March 2015 meeting

All present and accounted for at June's for our March meeting. Post the usual catchup and goss, we got down to discussing the following books:

Someone quipped "for a book in which nothing happened, we sure have talked a lot about it!", and such was the spirited discussion regarding 'Blue Thread'. Readers widely agreed that this book did not meet expectations despite being from a prize winning author. Perhaps as Australian readers of this very very American book explains the lack of engagement but even this aside, the novel was lacking a compelling plot (some got excited when the main character died - "at last some action"), with the characters being the only source of connection. One theory of why this book is so widely liked in the US is potentially it is the story of a family made good, and the family myths and legends that are handed down from generation to generation (despite being true or not).

June, Vanessa, Kath and Valerie scored 'Blue Thread' 2.5 and Monique, Kim and Jackie gave it a 2 out of 5.

Not all bookclubbers had gotten the chance to read 'Scared Weird Frozen Guy'

Of those that read at least some it, the feedback was that it was a little too long, with a lot of detail about 'The Scardies', only really a little bit about the ice marathon and virtually nothing about the man's personal life. Readers scored it 2.5
 

February 5 2015

Hey folks, better late than never with this blog post about our February meeting at Jackie's with all bookclubbers present and accounted for.

First cab off the rank was Khalid Hosseini's 'And The Mountains Echoed' which had been Kim's choice, and was popular with the punters.

Whilst it was generally acknowledged that this was not as good as the stellar 'Kite Runner', it was nevertheless a good read with great characters with interesting stories, but to some felt more like disjointed short stories rather than a cohesive epic. Some readers found it a very sad book (there were tears on the tram) and the 'sliding doors' what if Pari had not been 'sold'? discussion was a good one.

Scores:  Everyone who had read the book gave it 3/5.

Next up was the more controversial 'All the Birds, Singing' by Evie Wyld.

 

Intense discussion ensued with 'confronting', 'gender confusion' and 'intriguing' being often used to describe the book. Some of the graphic descriptions were gratuitous for some, however others were spurred on to the end by wanting to know 'what was killing the sheep'? and 'how did she get the scars'?  The book's reverse chronological format was unique, but some readers (and one non-reader* :)) felt that the book's ending was not satisfying.

Scores were diverse: Jackie & Kath* - 3, June - 2.75, Kim, Monique & Vanessa - 3.5, Valerie - 4

We also discussed Harper Lee's new book 'Go Set a Watchman', the sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
which has just been recently published.

 

October 2014

It was all present and accounted for at Kath's on the 9th October and plenty of eats and drinks to keep us happy.

We got stuck into The Invention of Wings (June's pick), and those that had read it were generally impressed by the story and the characters. Sue Monk Kidd (also the author of The Secret Life of Bees), has written an absorbing tale of both slavery and slave owners and the impact on both against the changing times and attitudes brought by the abolitionists.  Readers gave this book the thumbs up with scores: Jackie 4, June 3.5, Monique 4, Vanessa 4 and Valerie 4.

Big Little Lies (Jackie's pick) was an entirely different beast, a modern tale of primary school parents. There was everything in here from Sydney snobbery, the gossip mill, keeping up with the Jonses, love, domestic violence and even murder.  The discussion was thick and fast about the story, allegiances with certain characters and a debate about how real the book was. Overall a book that engrossed everyone with universally high scores; Monique 4, Jackie, 4, Vanessa 4.5, Kim 4.5, June 4.5 and Valerie 4.      

 

 

 

August 2014

This meeting of our hearty group was held at Monique's wonderful house (not too sure about the phallic decorative touches, and once again not a peep out of the children :) !!). Great conversation (sometimes about books, sometimes not) and lots of laughs.

