The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Hic!  Thank you Simone for the cocktails, hic!  They were delicious! Hic! Those glasses were very large - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Ah, the book - Harold Fry recently retired lives with his wife Maureen, his life is dull, ordinary and full of daily frustrations.  One morning Harold receives a letter written shaky handwriting from a work colleague Queenie Hennessey - a woman he could have had a affair with, if, if he had been a different man. Taking the letter out to post, he decides on the way that he will walk from Kingsbridge to Berwick on Tweed - and if he does so Queenie will live.  Dressed only in his deck-sider shoes and light weight coat he starts walking.  While walking he thinks about his life, marriage and his son.  The book is full of regret.  Regret at miss opportunities, regret at the way his marriage has turned out, regret at the man he was.  The light humour and slightly farcical situations that Harold found himself in along the way only highlighted the pathos of his musings.  (Spoiler alter) it is only later on that we find out that his son is dead and how and what impact the manner of his death had on him, the blame from his wife and the regret he felt.  Things happen to Harold that make him think about his life and Maureen. 

We all liked this book - sometime for a good discussion you need an opposing view.  We compared the journey of the character to that of Christian in Pilgrim's Progress.  Harold meets people along his way that bring him enlightenment, changing his view on life and bring him succor.  Although without the Christian allegorical references there were similarities.  It seemed to engender within us all a certain amount of sadness at the pathos of the story.

Words used to describe it:   endearing, quaint, metaphor, frustrating, tragic, poignant, pedestrian, moving journey, tragically whimsical, involving.

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

Next Book

Nothing to Envy - Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Next Meeting

9th January at 12 Lysia Street

Christmas Do

Friday 13th at La Pizzica

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

A warm welcome to Pauline and a delicious thank you to Jackie for those scrumptious choux pastry eats.  Those were addictive.

Onto the book:  Darling and her friends Stina, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho and Bastard are street children in Paradise, a shanty town in an undefined city, in an undefined African country, but assumed to be Zimbabwe.  The lyrical cadence of the prose should almost be read aloud to understand the slightly sing-song/poetic turn of phrase.  The novel depicts in harsh but innocent reality the life of these children, whose family once had a house, material goods and a life, but with the change in government lost everything.  The desecration of a family through the ensuing poverty is slowly depicted.  The loss of the men from the family, as they go to South Africa to grub out a living (despite their university degree), Aids, violence and casual sexual violence, fervent preachers and strong women carefully outlined. The startling games the children play, enacting scenes of great violence that they have seen - making it normal by integrating it into play.  You can almost smell Africa in the description of guavas.  In the second part of the book, Darling has reached the promised land of America - but reality is not the dream.  Materialistic American and the loneliness of separation of all that she knew is bleakly and clearly depicted.  Seeing Western materialist society through the eye of one who had nothing is interesting.  Descriptions of snow falling and engulfing the land are positively brilliant.  

This book created quite a good discussion,  some felt that it should have been shorter or might have been better as a short story.  Others loved the lyrical prose and elegiac cadences and descriptions of the children's lives that capture the harshness without being sentimental.  

Words used to describe it:  poetic, lyrical, too long, should have been a short story, insightful migration, a verbal feast.  

Marks out of 10:   scored highly all between 7 - 9

Next Book

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry  by Rachel Joyce

Next Meeting

93 Harbord Street

Thursday 7 November - cocktails!

Another date for the diary

Friday 13th December - Book Club Christmas Do 

at La Pizzica, 764 Fulham Road

Please let me know if you are coming so that I can book a large table.

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenies

Firstly, welcome to new Harbordian Simone hope you enjoy our wine club masquerading as a book club.  

