I wrote about you

Hi Ladies,

Coz I'm a narcissitic Gen Y/X-er I assume people want to hear what I have to say - on that note, I write a blog.  I think you are all pretty awesome, so I wrote about you on it.  Here!

Now, feel free to look at the rest of the blog but, WARNING.  It contains swearing and stuff about rape culture and more SWEARING and stuff about feminism and ranting and SWEARING.  If you suspect this stuff will offend or upset you, don't read it.

So, go read the post.  It talks about how wonderful you are.

The Race of a Lifetime

Meeting held at Colleen's present were, Colleen, Tahnee, Trilby, Kerry, Meg and Leslie.
Apologies from Elizabeth (too tired) and kay (getting hair done)

It was a warm evening with lots of rain and lots of Christmas goodies including silly hats.

TRILBY: 6
This author is a word wanker. Enjoying it but struggling with some aspects.
Intriguing but a little dense.

MEG:
Didn't read. Her excuse is she has a wedding to plan for.

TAHNEE: 6
Not into reading it. Became good and enjoyed it. Blown away about the amount of money spent on the run up to the election. Interested and informative the authors seems to enjoy their topic.

KERRY: 6

Found beginning didn't interest enough to want more. Never been interested in American politics. Too much backstabbing involved.

LESLIE:

Didn't read it, because she couldn't get hold of a copy anywhere in the world. She says she will read it. Leslie's joke is not going on the blog.

COLLEEN: 6

Also blown away by the amount of money spent or should I say squandered. Unbelievable amount. The amount of hours all the workers did was amazing. They just seemed to work abound the clock. A slow read but feel it was a bit of an education for me. I feel it was a well written book but not particularly enjoyable one.

FEBRUARY MEETING

Leslie's in Mt. Evelyn. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

MARCH MEETING

Kerry's in Woori. Stones from River by Ursula Hegi

SUMMER READING

Tahnee suggests: Lamarck's evolution by Ross Honeywill
Meltdown by Ben Elton
Opening skinners box by ?

Trilby suggests: Spoken Here by Mark Abley
Any of the Phryne Fisher series.

Meg Sugests: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

We could do with a few more members to make up for the absentees each month so try to round some up over the holidays.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

Better late than never

Firstly let me say that yes I am EXTREMELY slack for this taking so long and that given I am Gen Y should be far more tech saxy but I am going to continue to use the Bridezillaesque response of I am organising a wedding so back off!

So November book club was at my place at the book was Shiver by Nikki Gemmell. For once, I think that everyone agreed that the book was very lacklustre and while an "easy" read not a very enjoyable one. The general consensus was that Nikki could have done a lot more with the book and that she didn't capture a number of key elements. In particular:

Leslie - uninteresting and bland - 5/10

Tahnee - Annoyingly staccato, hated it - 2/10

Kay - lots of potential but fails to deliver - 4/10

Colleen - stolen from my shopping cart (if you weren't there trust me don't ask!) - 2/10

Kerry - completely uninspiring tale - 2/10

Trilby - disaffected series of events, not even a story - 4/10

Meg - Ummmm blerrrrr blahhh - easy to read but disappointingly underwhelming

The next book club is at Colleen's and the book is Race of Lifetime - oh thats right I am so slack we have already had that meeting!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

BOOK CLUB BREAK UP Novembers reading/December Meeting

BOOK CLUB|Tuesday 7th December|Colleen's House

Race of a Lifetime

Mark Halperin /John Heilemann

Mum, because this was your book choice do you have any questions/suggestions for people to think about prior to the meeting?
 
Because this is our last meeting for the year, it would be great to see you all.
 
As an additional little task please bring along a book or the name of a book that you have really liked, to share with the group. Perhaps it's one that you have really enjoyed but wouldn't necessarily choose for book club, because of length, or not conducive to discussion etc etc, but you'd still recommend it. Hopefully this will provide the group with a few ideas for our summer break reading. 'Eat Pray Love' is quite a quick read so you'll all have time to enjoy some 'extra curricular' reading!
 