For some reason a few of us had struggled to get through the readings, but most had at least started one or both of the books on offer:

Vanessa's suggestion - Caught in the Crossfire by Matina Jewell

Those that had read it thought it was a great read and very topical given events in Syria and the Middle East generally. It was equally good to hear the perspective of a woman in the defence forces, but interestingly the emotional engagement was not always highlighted.  Scoring; Vanessa 3.5, Jackie 3.5, Monique 3.

Valerie's suggestion - The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

This book was a still a work in progress for some bookclubbers, so discussion and scoring was deferred to the next meeting. Meanwhile, Valerie, though biased, loved it. :) - Till next time!



 

July 2014

It was freezing night when we bookclubbers gathered at Valerie's, it seemed more than 6 weeks since we'd last met. Technology let us down however as Kim tried Facetime but had to resort to dialling in to the meeting, and Jackie needed a text reminder that book club was in progress!

Neverless there was in depth discussion on the 2 books suggested: Monique - 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and Kim - 'Eyrie'.

We started with Eyrie and most loved Tim's descriptions of Fremantle, the characters, the heat and the WA bogans in general. The jury is out about the ending (perhaps a little ambiguous), but agreement that the writing was great, the characters believable and the story absorbing. Scores; Kim 3.5, Monique 3, Vanessa 3.5 and Valerie 4.

'Henerietta' similarly was a well liked book that readers found interesting and sad for many reasons; shedding light on the ethics and vagaries of medical research, gaining an understanding of African American poverty and prejudice, a reminder of the value of medical records as historical records, and appreciation of the author's non judgemental investigation approach. Scores; Monique 4.5, Kath 4, Valerie 4, Vanessa 4.5 and Kim 4.
 

May 2014

29th May, 2014 and it was a wintery night when we all trooped around to June's for a natter and some great eats and drink.

Not everyone had read or finished Lilian's Story (Kath's suggestion), but those that did enjoyed it and had sympathy for the main character. Readers felt that it was informing around homelessness and how mental illness puts people on the fringes of society.  Scores out of 5 - Kath 3, Jackie 2.5, Valerie 2.5, June 2.5.

The Goldfinch (Valerie's suggestion) elicited a mixed but mostly positive response from readers. The characters and the storyline were compelling and sustained readers through the 800+ pages and a wild ride through NY, Las Vegas and Amsterdam. No such consensus on the ending though with readers divided on his relationship with Boris and Kitsey.  Monique 4, Kim 4, Valerie 4, Kath 3.5, Jackie 3.5

 

March 2014 Meeting

Bookclubbers including Vanessa, Kim, June, Kath, Monique and Valerie gathered at Kim's for our March meeting. It was terrific to see Sophie before Kim bundled her upstairs with a favourite DVD so we could get stuck into the great spread and of course the books!!!!

Conversation and discussion on 'The Dinner' flowed easily with the most common retort being that none of the characters were particularly endearing (pretty appalling actually!). Other descriptors bandied around included 'odd', 'disturbing' and 'controversial', although from my perspective at least the book was contrived to be these things. Not sure also whether the translation from Dutch was all that good either.

Nonetheless, overall the book was appreciated because it was short and punchy and in some ways shocking!  Scores were; Vanessa 3.5, June 3, Kim 3, Kath 3.25 and Valerie 3.

There was again a detailed discussion sparked by 'I Am Malala' which was in part a history lesson, biography and political thriller. Extremely informative and an amazing story, with only some parts affected by Malala's ultruistic earnestness. Certainly reading about the Swat Valley and the history of religious tolerance was very enlightening.

Bookclubbers gave the following ratings; Monique 4, Valerie 3, June 4, Kim 3.5, Kath 4.5 and Vanessa 4.

The next meeting of the book club will be on 29th May at June's with the following book suggestions: Valerie - 'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt and Kath - 'Lillian's Story' by Kate Grenville.

13th February, 2014

For the first meeting of out book club for 2014, it was a full house at Vanessa's with June, Jackie, Monique, Kath, Kim and Valerie all present.

