"Ten Days" by Gillian Slovo - May 2016

We read this book as part of CityReadLondon - every year in April, London's reading groups can take part.

Mixed reactions to this book! It was advertised as a thriller, and endorsed on its cover as "A Cracker", and while a lot of us liked the book and had a lot of good things to say, I don't think we agreed with that praise. (Of course, we did lament that advertising for books and movies - and endorsements from other writers in particular - have by now spilled over into not much more than hyperbole, generally!) Let's start with the praise: We liked the fluent writing, some of the political analyses, and generally the fact that a book that takes what happened beofre and during the London Riots from 2011, and writes a sort of parallel-future-scenario that develops along many of the same lines, will get us all talking about the riots, our recollections, the parallels and differences, and that conversation is a good thing.

We especially liked the character of Joshua Yares, he was more complex than most of the others in the book, and his thoughts and actions were interesting to follow. We also would have liked to read a lot more about police procedure in general, and the character of Bill in particular, as those political movements, police action, and the human ways to cope with that action (and the public's and the rioters' reaction) were the most compelling parts. Bill sweating in full on riot gear and being told to "duck!" by his minder every few minutes as rioters threw whatever stuff at them was one example. Who knew riot gear police had to have minders? Probably because the shield limits visibility? I would have liked to read more action like that. Likewise, the political movements were interesting. The Home Secretary acted out of nothing but egocentric interest both in his political standing, in order to rise to the position of prime minister, and personally, in order to keep his mistress and keep hiding the affiar from his wife. Police Commissioner Yares had more backbone, as his interests included rooting out corruption and using the police force effectively and in the interest of the public.

We drew parallels between the undercover policeman who had a family in the housing estate where the riots break out, and the case of the spy Bob Lambert (and others) who had relationships and even children with members of groups they were secretly infiltrating, causing a scandal in 2012. That topic is interesting, but again, we could have used a more in-depth treatment (how could Lyndall (and the entire estate!) not have a clue he was her dad, for example?)

It was really interesting to talk about the riots, and we were happy the book sparked this discussion. But a lot of the characters in it left us unimpressed! They were a bit shallow and contradictory and we couldn't invest in them as they didn't seem real enough. Also, some relationships didn't seem plausible - the Home Secretary and his aristocratic wife for example, although their reactions to each other were very well observed I thought. Patricia, his secretary and mistress, didn't seem like a fleshed-out character though. But maybe that's because it was written from his perspective!
By Cordula

"Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood - April 2016

Some impressions from our discussion:
* A dystopian novel depicting a future following global warming, flooding of coastal cities in the US and untoward genetic developments that have led to global catastrophe.
*well thought out future scientific developments by the author who comes from family of scientists who she likely discussed this with.
* this book completely different from other Atwood novels such as the ' Handmaid's Tale'.
Members thought book written cleverly from Jimmy's juvenile sense of humour, very funny in parts where women are drawn as emotionally distant. Perhaps in keeping with Jimmy's loss of his mother and his subsequent difficulty in making meaningful relationships.
* members thought book written with strong sense of good and evil, evoking a genesis myth with Crake remaking life on Earth through a new genetic order of animals.
* members thought the character of Oryx difficult to grasp was she real or fantasy. Although she had strong back story in terms of sexual exploitation in South East Asia her manipulative character left Jimmy and the reader at a loss to her meaning. Was she manufactured by Crake to confuse Jimmy / reader.
* Jimmy's "words" which gave him sense of identity were enjoyed by the group as a interesting device by the author to perhaps anchor him in a literary tradition.

Virginia added to this:
My thoughts on Oryx and Crake…

I found I both loved it and found the approaching realism simply terrifying, the way the world is going with GMO and cloning I can well see this as a world of the future in some respects. I found it staggering that 10 years after writing it so many of our scientific discoveries are indicating a route down the same path – “can pigs' hearts soon replace humans' when needed” an article I saw recently! The bit I most thought likely was the chicken blob things and animal cross breeding, horrifically fascinating as long as it doesn’t become a reality. I really enjoyed the character Snowman and his blasts from the past as we delved back in time throughout the story, his emotions were so well written I was involved from the start. I found the links really well written and it seamlessly moved between the past and the here and now using the character Jimmy/Snowman. I like the end of a book to have a definitive ending, and this left it quite open giving me lots of questions to ponder, which is both good and bad depending on your preference. I thought Crake’s killing section was poorly written, or maybe the rest was so detailed and wonderful in my imagination that bit was a little underwhelming. Either way I highly recommend reading this book, it is thought provoking, intense, humourous and questions all our morals in a world we are so intent on destroying.

"Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada - March 2016

Some reactions to Hans Fallada's "Alone in Berlin":

• It was written in a straightforward, unemotional style, but evoked a very emotional response: it made me anxious and tearful.
• The characters were so similar to British working class people, as for example described in "The Road to Wigan Pier" (Orwell), that this book was the perfect answer to anyone who dismissed the whole of the German people as different, after the war.
• Despite maybe not being able to influence what's happening around you much, it might be enough that you stay decent, that you don't just meekly and blindly go along with indecency, even if it's futile and you can't affect the outcome
• The biggest thing in the novel was the constancy of fear. How everybody in Germany under the Nazis was in absolute terror at all times; it pervaded the novel as well. Even just holding a postcard became such a scary thing that people were running straight to the police with them, in order to show "I've been good"
• There are parallels to modern day terrorism, and ultra-conservative politics, like Donald Trump proposing a wall between the USA and Mexico. Reading this book is a timely reminder that evil can develop any time.
• One group member had just visited North Korea and seen for herself the oppressive power states can have over people. She travelled in the same group as Otto Warmbier who has been sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labour camp.
• This reminded another group member of Jeremiah Denton, the American prisoner of North Vietnamese soldiers, who blinked the word "Torture" in morse code with his eyes while being forced to participate in a press conference
• It was amazing that Fallada could make such astute jokes about the character of Judge Feisler (baseed on the real judge in the real case) as early as 1947. The judge was also a good example of the ambivalence of each character in the book. Nobody was just simply portrayed as all good or all bad. The judge had great intentions, and a good heart, but he did "imprison" Frau Rosenthal, trying to save her, and doing so drove her close to insanity
• The last 100 pages of the book were a crazy rollercoaster, so much so that it made people wonder if Fallada was on drugs when he wrote them. there were so many crazy stories and characters: THe cellmate who lives as a dog, licking Otto Hampel from head to toe; the musician Reichhardt who was a brief, wonderful interlude (a moment of sanity in a sea of madness).. /
• It seemed so crazy that there was a pet shop still operating and thrivin in Berlin amid the madness of the war. It was surreal and entertaining to read, that people were buying birds and feeding their dogs while the war was going on.
• Somehow, we seemed to find a lot of humourous mometns in this book.Despite the incredible bleakness they kept popping out at us - one of the first scenes where all the different uniformed people are strutting around showing off their respecitve rank in the dancehall, the dog-impersonator of course, the trial of the couple when Anna Hampel snaps and tells the judge she's had 84 lovers, thereby temporarily shutting him up...
• It would have been nice to be able to read the book in German. (I DID read the first 2 chapters in German and I can attest that there is nothing translateable about that wonderful "Berlinerisch" dialect, it adds an immense amount of local colour and is a treat for the ear (even reading it). However, I did think that the translation was absolutely faultless.)
• This is one of those important books that it does you good every now and then to read, to be reminded of some very basic truths about the banality of greed, humanity in general, power, states, life...

"The Line of Beauty" by Alan Hollinghurst - February 2016

This Booker Prize winner (2004) was very intriguing. Most of our group members lived in England in the 1980's, and vividly remembered "how vile the times were": How Thatcherism was gripping the country, how gay men died of AIDS - and got blamed for it by the media, how the rich got richer. In this novel, we only got to see the rich side of things. Nick, the main character, is unconcerned with any of the social unrest, the miners' struggle, unemployment, the protests against Thatcher... in short, the other side of the divide. He has inserted himself into an upper-class family like a parasite, nursing his crush on the son of the family, trying to make himself useful to them in order to enjoy his secret longing as well as the privileged life, which he calculatedly uses for his success. He was strongly disliked by almost all of our group's members. In fact, some people said that there wasn't a single likable character in the entire book.

