questions for february's book club

Happy New Year to you all...some questions to ponder for discussion

- Why do u think the story was told in flashbacks. What perceptive can an older Henry give and do u think it would be accurate

- Father-son relationships are a crucial theme in the novel. How is Henry's relationship with his Father and Son different. What accounts for the difference?

-Why does Henry's father insist on only English from Henry when he intends to send him back to China for study.

-If u were Henry would u be able to forgive your father.? Does he deserve forgiveness?

-Henry's mother comes from a culture in which wives are subservient to their husbands. Given this background , do you think she could of done more to help Henry in his struggles against his father? Is her a loyalty to her husband a betrayal of her son.

-bullying is a big part of the theme in the book..Henry's bullied by his father,schoolmates, society in general. How do you think this shaped his character . Do you think society has changed much in regards to bullying.

-Do you think Henry was right to stay with Ethel even after he found out about his fathers deceit. Should he have searched for Kieko.

-Do you think Ethel knew what was happening to Henry's letters?

-Why do u think Kieko didn't make an effort to find Henry once released from the camp?

-Internment of foreigners happened all over the world during WW2 what are ur views on this and do you think it is a practice that could happen today?

Happy reading see u all at my place

224 Schoolhouse Road Woori Yallock

on the first Tuesday in Feb.....

hey reading buddies just wondering if someone can post the name of the next two books because i know i wrote them in a safe place i just can't remember where that safe place is ugh....

Australian Women Writers 2012 challenge

Hello,

Don't want to force anyone into picking certain books but I was wondering if people would be interested in doing this for book club?

http://www.australianwomenwriters.com/p/australian-women-writers-book-challenge_25.html

Let me know

Trilby

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows

This book was generally liked. At first some of us had our reservations. On the back of some copies the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" stated she enjoy this book, which would discourage some readers. Some of us found an epistolary novel (thanks Tahnee) meaning a novel created out of letters, a bit of a challenge at first. For some however found this method of creating a story, enjoyable and an easy was to explore the different characters.

The subject of letters themselves was an interesting topic, as the use of letter writing has changed due to technology. Though it was discussed that writing an email can sometimes be similar to the writing that you post.

The characters Juliet and Elizabeth, were liked because of their independence and heroic behaviour during a time when men were considered "the boss". The risks they both took were different, Elizabeth's actions lead her to her death. Juliet's ultimately lead her to Dawsey

As for the rest of the Guernsey society, it was found they were sometimes too eccentric and quirky. Some of us thought Dawsey was about fifty until Juliet described him. Despite the historical quality of the book, some of us didn't know where the story was leading.

Debbie: 7 Enjoyable read. Inspired to get letters out to read.

Lesley: 5 Interesting but couldn't get into it. Can't fall into a book of letters.

Tahnee: 6 Enjoyed it, love new word "epistolary".

Trilby: 5 Enjoyable, pleasant, interesting.

Kaye: 6 A lovely read. At the start found the letters annoying.

Colleen: 5 Liked format, half way through the book couldn't understand characters, a bit fluffy.

Kerry: 4 Enchanting tale, a bit boring, a bit disjointed.

Hannah: 6 Letters annoying at first, an easy read.

Book club a Kerry's in February; "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jaimie Ford.

At Colleen's in March; "Caleb's Crossing", by Geraldine Brooks.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Congratulations Irene! (you still could have come to book club though he he just kidding)

Hannah

Hi there, sorry I didn't post this earlier. See you this evening.

What was your experience reading a novel composed of entirely out of letters? Are there types of information letters convey more successfully than other forms of expression? Would a novel in emails have different strengths and weaknesses?

Dawsey first writes to Juliet because books are so difficult to obtain on Guernsey in the aftermath of the war. What differences do you note between the bookselling in the 1940s and bookselling today? Do book lovers share common qualities across generations?

In what ways are Juliet and Elizabeth kindred spirits?

Numerous Guernsey residents give Juliet access to their private memories. Which voices were memorable for you? What is the effect of reading a variety of responses to a shared tragedy?

How would you characterise Juliet? Did you like her?

If you had lived in Guernsey before the occupation, do you think you would have sent your children to England without you?

What do you think of Elizabeth's relationship with Christian? Was it wrong of her to love a Nazi?

Do you think books have the power to lift people out of the circumstances? What role did books play in the lives of the Guernsey Literary Society?

Book Club For 2012

It was agreed that we should know who is deciding what book in what month so here goes.

February: Kerry
March: Coleen
April: Lesley
May: Kay
June: Tahnee
July: Trilby
August: Hannah
September: Debbie
Oct: Meg
November: Irene

Hello Again,
Firstly thanks for a great evening. Loving book club.