'Barracuda' certainly captured the attention of those who had read it, with 'explicit' being a common description. The book did a great job in getting into the psyche of swimmers and the character portrayals were all very believable.

Barracuda scored - 4 from Jackie and Monique, 3.75 from Vanessa (because she can!) and 3.5 from Valerie.'

'After Her' by Joyce Maynard was the other book on offer for discussion at this meeting. It was noted that the author had also written 'Labour Day' which is now a movie.  After Her got good ratings with June giving it a 4, Jackie & Valerie a 3 and Kim & Vanessa  3.5.

Next meeting of the book club is 27th March at Kim's.  Book suggestions are 'The Dinner' by Herman Koch and 'I am Malala' by Malala Yousafzai.

Happy reading until then.

15th August 2013

Monique was the host of the meeting and we all admired her and husband Dave's groovy urban renovation with a front garden in progress. Not even a peep from Darcy or Magnus during what was a sometimes loud meeting that Jackie, Kath, June, Vanessa and Valerie attended. Great spread too with fabulous sausage rolls (they are becoming our signature dish), gorgeous pastries and some dips.

Since the last meeting, a couple more hardy souls ploughed on to finish 'Seven Types of Ambiguity' (I liked it and keep on thinking about it) but others gave it up on the theory that life is too short!

Not so with 'The Rosie Project'.  Describes variously as "hilarious", "a great read" and "the best book we have read so far", this book was an undoubted hit. It scored along the lines of 4 - 5/5. Well done Jackie for the suggestion.

'The Girl in The Picture' was entirely different being an historical account of the events both pre and post the Vietnam (American) war and the effect of napalm on an innocent Vietnamese child. This book with its informative context, raised many issues of the role of the media in wartime and the effect that a single photograph can have. A very thoughtful read and we gave it a rating of 3.5-4/5.

Next meeting is scheduled for 10th October at Kath's with Kath and Monique suggesting the books for the following meeting.

June 2013 meeting

Home made sausage rolls, a sparkling house and bubbly greeted Monique, June, Vanessa, Kathy, Kim and Valerie at Jackie's house for the June meeting of 'Let's Talk About Books'. Thanks to Darren, Jackie, Jack and Mali (and Pugsley) for hosting us at their beautiful new home.

Apparently there had been relief all round when I had broadcast my inability to finish 'Seven Types' by the time of the meeting, and Vanessa definitely gets the bookclubber of the month gold star for being the only one to finish reading it!  Whilst there was criticism for the small typeface and Perlman's overly long descriptions (managed care, the workshop retreat etc), Vanessa encouraged us all to "read on" as she believed it was definitely worth the effort.  Having reached Part Six, which is from Anna's perspective, I am now also hooked!  Rating the book will be held over to the next meeting.

Most of us had read Monique's suggestion, 'All Good Things' which was author Sarah Turbull's follow up to 'Almost French' which Monique had thoroughly enjoyed. Consensus was that while the writing was good and there were enjoyable sections (I found the scuba diving descriptions inspiring), their struggle to get pregnant, the Tahitian backdrop, it was overall 'light on' for substance and was more of a travelogue. Average score was 2.5/5.

Kathy was progressing with 'Life after Life' and really enjoyed it (as did I).

Next meeting is planned for 15th August at Monique's, which does give a bit more time for the next 2 suggestions: 'The Girl in the Picture' by Denise Chong which is Vanessa's pick and Jackie's pick 'The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion.

May 2013

All present and accounted for at the May 9th meeting at June's. Its probably fair to say that there was equally animated discussion regarding the issues of cleaners as there was about books, but there was lively discussion either way.

'The Light Between Oceans' was well liked by all with average score nearing 4.5/5. Variously described as 'the perfect novel' being well written with an engaging plot, interesting historical detail written with a compassionate eye. Valerie was probably the odd one out sympathising more with Tom's character, but the general consensus that Isabelle's character was for the most part redeemed.

