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