The general feeling towards Tamil Tigress was one of disappointment and doubtful as to the sincere description of Niromi's experiences. The word "dubous" was used on more than one occasion!!! The writing in the first person was very uninteresting and made what should have been confronting and shocking content less impactful.

And to the scores:

Debbie: 4 Really struggled to read. Couldn't connect with main character. Name use confusing
and difficult to be sure who was who.

Kerry: 5 Difficult to read,from her point of view.....'insert senior moment'.....written in first person was not engaging enough. Story was 'dubious'.

Hannah: 6 Exhausting read -makes you appreciate the freedoms here in Australia.

Trilby: 3 Not connected to cause or story.Can understand motives. Wouldn't be surprised if story is 'dubous'.

Coleen: 4 Blandly written. Whole story was self promoting.. 'Dubious' read.

Kay: 5 'Dubious' Lack of anticipation.

Lesley: Didn't Read

Tahnee: 4 Distant from story, surprisingly boring given the content.

Irene: 4 Disappointed in lack of education about Sri Lanka's polictical situation.


Next months' book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, hosted by Hannah who can be found at 36 Railway Road Seville. See you there.

Hello All,

Hope you all had a win on Cup Day.....or at least a nice day off work.

As this is a relatively new book there weren't any book club questions on my google searches so I resorted to coming up with a few questions myself so please be gentle with me.

In an interview Niromi states that violence is no tool or means to achieve resolution. Do you believe this to be true? Is there any scenario/situation in life where violence is the only means to defend a belief or something held dear?


How much do you think she was protected by the other Tamil Tigers? Was this because of her middle class upbringing?


Is her story really one of being a fighter or a protected teenager championing a naive belief? Friends spoke of support for the cause but within her social circle it never translated into action. Why might this be?

Was Niromi brave in not hiding behind the social expectation of the caste system or fear of disappointing her family and the social impact that may have?


Can you understand why Benjamin’s murder by the Tamils was not enough to make her walk away but actually paved the way for innumerable excuses and sacrifices for the Tamil Tigers.


Was Niromi’s honorable intent in joining the Tamils justified or driven by fear?
Can the two be separated in the face of injustice/persecution?


I also came across this article which I thought was rather interesting……
http://groundviews.org/2011/08/31/forbidden-fruits-niromi-de-soyzas-tamil-tigress-noumi-kouri-and-helen-demidenko/


Hope to see you all tomorrow in sunny Reefton.

Irene

Meg is no longer a techno loser

I am sure that you will all be thrilled to know that as at 1.34pm on Thursday 6th Oct 2011 I can access and post to the blog again. I suspect that this shall last all of a week before I have issues again!!!!!

But while I am on here a little bit of info for the group. If you are interested in buying the book the book for the Dec book club go to:

www.thebookdepository.com

$9.88 including shipping!

Happy reading

December book club

Hi it's Hannah. I have chosen "The Guernsey Literary Potatoe Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. Hopefully it will be good. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will know I had help with this one. You may be disappointed I did not choose Karma Sutra although this has been recomended also.

Push, Sapphire

'Push' seemed to be enjoyed by the majority of Book Club, with most people feeling it was a worthwhile story and opened their eyes to a different part of society.

We had much discussion over social security payments and how to ensure that those payments are used wisely, and how to ensure the cycle of poverty is broken.  We also talked about child safety, paedophiles, paternity leave, male and female influence in the home/daily lives of children and how Hannah and I can set up a prostitution business if needs be (you kinda had to be there!)

I held forth a bit about the American economic situation and how it doesn't really allow for people to better themselves and how trying to survive is really quite difficult in the current environment. 
The website I referred to was this one:
www.wearethe99percent.tumblr.com
Read a few pages they are disturbing.

News reports on occupy wall street -
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3332160.htm

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/occupy-wall-street-protests-spread-across-us/story-e6frfkur-1226158110369

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street



Nick (Debbie's partner) has a complaint - he says that Book Club is taking up to much of Debbie's valuable time and that she is reading in bed when she should be doing other things!


And the marks are:

Irene - 5/10 – A brutal depiction of an unseen level of society.

Kay – 4/10 Confronting

Tahnee – 7/10 Important – needs to be read

Liz – 8/10 – Story needs to be told; obligated to educate myself to know that these lives exist.

Colleen - 5/10 – The importance of education (haven’t finished yet)

Hannah – 7/10 A good insight into that part of society

Debbie - 5/10 Too superficial; not enough depth - couldn’t connect to the character

Next book is Irene's choice: Tamil Tigeress by Niromi De Soyza
Irene's address is:
9 Reefton Drive, McMahons Creek
If you pass the Reefton Pub, you've gone about 100m to far!
In case you get lost, her number is 5966 8480.


