Today we met for our annual Christmas lunch, this time at Caroline's house. Books were not the main issue, but we did talk a little about what we are reading during our sumptious lunch produced jointly by us all. Lorraine joined us for coffee and dessert and Georges, the wine waiter, was asked to have lunch with us.
Some of the group are struggling with The Spy Who Loved but those who have got through the first big chunk of heavy and unnecessary details and have read about Christine Granville's courageous exploits in occupied France which had an important impact at the end of the war, recommend perseverance!
Meanwhile we are looking forward to reading Hilary Mantel's 'Bring up the Bodies' to be discussed in February.
Happy Christmas to one and all and we look forward to our next meeting at Anne's on 14 January and lots of new titles to add to our list of books to be read in 2014.
Looking forward to seeing you all on 14 Jan at my house, ie, 1 La Goueslonnerie, Teurtheville Bocage 50630. Tel 0233434160
By the way, has anyone read "The Cuckoo'sCalling" by Robert Galbraith? It's quite fun, sort of detective story. I enjoyed it very much and not too complicated.
February 11th 2014 Meeting held at LD's Apologies from CH
"Bring up the Bodies" By Hilary Mantel
With this historic win for BRING UP THE BODIES, Hilary Mantel becomes the first British author and the first woman to be awarded two Man Booker Prizes, as well as being the first to win with two consecutive novels. Continuing what began in the Man Booker Prize-winning WOLF HALL, we return to the court of Henry VIII, to witness the irresistible rise of Thomas Cromwell as he contrives the destruction of Anne Boleyn.
By 1535 Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry, his fortunes having risen with those of Anne Boleyn. But the split from the Catholic Church has left England dangerously isolated, and Anne has failed to give the king an heir. Cromwell watches as Henry falls for plain Jane Seymour. Negotiating the politics of the court, Cromwell must find a solution that will satisfy Henry, safeguard the nation and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge unscathed from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.
An astounding literary accomplishment, BRING UP THE BODIES is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists.
Hilary Mantel is the bestselling author of ten previous novels, including Wolf Hall, which sold more than 200,000 copies and won the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Her previous works include her novel, A Place of Greater Safety, and her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. She lives in England with her husband.
It was generally agreed that this book was much enjoyed by all except LD who found it hard going
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 11th March at 11am at JB's to discuss "Love Nina" by Nina Stibbe. 8th April 11am with SB to discuss "So Long See You Tomorrow".
4 November 2014 Jane, Christine, Anne and Caroline met at Caroline's to discuss The Hitchiker's Guide by Douglas Adams. Lorraine who was absent had not got very far with the book and did not enjoy it. Sally, also unable to come, had read it several times and was less enthusiastic this time round but gave it 4 stars because she had enjoyed the series.
Those who had thoroughly enjoyed reading it (again) quoted several dialogues and names which had made them laugh a lot. We all agreed that it is a very imaginative intergalatic adventure full of satiric humour and a good parody of politics, government and big business. The book has certainly had a huge impact over the years and remains a favourite for many.
Between five of us we gave the Guide 18 stars.
The next meeting is at Lorraine's house on 2 December and we will discuss The Shock of the Fall.
I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I'm not sure if 'enjoyment' is the correct way to describe what I got from reading it. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say I found the book totally captivating, realistic, thought provoking and at times emotional. I found that on some occasions I couldn't pick the book up because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with it, at others I couldn't put the book down.
The engaging, creative and narrative writing style puts you right inside "Matthew's" head - and the more he tells you,the more you want to know! Each paragraph makes the story unfold; like a tasty jigsaw that leaves you hungry for more....
It got a resounding 5 stars from almost all of us
The next meeting is at Chris' house on Tuesday 6th January to discuss "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Oops forgot to say we met at Jane's for a delicious lunch on Tuesday 29th November to discuss "The Shock of the Fall" by Nathan Filer, commented on above
February 10th 2015. Meeting held at Lorraine's house. Sadly without Sally and Caroline. Although we were glad to have telephonic communication with Caroline.
We discussed "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson.
"More than 300 million people in the world speak English, and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to"....
A book we all enjoyed and would thoroughly recommend to others. It is an extensively researched account of the origins of our rich and wonderful English language. Cleverly and sometimes most amusingly put together. Needless to say the chapter most discussed was the one about swear words.Fascinating!
