This is Happiness by Niall Williams

An interesting and animated debate ensued during our meeting to discuss this book.

The story is set in Ireland, in 1958 and follows young Noe (short for Noel) who becomes witness to the transformative journey of the village where his grandparents’ farm is. The novel grapples with themes such as love, the Balance between Tradition and Progress (the resistance to the introduction of electricity), and the complexities of human relationships. 

Irish History is the background to this book’s story, particularly the famine or Great Hunger.

During the 1840s, Ireland had a population of 8. 2 million. 

Tenant farmers were poor and forced into growing the quickest and easiest crop: the potato.

The disease known as potato blight disseminated the potato crop. This triggered a domino effect of defaulted rents and great debt. Many people were left homeless and starving. 

Around 1 million people died of starvation and roughly another 2 million people emigrated on "coffin ships", so named as small ships, high numbers and poor conditions caused high death rates. 

The Great Hunger was one of the worst tragedies of the 19th century and profoundly affected Ireland and the Irish people. Even today Ireland has not reached pre-famine population levels. (Today’s Irish population is 4.5 million).

During our discussions, there were diverse opinions.

For the positive points, it was felt that it had been an interesting read for several reasons:

• the scenes were beautifully described using  evocative and highly descriptive language 
• the story offered some really charming and poignant scenes about friendship and the coming of age of an adolescent ( Ex: "The kiss" scene) through the eyes of a much older person
• the descriptions were very insightful giving a quite moving feel to the characters’ thoughts and emotions 
• during most of the story, the tone is full of humour with charming naïvety and sweet innocence
• you could not help reading the story without hearing Irish accents for all the characters as well as lively and vibrant  Irish music in the pubs. In fact, the whole story would make a brilliant synopsis for a film
• the book title fits well with some of today’s culture of "living in the now” and essentially being ALIVE and wanting to declare: "This is happiness!"
• the author is a talented author using beautiful language and offering some very humourous phrases such as: " … as clean as a bishop’s rectum"!

For the more critical opinions, it was felt that sometimes the book's pace was slow and, simply not enough things were happening. 

Overall, the feeling was that it had been a good read. 

Would we recommend this book to others? The response would be a BIG YES!

"I have already bought a new copy for a friend!"

“On Earth we’re briefly gorgeous.” By Ocean Vuong

8 or 9 of us met to discuss our reading experience. 

This was a highly-debated book: some people loved it and some people liked it much less….

The book is a challenging read, in terms of its contents rather than its style. 

The book is in the form of a letter written at the age of 28 by an aspiring American Vietnamese poet to his illiterate mother. 

The letter relates the story of a young Vietnamese boy living in a town in New England, USA, raised by his Vietnamese single mother and grandmother. The mum earns a living working in a nail salon, working long hours, coming home exhausted. Both ladies have suffered trauma during the war in Vietnam, and hardly speak any English.  “Little Dog” (that’s what they call the little boy) is greatly cherished but at the same time treated with great harshness, even sometimes beaten up. It’s a hard environment, but still intimate amongst the two ladies, but poverty and racism are omnipresent.

Soon, “Little Dog” reaches the age of 14 and can work. He discovers a new world, working for a tobacco company, working in the tobacco fields and learning how to pick and deal with the tobacco leaves. This is where he meets Trevor who is the manager’ son and a love affair unfolds. It is a sexual awakening fueled with dope- smoking and young love discoveries. Trevor is also a substance addict and succumbs to a heroin overdose. The loss is immense for “Little Dog” and this was in the book, the writing becomes very poetic, close to a lament, the sheer pain of the loss vividly expressed in some stunning prose.   

This is a semi-autobiographical novel.

The book got mixed reviews from the members of our group: some loved it, some found it a difficult but interesting read and some could not finish it.

One thing is for sure, it did not leave people feeling indifferent, moved by the difficult topics related to this story: the trauma of the war in Vietnam, the difficulty in integrating a new society, class, labour, poverty, abuse, sexuality and mental illness.

The book should carry a word of warning though, as some scenes make a very difficult and very shocking read. Crude language is used as well, making some scenes quite disturbing.

“ I loved it! “ said one person at the very start of our debate. This person had not read the book but had listened to it on audible; what made the listening really special was that it was actually read by the author, making the experience very personal. Could it be that the story had a different impact as it was read by the author himself as opposed to simply reading the pages of a paperback?

Other views were that it was a bleak story but extremely well-written, with the use of beautiful poetic language. But, one criticism was that maybe the writing was too polished. And the lack of chronology was found irritating with some different stories jumping forward and backwards in time.

The tobacco industry in the USA was well-described and was interesting to discover.

The images evoked in some scenes were very vivid and tender, particularly the scene where the grandma makes “Little Dog” steal some flowers so she can have colour in her life or when “Little Dog” lies down next to his mother.

The overall consensus of our discussions was that the story in this book was a bleak one, not an uplifting story but a very moving one with the use of the most beautiful and clever language.