See you all next month, where Tahnee and I will bore the pants off you with our travel stories about China!

Push Reading questions

In what way are Precious and her family members invisible to the larger world?

Precious's file reflects the government "workfare" point of view, that Precious should already be earning her own living, possibly as a home attendant. Precious objects violently to this idea. Can you understand the social worker's point of view? Have Precious's and Jermaine's arguments [pp. 121–123] changed any opinions you previously held on this subject?

 A famous—or perhaps infamous—Labor Department study, the Moynihan Report, blamed the absence of fathers and the dominance of women (rather than economic and racial inequality) for the problems confronting the African American family. Many black scholars and activists have argued against the report's conclusions. Which side of the argument do you believe Push to support?


Push has been called a Dickensian novel, to which Sapphire has responded, "Part of what's so wrong in this story is that we’re not in a Dickensian era. Those things shouldn’t be happening in a post-industrial society” (Bomb, Fall 1996). She sees the novel as “an indictment of American culture, which is both black and white” (ibid). What aspects of our culture have enabled the inequities described in the novel to develop? Would you say that contemporary American cities consist, as Dickens’s London was said to, of two entirely different cultures, the rich one and the poor?

Given the current american economic client (much worse that the economic climate in the book), do you think it's fiscally resonable and/or ethical to provide finacial support to people such as Precious to achieve high level education?

The Black Dahlia

Posting on behalf of Meg because she is a techno loser and can't figure out how to sign in AGAIN!

Ok I have to start (again!) by apologising for being uber slack about the blog!!! Sorry its just really NOT my thing and not helped by the fact that I can't access it again! Anyway I have done it at last!!


The book this month was "The Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy and the overall view of the group was that they didn't enjoy the book. In particular, a number of us felt that the characters were misleading and that there was too much about Bucky and not enough about the murder. While some thought the book had a strong voice in that you could easily picture the setting there was also a strong sense that it didn't read true. Many of us found it hard to get into and then often hard to follow.


Specifically:
Irene - 5/10 - Tried too hard to be complex

Liz - didn't read it

Debbie - 3/5/10 - misleading, hard to feel empathetic

Tahnee - 2/10 - misogynistic, superfluosly descriptive

Harriet (who shall now be known as Hannah) - difficult read

Kaye - 5/10 - more twists and turns than a contornist

Kerry - 5/10 crap writing, twist intrigued enough to finish

Meg 5/10 haven;t finished it yet - strong voice but disjointed and disconnected.



We then proceeded to have a great conversation about children which completely freaked Irene out and a very heated debate about whether the Black Dahlia asked for her death by her behaviour. While Toot did an exemplary job in arguing this, it really needed Trilby's passion!


The next book club meeting is tomorrow night and is at Trilby's place. The book is Push by Sapphire

The following book club meeting will be the 2nd Tuesday in November due to Cup Day and is at Irene's. The book is Tamil Tigress by Niromi De Souza
Colleen - 2/10 - badly written all US slang cheap crap cops and robbers story, hated the book

Trilby - 6/10 liked the noir feel but was longwinded. The afterword freaked me out.

chocolat Joanne Harris

Our monthly meeting for August discussed Chocolat by Joanne Harris.
The general feeling towards the book was one of a reasonable read, but, not fantastic or gripping. We felt that Reynaud was definitely the villain of the piece and none of us could sympathize with the motivations and feelings behind his actions. Reynaud and Vianne were clearly natural enemies, Reynaud believing that Vianne embodied the temptations that would lead his flock to stray and to Vianne, Reynaud represented the figures of authority that her mother had run from all her life. It was therefore impossible for them to have any form of relationship.
The author used the first person narrative voice for both of her principal characters, it was felt that this lead to confusion as often the reader had to work out who was actually talking. However, this did allow the reader to gain a clearer view of the motivations of the characters.
After moving and settling down frequently in the past Vianne's character badly wanted to stay in the village. It was thought that this was primarily to provide her daughter with the childhood that she had not had herself.
We all felt that the book ended with a fizzle rather than a bang and most of us believed that Vianne would continue to move around and not settle in one place for long.

