book club more than 40 years ago.

“We take turns buying books, we make a list telling us when it is our turn to buy books and when it is our time to host,” she said.  

Ms Ray said that at each meeting, after the members have finished reading their book, they will have in-depth discussions about what they read.

Ms Scott said they consider themselves serious readers, adding that even during Apartheid in the mid 1970s, when they started, they were reading a lot of novels that were about ‘struggle literature.’

Ms Ray said they all read a lot during that era. “We kept a really open mind,” she said.

Ms Scott said that the interesting  thing about the book club is that members tend to go for the authors that you know that you like.

“Though with the book club, other readers choose their authors and we would get exposed to other authors,” she said.

Lynette Harley, 81, from Tokai, said they got exposed to many authors over the years. She enjoyed South African author Deon Meyer, American author Cormac McCarthy, Amore Tyles, and Australian author Jane Harper.

Ms Harley says they even explored books from Irish, Chinese, South American, Turkish, and Latvian authors. 

Jeannette Skibbe, 76, from Tokai, has been part of this book club for over 45 years.

“I enjoy reading many books, and there are many books I would not have read if I did not join this book club,” she said. Ms Skibbe said she really looks forward to meeting all the members at the book club. During the pandemic, they even tried to have their book club meetings through video conference. Ms Skibbe said it was quite funny. “We would hear things like, 'Can you hear me? '  'Put your mic on, put your camera on',” she said.

Even though they have been reading hardcover books over the years, they have embraced technology in books. Ms Harley said they were discussing amongst themselves whether downloading books onto a tablet or reading hard copy books is better.

“The truth of the matter is that you remember books much better, you remember the author, and you remember the title,” she said.

She said if you read it on a Kindle book reader, and you perhaps bookmark where you last read it, 'When I resume reading, then I would have to figure out what the name of the book I was reading,” said Ms Harley. 

Ms Scott said they managed to stay together so long because they are all passionate about reading and books.