Not all had the time or inclination to tackle 'Life after Life', but Valerie gave it the thumbs up for the innovative structure and thought provoking storyline.  Potentially more discussion on this one at the next meeting on 20th June.

March 2013 meeting

June, Vanessa, Kim, Kath and Valerie gathered at Vanessa's house with Alanna on hand  to assist with feeding and watering us all!

All those gathered had read 'The Secret Keeper' and thus knew the great twist at the end. Most of us had read the hardback version, so Kim who had read the ebook version was quite pleased that she had read such a long book.

There was an initial discussion as to whether the book could be considered 'chick lit', but there was general agreement that while the writing style was good, the book was slow(ish) to read in the first half but definitely picked up pace especially towards the finale. There was general dislike of Dolly ("silly Dolly" - Kim) but praise for the characters and the way they developed with the intriguing plot. No one had guessed the ending, but many had speculated on Jimmy's demise, Vivien's marriage to Henry and the friendship between the main characters. Questions remained - "why did the secret need to be kept?"

Scoring went thus (by comparison Goodreads gave it 4.11):
Kim - 3.7
Kath - 4
Vanessa - 3.5
Valerie - 3.5
June - 3.75
Jackie - 3.7

Naomi's review (with just a chapter or 2 to go):

"Well, this book surprised me because it overcame an initial prejudice I held against it.

I initially dismissed it as 'chick lit', but then took your advice on board that the ending has a great twist.
So I persevered and ending up being glad I did.  The plot and characters were well sketched, and not too challenging, which was exactly what I felt like after dealing with busy, stressful times at work while in a new role.  I admit to not liking the character of the younger Dolly much, however.  She seemed quite self-absorbed and superficial but then possibly she was a product of her time.  Back in the 1940's having your own career and an independent source of income was rare for women - The Secret Keeper portrayed Dolly's war between her emotions (ie. her love for Jimmy) and her need for security (ie. her regard for her employer Lady Gwendolyn) well.

I did enjoy the portrayal of older Dolly's character much more, however, and the relationship she had with her children.  All family relationships in the book were explored in an interesting way...blue-collar worker Jimmy's loyalty to his ailing, senile father was touching."

January 31st Meeting

Extreme weather conditions seem to be the norm whenever book club is at Valerie's, and this meeting was no exception. It was nearly full house with June, Vanessa, Monique, Kath, Naomi, Jackie and Valerie in attendance.

It was generally agreed that any book following 'Gone Girl' was going to be a hard gig, but that both 'Sweet Tooth' and 'All that I Am' were good reads that had certain parallels being historical bookends to the second world war.

'Sweet Tooth' was generally enjoyed as an interesting but certainly not faultless story of cold war espionage. The average rating was 2.5 - 3, with Serena's relationship with Tony a little unbelievable (perhaps because it was written by a bloke??), and the book slow to grabbing attention with Serena's relationship with the writer Tom being the more engaging section. The twist at the end was a goodie.

'All That I Am' engendered a lot more discussion, in particular regarding the structure of the book that moved backwards and forwards in time which some found a little challenging. The book had many strengths including the writing, that it was based on real characters which made it more poignant and the story more shocking, and that it's focus was the lesser know period before the second world war. Average rating was 3 - 4/5.

The book for the next meeting (March 14th) is Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper.

December 2012 Meeting

It was a hot one for our end of year bash, with food galore (it was all delicious), and we welcomed a new member, Monique, another Kendall St resident.  So it was a largish gathering with June, Kim, Kath, Vanessa (and Alanah), Jackie (and Mali), Monique, Naomi and Valerie.

The meeting was all the better for a good subject, being Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl". Overall it got a rating of somewhere between 7 - 9, with short chapters, a ripping yarn and a woman we would all cheerfully throttle (sorry Amy - you are a shocker!). There was more sympathy for Nick, but this was somewhat dissipated by his decision at the end. Most enjoyed the twists and turns and the journey through the book.