Comments

Trilby -5 Enjoyable holidy read, empty and inconsistent

Tahnee - 5 Comfy, easy to read

Irene - 7 Realistic sketching of country french life

Kerry - 6 Pleasant read

Colleen- 5 Disjointed and era not known

Hannah - 6 Enjoyable at start but ending disappointing

Kaye - 6 Disconnected, required concentration to read

Weird Books

Stuck for ideas... Weird Book Room

Welcome to AbeBooks' Weird Book Room - heralded by the New York Times, Canada's Globe and Mail, The Times of London, and The Guardian (UK) as the finest source of everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books. We now have an excellent selection of crazy and strange titles listed for sale by our booksellers, about every oddball aspect of life you could possibly imagine (and a few things you couldn't possibly imagine). We invite you to not only revel in our collection of literary oddities but to also send us your suggestions.

Chocolat questions

Hi all,

here are a few questions to consider for book club on Tuesday night at my house.

1. To what extent is Reynaud the villain of the piece? Is it possible to understand or sympathize with the motivations and feelings behind his actions?

2. Reynaud and Vianne seem to be natural enemies from the start and yet they both have significant elements in common: a haunted past, a desire for acceptance. How do you think this affects their relationship?

3. The author uses the first person narrative voice for both of her principal characters. Why do you feel she does this and how effective is each in showing the character's attitudes and motivations?

4.The themes of moving on and settling down recur frequently in the book. Why do you think Vianne wants so badly to remain in the village? Do you think she eventually decides to stay?

See you then

Kaye

October Book

The book for October is Push by Sapphire.  This is the book on which the movie Precious is based.  See you all in a few weeks.

The book for the September meeting is The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. See you next month

August Meeting

Next book for August is Chocolat by Joanne Harris at Kays place. Monbulk Silvan Road Seville.

September book Meg's house, wait for it!

The Lord of the Flies

Leslie--------smashed leg
Kerry--------swanning around Europe
Elizabeth-----too cold
Debbie-------new baby
Kaye---------holidays

Hannah------8 ( New member? No one has met her, she could be fictitious, or maybe she is a member by corrospondence)
Disturbing. Boys are bastards! Percival made me cry.

Trilby--------8
Page turner, scary representation, do not believe it is realistic.

Irene---------8
Morally challenging. Asks more questions than it answers.

Tahnee-------8
Just enough but never too much. Better horror than Steven King. Loved it.

Meg----------5
Sucks to your asthma. Unnecessary descriptive. First half went no where then felt like Golding wants to wrap up the book.

Colleen-------8
A story of the possible out of the impossible. Loved it.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Some questions to ponder:

Golding describes his book as an attempt to trace the

"defects of society back to the defects of human nature" what do you think?

Were they just children playing games or was this real life?

I feel the 'the English public school mentally' of the time had a large impact in the discription of the main players in the story.

Here we go.....sorry it's so late!!!

Thanks girl's I had a great night out with lots of laughs. Scores are as follows:


Colleen - 7
Well written book....will look at reading other books written by the author.

Tahnee- 6.5
Rollicking read...a book about a book...does it get much better?

Trilby- 6.5
Interesting to learn about the story behind the real Alice In Wonder Land. Sense of foreboding did not end the way I wanted.

Elizabeth-8
Inspired me to have a go at writing my own book one day.....loved the creative story which was based on some facts about the real Alice.

Kaye- 5
Sense of foreboding was disappointed with the story.

Kerry- 7
Interesting characters...intrigued by the references to the real story behind Alice but did find at times the story long and drawn out


Irene- 6
Beautiful use of the English language...really enjoyed the classic style.



WHAT'S NEXT!!!

The next book for discussion at July's meeting is Colleen's pick,

" LORD OF THE FLIES" by William Golding.

Kaye has selected the book for August which is,

"CHOCOLAT" by Joanne Harris.

Evening Events

Thanks to Irene for the beautiful cake. Love especially from Trilby who frowns on people that just bring a box of chocolates which just happened to be what Irene had brought the week before.llolololol

Still no baby on Tuesday the 7th what surprise.....but happy to report that GEORGIA made a safe arrival on Saturday the 18th of June at 6.25pm after a long labour which resulted in a c section. All are very happy and well.

We also discussed how we view ourselves as we read a book which was really interesting to note:

Colleen- thinks about how the author is constructing the story as she reads.

Tahnee- thinks of herself as a fly on the wall.

Trilby- thinks of herself as an observer to the story.

Irene- thinks like Tahnee, like being a fly on the wall.

Kaye- creates pictures about the story similar to a movie.

Elizabeth- while reading a book I think about it as a movie and I'm the director.

How to link 'Books we've done' to the relevant blog post

Hope this little tutorial helps you out. It's a little fiddly but not too complex.

