Reading Choices for October/November 2018

Pieces Of Light by Adam Thorpe

Hugh Arkwright's remote childhood in the Central African bush, and its sudden disruption leaves him with a legacy of magic, mystery, and tragic loss.

Late in his life, he returns to the gaunt house in Ulverton where he was brought up by his eccentric uncle and finds that the old ghosts still walk. The more he excavates his own past, the deeper he finds the traces of ancient horrors. The autumnal air of Ulverton begins to take on the taint of corruption, and a mystery starts that ends with vengeance, murder and a sudden, staggering revelation. The mild English manners of the village of darkness beneath the heart of oak.

PIECES OF LIGHT is a modern novel steeped in a resonant past; where rural England and colonial Africa collide. Densely wrought and vividly imagined, Adam Thorpe's return to Ulverton is a fictional triumph - thrilling and unforgettable.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair is an English novel which follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Emmy Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars.

The novel that chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a typically naive Victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family.

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg

One snowy day in Copenhagen, six-year-old Isaiah falls to his death from a city rooftop. The police pronounce it an accident. But Isaiah's neighbour, Smilla, an expert in the ways of snow and ice, suspects murder. She embarks on a dangerous quest to find the truth, following a path of clues as clear to her as footsteps in the snow.

We will choose our next book at our meeting at 8pm on Thursday 27th September 2018, at The Hundred when we will discuss our current read: Their Finest by Lissa Evans.

La Belle Sauvage – The Book of Dust Volume 1 – by Phillip Pullman

7 members of our group sat in the garden of our local pub (The Hundred of Ashendon) on a beautiful summers evening to chat about this book.

La Belle Sauvage, tells the tale of 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead, who lives with his parents at The Trout Inn in Wolvercote. This book is the first book of the not yet completed The Book of Dust trilogy. The book, the first in a three-part prequel to Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials and tells the story of the key characters in this trilogy.

First impressions, when choosing a book, can be lead to missed opportunities – some of us would not have chosen to read this book had it not been a book group choice. Decisions would have been based on the size (it look huge), the target audience (young people) and the genre (fantasy). How wrong we would have been!

The size of the book is daunting to those of us who squeeze their reading in around busy lives – the text though is also large! Big text = big book but the time to read was no more than a typical, average book.

The target audience – it may be targeted at young people but it is a really good read for any age. Don’t be put off by that.

And, fantasy – well, yes it got a bit extreme, overly magical and odyssey-like in the second part but ‘fantasy’ (it turns out) does not mean ridiculous or fairy tale or overly complex or even unrealistic.
It was actually quite a realistic read for us as we live close to Oxford and we thoroughly enjoyed the setting. It is easy to visualise many of the locations, even with ‘author license’ applied. The description of The Trout is spot on, including the peacocks, there is a ruined convent just beyond the Trout AND there is Oxford has a Polstead (Malcolm’s surname) Road (probably named after the village of Polstead near Stroud in Gloucestershire).


(UNRELATED?) FACT


While putting these notes together, I found that Lawrence of Arabia lived at number 2 Polstead Road from the age of 8. Lawrence was a talented translator and his work included translation of the epic poem The Odyssey of Homer and of The Forest Giant.  

Anyway, having got over the ‘do I want to read it?’ hurdle we all enjoyed this read very much. (Including one of our group who thought she would have to be tied to a chair to read it but after the first chapter she had got over that thought!)

The fantasy element of fairies and daemons was uncharted territory and some of the group had more trouble getting to grips with this concept, than others. Daemons though we concluded are an absolutely brilliant concept and we spent a while discussing what our own might be. The pain of being separated from your daemon was painful to read. And the relationship between Malcolm and Lyra’s daemons (Astra and Pantalaimon) was very touching.

The content is quite dark and there are some quite explicit references to sex, which we discussed with regard to the likely young audience (some of us know readers of Phillip Pullman as young as 10 years old) and concluded that it would be interpreted differently and the subject of sex and rape had been well handled in the book.

The League of St. Alexander which has schoolchildren hunting out atheists and heretics led to some particularly chilling scenes. We dwelled on this a while as Pullman is known for his dislike of organised religion and we pondered on the purpose of the concept. Well, in his own words: “In my view, belief in God seems to be a very good excuse, on the part of those who claim to believe, for doing many wicked things that they wouldn’t feel justified in doing without such a belief.”

Because this is a fantasy the time in which the story takes place is irrelevant but we were intrigued by the mix – there were no cars, no mobiles, no TV. There were hot air balloons, a gyrocopter, and motorboats. There were disposable nappies!