The next meeting of the group is on 31st January, 2013 at Valerie's.

October meeting

It was off to South Kingsville that a small troupe of intrepid book chatters went on 18th October, where Kath was hosting the October meeting. Joined by Naomi, June and Valerie (and armed with Jackie's email feedback), we quickly got down to discussion regarding the books of the moment:

'Its a long way from Penny Apples' drew credit for its 'real descriptions' of life and poverty in the tenements and the struggle to make ends meet. It also enabled insight into the women of the story and their struggle between the catholic laws, the sorrow of losing a child, and with each pregnancy, yet another mouth to feed.  Some readers struggled with the writing style and the amount of details in the stories. Jackie's feedback on this one was "a little too factual for my liking (which is bizarre because I like biographies) it was a bit too detailed in some sections so took me awhile to read".

'Middlesex', for those that had started or finished, was an entirely different proposition. The overall rating was between 7-8/10, mainly because it was very well written & researched, with great characters and an engaging plot about an hermaphradite. There were various comments including my own belief that it was a bit too long and quite dense reading at times, but pretty much all forgiven because it was deftly written. We discussed at length our annoyance with Desdemona's character, were satisfied with the explanation of why Chapter 11 got his name (means bankruptcy in American law), but wanted to cut to the chase a bit earlier regarding Callie's diagnosis. Overall a thought provoking but not necessarily a controversial read.

Jackie's feedback on Middlesex was: "enjoyed very surprisingly good pick Val (???), parts of it better than others but overall I would give it a 7 read it quite quickly".

The other books we discussed included: Jim Stynes "My Journey" (Naomi and Jackie) and "Room" (always gets a good review) (Naomi).  I've listed the other books people have read under the 'What we've been reading tab'.

Next meeting will be on Thursday 29th November at Valerie's, and the suggestion is to make it a dinner meeting with all bringing a dish/plate.  I will email closer to the date so we can coordinate the food (most important!!!). The book for discussion at the next meeting is 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn and it is hopefully a beauty - here's a review to tempt your interest:

On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy disappears. There are signs of struggle in the house and Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect. It doesn't help that Nick hasn't been completely honest with the police and, as Amy's case drags out for weeks, more and more vilifying evidence appears against him. Nick, however, maintains his innocence. Told from alternating points of view between Nick and Amy, Gillian Flynn creates an untrustworthy world that changes chapter-to-chapter. Calling Gone Girl a psychological thriller is an understatement. As revelation after revelation unfolds, it becomes clear that the truth does not exist in the middle of Nick and Amy's points of view; in fact, the truth is far more dark, more twisted, and more creepy than you can imagine. Gone Girl is masterfully plotted from start to finish and the suspense doesn't waver for one page. It's one of those books you will feel the need to discuss immediately after finishing because the ending doesn't just come; it punches you in the gut. --Caley Anderson

Till next time.....

August Meeting

It was a warm welcome at June's place, as Jackie, Kathy, Naomi, June, Valerie and Vanessa gathered for a book chat.

It seems that having a book club deadline is doing wonders for our reading motivation, with most members having read at least part of a couple of books. Books that are in the process of being read include The Book Thief, Room and 'Penny Apples' (mainly because most of us were waiting for the book to be sent snail mail!).

There was no question that discussion would start with Bronnie Ware's 'The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying'. The following is a snapshot of some of the feedback;

• badly written
• repetitive
• narcissistic
• wrong title because it was really a book about Bronnie
• the gems were when she wrote about the patients that she cared for
• most people didn't like the author!

Having said that, and admittedly some people (me included) skipped much of the boring stuff to get to the interesting parts, but agreed that it had been for the most part an interesting read!

Moving on to 'Penny Apples', it sparked an interesting discussion regarding religious upbringing and how it does (or doesn't) shape your current views.  We tackle all the big issues at book club!