• Go into the blog post you want to link.  That means finding the blog post you want and clicking on the header so you are only able to see that specific post and not the whole blog.
• Copy the web address from the address bar on the page e.g. http://firsttuesdaybookclub.blogspot.com/2011/05/do-no-harm-carol-topolski.html
• Log into the blog and go into Dashboard.
• Click on Design
• On the RHS, there is Add a Gadget, then boxes underneath.  The second box down is Books we've done.  Click on edit in that box
• A 'configure list' window should open. 
• Enter in the name and author of the book in Add List item box
• Click on the link symbol next to the box (between the box and the Add item button)
• A script prompt box should appear.  In that box, paste the web address you copied earlier.
• Click OK
• The add item text book will look all funny now with or simlair.  This is normal!
• Hit add item!
• The book and author should now appear in the list below the add item text box.  The book and author should be in blue
• Scroll to the top and hit 'Save'
• You've done it, you techno wiz you!

Alice I have been by Melanie Benjamin

A few quetions to think about.....Book Club will be at TAHNEE'S house on TUESDAY the 7th of JUNE..... thanks Tahnee



Alice became famous through no fault of her own. Can you come up with a modern day version of Alice? How do their lives compare?

Alice refuses to read Alice in Wonderland until she is well into her eighties. Why do you think she avoids reading the story she inspired?

What part of the book speaks to you and your experiences in life?

Before reading Benjamin's novel, had you already read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? If so, does it make you want to read it again? Why or why not?

What do you think of an author writing a biographical novel using only notes and references and filling in the gaps with intelligent supposition?

The Scores so far

As promised, we thought it would be interesting to see what the average scores were per person, so I have put my number crunching hat and the results are:

Colleen - 5.16
Tahnee - 5.33
Trilby - 5.89
Meg - 5.13
Liz - 7.17
Kay - 6
Debbie - 6.38
Kerry - 6.14

So surprisingly I have enjoyed the books less than Colleen!!!! And just for fun, below is the summary of all of Colleen's comments:

• Didn't think it was particularly well written


• Didn't seem real, felt contrived


• Easy read but boring


• Flowed well and had a great story line


• good holiday read.....characters soft and uninteresting


• Well you would think that the members of the book club, being very
  intellectual type of people would show some respect for the hostess with
  the mostess and not be rude to her. The said hostess has read the book
  and liked it very much. I think I am qualified to report. I find this author
  very true with his writing and his discriptive ability to bring to lif a charactor
  or place is superior to his peers. The book comes to life with his ability to tell
  a story. I love the discriptive pieces about the bush and his ordinary day
  to day happenings. I have read most of his works and enjoyed them all.


• Could seperate the author from the story line


• (read the first three chapters) believed that the writing was over desriptive and did not excite interest.


• A very enjoyable read, soft book


• bland and boring


• laborious, didn't like writing style, liked the issues


• Really enjoyable, liked the format


• Felt planned, story line good, writing not, Miles Franklin committee flawed!


• stolen from my shopping cart (if you weren't there trust me don't ask!)


• 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.


• Good book..ending fissled out


• Bloody awful

And my personal favourite from colleen:

Self indulgent crap - struggled to finish - Eat, Pray, Love

Happy reading gals

M xox

Do No Harm - Carol Topolski

Many of us found this a compelling and intriguing story in spite of our selves. All agreed that the writer may've been a little to leisurely in the execution and development of the novel in the initial stages only then to change gear and speed towards the finish tabloid style, to the novels detriment. Many struggled with the dark subject matter, the novels constant toing and froing of times, places and characters and period inaccuracies. Despite the lead characters horrific acts, we all felt that Virginia was a robust and very real character. An average rating of  4.

• Trilby-Roux    4/10 Disjointed, second half like a trashy novel.
• Irene              3/10 Unfocused, disappointing character development
• Meg               5/10 Disjointed, unsatisfying 
• Kerry             6/10 Kept my interest, didn't like the content
• Kaye              6/10 Intriguing but creepy
• Colleen           2/10 Bloody awful
• Tahnee           5/10 Liked the in depth initial character development, went down hill in second half 
• Elizabeth                  Didn't read it - tried but couldn't 
• Debbie                     Didn't read it - gave it to Elizabeth  

WHATS NEXT
The next book for discussion at June's meeting courtesy of |Elizabeth, venue TBA is 'Alice I Have Been' Melanie Benjamin.

The book for discussion at July's meeting courtesy of Colleen is 'Lord of the Flies' William Golding.

Kaye will select the book for the August meeting and will let us know at the next meeting what it is.

OTHER STUFF
Welcome newcomer Irene, if we didn't scare her off, she may be back.