The story is beautifully written. The description of the canoe (La Belle Sauvage) is fabulous. We hope all comes good with regard to the canoe in later books.

Of the characters, we loved Malcolm (Mal) he was so responsible for his age and exceptionally caring. We also enjoyed seeing Alice ‘blossom’ on the journey with her love for Lyra, her growing awareness of her feminity (the fairy makeover scene is particularly touching) and as her friendship grew with Malcolm.

Bonneville and his awful daemon made for horrific yet intriguing reading. We loved the Giant (even though at this point the book was getting just a little bit silly.) We would like to know what happened to the Nuns and hope for more news in the second book in this trilogy.

Overall, this is a very rich book, with so much to discuss and so little time to do so - we only just got started on the Nuns and didn’t even get to discuss Lord Asriel or the Gyptians.

We concluded that this is a modern day Enid Blyton ‘rollicking good adventure with a baby’.

So would we recommend this book? yes definitely. Our one member who hadn’t yet got hold of a copy of the book, but came along for the chat anyway, grabbed at the chance to borrow a copy and rushed off into the sunset to make a start!

The rest of us eagerly await the Book 2 (The Secret Commonwealth), which is yet to be published. If we are lucky it may be ready for our 2019 Summer Read!

Our next read is Their Finest by Lissa Evans and we will meet at 8pm on Thursday 27th September 2018 at The Hundred to discuss this.

Reading Choices for August/September 2018

Here are our late Summer reading choices:

Their Finest by Lissa Evans

It's 1940. In a small advertising agency in Soho, Catrin Cole writes snappy lines for Vida Elastic and So-Bee-Fee gravy browning. But the nation is in peril, all skills are transferable and there's a place in the war effort for those who have a knack with words.

Catrin is conscripted into the world of propaganda films. After a short spell promoting the joy of swedes for the Ministry of Food, she finds herself writing dialogue for 'Just an Ordinary Wednesday', a heart-warming but largely fabricated 'true story' about rescue and romance on the beaches of Dunkirk. And as bombs start to fall on London, she discovers that there's just as much drama, comedy and passion behind the scenes as there is in front of the camera.

Originally published as Their Finest Hour and a Half.

Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist

A smart and funny story from the author of The Rosie Project - two misfits walk 2,000 km along the Camino to find themselves and, perhaps, each other. A novel of second chances and reinvention from Graeme Simsion, and his wife Anne Buist. Optioned for film by Ellen deGeneres, and now an international bestseller.

Zoe, a sometime artist, is from California. Martin, an engineer, is from Yorkshire. Both have ended up in picturesque Cluny, in central France. Both are struggling to come to terms with their recent past - for Zoe, the death of her husband; for Martin, a messy divorce.

Looking to make a new start, each sets out alone to walk two thousand kilometres from Cluny to Santiago de Compostela, in northwestern Spain, in the footsteps of pilgrims who have walked the Camino (the Way) for centuries. The Camino changes you, it's said. It's a chance to find a new version of yourself, and a new beginning. But can these two very different people find themselves? Will they find each other?

In this smart, funny and romantic journey, Martin's and Zoe's stories are told in alternating chapters by husband-and-wife team Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist. Two Steps Forward is a novel about renewal - physical, psychological and spiritual. It's about the challenge of walking a long distance and of working out where you are going. And it's about what you decide to keep, what you choose to leave behind and what you rediscover along the way.

The Book by Keith Houston

In The Book, Keith Houston reveals that the paper, ink, thread, glue and board from which a book is made tell as rich a story as the words on its pages-of civilisations, empires, human ingenuity and madness. In an invitingly tactile history of this 2,000-year-old medium, Houston follows the development of writing, printing, the art of illustrations, and binding to show how we have moved from cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls to the hardcovers and paperbacks of today.

Sure to delight book lovers of all stripes with its lush, full-colour illustrations, The Book gives us the momentous and surprising history behind humanity's most important-and universal-information technology.


We will choose our next book at our meeting at 8pm on Thursday 26th July, at The Hundred when we will discuss our current read: The Book of Dust, Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman.

The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing

Well, our discussion was one of strong, opposing views and opinions.

Five of us met and two thought it was an awful book (one even said it was the worst we had ever read in our group and we have read over 60 books!). It was, she said, dull and dated (and Charles Dickens isn’t dated!).

Given that Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize for literature this was an unbelievable book – why did she write it? What was the point?

Another of our group hadn’t wanted to read this book at all because it was a terrible subject. And another had not come this evening because she had not enjoyed the read.

And then, some of us enjoyed the read.