For catering purposes, please let Colleen know if you can't make it...see you all there. Tahnee

See you on Tuesday

At Meg's house for Shiver...
Meg - as Leslie said, do you have any ideas for questions/thoughts?

Cheers,

Trilby

Are there any thoughts/questions to be thought about for discussion at the November meeting?

September's Reading - October's Meeting - Breath - Tim Winton

Thanks Ladies,once again, for reading and contributing.
I'm always glad to hear what everyone has to say about our reads and someone always manages to have something to say that makes me think about things in a different way or interpret what we have read in a different way, I like that, it's good for me...

Tim Winton, unfortunately, left us all a bit unfulfilled.
Most of us enjoyed his ability to evoke a place so vividly, whilst others found him tediously overly descriptive and just wanted him to 'get on with it'. All were in agreeance that the ending left us a bit flat and no-ones rushing out to read more of his work. That said, we may've criticised, but we rated quite highly...for us! 6/10


Kerry    6 Initially intriguing, ultimately unfullfilling
Kaye     7 Hard to get into, over descriptive, liked it.
Debbie 6 Simplistic but enjoyable, easily forgettable.

Tahnee   6 Great quick read, ending unsatisifying.
Colleen  6 Felt planned, story line good, writing not, Miles Franklin committee flawed!
Trilby     6 Can see technical brilliance & interwoven themes, not engaged with characters.
Meg       7 Juxtaposition combobulated me, had potential but didn't deliver.
Elizabeth ? Continues to impress with her presence even if she hasn't read the book.
Leslie      ? Where where you?
Sandra    ? We really do expect you to commute from Mt. Martha.
 

November Book/December Meeting

The book for November is "The Race of a lifetime" by Barack Obama.  Colleen's pick, and the meeting is at her house in Seville.   

The date for the December meeting is 2nd December.

I guess it's up to Mum because it's her house and her book, but maybe we could go out for dinner or something for this meeting, given it will be the last for the year and we can have a book club 'break up' until we recommence in February?  Either that or bring something special to eat?  Thoughts?
Please post your responses to the blog so we can have a conversation about it (as opposed to emailing me direct!).
 
February's book is Leslie's choice so get your thinking hat on Leslie so we can know nice and early for our christmas reading :) (Well last Feb was your choice, I guess someone else can jump in if they wish)

Sorry for the double email you may have recieved!

October book/November Meeting

Hi All,

The next book, chosen by Meg,  is Shiver, by Nikki Gemmell and the November meeting will be at Meg's house in Wonga Park.

Due to Cup Day, the November meeting will be the 9th November, the second tuesday.

See you all tomorrow.

The Monkey's Mask meeting and discussion

Hi all,

I meant to take photos tonight and forgot - bugger.
Oh well.  The discussion around 'The Monkey's Mask' was no where near as hotly debated as last month's effort but some good chatting was still had! 

Everyone seemed to be pleasantly surprised by a 'Poetry Novel'.  Most of us seemed to have been a bit daunted or put off by the idea of a poetry novel, but found the reality to be actually quite pleasant.  There seemed to be a general consensus on a few things:-
We were all amazed at the authors ability to create such vivid characters with so few words;
Whilst the writing itself was wonderful, the plot wound up leaving us a little underwhelmed; and
The short, rapid style of the writing, whilst making it a quick read, sometimes made it hard to focus and take in the story.

From the questions posted on the last blog post, I think most people felt the poetry style added to the book, and some people knew quite early on that Nick was the killer.

I think most people agreed that they would try a poetry novel again, based on their experience with the Monkey's Mask.

Scores are as follows:
Colleen - Really enjoyable, liked the format - 7/10
Toot - Vividly descriptive - 7/10
Kay - Liked the style, disliked the content  6/10
Kerry - Very fast pace.  Challenging, confronting, compelling, 7/10
Trilby - Instantly characterised, disappointing ending 8/10
Sandra - (Last book club before she moved, but don't worry, she'll be back)Raunchy! 7/10
Leslie - just came along for the choccy bickies!