It was all agreed that people would like to know how/why each person selected their book for that month before we commence discussion.


BLOG STUFF
Trilby - would you be able to assist Meg in changing her e-mail address for the blog.
Trilby - would you be able to provide a brief tutorial on linking the books we have done section on the blog.
Meg -   would you be able to provide Irene and I with an e-introduction.

Aprils book club - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Well better late than never, again i have lost the notes i took.... can i blame it on the pregnancy i reckon i should lol.
The night got off to a slow start with just myself, Elizabeth and Kaye we actually had thoughts about holding off any discussion on the book until this month. However eventually Leslie joined us after spending half an hour arguing with her tom tom about where i live thankfully she listened to it in the end.
I was going to cheat and use the recommended questions (on the internet) but they were all so tiresome like what was Jacobs relationship which each of his wives ect... ect... So i went with my own, something along the lines of do we as women in todays world have an equivalant "Red Tent" with general concensus we decided that things like mothers group and indeed this book club was a little like the red tent.
Other random discussion included:
Housework and who keeps a tidy house
The new Tim Tam flavour can't remember what it was but it was yummy - Thanks Kaye
Cups and Periods - guess you had to be there.

Hmm the ratings well i lost them again but we we all agreed it was an enjoyable read.
Look forward to seeing you all at Tahnee's next week.

Date change for April book club

Hi guys, Sorry for the late notice however i need to change the book club night to Wednesday night if that is possible instead of of our usual Tuesday night. The new date: Wednesday 6th April at 7.30pm Deb's house: 16 Railway Road Seville ( a couple of doors down from Seville Primary ) Cheers Deb

March book review

We all agreed that this was a well told story but not a great book. The story rambled through many undeveloped charactors.Trudi Montag is a dwarf, her charactor is portrayed as a protagonist and thro her storytelling we experience her life as a disabled person surviving ina small town in hitler's regime. The aspect of difference led the group thro varied and lengthy discussions about how we all think, act and talk in regards to issues directly or externally affecting our lives ... i guess we all agreed to disagree however we all have a healthy respect for each others views..
col..........Good book..ending fissled out..................................8.
Liz ..........Spirited discussion................................
Deb..........Loves historina books..ending disappointing.........7
Trilby.......yet to finish...enjoying so far...use of dwarf as protagonist interesting..secrets unfold effectively
Tahnee.....Tedious...Melancholy...anitclimatic....
Kaye.........Couldn't get into story.............
Kerry........Good story not a great book
April book is.......... The Red Tent..Anita Diamant at Deb's..16 railway rd seville
May Book ...............Do No Harm...Carol Topolski.....at Tahnee's

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Sorry its late ........
The room was divided regarding their like or dislike of the book. Some thoroughly enjoyed her travels both mentally and physically. Some found her to be selfish, boring and dull. Though after some discussion Tahnee did feel she needed to re-read the book.
The Scores:
Tahnee: 3 Priviledged and frustrating... after discussion a little more lenient.
Colleen: 5 Self indulgent crap - struggled to finish.
Debbie: 6.5 Unexpected delight - loved Italy.
Liz: 7 Enjoyed her thought processes and her different point of view.
Kerry: 5 Tiresome however did challenge Kerry to understand her courage to
move forward with her life.
Kay: 5 Boring, frustrating and tedious ramblings of a stupid woman.
Leslie: 7.5 Related somehow to her and the book. Dunno ... searching for ??
Trilby: 5

We discussed our favourite childhood book.
Leslie chose Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Kerry - Enid Blyton books = The Faraway Tree, Secret 7 etc.
Kay - The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, 7 Little Australians, Ann of Green Gables.
Liz - Charlottes Web, Flowers in the Attic.
Tahnee - The BRidge to Terrabitha.
Debbie - Trixibelldon and The Endless Steepe.
We all agreed that Colleens favourite childhood book must be I Can Jump Puddles!!


Next meeting is March 1st at Kerry's 'new' house.

Childhood Reading

Hi All,

As a little extra....have a think about a book from childhood that you really enjoyed...and why. Let us all know on Tuesday night, see you then. Tahnee

February Meeting

Hi Ladies,

February Meeting is coming up - 1st Feb!
I will be unlikely to be there, as I'm having my wisdom teeth out that morning - urgh!

Leslie - could you post some questions for the book before the date? Wold be fab.

See you in March then!

Trilby

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

I Can Jump Puddles

Book club held Monday 7th December at Colleen's.

ELISE 6
Claiming to be a lady of leisure she had no excuse not to finish the book but had to force
herself. She had read it years ago but had forgotten it. Didn't like the style of writing,
didn't flow. She liked some bits, it was a nice story.

