Gionvanni's Room by James Baldwin (182 Cindy)

The central protagonist of this novel is David, an American and Giovanni an Italian bartender. In the Guardian review, Garth Greenwell says 'the whole novel is a kind of anatomy of shame, of its roots and the myths that perpetuate it, of the damage it can do. And also of its arbitrariness, since as rebuttal to any claim that shame might be some natural accoutrements of queerness – the belief that lies at the heart of David’s malaise – the novel offers the fact of Giovanni, who seems immune to shame, or at least to the shame that plagues David. And it is this freedom that makes him available to the joy and love David finally believes men can’t share with one another.' This shame permeates the whole novel as it passes backwards and forward through time. A classic novel, James Baldwin writes eloquently about the psychological difficulities of being gay in a time when there was no acceptance. It discusses what it is to be white American abroad, and once you've left how you never feel quite so comfortable back in America - as Helga says  “Americans should never come to Europe,” she says. “It means they never can be happy again. What’s the good of an American who isn’t happy? Happiness was all we had.” An interesting book with layers.

Words used to describe it:  tortured, melancholic, nuanced, tragic, painful

Words out of 10: between 6 - 9.5 so a mixed reception

Next Book

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Next Meeting

7th April Brighton Carolyn's

A Spy Alone by Charles Beaumont (181 Emma)

An exciting and interesting spy thriller. Some of the time is spent trying to work out which character most closely represents which politician. The main protagonist, Simon Sharmon - recruited out of Oxford, now a freelancer, finds that the tentacles of spy industry wind their way through his alumni, Russian money, and corruption in high places (nothing new there then). Slow initially as the bones of the story are laid down, the pace picks up. A thriller in the true meaning of the word. This book generated great discussions about politics, how money corrupts and corruption in high places. 

Words used to describe it:  interesting, intriguing, clever, enjoyable, inciteful, compelling read, modern Le Carre

Marks out of 10: between 7 - 9 so highly rated by the group

Next Book

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (Cindy)

Next Meeting

29th February at Naila's

A Sting in the Tail by David Goulson (180 Olivia)

 A fascinating book full of interesting facts and details about bees; bumble bees, honey bees and the other 26 different variety of Bombus, UK bees. Many of whom are under threat of extinction. It details Professor Goulson interest in these intriguing and astounding insects - without whom our food chains would be completely f##ked. The facts and figures details are all amazing, the calorific intake of a bee - they are only 40 mins from starvation. They burn as much as a man running on Mars for 30 mins in 30 seconds. He writes clearly and concisely of the integral part they play in the pollination of plants, flowers and the general ecosystem.

This book generated an interesting discussion about ecology, conservation and bees. 

Words used to describe it:  inspiring, could have done better, informative, formidable, galvernising, eye opening.

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 7

Next Book

A Spy Alone by Charles Beaumont

Next Meeting

Thursday 25 January at Cindy's

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Rowena 179)

“To immigrants and exiles everywhere, the uprooted, the re-rooted, the rootless, And to the trees we left behind, rooted in our memories…" 

William Shakespeare

An intriguing book, where on of the protagonists is an fig tree, a cutting transplanted to London. Through various plot lines, a Romeo and Juliet love story, the fig tree at a taverna, the daughter of a Turkish Cypriot (Defne) and Greek Cypriot (Kostas) in London - the effects of war, division and religion intolerance, political opposition and prohibited sexual partnerships. The narrative flits back and forth between 1974 when Kostas and Defne were secretly dating, knowing their families would not approve of their relationship and 2010 a year after Defne's death, her daughter Ada, and the fig tree, and Kostas, who has retreated from life immersing himself in his academic life - ecology and biology. The fig tree serves as a metaphor and a narrative conceit weaving it's leaves, roots and story to link the two eras. 

The writing is lyrical and profound in places, but it takes time to get into the story. The book generated a good discussion about war, place and displacement from your roots.