Jeffery Eugenies uses a familial recessive gene, Alpha-5-Reductase, as a DNA helix on which to hang the story of an immigrants family in the US and Calliope/Cal's she/he hermaphrodites life/love with sardonic humour.  The tale of the brother and sister who fall in love and in the miasma of fleeing the Turkish invasion of Smyrna manage to hide the fact of their sibling relationship and pass off as strangers who meet, marry and bring up a family.  Their child Calliope/Cal is pronounced a girl at birth only to be found to be male once she/he reaches 15.  Although the recessive gene and the effects it has on the character Cal are interesting, the gene's history is almost as interesting as the family one.  The affectionate way that the Greek personalities are described are wonderful.  Descriptions of early industrial Detroit, mentions of the early life of the Muslim Brotherhood, placing incidents of American recent history within the brackets of an American families life are cleverly done. 

The discussion on this book wasn't that long.  As so many people were unable to make the meeting we have decided that we will discuss it in more detail at the next meeting.  However of those of us there who had read it - we all enjoyed it, but in many different ways.  Some found the family saga, the descriptions of America through an immigrant family very interesting.  Others found the emotional life of he/she struggling to understand the complex emotions and the differing ways that  men/women deal with events and issues, being effectively both, touching and affecting.  Very different responses to the same book.

Words used to describe it:   dramatic, enlightening, satisfying, heterogeneously complex,
Marks out of 10:    between 8 -  9 so very high!  One to be recommended.

Next Book 
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

Next meeting

115 Harbord Street Jackie's

Thursday 10th October

Eleven Minutes by Paul Coelho

Maria, a beautiful Brazilian girl, brought up far from Rio - scarred by the rejection of her first love - the boy who offered her a pencil, which she failed to take - walks the inevitable path from country isolation and unappreciated beauty to the city where her looks bring her the coveted ticket to the rich West.  How is a girl like this to survive if she is not educated?  So yes, the oldest profession beckons in Geneva.  Maria finds she has an aptitude, she is disengaged, she even enjoys it and yes, it is only sex to her.  The book discusses her journey, how she remains true to herself and finds her love. 

The discussion of this book didn't center on the sex, but on Maria and her journey.  It elicited various and differing opinions.  It might have been that the translation didn't make the prose as lyrical as it should be, but most felt that the diary entries were leaden in comparison to the story. Having said that a number really didn't like the book.

Words used to describe it:      pretentious and humourless, pointless, unexpected, enlightening poetic, disappointing, premature ejaculation, simplistic, I've only come for the wine, could have been more.
Marks out of 10 - between 3 - 8 with 4 people giving it 8 - so the harsh remarks may not reflect the actual enjoyment of the book.

Next book

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Next Meeting

Thursday 5th September 8pm 

at

130 Harbord Street

The Shed and all who sail in her!

 Homage to The Shed!

Goblins and pixies are jealous you see,

Cos Rona has a shed in her back garden, Yipee.

This shed is  divine, and useful too

With fire, seating and possibly a Yazoo?

Each time we arrive and shuffle ourselves in

Rona and Albert ply us with gin

 (oh Ok wine but it doesn't scan)

Chocolate brownies and little eats galore

We try and talk books but just want more

of the delicious grub and white wine juice

Our Book Club, you know, is really quite loose.

So Rona, for you, a homage to

To the Goddess of treats and chocolate goo

A heartfelt thank you and let's do it again.

Even though Albert's gone we love you too.

Excruciating verse - unattributed 

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

A little sheepishly I write this blog not having read the book.  Having said that I do want to read it as it sounds fascinating.  Written from two perspectives - that of the heroines, through her diary, and that of her intrigued neighbour/lover.  A mysterious stranger Helen Graham is living at Wildfell Hall with her young son, no one knows anything about her or where she comes from.  Gilbert Markham a young farmer begins to casually court her.  Helen is however still married, rather than tell Gilbert why she is no longer with her husband, she gives him her diaries to read.  The second part of the book, written as a diary, details 'Helen's' seduction by Arthur Huntingdon, who once married to her takes up again his dissolute life of drink, drugs and women and his equally dissolute friends.  It is for their son and to remove him from his father's amoral care that Helen flees the marital home.  The third part of the book finishes with Helen caring for the dying Arthur, and the final reconcile between Helen and Gilbert.  