SANDRA 6
This was an easy read but took me a long time to read it.
Could not get involved in the story. OK

TAHNEE 6
Liked it. Thought most people would be able to identify with the
story line of things you did when kids. She likened it to her
own childhood of riding through the bush on her horse. She
liked the hiden references to religion that at the time of
writing could not be clearly stated.

ELIZABETH 7

Thought the book was slow but good. It also took her back to
childhood and the things she got up to. Thought the
relationship with his father was quirky. The book didn't
evenly flow. Was very Australian. Not very dramatic.
It conjured up memories of childhood that she just had
to get out of her system before she lost them again.

DEBBIE 51/2

Just finished by the skin of her teeth. DOES NOT LIKE
ANIMAL STORIES. Ignore the fact that this was not
an animal book but had referenc to some animals.
Debbie read the whole book just waiting with bated
breath for some tradedy to befall the characters in
the story, particular poor little Andy.

LESLIE

Leslie is a bad girl. Leslie is a slack tart. Leslie did not read
the book. Leslie has promised a report next meeting.
BAD LESLIE

KERRY 7

Found it interesting to read a book with an author from another
era as aposed to the books we have read from recent times.
Liked the hospital scene, how life was very regimented back
then. Very different to how it would be now.Thought it a brave
write about what happened to the boy and how he overcame
the difficulties in his life.

TRILBY-ROUX 6

Read the book as a child, only got half way re reading it. Like the
childhood part, agian could relate it to her own childhood. Trying to
convince herself that it will be ok to let Eleanor Daisy run wild
with no idea of where she is or what she is doing. The world is safe.
Thought he was an honest writer but was the book sanitised for the
reader. Thought it was a series of little stories.

MEG 5

Did not finish book, has 30 pages to go. Found it very easy to read, not very
challenging. A bit 'negh'? Thought it was very rote but will finish it where
with the others she could not finish them. Feels it is a bit disjointed. It
felt like it was her grandpa telling her a story. Light and easy but not enough
energy.

COLLEEN 9

Well you would think that the members of the book club, being very
intellectual type of people would show some respect for the hostess with
the mostess and not be rude to her. The said hostess has read the book
and liked it very much. I think I am qualified to report. I find this author
very true with his writing and his discriptive ability to bring to lif a charactor
or place is superior to his peers. The book comes to life with his ability to tell
a story. I love the discriptive pieces about the bush and his ordinary day
to day happenings. I have read most of his works and enjoyed them all.

I might add, even if you did not like the book that this story has been translated
in aprox. 23 languages, only surpassed by the bible. Alan Marshall has won ]
many literary awards for his writings so he must be doing something right and
appaling.

ROSS

Very bloody noisy.

Next meeting, first Tuesday 2nd. Februay 2009 at Leslie's place 16 Wattle Valley Road Mt. Evelyn. The Book is The Tenderness of Wolvesby Stef Penney.


March meeting is at Debbie's. The book is Welcome Silence by Carol North.

Thank you ladies, the lovely evening had by all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

we welcomed 2 newcomers tonight... Elise (-sorry you werent in the pic-)and Isis ,now officially our youngest attendee

the night was a hot one however the group rated the book somewhat coolly.
overall the feeling was that the author didn't deliver what the cover described. It was generally thought to be a "holiday"type read, whose characters struggled to grasp the readers attention.
It was felt the story line waffled on too long, however there was some discussion on the political situation in sri Lanka and how cultural racism is something that can perpetrate into new environments and possibly stop integration in a new country.

colleen .. 6.5 ...good holiday read.....characters soft and uninteresting
meg .......3.........fliffy and fluffy( her words) and far too descriptive.
trillby......6.........enjoyable but slow
liz.............-.........tried to get book failed and what can she say 2 kids...say no more......
debbie.....-.........is struggling to be back in the real world...that's what happens when you go on holiday to amazing destinations...............half your luck
sandra.....7.........easy read....disappointiong ending
tahnee.....5.........easy read....thought provoking on political issues
leslie.........8.5.....couldn't make it however enjoyed the book and actually finished it as well ..
kerry........6........was looking forward to reading this one however found it a bit lacking in substance and found the characters quite depressing...



Next Book Club will be at Colleen's- chandler road Seville..second Tuesday December 8th.

next book is ........ I can jump puddles....Alan Marshall

October Meeting

Thank you for coming over tonight ladies it was very enjoyable, although we didnt really have many healthy treats!!!! Oh well lucky it is only once a month :)
We had plenty of laughs at Colleen's expense and Leslie even shed a few tears (from laughter!!)
So the book, Edgar Sawtelle - overall most people enjoyed it with two exceptions, however they both werent available tonight to share why. We believe it was to do with the story being heavily involved with dogs.