To keep track of recommended reads for our club, I've created a new page called 'Potential books' where I've listed 'Ask the dust' (John Fante), 'Gone Girl' (Gillian Flynn), and 'All that I Am' (Anna Funder).

The next meeting of the club with be at Kath's in Spotswood (South Kingsville thank you very much :)) on Thursday 18th October.

Til then, happy reading!!!

Valerie

July meeting

Naomi, June, Vanessa, Kim, Valerie and Kath gathered on the 19th July for another book chat and feast. Most dedicated award this time goes to Kim for staying at home before the meeting to finish Cold Comfort and congratulations to newbie Kath for a fine piece of baking (tea cake) and also finishing the books. Thanks again to Vanessa for hosting.

Discussion regarding Flora and Cold Comfort Farm was rapid fire and enthusiastic.  Whilst the language was initially offputting eg 'sukebind', most enjoyed Flora's winning ways and her ability to tidy up the farm, set up all the inhabitants, conquer Aunt Ada and successfully fly off into the sunset with her beau. However questions remained:

• what was the nasty in the woodshed?
• did it relate to the goat?
• what was the disservice done to Flora's father?
• How can cows fall apart?

As for ratings, the consensus was around the 7/10 mark, with most finding it quite an enjoyable read. For those interested there are a couple of Youtube clips of the 1995 BBC series of the book eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWN6Xhr-aGQ&feature=related

The Book Thief was found to be entirely different, but variously described as 'well written' with 'great characters' and 'a beautiful story'.

It seems that the challenge of making book club reading suggestions was taken well and truly taken up with much lobbying and vying to have their book selected. The following were suggested:

Naomi (can always be counted on for a quirky suggestion) - The Top 5 Regrets of Dying by Bronnie Ware. This is a non fiction book. 

June suggested 'Its a Long Way From Penny Apples' by Bill Cullen which is set in Dublin and is semi-autobiographical.  As an aside June also suggested author Sinead Moriaty's books for a good laugh.

Kim suggested 'Crossing to Safety' by Wallace Stegner as even though she had left the details of the book at work, had heard it was a great story and had read about the book on Good reads website. Published in 1987 this is an American novel tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples.

Kim also suggested 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini

Vanessa recommended 'Sold' by Brendan Gullifer which was described as "Does to real estate what Jaws does to swimming"!  Vanessa also recommended 'Sistah for Sale' by Miashi a tale about sexual slavery.

Kath was keen for the group to read and discuss 'Room' by Emma Donohue.

And lastly Valerie gave a big plug for 'Middlesex' by Jeffery Eugenedes, a Pulitzer prizewinning novel about an hermaphradite and the translation of genes through the generations.


There was debate and voting and agreement that we have probably sorted the book club reading list for the next few meetings at least.

For the August meeting the books selected were;

• Naomi's 'The Top 5 Regrets of Dying' by Bronnie Ware and
• June's ' Its a long way from Penny Apples' by Bill Cullen

It was also agreed that 'Middlesex' could be targeted for the September meeting.

Next meeting date is Thursday 23rd August and June has offerred to host.

Till then, happy reading :)

June Meeting

It was another cold night for the June meeting of the "We need to talk about books" club, and thanks to Vanessa for hosting (apparently she has enough wine left over for another 2 meetings!). Congratulations to all in finishing the chosen book (the close call award goes to Jackie who bought and read it in 4 days!), and to June and our newest member Cath for getting through the prescribed text.

It was straight down to business to share our thoughts on 'Her Fearful Symmetry' and I fear very much that whilst at the beginning, most people felt that the book had promise, it spiralled steadily downward with accusations of 'unbelievability' 'nonsense' and 'just stupid'. It seems no-one liked Elspeth or Julia for that matter, and Naomi in particular had a big problem with her killing off the kitten for her own purposes (and a bit of a sensitive subject for Valerie being the second book in a row talking about dead cats!). The consensus was that the bit about Martin's OCD was good.