What was shocking about the book when it was first published was the independence that Helen shows by 'running' away from her husband at a time when women were the  property of their husbands.  It also dealt with themes of alcoholism and the destructive nature of drugs.  Piety, redemption and God loom large in the book - Anne being the most religious of the Bronte sisters who believe in the redemptive powers of the Lord.  We had an excellent discussion about the book, most enjoying the fluidity of the writing, the interesting characterization and the themes the book covers.  I wil,l I promise, read it!

Words used to describe it:  remarkably modern, beautifully written, piously intriguing, ground breaking, laborious.   Marks out of 10 - a remarkably consistent 6-8, 8 being the 5 out 6 people's vote!

Just to mention that one member read the other book suggested:  The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides and said it was excellent. 

Next Book

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

Next meeting 

17th July at 127 Harbord St, hosted by Judy.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

For 3 months Cheryl Strayed hikes the Pacific Crest Trail.  A thousand miles across the undulating, harsh wilderness from Mexico to Canada. Alone. Using the hike as therapy, Cheryl writes about her internal discussion with herself, disecting her life to that date.  The loss of her mother, the serial infidelities that broke her marriage, her unfinished degree and her propensity toward self destruction.   During the discussion on the book, we came to the conclusion that the gulf between the US and the UK is wider than we thought.  This book is big in the US and we in the UK could not see why?  It's not that it's a bad book, it's not badly written, it's just too...............internal? Self introspection not being high on the British agenda.  Perhaps we all felt uncomfortable inspecting someone else's life, but on the whole most 'liked' the book, but didn't love it.   It did however generate a good discussion.

Words used to describe it:  shallow despite the height, unsatisfying, pedantry, too long, unfinishable, uneventful, stagnant, naval gazing.  Marks out of 10: between 3 - 6.5

Next Book

The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall by Anne Bronte

the other option was

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Next Meeting

Wednesday 19th June at The Shed with Albert in attendance

for the diary the meeting after that will be 17th July hosted by Judy at 127 Harbord St

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Not a biography as such, more a string of humorous anecdotes. This is the second book and follows on from Naked, and perhaps the book does have the 'feel' of second time around and less content.  Having said that some of the stories about his fascinating and psychologically interesting family are hysterical.  The short anecdote about the bobbing poo - had us all laughing: when read aloud by Rona in best RADA enunciation and intonation!  Chrissie found a quote where the reviewer says " He (David Sedaris) uses humor as a lens to examine humanity" which we all agreed with.  An enjoyable light read.

Words used to describe it:  amusing easy read, Amuse Bouche, delightful
Marks: between 6 - 8

Next Book

Wild by Cheryl Strayd

Next Meeting

15 May at 117 Harbord St

Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks

1666, and the plague is sweeping Britain and villages and towns out side of London are not immune from the spread of the disease.  The village of Peannie is struck by the plague thought to have been brought in with the fleas on a bolt of fabric by an itinerant tailor.  The village at the behest of the Vicar decide to cut themselves off from the wider community to try and contain the infection.  So for a year the villagers ride out the scourge of the plague which decimates their community.  This is the setting for the book whose main protagonist is Anna Frith, a survivor of a abusive childhood and whose husband and two children succumb to the disease.  This is the background against which a huge amount of historical detail is used to describe the story and characters, giving us an evocative description of life in a 17th century village, it's hardships, hierarchical society and harshness of life. 

Most of us felt that the epilogue was slightly superfluous to the story.  Although nice to hear what happened to Anna, it didn't fit well within the storyline.  We all found it fascinating that it was based on a true story and some of us have read further around the subject.

Words used to describe it:  harrowing, unsatisfying, relentlessly gruelling, interesting, well written and challenging, visceral,
Marks out of 10 - between 6 - 8 so quite highly marked.