 

Words used to describe it:  tangential, intriguing, contentious, evocative

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 7

Next Meeting

Thursday 23 November at Emma's 67 Mendora St

Next Book

A Sting in the Tail by David Goulson

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Mandy)

Lessons in Chemistry (2022) is a bestselling novel by Bonnie Garmus about women's lives, careers, and struggle for empowerment in the late 50s and early 60s. It follows the story of Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant chemist who is forced to become a television chef when she finds herself a young, single mother. It's clear, though never confirmed, that Elizabeth is on the autism spectrum, candid and artless, she's frustrated by the social conventions that attempt to constrain her both personally and professionally.

This book generated a good discussion about uncomfortable characters, with awkward social abilities, the relevance of home economics/cooking and how in a way nothing has changed. The chemistry behind cooking was interesting. Most agreed that the ending felt to neat, too many loose ends tide up when an element of untidiness would have been better.

Words used to describe it:  captivating, unputdownable, multi-faceted, feminine centered, trite/chick lit, frustrating.  

Marks out of 10:  between 6 & 8 so quite highly marked. 

Next Book

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Rowena)

Next Meeting

Wednesday 18th October at Olivia's

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Orlando flits between incarnations of either sex over 600 years of different lives. Orlando, a young man living in the Elizabethan age who is about to be transformed. The story also ends with Orlando, a woman writer living in the 20th century. The entire novel is a fictionalised history of Vita Sackville-West, of an imagined past life she lived under the guise of Orlando several centuries before she met Woolf. The prose is beautiful but the story disjointed. The exploration of self, identity within the framework of history is interesting. 

 “Different though the sexes are, they intermix. In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness.”

Marks out of 10:  between 5 - 9

Words used to describe it:  fabulous, lonely, romp, raphsody, ahead of its time, bonkers, roller coaster/Alice in Wonderland feel

Next Book

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonny Garmus

Next Meeting

Monday 11th September at 126 Harbord St

How the World Really Work: A Scientists Guide to our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

A departure for this book club, a factual book which was extremely dense with information. Most of us have taken more than the month to read it, finding it easier to read in small digestible chunks rather than all in one go. Vaclav Smil, has written a book distilling so much information your head reels.  The book opens 'with the centrality of (fossil-based) energy to modern civilisation, turning to the production of food, plastics, steel, ammonia and cement as the drivers of globalisation and to a broad landscape of risks (viruses, diets, global warming and the ‘singularity’ of artificial intelligence).'  He outlines how intertwined our current lifestyle and economy are with fossil fuels and the difficulty we will have uncoupling ourselves. There are criticisms that some reviewers have made that Mr Smil does not give the new net zero push enough credence.  But if you would like to read an interesting book dense with information about the push towards a fossil fuel future this should be added to your book stand. 

Next Book  

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

A Fortunate Woman by Polly Morland (Emma 172)

 Taking the book A Fortunate Man (The Story of Country Doctor) by John Berger, written in 1966 about the English country GP, John Sassall.  This book is an update, like the previous book the stories and characters are an amalgam although the Doctor is real.  This doctor knows her patients, she lives in their valley and understands their lives.  It would be interesting to see how much country life has changed to compare this with the earlier book, even now the closeness of the doctor's relationship with her patience was difficult for some to appreciate living here in London, where since COVID appointments are often by phone not in person. However, it was interesting to see the NHS in action, to read how early interventions make such a difference in outcomes. How important it is for someone to understand the person and or the life they come from when making assessments on their health.

This book generated a discussion about the NHS, the slow decline in services, how it is changing and it became a little political.  Many thought the writing dull but worthy - not making the stories as interesting as they could be.