Rating of the book out 5 seemed easy with the average being between 2 - 2 1/2 with June being quite cutthroat and giving it a 1!

We shared a couple of other books that had been read since the last meeting - Valerie 'raved' (this book broke my heart!) about 'The story of Edgar Sawtelle' by David Wroblewski, about a mute boy in northern Wisconsin, and Naomi was admirably staving off anxiety of work redundancy by reading Dale Carnegie's 'Stop Worrying and Start Living' and attests to the pearls of wisdom within including "Got Lemons? - Make Lemonade". More about these books on the 'We've been reading page'

Thoughts then turned to chosing the book for the next meeting and Valerie had referenced a blog called 'The Book Whisperer' and the top 12 recommendations.  None seemed to hold any excitement for the group except 'The Book Thief' by Marcus Zusak which some have read before but is worth another go.

So the decision was made to talk about 'The Book Thief' and 'Cold Comfort Farm' by Stella Gibbons (a classic english comedy set in the 1930's). Next meeting is on the Thursday 19th July at Vanessa's.

May meeting

It was another talkative meeting with June, Naomi, Kim, Jackie, Vanessa and I.

We got the discussion of book of the month, 'Indelible Ink' out of the way first and by and large most people (except Kim who swears she couldn't find a copy in Queensland - I told her they don't read there!) enjoyed the book and found something about the characters and the Sydney setting that they could relate to.  A robust discussion about the general horror of tattoos ensued, but with agreement that it was believable that Marie would get them.  Bit of a sad (some would say unsatisfactory) ending with much pity for Mopoke.  Rating 7 - 8/10.

Both Jackie and Valerie had finished the Fifty Shades trilogy and summed it up as junk food mommy porn!

During the month Naomi had submitted to the Kindle bug and was very happy with the eBook and Kindle reading experience, and found that she was reading a lot more. Congratulations to June who got through 'Ink' with her busy schedule.

March 2012

Kim, Jackie, Vanessa, June, Naomi and Valerie met for round 2 of the book club on 29th March,  2012.

The book of the month (The Chemistry of Tears - Peter Carey), though not read by all, was not given enthusiastic reviews.  Jackie said she couldn't finish it, Valerie ploughed on, but admitted to skipping most of the Henry Brandling sections in Germany ("I just didn't care") but was more engaged in what Catherine was doing, but the summation was that the story was overly contrived, unsatisfying and the automaton (?pronunciation) was not that interesting. Ba Bow!

Moving on, Naomi reported that "Their Eyes Were Watching God" (Zora Neale Smith) was an interesting read (albeit a bit difficult with the phonetic language), written by an African Amercian writer and set in Florida in the early 20th century, is a story about slavery.

Jackie had borrowed Obedience (Jacqueline Yallop) from the library. Set in World War II France, it is a tale about a nun who has an affair and gets pregnant to a Nazi soldier. Jackie liked it - must have been a bodice ripper! Speaking of bodice ripping, Jackie had also noted Mia Freedman's enthusiastic comments regarding the ebook sensation 50 Shades of Grey which has been topping all the book charts, probably because its mass market soft porn.  Valerie enthusiastically asked Jackie to download it onto her iPad!!

As per our group name, 'Kevin' was discussed again with varying opinions of the nature/nurture debate (I still think that he was just a little shit as evidenced by Celia's role in the book) and there are some yet to finish, so I'm guessing the conversation will continue : )

Vanessa is still working through 'The Room' and suggested Indelible Ink (Fiona McGregor) as the book for the next meeting. After a read through of the blurb - all agreed!  A quick google search reveals that this book was reviewed on First Tuesday Book Club back in 2010, so I've put a link to that on the Links page.

Valerie also widened the discussion to her non-fiction reading during the month including Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals (loved it), The Bartender's Companion to 750 Cocktails (but she hadn't successfully made 1!), and exposing her fetish for paper and craft - Paper Bliss by Skye Rogers.

Taaraa till next time!