Next Book

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Next Meeting - change of date now Thursday 11th April at 59 Bishop's Road

The Ladies of the Corridor by Dorothy Parker

Thank you Gilly for hosting last nights Book Club - hope we weren't too noisy leaving!   Now onto the book/play!

A short and not so sweet look at the lot of single middle aged women, in the late 40's/50's living in New York.  Their abject loneliness and the shallow life they lead, due to circumstance, societal expectations and reduced self confidence.  Widows, divorcees, single women each of the characters conforms to one of these characterisations.  Some of Dorothy Parker's wit and wisecracks make it through into the dialogue of the play, It is generally accepted that Parker was not a natural playwright, and some of the dialogue was klunky.  Tthis particular play is thought to have been one of her best even though it was not that well received at the time -  possibly, might be better received now.  The play is set in one of the long term serviced apartment hotels, that were popular at the time, the women gossip, go to movies  sew and generally pass the time.  Each character is used to illustrate a 'type' and draws out our sympathy for them and their situation.  Back stories are hinted at and characters are well drawn.

Words used to describe the book:

full of pathos, sad indictment of women of their time, melancholic, ripe for adaptation with Dames, poignant

Marks out of 10 - between 7 - 8 so highly rated by us all.

Next Book

The Years of Wonder

by Geraldine Brooks

Next Meeting

Friday 8th March - change of time 8pm

at 12 Lysia Street

The Gathering by Anne Enright

Blog post by Chrissie:

Thank you to everyone who came last Thursday and contributed to making it such an enjoyable evening and not particularly hangover inducing!  Those present included new members Maria and Pam, and added guest Andrew (with Carolyn) and Mary from 125 as she was celebrating her birthday.

The general view of The Gathering was very positive with an average mark of 8.5.  Words used to describe: visceral, poignant, haunting, foggy, chronologically unsound, heart-breaking and kaleidoscopic.

The next book is The Ladies of the Corridor the last major piece of work by Dorothy Parker.  It is a drama - not completely sure of the format in which it is written, (we can always have a play reading) and available for £6 on www.play.com    It is loosely based on Parker's life and is a "searing" drama about women of a certain age living on their own in a New York hotel "empty nesters struggling with lives that have lost their centre"!  Sounds fun.

Next Book

The Ladies of the Corridor by Dorothy Parker

Next Meeting

Wednesday 6th February

at 

Gilly's, 

74 Hurlingham Court

Ranalagh Gardens, SW6

The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth

   Peter Miller a German reporter receives from a friend of Salomon Tauber, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, his diary in which he describes an officer Roshmann  killing a German officer with unusual medals.   Investigating the story in the diary Miller meets Simon Wiesenthal the famed war-crime investigator who tells him about ODESSA (the Organisation of the Former Members of the SS).  Approached by Mosad, Miller agress to infiltrate ODESSA where he informs and unravels the entire ODESSA system.  Through a silly error (using his own car) his identity is compromsied, but he manages to survive.  He finally catches up with Roshmann - finding out that the man he killed was infact Millers father.  Miller suvives various attempts on his life, Mosad catch up with Roshmann - close down his factory and stop a plot to bomb Israel with biological warfare weapons. 
   Most of us enjoyed the book - it didn't generate too much discussion, although most felt that it was a good example of the thriller genre.  A fast paced and interesting read.  Words used:  formulaic, starter thriller, enjoyable, unchallenging.  Marks between 4 - 8.

Next book

The Gathering by Anne Enright

Next Meeting

10th January at 127 Harbord St

Christmas Get Together

Thursday 6th December - Del Aziz, Jerdan Place, Fulham

Babette's Feast by Iska Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

Firstly, welcome to our newest recruit:  Gilly, I hope she enjoys this relaxed and voluble Book Club....As she will find out we take ourselves very seriously...no wine, all talk!