It was agreed this is a book we should all have on our shelves.
We all gave it 5 stars.
Our next meeting is at Sally's on 3rd March to discuss "The Luminaries"
Tuesday 6th April. Meeting at Lorraine's with Anne, Chris and Caroline. Apologies from Sally and Jane. We discussed "We are all completely beside ourselves" by Karen Fowler. The book was given 3 stars. I completely agree with this quote from an Amazon 3* review. This book is an amalgam of various American icons and themes. As a little girl, our narrator, Rosemary, has the adult-in-a-grown-up's-body of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird, whilst as a college student, she meets Harlow, her first real grown-up friend who comes over like Madonna: sassy and street-wise, and by taking Rosemary out of her comfort zone, she is the mechanism that allows the narrator's odd family story to unfold. On the surface, Rosemary's home-life is not that strange - a dad who becomes increasingly detached and unloved, a 'mom' on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a runaway brother, an unusual family pet, and an oft-referred-to inciting incident . . . The book's chronology switches backwards and forwards, before and after this incident, which when it is finally laid-out in front of us, doesn't seem "inciting" enough for what followed and the impact it had on all concerned. Ultimately, this is about the distorted realities and mythologies of all families (again, a very familiar theme), and how we all pay a heavy price for miscommunication and mistaken memories. After a fire-cracker start, the book flattens out, but finishes with a very powerful last page - and for me, that's only enough to get three stars. "Me Cheeta" covers some of the same territory, but with much more wit and wisdom.
I can’t get into the Blog proper, so will report here.
This one was a hard one to finish! It beat most of us in fact.
Stolen from Good Reads: "It is unusual when a masterpiece develops out of an assignment, but that is, more or less, what happened in the case of Gulliver's Travels. The Martinus Scriblerus Club, made up of such notables as Pope, Arbuthnot, and Gay, proposed to satirize the follies and vices of learned, scientific, and modern men. Each of the members was given a topic, and Swift's was to satirize the numerous and popular volumes describing voyages to faraway lands. Ten years passed between the Scriblerus project and the publication of the Travels, but when Swift finished, he had completed what was to become a children's classic (in its abridged form) and a satiric masterpiece.
Swift kept the form of the voyage book but expanded his target. Instead of simply parodying voyage literature, he decided to attack what he considered were people's most conspicuous vices. He makes the abstract become concrete. Ideas are metamorphosed into grotesque, foreign creatures; absurd customs are represented by absurd objects; and the familiar becomes new and surprising."
Although there were many questions on line, we didn’t find many very illuminating (most of them seemed pretty straightforward), and were somewhat hampered by being only four of us, not all of whom had quite read the book (two had had a good look at teaching notes on line though!). Generally it was agreed that it was a heavy read, leading some of us to give up, but also that the satirical points made were deep and worth discussion, and that they continue to apply today to many aspects of modern life. Possibly Lorraine made the best choice by reading the children’s version! Although the history we discussed and depth of satirical comment led two of us to give it a 4, three gave it a three and one gave up entirely, so I’d say a 3 star rating is a reasonable compromise!
Tuesday 26th January 2016 Short stories by Guy Maupassant with text in English and French
Present :Anne, Chris, Jane, Caroline and Lorraine Apologies from Sally
It was agreed that we all enjoyed reading these stories. Anne commented on the authors fascination with prostitutes! We enjoyed being able to read the book in either or both language. Jane had read most of it in French but finished off in English and found it flowed better and was easier to follow. Perhaps because the original is in old French and the translation is in modern English? We all gave it 4****
Future meetings and books
Tuesday 23rd February chez Caroline at 11am to discuss "The Miniatursit" by Jessie Burton Tuesday 22nd March Chez Jane at 11am to discuss "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce Tuesday 26th April chez Christine at 11 am to discuss "Beloved" by Toni Morrison Tuesady 17th May "All the Light we cannot See" by Anthony Doer venue to be confirmed Tuesday 14th June "Carry on Jeeves" by P.G Woodhouse venue to be confirmed
Suggested books for future dates "Dominion" by C.J Sansom "Alice through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol
Tuesday 26th January 2016 Short stories by Guy Maupassant with text in English and French
Present :Anne, Chris, Jane, Caroline and Lorraine Apologies from Sally
It was agreed that we all enjoyed reading these stories. Anne commented on the authors fascination with prostitutes! We enjoyed being able to read the book in either or both language. Jane had read most of it in French but finished off in English and found it flowed better and was easier to follow. Perhaps because the original is in old French and the translation is in modern English? We all gave it 4****
Future meetings and books
Tuesday 23rd February chez Caroline at 11am to discuss "The Miniatursit" by Jessie Burton Tuesday 22nd March Chez Jane at 11am to discuss "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce Tuesday 26th April chez Christine at 11 am to discuss "Beloved" by Toni Morrison Tuesady 17th May "All the Light we cannot See" by Anthony Doer venue to be confirmed Tuesday 14th June "Carry on Jeeves" by P.G Woodhouse venue to be confirmed
Suggested books for future dates "Dominion" by C.J Sansom "Alice through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol
Thursday 15th December 2016 Christmas tea meeting at Lorraine's
Sadly without Sally, Chris and Francoise.