Words used to describe it:  inciteful, empathetic, dull, pleasant, worthy, interesting, useful

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 8

Next Book

How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil

Next Meeting

w/e 20/21 May

Brighton at Carolyn's

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

 A small book, a novella, a delight. Set in 1986 in Ireland, Bill Furlong a kind compassionate man with four daughters. The crux of the story is how different his life could have been had his unwed mother not been taken in by the lady at the big house when pregnant - how his and his mothers life would have been blighted by the way that society, church and small town attitude when a child is born out of wedlock. While working a shift near Christmas - delivering coal, Bill comes across a young and pregnant girl,hiding in the outhouse of the local convent. A lot is implied, and some is explained: the difficulty in going against what is expected and accepted is beautifully written.

This book generated a great discussion about the Magdalene Laundries, Ireland and small town attitudes.  Realistically written, and so well drawn in time. The tension in the writing is carefully crafted.

Words used to describe it:   lyrical, too short, punchy, gut wrenching, hypnotic, finely etched, heart breaking

Marks out of 10:  all gave this book either 8 or 9 so highly marked!

Next Book

A Fortunate Woman by Polly Morland (Emma)

Next Meeting

26th April - 36 Lysia St

East West Street by Phillip Sands

As many of us didn't read this over Christmas, not enough brain space, I will precis what one of us thought about the book.  A dry academic read, interesting once you get into it, but the legal mind behind the writing comes through with the details. Interesting to read about the two men, Hersch Lauterpacht and Rafael Lemkin and their involvement in the Nuremburg trials, Lauterpacht who came up with the term 'Crimes against Humanity', focusing on protecting the individual and Lemkin, 'Genocide' - protecting the group.  The academic snobbery against Lemkin, and how the Americans and British (and French) saw how the implementation of genocide could retrospectively implicate these countries in their vicious colonization of so many countries. 

Although many of us didn't complete reading the book, it did generate a good discussion.  

Next Book

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Next Meeting

Moved to 8th March at Emma's

Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt (Mandy 169)

Beautifully written book about a mother, her relationship with her distant, drug addicted daughter and her grand daughter.  The sharply observed characters are skillfully drawn, with kindness and humour.  The darkness of the difficult mother daughter relationship is expertly outlined without being mawkish. Difficult subjects carefully addressed, and it was felt, authentically written with tight prose.  Alienation, love, death, complex relationships all written with a matter-of-factness that belies the depth of the feelings. 

The book generated an interesting discussion about relationships, drugs and the realities of dealing with an addict, and mothers and daughters.  

Words used to describe it:  authentic, compassionate, dispassionate, perceptive, fucking brilliant

Marks out of 10:  9's all round, so a well liked book.

Next book

East West Street by Phillip Sands

Next meeting

Christmas get together:  15th December

Next book meeting: 12th January at 130 Harbord St

The Dutch House by Anne Patchett

 The Dutch House, a large 18C house of 'Dutch' style, with rounded gables and interesting detailing stands in a prominent position in a wealth area of Phillidelphia.  The house weaves its self through this tale of riches, family lost and found, marriage loved and lost, sibling love, and absence. Danny and his elder sister Maeve, are the main protagonists of this story of this dysfunctional family with the grandiose house, an evil step mother and the desperate longing for love. Fairy tale in its telling, the house holds sway over the family, where the well drawn but not very likeable characters deal with rejection, loss and subtle revenge. An intricate book of carefully drawn and insightful the protagonists develop over 50 years living their lives of love, thwarted ambition, loss and love.  The audio book version read by Tom Hanks is glorious. This book didn't generate much discussion, we probably need to digest its intricacies in more detail.

Words used describe it:  no heart, selfish, beguiling, the house was a character

Marks out of 10:  between 7 - 9 so highly marked.

Next Book

Loved and Missed by Suzie Boyt

Next Meeting

9th November at 126 Harbord St

Michel the Giant: an African in Greenland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie (Cindy 168)

 Born in Togo, Michel as a child sees a book on Greenland, Robert Gessain’s Les Esquimaux du Groenland à l’Alaska (The Eskimos from Greenland to Alaska),  fascinated he decides that he is going to go to the land of ice, snow and Eskimos.  Aged 17, in 1958, he leaves his home and slowly works his way up the west coast of Africa, making it to Marseilles by 1963.  Learning new languages and educating himself along the way.  This resourceful man makes it to Greenland two years later.  