As a gay man from a bourgeois background, Nick isn't really integrated into his host family however, and the differences between them come to a crashing separation at the end of the book - which we kind of felt would happen from the start. He was for some reminiscent of Jeremy Irons in "Brideshead Revisited", a social climber who is patronised by wealthy people, remaining very distant from them in his feeling and thinking, but never expressing his differing opinions to them. We got to read some wonderfully sharp, inventive, satirical comments on the upper classes through Nick's thoughts. His first boyfriend, Leo, from a working class background, also gets to say some very funny put-downs about his lover's posh affiliations. I particularly enjoyed his snarky imitation of Lady Partridge, the grandmother, who was like a caricature personified. However, some group members felt that the working-class characters of the book, Leo and his family, were very simplistically portrayed and that, for example, Leo's mother's religiosity was written in a cliched way, not allowing the character to come across as multi-faceted and real as the posh counterparts - although we acknowledged that her simple religious fervour was clearly intended to be her way of denying that her son was gay.

We all said that the writing style was utterly brilliant. Hollinghurst writes in such a sophisticated, inventive way. His satire was great - the welly-whanging contest stood out as a highlight. We thought that the class divide was perfectly portrayed, and that it was utterly real for the times that someone like Nick would remain totally unconcerned with anything that was wrong, until it comes crashing down on him. He was the great aesthete of the book, shallowly concerned with beauty, facade, and his own advancement, and disgustingly oblivious to most of the social struggle. We also enjoyed that the perspective of the book stays with Nick, and doesn't switch around characters as so many books seem to do now. We thought that the portrayal of Nick's sexual relations and fantasies was very real, and thus rewarding for some, but others found it overdone, and distasteful - not for being gay, but for being too glaringly detailed.

A brilliant book, describing people and events that were pretty disgusting to us, therefore maybe not too easy to digest, despite the great writing!
By Cordula

"Stoner" by John Williams - January 2016

One member of our group started our discussion by saying that she bought her own copy of the novel a couple of years ago after hearing about it on the radio. Everyone was going on about how marvellous it was. She started it but found it too depressing so put it aside. As a result she groaned on discovering that this was our book for the month. However, this time she not only stuck with it but really liked it. She found it a good portrait of someone sleepwalking through life; someone who was more acted upon than acting.
The group as a whole concurred with this view. Many wondered if people would or could really live as Stoner has done. Would they have continued with the marriage, how would they put up with the wife?

Another reader commented that he so loved the first few pages that they made him want to dive right into the novel. He loved the clean writing, no wasted words, no unnecessary description. Everyone was impressed by William’s ability to create startling, vivid and believable images of people, places and relationships with few words. Nothing was wasted, every word counts. Descriptions of the view from a window were perfectly done; faces came alive.

We had a lively discussion over whether Stoner’s life should be seen as tragic. Most regarded him as a failure of a man. Why did he not stand up for himself? It was also a portrait of the time. Stoner’s affair with Katherine would not raise an eyebrow now. Should Stoner have fought harder to keep her in his life? The same question was raised about Grace. Hers is the most tragic decline. Stoner had such a close relationship with his young daughter yet he allowed that to be taken from him. He allowed his wife to take over just as he allowed her to evict him from his own study.

The submissive pattern continued with his work. Stoner allowed Lomax to marginalise him, to overload him with more junior teaching, keeping him too busy to pursue further research. Stoner only stands up to Lomax at the end of the novel, when it is almost too late.
This however is the key to Stoner. His true love was the academia, the university. His role as a teacher was absolutely core to his being. Even with Katherine he remained a teacher, as evidenced by the dedication of her book to him. He was always happy and fulfilled in that role, academia, books, English literature did not betray him. A shy, unconfident farm hand managed to find a true love and passion that sustained all his life. From that perspective his tale is less tragic. Ultimately however it remains a tale of a life not (fully) lived.

The male readers found themselves annoyed with Stoner’s failure to stand up for himself. It is interesting that despite the huge popularity of Stoner across Europe when it was “rediscovered” recently and rave reviews by journals such as the New York Times, the book did not achieve great success in the USA either first or second time around. Was Stoner seen as too much of a failure as a man to be popular with an American audience?

"At Home: A Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson - December 2015

In "At Home", Bill Bryson takes his readers on a tour of his Victorian, ex-vicarage, Norfolk home. Taking them from room to room, readers learned about the history of the specific room they found themselves in, and the everyday items within it. The reading of any random chapter revealed the depth and width of research that the author had undertaken, which he offered readers in a clear, often amusing and never patronising way: Bill Bryson wears his knowledge lightly, but transmits it in an entertaining style.

Particularly enjoyed was the way that the author seemed to, in an Eddie Izzard manner, “wander off-theme”. In the chapter headed The Passage, one learned that by “the early twentieth century, 10 per cent of all British aristocrat marriages were to (wealthy) Americans”. Why should that snippet of information be there? There was a link and it was fun following it as it was learning the origins of certain words; read this book and one will learn, amongst a myriad of things, the origin of "curfew" (from "couvre-feu", covering up the fire for the night).