Our Summer read is “ This is happiness” by Niall Williams. We will meet on Thursday 11th July 2024, at 20:00 at Sue Lewin’s House (well, hopefully her beautiful garden) to discuss this book. 

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear

8 of us met to discuss this 1947 novel based around the life of Elinor White.

Elinor White has a seemingly solitary, quiet life in a grace-and-favour cottage in the Kent countryside where she is known locally as 'the White lady' – her community is unaware of her background (a veteran of two world wars, a trained killer and former intelligence agent).

The story ‘time jumps’ between Elinor’s war years and her new life, where she is drawn into using her skills to help a local family troubled by one of the most dangerous crime families in London.

Most of the group ‘enjoyed’ this read but one did not like it at all stating that she ‘hated’ it! another said that she whistled through the book and found it so gripping that she almost missed her train stop!

So, we explored our reading experience based on shared differences! Why did we have such a divided love/hate relationship with this book?

What did we like? The historical context was interesting and thought-provoking. The story brings insight into the SOE (Special Operations Executive), and what women and children did to support their wartime efforts. It was surprising to learn how extensive the SOE activities were in Belgium. The visualisation of the characters and their situations was excellent. 

What didn’t we like? The writing was clumsy and somewhat ‘trite’. “A Boy's Own annual ‘jolly hockey sticks’ story, written by someone who was trying to write like someone in the 1940s!". The ending was weak: a ‘fairy tale’ unreal, romanticised outcome that grated with the reality of the rest of the story.

Would we recommend this book? Well, it was an interesting book, not particularly well written, but if you are looking for a good read and are prepared to accept it for what it is, then yes.

Our next book is On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, we will meet on Thursday 16th May, at 8pm to discuss. Sarah will host. 

The Hound in the Left Hand Corner by Giles Waterfield

This is a review from our meeting on 22nd October 2022 - an oversight on my part. 

We welcomed a special guest to this meeting - Mia, a curator who knew Giles Waterfield. Mia described Giles as a writer of novels and academic books and a developer of museums to become a centre of education and learning. 

Mia confirmed that Giles Waterfield was very, very funny. 

Mia gave us a brilliant insight into museum life and helped us to align themes and characters in the book to the experience Giles and she had from their working environment.

Giles brought his experiences from a time when national museums were trying hard to find their identity. Government cuts during the '70s and '80s left many museums finding fundraising hard. They turned to charging for exhibitions and becoming event venues. This has changed the character of many museums and can be a bit like churches selling their pews so that they can host concerts!

Museums in Britain are not state-funded, as they are in many other countries where museum staff are civil servants. The exception is in the USA where museums rely on philanthropy. 

This insight gave us a true appreciation for the undercurrent of farce and satire throughout this book. 

Mia also shared with us the importance of provenance, the underlying theme of the hound in the left-hand corner, and told us the story of the Versailles fake chairs to illustrate this (available on internet).

So what did we think of the book?

Let's start with the story: Auberon, the brilliant but troubled director of the Museum of British History, is preparing for the opening of the most spectacular exhibition his museum has ever staged. The centrepiece is a painting that has not been shown in London in a hundred years. The big day does not run smoothly and the portrait is under suspicion. As high-profile guests and employees arrive for the grand opening the tension rises. Auberon tries to keep the peace. 

We loved how the story started gently and built to an explosive crescendo. 

The gala dinner was a highlight for our group - the stupidity of the menu, the descriptions of the food and how the build-up to the meal was so central to the story. 

The characters are truly entertaining - precious people with precious objects. 

In our view, the stand-out characters of the story are Lucien (what a horrendous man), Terence and Auberon. 

We saw how the hierarchy of exhibits reflects in the hierarchy of employees. If importance is important we would far rather be in charge of 18th Century Porcelain than Agricultural Implements! 

The central theme illustrated the focus of a not-for-profit organisation: How to make money and how to spend money!

Finally, we must acknowledge the genius of 'The Nowness of Now'!

Would we read another book by Giles Waterfield? YES we would. And we would love to see this book as a film - it would be hilarious.

sadnote footnote: Giles passed away in 2016 - here's how The Guardian remembered him:  Giles Waterfield - Obituary

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Thank you to Lynda for the following summary of our discussion.

Most people liked the book, some really liked it and some loved it! It was an original plot with new ideaa.

One person struggled to see the 1960’s ladies around the tv, others felt that the ladies liked the fact THEY were being spoken to.

One was gripped from the first page and didn’t want it to finish.

We considered whether Elizabeth Zott was autistic, she was certainly very single-minded, Her daughter was definitely more 'rounded' than her mother.

One person galloped through, enjoying the humour and the tragedy. Another felt like it was a translated  version of women's life in 2023 back to the 60s and couldn’t cope with the transposition.

Others felt it was representative but questioned whether the level of awareness wasn’t that sharp.

There always have been mavericks!