A gem of a book!  Babette Hersant arrives at the door of two faded spinsters, Martine and Phillppa, who have forsaken their chances of fame and romance for a life of piety and chastity, caring for their dogmatic father, a pastor of a proscribing Lutheran sect in a distant Danish coastal town.  Babette, a refuge from the turbulent times in revolutionary France, carries a letter of introduction from an old suitor of one of the sisters.  The letter is brief in introduction - only saying that she is of good character, down on her luck, in need of a place to shelter and that she (Babette) can cook.

The sisters asking no questions take her in, and for 14 years Babette serves, cooks and aids the sisters without recompense or discourse.  The story hinges on the sumptuous feast that Babette serves, using all the money she wins on the French lottery 10,000F.  Every penny is spent.  Babette's labour of love, cooking a meal fit for the aristocracy, for people who wouldn't know what they ate, or even acknowledge that they are eating the best food in the world. The question is why did Babette do this?

We all liked the book, some more than others, the discussion centred around the why, and our all very different interpretations of this.  The elegant prose - without a superfluous word, brilliantly drew the world the women inhabited, the uptight characters and unexpressed love that Babette had for the two women who had taken her in.  This meal was her way of saying thank you.

Words used to describe it:  folksy, haunting, deliciously satisfying, evocative, multi layered, a feast of a parable, lyrical.
Marks out of 10 - between 7.5 and 9 so it rates highly on the HSBC book club rating!

Next Book

The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth

Next Meeting

Wednesday 14th November

at

115 Harbord Street

Dates for the Diary
Christmas Party - Venue TBC
Thursday 6th December

Chiswick Second Hand Book Sale 1st Sunday of the month
at Chiswick Community School

Car Boot Sale at Kempton
Sunday 4th November

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maughan

'Life has no meaning, better accept this than go on searching for it'

This book is generally accepted to be a semi autobiographical novel by Somerset Maughan. The slow meandering through a bleak childhood, boarding school and a search for a meaning full life, love and occupation.  Most  loved this book, finding in the story  and  prose meaning and elegance.  A certain amount of fingers over the eyes as the eponymous hero continues to miss his chances, love the wrong people and be beguiled into trying something new and wrong for him.  Others loathed it, finding it over written and boring.  But this dichotomy of opinions drew an excellent discussion as each side fought their corner. 

Words used to discribe it:  wretched, compelling little fucker, one of the great works of the 20th Century (not unanimous), frustrating, influencial, dramatic, compelling, under rated English treasure, the human story, loathsome.  Marked variedly between 2 & 9

Next Book

Babette's Feast by Ksak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

Next Meeting

Wed 10th October @ 84 Kenyon St

High Tea in Mosul by Lynne O'Donnell

Last night (26th July), Lynne O'Donnell kindly came to speak to HSBClub about her book High Tea in Mosul

The book is an account of life in Iraq under Saddam through the lives of two English women who married Iraqi men in the 1970's and moved there.  Through their lives we see the changes in the country throughout Sadam Hussein's rule, the devastation and effects of the American invasion and the horrendous break down of law and order with the factional in-fighting.   Using the stories of Pauline and Margaret, Lynne manages to illustrate, in a human way, the ordinary lives of Iraqi's dealing with the food rationing, the police, anti West propaganda and the almost constant war.  It was moving, illuminating and in places difficult read.

We had many questions for Lynne, which she answered with great clarity - mostly not specific to the book!  What was also interesting was the process of publishing a book yourself.  The difficulty of getting it noticed, but also how much one can do ones self.  Lynne's knowledge of the area, the factions and internecine conflict in the Middle East was impressive - as were her stories of life as a war correspondent. It was also interesting to hear how the book was received by the women themselves and their families. 

I would like to thank Lynne for taking time out of her schedule to come and to talk to us.  We all found it fascinating and so interesting.  It brought the book and the area so much to life. 