The reading group all agreed that this book was an interesting, informative and well written read. One member found the book fascinating and insightful on life and the way people lived it. Everyone enjoyed the book, even if a few found it rather long. This particular reader, however, could have had a larger helping of the book, so pleasurable and erudite did she find it.
By Jasmina

"Humboldt's Gift" by Saul Bellow - November 2015

This was a brilliant, exuberant book, stuffed to the gills with literary references and all sorts of knowledge. This wasn’t a light fluffy meal to digest quickly, this was like chomping on a nutrient-rich power bar that packs every element you need to survive. It took most members of the group weeks to read it, and it also wasn’t easy to read it for long periods of time, because you had to give your brain a rest!! Saul Bellow’s brain gives us this extraordinary collection of information, almost as if he was wordily chronicling every thought his great head churned out during a mental breakdown – on speed. He stayed witty and funny and with a twinkle in his eye throughout his sprawling story of Charlie Citrine (himself) trying to love, to live, to write, to be left alone, to be entertained, to live up to his ideals, to come to terms with his shortcomings; to cope with love, money, and the thought of death. It was a wonderful ride just to listen to the author seemingly randomly rambling on. (Of course it wasn't random at all). The story of Charlie Citrine’s life was almost incidental to his musings on eternal life, life after death, the love he feels for his girlfriend Renata and several other women, his soul, his attraction to unsavoury characters (Chicaco criminals, shady lawyers…), his admiration for his mentor Von Humboldt’s work – and his concern for his friend’s descent into poverty and madness. Bellow manages to pack so much into his book: critiquing and analysing of capitalism in America… sending up and dismantling religion, criminality, and American culture (in literary circles and otherwise) with his wit…

A couple of things stuck with members of our group: The lively description and sheer hilarity of Citrine’s dealing with the gangster Cantabile, who basically kidnaps Citrine, abuses and ridicules him, while Citrine seems to be willingly following his lead – out of curiosity and maybe boredom more than fear, it seems. Another scene was the casual brutality of a husband punching his wife at a party, suspecting her to cheat on him, without anybody at the party reacting to this.

We felt that Bellow’s characters were always slightly embellished, caricatured, to make a point, but always so wonderfully and lively described, that we couldn’t help be enchanted by them. A great literary feast.
By Cordula

"A Song from Dead Lips" by William Shaw - October 2015

This was another bookset we won from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

This first instalment of a trilogy of crime novels set in 1960's London with detectives Breen and Tozer had most of the reading group members pretty hooked. It was an easy read, and provided several social and political themes that were really interesting to debate. As a result, we didn't focus so much on the murder story, the 'whodunnit' aspect, but more on the novel's depiction of the racism, sexism, and the political and social norms of 1968's London as well as (later on in the novel) the contrast with life in the countryside.

It was so interesting to hear the group members' personal experiences of the times. People agreed that especially sexism was exactly as widespread and normative as the novel describes, with some saying it was usually more subtle, more pervasive, than the novel's dialogue suggested. The younger, female character, Tozer, is pretty blatantly verbally abused within the male-dominated police department, and gives as good as she gets; people remembered a slightly more unspoken (and less comical) enforcement of the social code at the times. We discussed how much attitudes have changed especially with regards to sexism, but also recalled instances of ignorance that are still observed today, for exqample police vans being called "Paddywaggons" even recently, without people realising that this is a remnant of a slight to Irish people. We discussed examples of sexism and people's personal observations then and now - one group member's father told her never to learn to type, because he feared that people would too quickly assume and expect her to take on secretarial duties. A member cited a -contemporary- report by people in the medical profession that stated that tea-making is still first and foremost expected from women within a group. But we also marvelled at the changes between then and now - people in the group vividly remembered TV programmes such as the Black Minstrel Show, and comedians such as Jim Davidson and Bernhard Manning being mainstream entertainment. We commented that the novel is set even before the Equal Pay Act came into force. People remembered social changes being driven by things like new magazines and TV programmes, eg. "The Bill", but also said that things like "The Bill" could also change people's attitudes to be more sexist rather than less, depicting women as much more "easy" than they had previously been allowed to be (or to be portrayed).