Someone’s 91 year old mother loved it and thought it was representative of the time.

It was so quirky and obviously not real but that made it more truthful somehow.

We loved the dog and the cooking.

We felt Elizabeth's pain when tragedy struck.

One of the group read the book over a long time, reading just a few minutes at a time.  She felt this contributed to why the book didn’t grab her and she wondered where the book was going at times although it all tied together as she got to the end but she did find she got bored.  Moving from one crisis to the next without a break had the effect of making this reader disengage. (Note this was not the experience of the rest of the group.)  That being said she would still recommend the book because it is so original, you’ve just got to “tolerate the excessive quirkiness”.

Bits made people laugh out loud and the dog was amazing! We understand the dog is based on the authors dog named Friday.  It was a very intuitive dog!

The author is a rower.  In rowing everyone has to be in balance.  The book seems to be saying this is what is wrong in society: men and religion have too much control, it is out of balance!

One incident involving rape, does “pull you up from the bubble of enjoyment”!  It is shocking but totally believable.

The best bit was when the TV producer (the man in 'power') was coming towards Elizabeth with a knife!

We could imagine this book as a film.

How would we describe it?

• Refreshing;

• Thought provoking;

• Bit patronising;

• Page turner;

Most of us were sad (or even devastated) to have finished it.

We discussed whether this might be a 'woman’s book' but at least one husband is enjoying it.

Book Choices for Summer

Wow, it's Summer already! 

The weather is looking good for our meeting on Thursday 25th May at 8pm. Felicity has kindly offered to host. If you need to know how to find Felicity please email me, text me or give me a call. We will be discussing The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers, and choosing our next book from the following selection. 

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

First published in 1905, The House of Mirth shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.

Lily Bart, beautiful, witty and sophisticated, is accepted by 'old money' and courted by the growing tribe of nouveaux riches. But as she nears thirty, her foothold becomes precarious; a poor girl with expensive tastes, she needs a husband to preserve her social standing, and to maintain her in the luxury she has come to expect. Whilst many have sought her, something - fastidiousness or integrity - prevents her from making a 'suitable' match.

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

"But you do," he went on, not waiting for contradiction. "You love the boy, body and soul, plainly, directly, as he loves you, and no other word expresses it ..."

Lucy has her rigid, middle-class life mapped out for her, until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance. Her eyes are opened by the unconventional characters she meets at the Pension Bertolini: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, curious Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate son George.

Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of life in Italy and the repressed morals of Edwardian England, personified in her terminally dull fiancé Cecil Vyse. Will she ever learn to follow her own heart?

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic, yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.

As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.

Book Choices for Spring

We will meet at Teresa's on Thursday 23rd March at 8pm. If you need to know how to find Teresa please email me, text me or give me a call. We will be discussing Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, and choosing our next book from the following selection. 

The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers

An England divided. 

From his remote moorland home, David Hartley assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy and become the biggest fraud in British history. 

They are the Cragg Vale Coiners and their business is 'clipping' - the forging of coins, a treasonous offence punishable by death. 

A charismatic leader, Hartley cares for the poor and uses violence and intimidation against his opponents. He is also prone to self-delusion and strange visions of mythical creatures. 

When excise officer William Deighton vows to bring down the Coiners and one of their own becomes a turncoat, Hartley's empire begins to crumble. With the industrial age set to change the face of England forever, the fate of his empire is under threat. 

Forensically assembled from historical accounts and legal documents, The Gallows Pole is a true story of resistance that combines poetry, landscape, crime and historical fiction, whose themes continue to resonate. Here is a rarely-told alternative history of the North.

At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison 

An exquisite and intimate novel about four people’s lives and our changing relationship with nature—for fans of Jon McGregor and Robert Macfarlane.

Howard and Kitty have been married for thirty years and now sleep in different rooms. It was always Kitty’s dream to move from their corner of north London into the countryside, and when the kids had left home they moved north, to the pretty village of Lodeshill with its one ailing pub and outlying farms. Howard often wonders if anyone who lives in this place really has a reason to be there—more reason than him.

Jack was once a rural rebel, a protestor who only ever wanted to walk the land in which he had been born, free and subject to nobody. After yet another stint in prison for trespass, he sets off once more to walk north up the country’s spine with his battered old backpack and notebooks full of scribbled poetry, looking for work in the fields and sleeping under the stars.

Jamie is a nineteen-year-old Lodeshill boy who works in a distribution centre and has a Saturday job at a bakery. He spent his childhood exploring the woods and fields with his grandfather and playing with his friend Alex, who lived in the farmhouse next door. Now, though, all he dreams of is cars—and escape.

As the lives of these four people overlap, we realise that mysterious layers of history are not only buried within them but also locked into the landscape. A captivating novel, At Hawthorn Time, is about what it means to belong—to family, to community, and to place—and about what it is to take our own, long road into the unknown.

Circe by Madeline Miller

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.