He gently writes about the Eskimos attitude to sex, relationships, fishing, home, dogs, time and alcohol.  The erosion of a harsh way of life that is being subsumed. Commercial fishing replacing hunting for seals, whales and walrus.  Through the lens of a life in Africa, the hard life of the Eskimo is told with clarity and directness. From the effect of alcohol, the long, long nights of winter and what it does to a man/woman, the food, friendship and fishing. How the society is set up and the feeling of cold. Real cold and the harshness of the climate. 

An interesting book published in France in 1977, and in English in 1981, there is a flavour of a time and culture now gone.  Michel has decided to retire his life in France and spend his remaining years in Greenland, a place that has forever a place in his heart. 

Marks out of 10: between 6 - 9

Words used to describe it:  dog eat dog, inspiring, elucidating, illuminating, admiral

Next book

The Dutch House by Anne Patchet

Next meeting

Wednesday 5th October at 117 Harbord St

The Pomegranate Tree by Vanessa Altin (167 Emma)

A young adult book describing through diary entries.  This book brings to its audience the horrors of war and the impact on a village in Syria.  Dilvina a young Kurdish girl is encouraged by her friend to write, to write about what is happening as ISIS sweep through their lands, villages and life, crushing and destroying all that they know and love.  The juxtaposition of the diary and life is clever.  The importance of bearing witness to what is happening, doesn't change what ISIS has done, but it does mean that others will know.  Jonathan Freedland has written a book called The Escape Artist about 2 young men who escaped Auschwitz specifically to bear witness at what was happening in the camps.  Although this is fiction it graphically depicts the harsh realities of war. The book ends on a hopeful note and illustrates the resilience of people.

Words used to describe it:  resilient, hopeful, relevant, clever, poignant

Marks out of 10:  between 7 - 9

Next Book 

Michel the Giant:  An African in Greeland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie (Cindy)

Next Meeting 

Friday 2nd September - 130 Harbord St

The Midnight Library by Mathew Haig (166 Carolyn)

 'Everyman has two lives, and the second one starts when he realises he has just one' Confucious.  No more apt saying could describe this book.  An interesting premise where Nora Seed, protagonist of this novel, finds herself in the Midnight Libraray after an attempt to commit suicide, there she is offered the oppourtunity to live various lives - had she made different decisions.  The Book of Regrets weighs heavily in her hands as she reviews the decisions that led her to the point where she believed that this life was not worth living.  Despite the initial downbeat start, the book is actually rather upbeat.  The lives she experiences in the Midnight Library enables her to see that her decisions were not all wrong and that the life she lives can be better.  The author writes convincingly with a female voice, allowing empathy and self doubt to colour her character.  This book generated an interesting discussion on second chances, death, life and the decisions we make in life.

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 8

Words used to describe it:  hopeful, struck a cord, reassuring, contemplative

Next book

The Pomegranate Tree by Vanessa Altin (Emma)

Next Meeting

Monday 27th June at either Olivia or Cindy's

Fear and Loathing in LA by Hunter J Thompson (165 Mandy)

The prose of this hedonistic, nialistic, misoganistic, rascist, drug and alcohol fueled road trip is lyrical. The story is a stream of concisousness escapade.  Difficult to follow the storyline, the protagonist, a journalist, with his accountant friend decide to crash an event in LA, to do so they top loaded on drugs - so many drugs, I had to look up what they all did. Up, down, round about, who knows they didn't care, the consdequence of taking all these pharmacuticals and booze is an hallusangentic, hedonistic roadtrip.  I watched the movie to try and make more sense of the story - that didn't really help although it did give a framework to the fact that it was hard to understand what was going on. It was interesting to note, rather like Oscar Wilde, how many phrases and words have now entered common parlance - 'Gonzo' anyone.  The cruel but accurate writing is a character as much as the people decribed.  A difficult if headonistic read.