The racism experienced by the Irish detective Breen, and by the African family in the novel, was shocking in its accepted normality, and we agreed with the author on the depiction, and we enjoyed how strongly the author brought all of these aspects to the novel. Some members did remark that the dialogue wasn't always satisfying - a lot of characters and some places appear and disappear quickly in the plot, without contributing much atmosphere or interest, like the pathologist in the novel, and the Bagel cafe that Breen frequents. Was this planned by the author from the start, as he set up his trilogy? Some of the group members had gone straight on and read the second novel in the series, "A House of Knives", and did report that some characters and situations are indeed picked back up and treated to a bit more exposition. However, it did leave the first novel a bit frustrating. Also, the dialogue felt to some to be a bit more stuck in the 50's - again, was that deliberate, to show that in a lot of ways 1968 didn't touch the majority of England so much, but concentrated on a minority bubble of 20-somethings in London (of which Tozer is a part, but Breen is not)?

A member commented that Breen is a great new serial detective, as he's just a normal bloke, not an alcoholic, schizophrenic, or burdened with any other extraordinary character traits. We liked his quiet character, a bit apart from the rest of the blokes, trying to deal wiht his own normal-life tragedies. We enjoyed his partner Tozer a lot as well, as an incredibly fearless, outspoken female character who dares to be very direct with Breen and her superiors. We appreciated that she is a fresh breeze, a counterpoint to a musty and backwards system and way of thinking, but it did make her character act in some very stark, brazen ways (driving off in the car without informing her partner, for example) that seemed a bit improbable. But overall we really enjoyed the novel for its characters, its plot, but mostly the depiction of 1968 London society.
By Cordula

"All Together Now" by Gill Hornby - September 2015

This was another bookset we won from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

One member, who couldn't make it to the group, emailed her thoughts about "All Together Now", and it turned out that the rest of the group agreed with pretty much everything she had said! Here's JAsmina's email:


"I enjoyed the book in that it was a very easy, undemanding read. It didn't require any reflective thinking or real thought and, after some of the bleak views of humanity we have read, was life affirming.
I found it well written and, in parts, funny. My main "complaint" about the read was that it was totally predictable; one knew how the characters would "develop" at the beginning of the story. There were no real surprises, even though one got the feeling that the writer was trying to provide them - the death of Constance, for example. You knew that once Tracey's life had meaning (the choir) she would become less brittle & a nice person & the same with Jazzy. Bennett would also develop & have a role because of the choir and the reader knew, from the outset, that he and Tracey would end up together.
The book could be turned into one of those British feel good films like the No 1 Best Marigold Hotel (think that's its title), giving one a warm glow, whilst watching, but quickly forgotten.

A pleasant, gentle and easy read."


At our group meeting, we compared the plot of the novel to a Richard Curtis romantic comedy/drama movie, rather than the Marigold Hotel movie, but that was the only difference! We all had a very similar view of the novel. However, we picked out a lot of details that we did really like, for example the characters of Annie and BEnnett seemed very real and relatable; one member confessed that she is a bit of an Annie, always helping and sorting out everyone else at the expense of time for herself. We liked how Bennett came out of his shell. But we found most of the other characters very thinly drawn, and not very nicely treated - why does Jazzy (Jasmine) have to be slagged off so, only for dreaming of going on the X-Factor? Are Sue and Pat (the Statler and Waldorf of the novel, heckling and cackling menacingly from the sidelines) capable of anything but spite? IS it realistic that Squat and Curly regularly break into Tracey's flat to steal money out of her safe, but are still, underneath, perfectly lovely, trustworthy, wonderful boys?



So, the characters and plotlines were a bit thin, a bit romantic/unbelievable, and it was all tied up in a pretty bow in the end, with nary a loose end. Realism was left on the sidelines, and it made us not care very much what happened to most of the characters.



One member commented that the episodes / vignettes that the novel was comprised of might have worked better as short stories.



However, having said all that, we enjoyed a lot of the funny bits, laughing out loud at some of the dialogue, and were moved by Annie's plight, by her lovely reaction to the group losing the Choir contest, and the loveliness of them all coming together in the town square for a flashmob-singalong in the end, which apparently was something that Gill Hornby experienced herself, so we wondered if the power of that experience brought the novel into motion.