Tonight's book club meet

Better late then never!

Some questions to help tonight's discussion:
Do you think that the verse style added or detracted to the story?
Did you pick the guilty party early on?
SPOILER
Do you think that Nick or Jill killed Mickey?

Feel free to bring slippers!

Trilby

September meeting date is now TUESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER.

As the title says, September meeting is now on the second tuesday of the month, 14th September, 7:30pm - at my (Trilby) house.  I haven't heard from Liz, could someone let her know please (Toot? Deb?).

See you all then. 

x

Email setup

Hellooo laydeez  *lear, wink*,

Sorry, couldn't help myself after last book! :).

Just letting you know that when someone makes a post on the blog (not a comment to a post), you will now (hopefully) be automatically updated to your email inbox.

Let me know if there are any issues.

Cheers,

Trilby

July's Reading - The First Stone - August 3rd Meeting

Firstly, I love that everyone sinks their teeth into the discussion, no holds barred. I really appreciate everyones ability to do so, because that is what makes this book club what it is, not just an excuse to eat chocolate, but to have some great discussions even if we don't manage to solve the world's problems in one night.
One might think that a book about the sexual harassment of two woman would unify us, but not surprisingly, this wasn't the case and much spirited conversation was had. By the way, who ever bought the 'Crunchie Rocks' that I'm now eating....good!

Some discussion points of note included;

• what one woman considers harassment another might not.
• initial opinion re cases like this - tend to side with the man then as more information becomes available support for the woman grows.
• lots of discussion on who's responsibility it is to change behaviour i.e predominantly the onus is on woman to say "no, don't do that" as opposed to men asking "is this behaviour acceptable to you?"
• we all tended to sit on the fence regarding the question as to whether we felt the incidents actually occurred, however, if we changed the scenario slightly and talked about the girls kneeing the man in the balls and telling him to back off, we all found that scenario much more believable, what that means, I don't know.
• No-one present would've gone to the police had they been put in that situation and as to who we felt some level of empathy for, it twisted and turned as much as the story did.

So how did we rate it? Average rating = 6/10

Tahnee - 8 - discussion provoking
Debbie - 5 - laborious, disjointed
Colleen - 4- laborious, didn't like writing style, liked the issues
Kerry   - 7- what is empowerment?
Sandra - 7- liked it
Meg     - 4- blah, bland, grey
Trilby -8- there is no answer, it is ambiguous

Augusts Reading - The Monkey's Mask - Dorothy Porter - Meeting at Trilby's

September's Reading - Breath - Tim Winton - Meeting at Sandra's

Happy Reading : ) Tahnee

Get blog posts on email

Hi All,

In order to lessen Toot's workload in updating people on Bookclub, I would like to suggest that I sign you all up for email posting.  What will happen is when someone posts to the blog (not comments, just the posts themselves) you will be emailed the new post.

This means that Toot doesn't have to send an email to remind you to look at the blog, the blog will email you itself!  Your email will only be available to people with Admin privileges on the blog, currently Toot, myself and Sandra, and can't be accessed by anyone else or outside parties.  I have most of your emails, but in case you want to use a separate email or something, I will collect and confirm emails at the next book club!

See you all then.

Trilby

Next Months Book - The Monkeys Mask

Hi All,

The book for August(reading)/September(meeting) is The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter.  It is readily available online, not sure about IRL though.  I would assume Borders would have it.
I have found it online at Dymocks and Fishpond.

It's a thriller in verse, so should be quite interesting, but so far seems an 'easy' read.

See you all soon.

The First Stone - thoughts for discussion...

(1) If  'the incidents' occurred as described, would you have gone   to the police? Why/Why Not?

(2) Which parties if any do you empathise with and why?

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

A brave few took on the dark, cold winter night and the drive to Healesville last night, for a - shall we say - spirited discussion about the merits or lack thereof of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.