We discussed "Where my Heart used to Beat" by Sebastian Faulks.
We all found this book hard going , rather disjointed and difficult to get into. Some of us rushed to finish it just before the meeting, others gave up half way. I checked the reviews on Amazon and found we were not alone. But here I will quote a review that for me sums it up correctly
"It took me a while to get into this and at first I thought it was simply a return to Faulks usual theme of warfare and human frailty, but in fact this is an exceptionally deep book which makes one feel at once ashamed of humanity and in awe of its resilience and creative ability to deal with pain, sadness and horror. Faulks returns to a common theme of mental illness but weaves into it an interesting analysis of memory and growing old and the need to be reconciled with the traumas of youth. I would recommend persevering, it is only when one gets near the end that all the various threads come together in an intricate and intelligent crescendo that leaves one feeling exhausted, sad and yet at peace"
Our next meeting will be with Chris on Tuesday January 17th at 4:30pm. To discuss "Between the Woods and Water" by Patrick Leigh Fermor.
I Wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteVery excited that I got the next book cover on !
ReplyDeleteHave poached an idea from another book club but what about voting for the best book of the year from our selected reads ?
ReplyDeleteWednesday 12 December 2013
ReplyDeleteToday we met for our annual Christmas lunch, this time at Caroline's house. Books were not the main issue, but we did talk a little about what we are reading during our sumptious lunch produced jointly by us all. Lorraine joined us for coffee and dessert and Georges, the wine waiter, was asked to have lunch with us.
Some of the group are struggling with The Spy Who Loved but those who have got through the first big chunk of heavy and unnecessary details and have read about Christine Granville's courageous exploits in occupied France which had an important impact at the end of the war, recommend perseverance!
Meanwhile we are looking forward to reading Hilary Mantel's 'Bring up the Bodies' to be discussed in February.
Happy Christmas to one and all and we look forward to our next meeting at Anne's on 14 January and lots of new titles to add to our list of books to be read in 2014.
Looking forward to seeing you all on 14 Jan at my house, ie, 1 La Goueslonnerie, Teurtheville Bocage 50630. Tel 0233434160
ReplyDeleteBy the way, has anyone read "The Cuckoo'sCalling" by Robert Galbraith? It's quite fun, sort of detective story. I enjoyed it very much and not too complicated.
Anne
Anne
February 11th 2014 Meeting held at LD's
ReplyDeleteApologies from CH
"Bring up the Bodies" By Hilary Mantel
With this historic win for BRING UP THE BODIES, Hilary Mantel becomes the first British author and the first woman to be awarded two Man Booker Prizes, as well as being the first to win with two consecutive novels. Continuing what began in the Man Booker Prize-winning WOLF HALL, we return to the court of Henry VIII, to witness the irresistible rise of Thomas Cromwell as he contrives the destruction of Anne Boleyn.
By 1535 Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry, his fortunes having risen with those of Anne Boleyn. But the split from the Catholic Church has left England dangerously isolated, and Anne has failed to give the king an heir. Cromwell watches as Henry falls for plain Jane Seymour. Negotiating the politics of the court, Cromwell must find a solution that will satisfy Henry, safeguard the nation and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge unscathed from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.
An astounding literary accomplishment, BRING UP THE BODIES is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists.
Hilary Mantel is the bestselling author of ten previous novels, including Wolf Hall, which sold more than 200,000 copies and won the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Her previous works include her novel, A Place of Greater Safety, and her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. She lives in England with her husband.