Next Book

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maughan

Date

Wednesday 5th September

Venue

130 Harbord St

The Coroner's Lunch by Collin Cotterill

Set in Laos, 1976, just after the Communist revolution Dr Siri Paiboun at 72 years of age was looking forward to retirement when the Ministry decrees that he is now the Coroner - he knows about what is wrong with living people, how different/difficult can it be to find out why/how people died?  With a sly and cynical sense of humour the light crime of the this drama is almost secondary to the enjoyable imagery and subversive characters that the author conjurers  up.  Dr Siri does work out who killed the wife of the party official and why two Vietnamese soldiers and civil servants were found dead in a lake apparently tortured.  The surreal supernatural thread is handled with care and does help move the story on.  Those of us who read the book enjoyed it and would recommend it to others. 

Have a look at Colin Cotterill's website:  Colin Cotterill

Marks out of 10 between 7 - 9

Words used to describe it:  interesting, subversive, enjoyable, dead pan!

Next Book

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maughan

Next Meeting 

14 June 2012 - High Tea in Mosul with the Author Lynne O'Donnell at 126 Harbord St

5 July - to discuss Of Human Bondage venue to be confirmed.

Ask the Dust by John Fante

Set during the the Great Depression era in Los Angeles.  It is one of a sseries of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer,  much of it autobiographical in nature. Bandini falls in love with Camilla Lopez, who is in love with a bartender named Sam.  Bandini struggles with his poverty, Catholic guilt and his love for the unstable Camilla. Her mental state deteriorates and she is admitted to a mental hospital. She escapes, Bandini looks for her - finds her waiting for him in his apartment.  They move to the beach but when he returns he find that she has gone to Sam who is dying.  Before he arrives Sam throws her out and she wanders into the desert.  Bandini never finds her. 

The discussion really centred around the hand over the eyes feeling of watching someone doing what is only going to work out badly for them.  Every step he takes is wrong - and he can't see it.  The sparse and concise writing evoking the harshness of the era.  It was a good lead on from reading Grapes of Wrath and many could see the influence it had had on other later American writers.  The book has been made into a film with Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek.

Words used to describe it:  cringe-worthy, evocative, off the wall, beat classic, roller coaster, harrowing, full of angst, enjoyed it
Marks out of 10 - between 7 - 10.

Next Book 

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill

Next Meeting

31 May at 117 Harbord St

Important Note:  

I am also going to try and get the journalist Lynne O'Donnell

 to come to one of our meetings possibly
14 June at 126 Harbord St

So buy her book 

High Tea in Mosul.

The Woman In Silk by Reg Gadney

A brief synopsis of the book:  Hal Stirling a bomb disposal expert is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome after an incident in Afghanistan.  He is recuperating back in the UK, when news come of the death of his mother.    Hal journeys back to the large, Gothic ancestral home via his married Japanese lovers house.  Here the story changes into either a  psychological thriller or a horror ghost story depending on how you understood it.  The mother and daughter team who had been caring for his mother are either completely lovely or completely psychotic!  The plot twists and turns with spectral manifestations, psychological intrigue and moody weather!  

Reg Gadney, author and excellent artist,  kindly came to the book club to discuss the book - below is a highly edited version of the evenings discussion.  Thank you Reg for so kindly answering our question and giving us some insight into the construction/thought that goes into the background of planning a book.

Q - Who was, in your mind, the intended audience for this story?

A - Not sure!  However all good books should have three memorable characters, an interesting plot and some intrigue where the reader has to do some of the work.    I had in mind Turn of the Screw, the psychological twists and turns.  Not sure that it is a horror or a psychological thriller.

I visit Broadmoor Prison as part of a charity that I  am involved in.  Part of the idea for the story came from an inmate there.  

Q - Do you believe in the Super Natural?

A - Umm maybe.  I used be a complete sceptic, but now, I'm not sure.  I think that people do leave behind an 'essence' of being once they have gone.  The universe is such a large concept how can we know whether this is 'it'!  I visited the Spiritualist Society in Belgrave Square once - went to a seance - it neither confirmed nor disproved that there isn't anything after this life.  As I grow older I begin to think that there maybe something.  Many people have had 'ghostly' experiences - experiences which don't have a completely logical explanation.