Marks out of 10:  betwee 6 - 9

Words used to describe it:  Gonzo writing, halucinagentic, strangley remanicent, hedonistic, cooking with drugs

Next Book

The Midnight Library by Mathew Haig

Next Meeting 

Friday 13th May at Emma's

Kara and the Sun by Kazu Ishiguro (164 Carolyn)

 There is a lot of deep and intense anlaysis of the premise of this novel on the internet.  It could be considered at its heart a reflection on what is a soul.  Kara, is an artificial friend (AF) to Josie, a 14 year old 'lifted' (genetically altered) child who suffers from illnesses (not specified but possibly due to being lifted).  The story retold through the thoughts of Kara.  The novel explores what is love, what is intelligence, what is life.  Kara is willing to give a lot to enable Josie to live a full life.  It explores faith and science and that technology does not mean that you have to forgo faith or love. An interesting premise that generated a good disussion especially when compared with the novel by Ian McEwan - Machines Like Us.

Marks out of 10

Words used to describe it:

 

Next Book 

Fear and Loathing in LA by Hunter J Thompson

Next Meeting

Thursday April 14th at Mandy's

The Pale Abyssinian by Miles Breslin 163 (RV)

The biography of one of Britain's greatest explorers that you have probably never heard of.  James Bruce b 1730, traveler extraordinaire, discoverer of the source of the Blue Nile, lived with the Emperor of Abyssinia, traveled around East Africa escaping pirates, surviving ambush, making friends and enemy's wherever he went. His survey of the Red Sea was still in use a 100 years later.  When he arrived back in the UK after penetrating the African interior no one believed his stories.  Only once Stanley and Livingstone, 100 years later ,did people realize that he had been telling the truth.  An amazing man, an astounding story so blandly told.  None of us found the writing engaging, it was a slog to read.  Even if we were engaged by the story and the bombastic character that was James Bruce. 

Words used to describe it:  fascinatingly dull, extraordinary, Boris Johnson, handwork, pompous, trying

Marks out of 10:  between 3 - 7 

Next Book

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Next Meeting

Thursday 17th March 

Lysia St - Carolyn's

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 162

Having recently read The Silence of the Girls we are now well versed in the words of the Iliad and the story of Achilles.  This novel from the perspective of Achilles friend and lover Patroclus, is a love story, a peon to that warrior of warriors, the best of men - Achilles.  Even though you know the story, the interweaving of the capriciousness of the Gods, the eventual death of both protagonists, it is a beautiful book of love. Having said that I think that we read it too soon after The Silence of the Girls and were Trojaned out!

Words used to describe it:  boring, prosaic, beautiful, balanced, disappointing, impactful

Marks out of 10:  between 3 - 7

Next Book 

The Pale Abyssinian by Miles Bredin

Next Meeting

Thursday 10th February at 115 Harbord St

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor 163

 The hotel becomes a genteel antechamber to oblivion, its spectral inhabitants representative figures from postwar English life. It’s the 1960s, and a new society is taking shape. 'The Claremont symbolises a class and a way of life heading for the dustbin of history.' It is also a gentle romance, on the edge of a rom-com, with comic characters such as Lady Swayne and Mrs de Salis.  The book evokes the era of Earls Court hotels and boarding houses. The writing is beautiful. The pathos of the ending is hard.  The book generated a good discussion about how times have changed, class and romance in later life.

Words used to describe it:  wonderful, multidimensional, biting, reflective, poignant, pathos

Marks out of 10:  between 8 - 10, there were a couple of 10's so well liked 

Next Book

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

and if you have time read Dead Cert by Dick Francis

Next Meeting

Thursday 6th January 

at 

126 Harbord St