It was generally agreed that this book was much enjoyed by all except LD who found it hard going
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 11th March at 11am at JB's to discuss "Love Nina" by Nina Stibbe.
8th April 11am with SB to discuss "So Long See You Tomorrow".
4 November 2014
ReplyDeleteJane, Christine, Anne and Caroline met at Caroline's to discuss The Hitchiker's Guide by Douglas Adams.
Lorraine who was absent had not got very far with the book and did not enjoy it. Sally, also unable to come, had read it several times and was less enthusiastic this time round but gave it 4 stars because she had enjoyed the series.
Those who had thoroughly enjoyed reading it (again) quoted several dialogues and names which had made them laugh a lot. We all agreed that it is a very imaginative intergalatic adventure full of satiric humour and a good parody of politics, government and big business. The book has certainly had a huge impact over the years and remains a favourite for many.
Between five of us we gave the Guide 18 stars.
The next meeting is at Lorraine's house on 2 December and we will discuss The Shock of the Fall.
I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I'm not sure if 'enjoyment' is the correct way to describe what I got from reading it. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say I found the book totally captivating, realistic, thought provoking and at times emotional. I found that on some occasions I couldn't pick the book up because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with it, at others I couldn't put the book down.
ReplyDeleteThe engaging, creative and narrative writing style puts you right inside "Matthew's" head - and the more he tells you,the more you want to know! Each paragraph makes the story unfold; like a tasty jigsaw that leaves you hungry for more....
It got a resounding 5 stars from almost all of us
The next meeting is at Chris' house on Tuesday 6th January to discuss "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Oops forgot to say we met at Jane's for a delicious lunch on Tuesday 29th November to discuss "The Shock of the Fall" by Nathan Filer, commented on above
ReplyDeleteFebruary 10th 2015. Meeting held at Lorraine's house. Sadly without Sally and Caroline. Although we were glad to have telephonic communication with Caroline.
ReplyDeleteWe discussed "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson.
"More than 300 million people in the world speak English, and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to"....
A book we all enjoyed and would thoroughly recommend to others. It is an extensively researched account of the origins of our rich and wonderful English language. Cleverly and sometimes most amusingly put together. Needless to say the chapter most discussed was the one about swear words.Fascinating!
It was agreed this is a book we should all have on our shelves.
We all gave it 5 stars.
Our next meeting is at Sally's on 3rd March to discuss "The Luminaries"
It's telling a lie!! Certainly not 5:51AM here.!! Don't know where that came from!!
ReplyDeleteTuesday 6th April. Meeting at Lorraine's with Anne, Chris and Caroline. Apologies from Sally and Jane.
ReplyDeleteWe discussed "We are all completely beside ourselves" by Karen Fowler.
The book was given 3 stars. I completely agree with this quote from an Amazon 3* review.
This book is an amalgam of various American icons and themes. As a little girl, our narrator, Rosemary, has the adult-in-a-grown-up's-body of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird, whilst as a college student, she meets Harlow, her first real grown-up friend who comes over like Madonna: sassy and street-wise, and by taking Rosemary out of her comfort zone, she is the mechanism that allows the narrator's odd family story to unfold. On the surface, Rosemary's home-life is not that strange - a dad who becomes increasingly detached and unloved, a 'mom' on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a runaway brother, an unusual family pet, and an oft-referred-to inciting incident . . . The book's chronology switches backwards and forwards, before and after this incident, which when it is finally laid-out in front of us, doesn't seem "inciting" enough for what followed and the impact it had on all concerned. Ultimately, this is about the distorted realities and mythologies of all families (again, a very familiar theme), and how we all pay a heavy price for miscommunication and mistaken memories. After a fire-cracker start, the book flattens out, but finishes with a very powerful last page - and for me, that's only enough to get three stars. "Me Cheeta" covers some of the same territory, but with much more wit and wisdom.
Gullivers Travels 10 November 2015 at Sally’s
ReplyDeleteI can’t get into the Blog proper, so will report here.
This one was a hard one to finish! It beat most of us in fact.
Stolen from Good Reads:
"It is unusual when a masterpiece develops out of an assignment, but that is, more or less, what happened in the case of Gulliver's Travels. The Martinus Scriblerus Club, made up of such notables as Pope, Arbuthnot, and Gay, proposed to satirize the follies and vices of learned, scientific, and modern men. Each of the members was given a topic, and Swift's was to satirize the numerous and popular volumes describing voyages to faraway lands. Ten years passed between the Scriblerus project and the publication of the Travels, but when Swift finished, he had completed what was to become a children's classic (in its abridged form) and a satiric masterpiece.