Q - Who scares you?

A - People who should be reliable.  Doctors, nurses, nannies, soldiers - people you can usually rely on but for some reason have become psychologically disturbed.  A friend of mine Patrick Wall, an eminent neuroscientist developed a theory of the threshold of pain and the TENS machine with Bill Sweet - the electro transmission of pain in the body and how by disrupting this you could alter perception of pain.

Q - The house, was it real?

A - Yes, it's a real house.  My father bought the large Gothic house and this was where I was born. You can see the large bell tower which plays its part in the story.  It's now a school. Behind on the Yorkshire moors was where the Brontes lived and where Wuthering Heights is set.

Link to Malis Hall history.

The discussion then turned general.

Words used to describe the book:  intriguing, a psychological thriller - not a ghost story, confusing, a book of two halves, 

Marks out of 10:  between 3 - 9  

The next meeting is at Amanda's and the book:  Ask the Dust by John Fante, 26th April.

I would like to thank Reg for taking time to come and talk to us about his book.  For answering our questions and showing us his paintings - which are excellent - we hope to come to his next exhibition!

Before I go to Sleep by S J Watson

     An excellent story - with a twist - which some of us guessed but it didn't spoil the story!  A woman wakes up each day with no memory of her life - just snippets and those memories that she does have are from 20 years ago!  She doesn't remember the man lying beside her, her own face, the house she is living in - until her husband explains that she had an accident 20 years ago that has damaged her brain, he is her husband, this is their new house as their other one burnt down (hence the few photo's).  She accepts this until the day Dr Nash rings and tells her to look in the bottom of the wardrobe for her journal - in which she writes all that she has learnt the previous days.  An interesting concept - how important are memories to our perception of ourselves.  Without memories what are we?  If you don't remember what happened the day before - does it actually exist?
      The round table discussion - although rather difficult to hold as we had an almost full quorum of book clubbers that night; was full and interesting.  Most of us enjoyed the book and the twist.  There were aspects of the novel that grated but the story was gripping.

Marks out of 10 between 7 - 9 so highly rated.
Words used to describe it:  Clever, memorable, maintains momentum, intriguing, brilliant, implausible, compelling, gripping, unforgettable!

Next Book:

Ask the Dust  by John Fante

Next Meeting:

April 26th Thursday

128 Harbord St

NB

For those able to make it,

Reg Gadney will be at Mandy's to receive our opinions on his new book 

A Woman in Silk 

on 

12th April.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

The story is written from the perspective of the solicitor who manages the inheritance of Jean Paget.  He writes her story in excerpts telling us about her experiences in Malaysia during the Second World War, force to walk from town to town  with a group of women and children, by the Japanese who did not want to put them into a camp.  While walking they meet up with two Australian men, who horrified at the state of the women and children supply then with fresh meat and medicines, illicitly gained from their Japanese captors.  The consequence of which is that Joe is crucified.   Jean believes him dead - until many years after the war she hears that he survives.

The second half of the book deals with her search for him, and her wish to build 'A town like Alice' in the outback where Joe's station is.  It is interesting and slightly shocking to read a story where casual racial apartheid is acceptable, where woman 'know there place'.  Jean was not thought to be sufficiently capable to manage her inheritance until she reaches the age of 35!  By which time she would be married and therefore her husband would be able to help her!  The last part of the books is definitely a paean to capitalist entrepreneurship!

We all enjoyed the book - some of us having gone on to buy others of Nevil Shutes novels, which we are enjoying as much.
Words used to describe it:  cracking solid storytelling, Oh my word!, spiffing yarn, I loved it, good first half.

Marks, between 7 - 9

I would like to finish this review with a big thank you to Albert the butler for superb food and butlering - I wish we could all have a man who does just like him! And of course honourable mention to the delicious cake and hostess with the butler - fab Thank you Rona.

 

Next book

Before I go to Sleep by S J Watson

Next meeting

Wednesday 21 March

at

53 Finlay Street