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen - August 2015

The novel is advertised as a bestseller, has won several awards, and has been made into a movie with Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, and yet, somehow, none of us in the group had ever heard of "Water for Elephants", nor of Sara Gruen. It was a very pleasant discovery to read her book about Jacob Jankowski, a Polish-American vet in 1930's Great Depression - era USA, who loses his parents to a car accident just as he is about to sit his veterinary exams at Cornell University, and in his despair (and his money-lessness) jumps on a random train at night, which turns out to be a travelling circus. Here he establishes himself as a capable working hand and animal handler as well as a vet, falls in love with Marlena, the star of the horseshow, makes unlikely friends among the "roustabouts", circus performers, and most notably becomes the only friend of the circus's new attraction, a seemingly stubborn Elephant dame named Rosie, who everybody assumes is untrainable and dumb, until Jankowski discovers that she will listen to his commands if he says them to her in Polish.

All of this rousing, moving, nicely paced circus lore, based on Sara Gruen's research of the big and small travelling circus's of the era, is satisfyingly told from the perspective of present-day Jankowski, now 93 years old and holed up in a nursing home, where the patronising manner of the staff and the mental absence of many of its inmates drive him absolutely crazy, until a lovely and humane nurse, Rosemary, starts to actually listen to him and respect him. The story is thus told in a two-level way that worked very well, we all thought; it's nice to get his perspective as a 90 or 93-year-old (he can't quite remember which but points out that, actually, who cares about 3 years' difference at this stage?) as well as his experiences as a young man of falling in love with a married circus performer with an unpredictable, abusive, possibly mentally ill (definitely mentally unstable) husband August, navigating the brutality of every day life on the large scale, when he finds out about the uncompromising circus leader, Big Al, throwing people off the train at night when he can't pay them any longer ("redlighting"), and on the small scale, when he refuses to share his nursing home dinner table with a braggart who claims he carried water for elephants as a youngster in the circus. Old age Jacob has a fit at him ("You never carried any water for any elephants! Do you know how much an elephant drinks?") and Rosemary talks him back into joining the dinner table eventually, rather than eating alone. It was also nice to know from the beginning that our protagonist has a lovely long life with a wife, five children, and many grandchildren; even though these days they don't really engage with him all that much when visiting him.

When he finds out that Rosemary is leaving her job in his home, on the very day his relatives have forgotten whose turn it was to visit him and take him to the circus that has come into his town, present-day Jacob sneakily shuffles out of the home with his walker and makes it to the gates of the circus by himself. Here he eventually meets the manager, CHarlie, who invites him for a drink and listens to Jacob's recollections. Charlie ends up pretending to the police that Jacob is his father, not the runaway that the nursing home is looking for, and promises to take Jacob on to man the ticket booth, which makes for a lovely ending.

Of course the woman he ends up marrying is MArlena, star attraction, and the drama of how she battles her abusive husband, August, is the centre of the book, and very well written; we were gripped by the story, the quirky and dramatic turns alike, the characters were believable and entertaining, and we really liked finding out details of what goes on behind the scenes at a travelling circus under duress. It was interesting to find out that when one circus goes bankrupt, the animals, performers, and workers get picked up for low prices by other circusses coming to raid the leftovers; the brutality of dealing with desperate times ("redlighting", beatings, not paying the roustabouts for weeks at a time) and just the normal day to day life of a circus - having to put sick animals down, feeding lions, clubbing the men on the head that are trying to sneak underneath the striptease-tent without paying. We enjoyed the warily budding friendship between Jacob and Walter the performing dwarf who's forced to share his wagon with Jacob, and with Camel, who falls ill with Jake Leg from illegal alcohol, and most of all with Rosie the elephant, who Jacob has to save again and again from the violent outbursts of Marlena's husband. We laughed at old Jacob declaring to the reader that aging is definitely not for sissies. If there was one complaint, we thought that maybe Marlena didn't really possess much of a personality beyond caring for the animals; however, she had to deal with an unpredictably brutal husband, so we gave the author the benefit of the doubt of maybe sketching Marlena in a very restrained, subdued way on purpose. All in all we really enjoyed the ride.
By Cordula

"Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse - July 2015

One reader sent her comments in per email because she couldn't make it to the group, and the rest of the group totally agreed with it when I read it out loud:

"My initial reaction, from the first page or two, was oh, no, chick lit disguised as something else. I was immediately irritated by the need to describe what Alice was wearing. I have never read any Kate Mosse before and knew that she was a founder of the Orange Prize for fiction, so I expected something more.

It seems clear that she wrote this as entertainment rather than literature. It is a real summer holiday read. The story has you turning the pages but you never stop to marvel at a wonderful turn of phrase or clever metaphor. The only descriptions that worked for me were of the landscape. I think she got that right and it shows that she both knows and loves the area.