All were in agreement that the main character, Catherine, was indeed a bit of a ninny. It was also felt that the book, which was one of Austen's earliest works, certainly showed evidence that the author was young and inexperienced when she wrote it, and was maybe lacking some of the more complex relationships and wit of Austen's later novels. There was some discussion as to whether the author was thumbing her nose at novel readers in general, but on the whole Northanger Abbey was not well liked by the bookclubbers (aside from Elise, who having studied it recently as part of a literature course found more to get her teeth into, and is also a dyed in the wool Janeite), and was thought to be lacking in action, frivolous and, to quote Colleen, 'drivel'.

Tahnee - juvenile. 3/10

Colleen - bland and boring. 3/10

Trilby - a simplistic plot, but did inspire her to try more Austen. 5/10

Elise - fresh and naive. 7/10

June's Book, The Secret Life of Bees -Sue Monk Kidd

June's book club meeting was attended by a small number of book club devotees (Tahnee, Colleen, Trilby and Kerry) at my place. We were all in agreeance, that this months book, The Secret Life of Bees was a good easy enjoyable read and that it was a nice change after having read a couple of books which were thought provoking and fairly heavy to read.

In the book, a young girl who embarks on a quest seeking answers about her dead mother ends up living with a group of african american women in the deep south in the early 60's. She is accompanied by her african american housekeeper, who she broke out of jail after she had spat on a group of white mens boots. The novel explores the treatment of african americans during this time period and the relationships between the young girl and the women she comes to live with.

All of us were impressed with the conviction of the characters to live their lives in the way that they wanted to despite the obvious racial prejudices that surrounded them which could have resulted in personal injury or death.

Two questions were discussed. These are as follows:

1.who was the Queen Bee in the book?

The significance of the bees during the book we felt was to represent the interaction of August her sisters and the daughters of Mary. August was clearly the queen bee.

2.What compelled Rosaleen to spit on the three men's shoes?

Rosaleen was so focussed on wanting to register to vote that she wasn't going to let anything get in her way, even though she would have known of the danger in spitting on the mens shoes. We discussed the possibility that she had a sense of false bravado because of the fact that black americans had been given the vote or that after having stolen the fan from the church she was on a roll and thought she could get away with it.

Book club member ratings

Leslie - 8, thoroughly enjoyed it

Sandra - 6, Lily should have got over her mother issues earlier in the book

Tahnee - 6, Lovely warm read, chick lit (not lick)

Colleen - 6, A very enjoyable read, soft book

Kerry - 6, Stunning, filled with racial and political tensions

Trilby - 5, More undercurrents/ issues than you think on first reading

Kaye - 7, A good light read but full of substance

JULY's Book

The First Stone - Helen Garner

JUNE's Book

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Half The Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Well we all had a great night with lots of dm conversations. This was not surprising considering this book was a composition of true stories from around the globe. With stories that were passionate, shocking, compelling, inspiring and very thought provoking across many levels. I was so happy to hear how reading this book inspired us all to stand up and take action.

Tahnee was thinking about joining a foster sister program in Melbourne and providing some support for women oversea, she is still looking at just how she will contribute. She also read other books mentioned in this book.

Elise is seriously looking at volunteering her vet skills overseas for a few weeks and is also considering how she can contribe.

Meg was looking at using her skills to help prison people get jobs when they have finished their sentences and also wanted to find out more about giving to charities listed in the book. PS a note of apology to MEGS CAMPING FRIENDS this book was full of stats, sorry from LIZ.

Debbie is considing going overseas to work in an orphanage with a volunteering program run by her work.

I am still considering all my options but as Meg pointed out i will work with my own skills to help both in Australia and with a cause from overseas. I am truly inspired and excited to see how each of us will endeavor to make some sort of impact on the cruelties of humanity which exist here now. I will also pass this book on to as many people as i can hoping they to will find something that inspires!!!!