Swift kept the form of the voyage book but expanded his target. Instead of simply parodying voyage literature, he decided to attack what he considered were people's most conspicuous vices. He makes the abstract become concrete. Ideas are metamorphosed into grotesque, foreign creatures; absurd customs are represented by absurd objects; and the familiar becomes new and surprising."
Although there were many questions on line, we didn’t find many very illuminating (most of them seemed pretty straightforward), and were somewhat hampered by being only four of us, not all of whom had quite read the book (two had had a good look at teaching notes on line though!). Generally it was agreed that it was a heavy read, leading some of us to give up, but also that the satirical points made were deep and worth discussion, and that they continue to apply today to many aspects of modern life. Possibly Lorraine made the best choice by reading the children’s version! Although the history we discussed and depth of satirical comment led two of us to give it a 4, three gave it a three and one gave up entirely, so I’d say a 3 star rating is a reasonable compromise!
Tuesday 26th January 2016
ReplyDeleteShort stories by Guy Maupassant with text in English and French
Present :Anne, Chris, Jane, Caroline and Lorraine
Apologies from Sally
It was agreed that we all enjoyed reading these stories. Anne commented on the authors fascination with prostitutes! We enjoyed being able to read the book in either or both language. Jane had read most of it in French but finished off in English and found it flowed better and was easier to follow. Perhaps because the original is in old French and the translation is in modern English?
We all gave it 4****
Future meetings and books
Tuesday 23rd February chez Caroline at 11am to discuss "The Miniatursit" by Jessie Burton
Tuesday 22nd March Chez Jane at 11am to discuss "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce
Tuesday 26th April chez Christine at 11 am to discuss "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Tuesady 17th May "All the Light we cannot See" by Anthony Doer venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 14th June "Carry on Jeeves" by P.G Woodhouse venue to be confirmed
Suggested books for future dates
"Dominion" by C.J Sansom
"Alice through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol
Tuesday 26th January 2016
ReplyDeleteShort stories by Guy Maupassant with text in English and French
Present :Anne, Chris, Jane, Caroline and Lorraine
Apologies from Sally
It was agreed that we all enjoyed reading these stories. Anne commented on the authors fascination with prostitutes! We enjoyed being able to read the book in either or both language. Jane had read most of it in French but finished off in English and found it flowed better and was easier to follow. Perhaps because the original is in old French and the translation is in modern English?
We all gave it 4****
Future meetings and books
Tuesday 23rd February chez Caroline at 11am to discuss "The Miniatursit" by Jessie Burton
Tuesday 22nd March Chez Jane at 11am to discuss "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce
Tuesday 26th April chez Christine at 11 am to discuss "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Tuesady 17th May "All the Light we cannot See" by Anthony Doer venue to be confirmed
Tuesday 14th June "Carry on Jeeves" by P.G Woodhouse venue to be confirmed
Suggested books for future dates
"Dominion" by C.J Sansom
"Alice through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol
Thursday 15th December 2016
ReplyDeleteChristmas tea meeting at Lorraine's
Sadly without Sally, Chris and Francoise.
We discussed "Where my Heart used to Beat" by Sebastian Faulks.
We all found this book hard going , rather disjointed and difficult to get into. Some of us rushed to finish it just before the meeting, others gave up half way. I checked the reviews on Amazon and found we were not alone. But here I will quote a review that for me sums it up correctly
"It took me a while to get into this and at first I thought it was simply a return to Faulks usual theme of warfare and human frailty, but in fact this is an exceptionally deep book which makes one feel at once ashamed of humanity and in awe of its resilience and creative ability to deal with pain, sadness and horror. Faulks returns to a common theme of mental illness but weaves into it an interesting analysis of memory and growing old and the need to be reconciled with the traumas of youth. I would recommend persevering, it is only when one gets near the end that all the various threads come together in an intricate and intelligent crescendo that leaves one feeling exhausted, sad and yet at peace"
Our next meeting will be with Chris on Tuesday January 17th at 4:30pm. To discuss "Between the Woods and Water" by Patrick Leigh Fermor.
I Wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!