I found the history interesting and I did learn things; the origins of the Inquisition for example. It seems that she did her research and there were frequent fascinating details about the way of life in the thirteenth century Pays d’Oc. I liked the fact that in both stories the hero and the villain were women. I don’t think either story really worked as a mystery but there was enough tension to keep me reading.

One thing that really annoyed me was the lack of explanation about Grace Tanner. Why was she interested in Alice? Why did she leave everything to her? How did she know Baillard? It is all too coincidental that she ends up living near Carcassonne and has a niece she never meets who has the same name as the person Baillard has been fixated by.

I don’t have a feeling for whether Mosse is a good writer. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I wish she had written her story as a literary novel rather than a beach read. I would need a recommendation from someone whose judgement I trusted to try another book by Kate Mosse."


We discussed the parallel stories of Alais' and Alice's worlds, that were a bit flatly comparable one-to-one (Will in 2005 was Guilhem in 1207, etc), and the sheer idiocy of giving the villains dark hair and making the heroines blonde... there wasn't much intrigue or difficulty, or beauty of prose, to really engage the mind enough, it was more of an easy evening (beach) read. The group members were interested in the history, and didnt' necessarily mind the easy-to-read quality of the book, despite the length, but it didn't have us yearning for more or appreciating the book on a literary level.

"The Country of Ice Cream Star" by Sandra Newman - June 2015

This was another bookset we won from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

Well the first thing one member of our group said to me was: "Read Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban instead. He does it much better!", so that gives you an idea how this book was perceived in our group! Our judgements and opinions veered wildly, from excellent to terrible, and sometimes both judgements even came from the same person! Everybody had something strong to say about this novel. Most of us agreed that the language Newman employs is something special, and liked or even loved the fabulous poetic quality, and loved "decoding" the patois Ice Cream speaks in. A couple of us were in awe of the sing-song quality, dream-like inventiveness and beauty of the prose. One person commented that it was hard to get into it, however, which then made most others agree: When leaving the book for a couple of days and then going back to it, it was hard to readjust, get your head back into the space. Also, one member said "It's just a bit of French thrown in", so not everyone found it that inventive!

After mostly complimenting the language though, the real "thrashing" of the novel started. Everyone had something bad to say about the plot (with the exception of myself), first and foremost that it was going on for far too long. Only 3 out of 8 members managed to finish the book. But I believe the strongest complaint (which I can't totally disagree with) was that later on in the novel, when the group travels to New York and then Washington, the reader has to suspend far too much disbelief in order to go along with the notion that cities of teenage children, 80 years after the total breakdown of society, are able to maintain a well functioning industrial and agricultural society: They keep factories running, they drive cars (how do they source petrol? Petrol goes bad after a couple of years), they have a quasi-vatican religious society fully running, they maintain working elevators, and they perform abortions and even fit the heroine of the novel with an IUD coil.

The ending of the book also seemed weird to us: After a novel of such length, the author just dispenses with the rest of the story in one short paragraph, sending Ice Cream off to Europe to find the cure for the (bio-engineered?) sickness they all die from. That's it!

I was personally able to enjoy the fiction without feeling too disturbed by these logical discrepancies, but they really bothered the other group members, and I totally see why - it's pretty ludicrous, and would never fly in a TV series for example. (We did all agree that if those problems were fixed, it would make a good movie or even a series).

Now I was rather hoping, especially as I absolutely loved this novel, that we would get to discuss the tragic stories that befall the heroine Ice Cream Star, the politics of dystopia, her views on relationships / sex / homosexuality, her friendship with Crow and her relationships with El Mayor and New King Mamadou (it's pretty much Mr. Big - Aidan - Stanford Blatch I thought at one point, but thought it benevolently ;-), what the novel would look like from the perspecitive of Pasha (and all the other adult characters, i.e. the Russians) in comparison to this teenage-centered view, what everyone thought of the muslim slave camp, and much much more... but because most people hadn't even got halfway through the book, we never got all that far with those issues! (We spent the last half hour very happily planning visits to the yearly Stoke Newington Literary Festival instead: http://www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/ ) Although one more good thing that a couple of members mentioned: It was pretty enjoyable how thoroughly the author takes down religion, especially catholic religion, later on in the book when the heroine is made into "the new virgin Mary". There is a quote I loved; when Ice Cream Star has the concept of immaculate conception explained to her she sums it up thus: "Papa Joseph standing by, got no sex to do". Funny!