I think we all could have talked for weeks about the issues raised by the stories in this vividly illustrated book. For those that were unable to attend we all had two questions (thanks Kerry for that great suggestion) to talk about in relation to the book.

QUESTION 1: What story/stories had a impact on you and why?

QUESTION 2: Did it change your view on modern society around the world?

Q1:In brief i think most stories had a impact on me in some way shape or form and i hope i will take the positives from these stories to create greater meaning in my life each day. The least i take away from this book is i am grateful for the little things and hopeful for the future. And my children are never going overseas.

Q2:YES YES YES i had no idea of the scale of cruelty and impact of culture's on humanity's suffering. The stats were very shocking. 60 minute's!! never missed a show, you have much to answer for and i see the need to broaden my horizons, THANKS DEB. lol

SCORES

Tahnee - 8 comments - important and catalytic

Elise - 7 comments - eye opening

Kaye - 7 comments - disturbing

Meg -8 comments - thought provoking

Debbie -8 comments - remarkable

Elizabeth - 9 comments - a treasure i will return to so i can learn and grow

"It's impossible to exaggerate the importance of this book. Wonderfully written and vividly description, HALF THE SKY can and should galvanize support for reform on all levels. Inspiring as it is shocking, this book demands to be read." -ANNE RICE author of Called Out of Darkness

NOTE !!!

MAY book- SECRET LIFE OF BEES by monk kidd- at Kaye's house

JUNE book -NORTHANGER ABBEY by Jane Austin -at Elise's hous

Housekeeping...

Kerry put forward the suggestion that the host kick of the evening with some questions on the book that (if possible) are posted on the blog prior to the meeting, for those that like to read with the questions in mind. Kerry also asked that I re-post the initial book club info, here 'tis...

Selecting this months book

Whilst not a rule it would be nice if there is an underlying assumption that the books we’ll be reading have reached some type of literary standard, by way of award or recommendation from fellow authors, literary associations etc. That said, I’m sure there are some undiscovered great reads out there, so if you‘ve found one, bring it to the table.

There is no theme and members are free to choose from whatever genre interests them, be it crime, fiction, non fiction, historical, drama etc. In this way we might be exposed to books we might not normally read.

If a book is selected that you have read before, perhaps take the opportunity to read it in a different light, with a view to discussing certain aspects/themes/issues of the storyline at the end of the month. Perhaps read with a pencil and make notes as you go.

Meetings

If those attending could bring some food to share, that way it’s not totally up to the host to provide everything. If it is your turn to host and you’d prefer to have the evening at a pub/winery/café/someone else’s house, do so.

Books are selected two months in advance to give everyone time to obtain copies.

Thoughts on discussion

I don’t want this to just be about ‘did you/didn’t you like it’, a run through of "did you like it?" at the beginning of meetings is really damaging to conversation and just promotes a series of closed statements such as liked it, loathed it and then we can all go home. If people can try to avoid saying liked it or not, but perhaps discuss themes and issues as they relate to you or society, which will be more discussion promoting. Yes, like at school! (my inner nerd doesn’t come out very often, indulge me)

Following discussion we all rate the book out of 10 (after vigorous debate, half marks are allowed). There are numerous websites available on reading group guides and suggested discussion topics available for whatever book you may choose. Perhaps the host could get things moving with a series of questions relating to the text, prior to individuals opining about whether they liked/disliked the book.

I’m just trying to set the tone for some reading, discussion, sharing of good books, exposure to new ideas and differing viewpoints and of course a little drinking wine and talking crap with some other people who are genuinely interested in literature?

If you know anyone that likes to read bring them along.