One loved it and saw it as a brilliant, black comedy. The characters were hilarious because they were total ‘bullshit’. This is not a book to be taken at face value.

Added to this, another pointed out how cleverly the different stories were knitted together so no thread was left unfinished.

But still, it was a book about immature, idealistic, middle-classed, no good waste of spacers! Or, were they just lonely, vulnerable teenagers?

Whatever the opinion, we talked for almost an hour, flicking back and forth to find text that had made us think. We explored the politics (which, we all agreed, were interesting) and drew on our own experiences of terrorism and protests and brushes with people that may have had similar lives to Alice, the main character, and her housemates.

We concluded that despite her seemingly good, even motherly, intentions all around Alice was destruction. She didn't appear to notice and she was unlikely to change her ways.

Would we recommend this book? I think it’s fair to say it's a 50/50 Yes/No! But, we will try another Doris Lessing one day.

Our Summer read is The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman which we will discuss our thoughts on this one on Thursday 26th July at 8pm in The Hundred.

Reading Choices for June/July 2018

Here are our Summer read choices.

The Book of Dust, Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them; a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua.

This is a rip-roaring adventure book, which manages to throw in a boat-load of characters and scenes, despite never leaving the Thames. Of course, this is a different world, and a due to circumstances that emerge in the book, a very different Thames. The story is - once it really gets going - about two characters on a journey, and it is reminiscent of many other similar stories, being somewhat episodic and lacking in all but the most basic overall plot.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf's singular technique in Mrs Dalloway heralds a break with the traditional novel form and reflects a genuine humanity and a concern with the experiences that both enrich and stultify existence.

Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts and sensations on that one day, and the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa's life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide.

Queen of the Elephants by Mark Shand

Mark Shand trekked 300 miles across East Benghal and Assam on the back of an elephant with Parbato Barua, the foremost and only female elephant trainer in all India. This book describes the experiences shared during this remarkable journey - joining a government 'elephant squad' together with local villagers to chase a band of wild elephants off a tea estate, and making a stop at Parbati's ancestral home, now a virtual shrine to her father's lifelong work with elephants. The importance of this ancient knowledge becomes clear: if not preserved, the Asian elephant stands an even greater chance of disappearing altogether.



We will choose our next book at our meeting at 8pm on Thursday 24th May, at The Hundred when we will discuss our current read: The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

We talked for a long time about this book but I can't say much here for fear of spoiling the story. This is a brilliant read and a great choice for a book group.  It is deceptively rich and full of surprises that command discussion. It's a beautiful, poignant and well-constructed story.

It took most of us a couple of chapters to find our way into the story and yet we all knew it was worth 'persevering'. Perhaps Fredrick crafted his work to achieve just this response? From therein the short episodes hang together in a flowing, entertaining tale of Ove from boy to man. Ove makes you chuckle, he makes you cry and he makes you reflect on your own life and attitudes.

Our group gave this book a 100% thumbs up and would recommend it to anyone as a really good reading experience.

Our next book is The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing and we will meet on Thursday 24th May to discuss our Spring reading experience, let's hope this one is as good as the last!

Book Choices for April and May 2018

Here are the choices for our next read.

Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende

In the early years of the conquest of the Americas, Inés Suárez, a seamstress condemned to a life of toil, flees Spain to seek adventure in the New World. As Inés makes her way to Chile, she begins a fiery romance with Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro. Together the lovers will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage war against the indigenous Chileans—a bloody struggle that will change Inés and Valdivia forever, inexorably pulling each of them toward separate destinies.

Inés of My Soul is a work of breathtaking scope that masterfully dramatizes the known events of Inés Suárez's life, crafting them into a novel rich with the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.

The Good Terrorist

A hugely significant political novel for the late twentieth-century from one of the outstanding writers of the modern era and Winner of the Nobel Prize for Fiction 2007. In a London squat a band of bourgeois revolutionaries are united by a loathing of the waste and cruelty they see around them. These maladjusted malcontents try desperately to become involved in terrorist activities far beyond their level of competence. Only Alice seems capable of organising anything. Motherly, practical and determined, she is also easily exploited by the group and ideal fodder for a more dangerous and potent cause. Eventually their naive radical fantasies turn into a chaos of real destruction, but the aftermath is not as exciting as they had hoped. Nonetheless, while they may not have changed the world, their lives will never be the same again...

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Marakami

Oru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing more distant every day.

Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has recently been receiving.

As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.

We will choose which one to read at our next meeting on Thursday 15th March when we will discuss A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. See you then, at The Hundred, 8pm.