Our first Blog Post ever! This is what started it all off: The Reading Agency http://readinggroups.org./ supplied our Reading Group in Clapton Library, Hackney, with 4 free sets of PG Wodehouse books - in return they asked us to write a short blog post about what our group liked, disliked, and dissected about them. We got a surprise book every month. It all started with this one, "Right Ho, Jeeves!". When the blog project finished, our group had been bitten by the bug... and we decided to continue blogging about the books we read each month.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy sharing our thoughts!
Clapton's Reading Group definitely had a consensus about Right Ho, Jeeves: Laugh-out-loud funny. Only one member had previously read some Wodehouse, and everyone who hadn't was immensely glad to have been introduced to the playful language and extraordinary wit. Some of the best-loved scenes were Bertie Wooster's telegram exchange with his straight-talking aunt, being chased by his friend Tuppy Glossop round and round a garden bench, and playing with his rubber ducky in the bath; Jeeves's sparsely worded, sardonic wit (he really just needs one word - "Sir?" - to send Bertie into an indignant fit) and, of course, the climactic and hilarious prize-giving speech by the awkward, reclusive newt-aficionado, Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle (or Spink-Bottle, as Bertie's aunt refers to him). In that last scene, Wodehouse gets the balance just right as Gussie veers perfectly between drunkenly slurring insults at everyone, but also staying restrained enough not to go over the top into a slapstick routine. A thoroughly enjoyable read! We also talked about the wider political and social circumstances Wodehouse was writing in, and wondered if his light-hearted novels were making a point of providing comic relief in desperate times, or whether he was genuinely ignorant about the 1920s Depression or the impending Nazi rule in the 1930s. Was Wodehouse aware how ridiculous and out of touch with reality his aristocratic characters were, or was he merely one of them, reporting from within? Whichever his thoughts, all of us in the group just savoured the perfectly crafted screwball comedy, and the outstanding use of language. By Cordula
Previous to the Wodehouse Project, we reveiwed:
"Five Days" by Douglas Kennedy:
"I enjoyed the book. I recognised a lot of situations and feelings. I think it is very well written."
"An easy read, but I wasn't convinced by the characters. I was profoundly irritated by the list of synonyms and didn't believe in the conversations. The match-up of personal stories was also incredible. However, the ending had some credibility. I expected more, given his reputation. I'd only recommend this to others as a beach read."
" Cleverly composed and fluently written. Easily read but never boring. It clearly illustrates the compassion and deeply thorough nature of the main character in both her job as a radiologist and as a mother. This insigth into her life brings her through relationships as an informed survivor; where some other characters falter. I'd recommend this book to others as a good train/tube/bedtime read, not too demanding, but with enough "love story" grip to keep reading. The end is assuringly informative."
"I enjoyed this book. I liked the way that it did not have a standard "happy ending". And I thought the author managed to write from a female perspective in a sympathetic way. I'd recommend this book as a gentle and thought-provoking read."
"I have some good and some not so good to say about the book. I was hooked on the story, which is of course what you want from any book, but at the same time I was often taken out of the story and left rolling my eyes - at the synonyms for example, and also at the overly matched-up parallel stories of the two main characters! She has a difficult son, he has a difficult son. She lost the love of her young life, he did too. It was a bit too much. Also, the main character's children seem to come through all the family difficulties with a bit too much ease, understanding, and a good relationship with their mother, which seemed a bit rose-tinted. However, the ending, the way she deals with her problems and comes through them, was very instructive for anyone suffering heartache or mild depression, I thought! And as I said, the book kept me hooked, so he obviously did something right. Not a literary gem, but I would recommend it as an easy read."
"Dreamz from the Endz" by Faiza Guene:
I would never have selected this book as a library book, but I am glad that I read it. The language irritated me as my working life was spent trying to get East End children to use standard English as well as non-standard. I'm afraid that I wasn't really interested in Ahleme or the other characters that much. They seemed very two-dimensional, but I did like the fact that the author did not portray Algeria as good and France bad. She was more sophisticated than that.
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