Book for May

Kaye has slected this months book - The Secret Life of Bee's, Sue Monk Kidd

Theory of Flesh by John Binius

Thought provoking, disquieting, and often confusing, the Theory of flesh certainly disturbed me. Renee Quite, a character who is not quite right takes us on a twisted, disjointed journey of re-self discovery. Along his philosophical journey we are introduced to many unusual characters with their own preverse stories.
Group consensus (the three of us who had actually read the book): Just beyond our minds reach are the ideas, meanings, and vocabulary necessary to make the links between life and the apparently related bizaar events that occur.
Colleen 3 (read the first three chapters) believed that the writing was over desriptive and did not excite interest.
Tahnee 3 disquieting, didnt get it, would have like to but kept reading anyway.
Trilby 6 throught provoking, would like to be able to read the book with greater insight.
Cara 5 third time reading and still confused, posed many questions and is one of the few books that has disturbed and stimulated (intellectually).
Thanks Ladies was great to get your thoughts on the book.
See you all on the first tuesday of May after we have all dutifully read Half the Skye by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn

Welcome Silence By Dr. Carol North

hmm um well arr sorry for the lateness of my entry must have something to do with my aversion to anything that feels vaguely like homework.
Anyway back to book club although I'm still deciding if it is book club that we are really attending or is it just a clever disguise to enjoy coffee and cake and more than a little gossip thank you Elise for your contrabution on the England front wondering how it all went wink wink nudge nudge.
The night started like all other nights with discussion about everything other than the book somehow we found ourselves talking about Joe blog and Farmer Joe who according to the Dewhurst family my sister Elizabeth for a long time thought were real people. Lizzy was not on her own though because apparently for many years Tahnee thought the family friend Jack (making up a name here cause i cant't remember his actual name) had a partner Sarah but alas he was all alone and the confusion was caused by his last name something like Ensirra (and Sarah). For those who could not make it on the night im sorry if none of this makes sense.
Back to the book Welcome Silence, i picked this book because i had read it many years ago and remember at the time that it left an impression on me so thought it might be a good choice for book club. When i re read it again as all good hosts should isn't that right Colleen, i came away feeling a little dissappointed, to me it felt like a case study void of emotion and although a nice easy read i was worried it would not be well recieved by the group. Thats what happens i guess when you read with a critical eye rather than just for the joy of it. So i must admit i was pleasently surprised when on the whole it was enjoyed by you guys. This is the point where i should be sharing everyones scores butI have a BIG apology to make somehow i managed to lose the important bit of paper all the scores and comments were written on. From memory the scores averaged around the 7's and 8's with a score of 9 and a bit from Lesley who apparently shared the book with a friend that has a child who suffers with schziophrenia and found it inspirational. There to was some discussion on the style of writing which as already mentioned i found a little clinical and thought it may be a result of the author being a doctor however Elise had an interesting spin on things wondering whether the lack of emotion represented Carol's experience of how she saw things at the time and was done with purpose.
Again im sorry for my tardiness and for losing the scores hopefully the next host Cara has better luck looking forward to seeing you all again at the special time april the 6th moved forward because of the easter break, hopefully Lesley still have some icecreams left over in the freezer.

The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney

The First Tuesday Book Club met on Tuesday 2nd February to discuss The Tenderness Of Wolves by Stef Penney.

The evening was extremely hot and sorry but we don't have air con. Thanks to Coll and Trilby for bringing ice creams which remained in my freezer forgotten as we hotly discussed this months novel and of course caught up on some issues from the previous meeting.

Obviously I chose a good book as everyone only had praise for the story (though some of us were worried about the people still wandering through the snow). The characters in the book were realistic and most of us felt the author described the landscape etc. so well that we felt we were there.

SCORES:
Cara - 9 Related to the characters easily.
Trilby - 7.2 Really liked the independant female character.
Meg - 6.5 Interesting and strong character but the story line a little slow.
Tahnee - 7.5 Wanted the story to go on and on and on.
Elizabeth - 8 Wanted to read more .. wanted more story.
Debbie - 7.5 I loved it.
Colleen - 6.5 Could seperate the author from the story line.
Leslie - 8 Really enjoyed reading the book, felt the characters come to life & loved Mrs Ross
Elise - 8 Very enjoyable story.

Thanks to Debbie for the next book chosen: Welcome Silence by Carol North
The following book chosen by Cara is: Theory of Flesh by John Binias