The results.....tonight the .5 and .25's were featured

Tahnee - 6.5 / 10 Great read and really liked it

Colleen - 7/10 Flowed well and had a great story line

Trilby - 7/10 found it really beliveable

Kerry - 7.5 / 10 enjoyed it and kept interest but didnt like the ending

Leslie - 7.25 sorry 7/ 10 enjoyable but long in places

Kara - 8.5/10 very interesting

Sandra - 7/10 very enjoyable

Meg - 2/10 Hated it!

Debbie - didnt like it either

Elizabeth - naughty naughty hasnt read it :)

The average score being 6.5.

Next month is a Kerry's house in Seville and the book is Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne. See you all then :)

and the book for November is...

Brixton Beach- Roma Tearne

Our November meeeting will be at Kerry's in Seville - see you all at Sandra's for Octobers debrief - Tahnee

yay for the updated blog...the next one is a big one... so get to it early

Better late than never

Right so finally getting around to the update for the book club which was at my place on the 2nd September. The book was Time Traveller's wife.

Overall the group enjoyed the book to varying degrees but there seemed to be a general consensus that the author could have done more with the storyline, that the plot was a bit confusing, none of us understood why he had to lose his feet and overall a little bit blah. In particular, people thought the following:

Colleen - 5/10 - Easy read but boring

Liz - 7/10 - Liked it but it could have been more. Inviting and encouraging, glad I visualised Henry as Brad Pitt and romantic

Tahnee - 4/10 - Nice read

Sandra - 5/10 - Bit blah and confusing

Deb - 6.5/10 - Enjoyable but gave me a headache

Meg - 7/10 - Liked it but unfilled potential

Leslie (who didn't finish reading it so...............) 7/10 so far and looking forward to finishing it. Lacking some spice

Trilby - 4/10 - like a romantic comedy

Cara now has a black mark against her name for not reading it and has promised that she will read the next one. :)

And the next book is (drumroll please............)

"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" - by David Wroblewski and will be at Sandra's house in Seville. If you don't know the address please text Tahnee (as I think that I have already lost it!!!!)

Happy reading everyone and see you on the 6th October. Wishing Deb safe travels to America as well

The update is bloody coming so stop nagging me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will put in on tonight when I get home now that I can access this site.

Oh and Colleen I would love to be at home doing nothing but am sadly working so :P.

Meggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where is the update. I asked Trilby if there was suposed to be an update on the blog and she said yes, Meg is suposed to do it. So slack tart where is it. You are at home sitting on your ought doing naught, so no excuses.

August Meeting

Another successful meeting. Lots of discussion around parenting, family life, gender relations, breastfeeding, rape and all other sorts of polite conversation! The group seemed to be slightly less unruly this month and a talking jug was only required a few times.

A big welcome to our new members - Sandra and Debbie. Though Debbie seemed somehow to be less of a person after the meeting...

This book seemed to be generally better received then The White Tiger, and general comments were that people enjoyed reading it and didn't feel they had to plow through the book. The average rating was 6.8 (Let's call it 7, shall we?)

Individual scores were as follows
Toot - 6/10 - Enjoyed it. Confronting but real

Colleen - 3/10 - Didn't seem real, felt contrived

Liz - Bad girl twice over, but at least she was there!

Leslie - By a group vote, it was decided she was piss weak.

Kerry - 5/10 Labourious - kept waiting for something else to happen.

Debbie - 7/10 Easy to read, enjoyed the chapter character changes and flow. Felt 'real'

Cara - 8/10 Enjoyed it.

Meg - 6/10 Caught and kept my attention

Trilby - 7/10 Enjoyed it

Sandra - Slightly bad member - redeemed herself with sticky date pudding. Based on halfway through the book - 6/10.

We had waaay to much food, didn't help that I had made 3 lots of different stuff. I think a plate per person will be more than enough for next month.

A special mention for Meg, looking beautiful with her 'well loved Teddy' do. She seems to be having issues with her nouns - quote " I don't ever refer to my *facial expression* as one of them when I'm doing THAT". See if you can work that one out!

The next book is 'The Time Travellers Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger and the next meeting is held at Meg's house in Wonga Park (let me know if you need the address). I got this book for $21.50 from fishpond.com.au if anyone is interested - aprox 5 days for shipping.


See you there on the 1st September@ 7.30pm.

Thanks for coming and for the lively discussion and for ensuring that my house is clean for once! I look forward to next months - Trilby xx