But overall, not a great endorsement by the group except by myself... but since I'm the one writing this, I'll say it as loud as I can: I loved this book, I think the writing and the story and the attitudes displayed were extraordinary, I sailed dream-like through this book, marvelling at the beauty; and its language, characters, and stories stayed and still stay with me now. I can't recommend it enough.

So... mixed reviews, is probably the shortest way to put it?
By Cordula

"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch - May 2015

Every year in April, our group takes part in the London-wide "CityRead London" initiative! Our review of Rivers of London to come very soon.

"Arthur & George" by Julian Barnes - April 2015

Although levels of interest in the content of the book differed in the group, everyone agreed that it was well written. Part of the blurb on the back cover stated that this “was perhaps his (Barnes’) best book yet”. Members who had read other texts by the author did not agree.

One member felt that the author was constrained by the factual subject matter, but two others felt that the book only became really interesting with George’s court case, which both agreed was riveting. Whilst most of the group liked the book, two members loved it and felt that Barnes had been very successful in describing and developing characters, minor as well as major, in particular, a very sympathetic development of Maud, sister to George and Jean Leckie, Conan Doyle’s second wife.

Readers found that the author was extremely able in building up atmosphere and revealing the intricacies and prejudices of the British class system. Throughout the book George, of Anglo Indian heritage, refused to see the attacks on himself, and his family, as having anything to do with race. It was Conan Doyle who was convinced that this was the case, but his own attitude to race is shown to be less than liberal

It was felt that Barnes’ main success had been in not writing a hagiography of Conan Doyle, but rather had shown him to be a decent but deeply flawed man; as much attention had been placed on the development of character of the unknown George Edalji as on the very famous Conan Doyle. Through George’s often witty unspoken thoughts, Conan Doyle was shown to be no Sherlock Holmes. However, Conan Doyle’s determination, along with that of others, to get justice for the innocent George Edalji was partially responsible for the establishment of the British Court of Criminal Appeal. Julian Barnes’ book, based on authentic material, revealed why that creation was vitally important.
By Jasmina

"The Untouchable" by John Banville - March 2015

John Banville - The Untouchable – Review from Clapton Book Club, Hackney.



§ A surprising amount of wit was utilised throughout the book, built mostly out of irony and sarcasm and often self deprecating in style. Was Victor self conscious about his writing? The group was divided in opinion on this, and around several other subjects; some believed Victor to be overly in love with language as if to say “look how clever I am”. On the other hand one member of the group exclaimed how alike the language was in the book to those from Oxford and Cambridge at that time, and how clever of him to style the change in prose and language throughout the periods so eloquently. Words the group particularly enjoyed – embonpoint, bedizened.

§ It was suggested that half a page descriptions of people and the in-depth pictures created were often too detailed and distracting from the story i.e. down to the white and blue smoke and light, was just too much. When we consider the important point that Victors first and real love is painting, should this surprise us? It is considered by several in the book club to be a rather clever approach as it is Victor painting a picture with each scene and reflects the frustrated artist within him. The descriptions left you no mould to develop your own imaginative take on characters, they were prescribed to you in detail. It was questioned if this was done on purpose or not.

§ One member of the group found some of the language particularly unsavoury and often catty prejudiced comments such as that on page 384 in regard to Hackney did not add anything to the book, whereas others found this part of Victor’s charm and it amused them greatly. This tends to sum up the majority of conversations involving Victor during our meeting, he was like Marmite – you either love or hate him!

§ The book is not one you can skim read, it requires dedication and concentration and it was felt that it reflected the changes in Britain occurring during the periods successfully. It was noted that those of a younger generation could often find it harder to digest and, rather than making comparisons to the real life story it was based on, read it more at face value as a novel. Comparisons included Boy Bannister as Burgess, Querell based on Graham Greene and Victor as Anthony Blunt.

§ The writing style, when compared, is similar to that of author William Boyd. The way Victor addresses points in his head worked as a reflection to bounce ideas off, and made it easier to follow through the lightness stemming from this. Most felt it was cleverly done and enjoyed this tactic employed by Banville.

§ The group discussed the homosexuality alluded to throughout the book, it was very decadent and also touched on very similar stories in the news at the time. It was felt marriage was commonly a safe option during this era, due to the illegalities involving homosexuality. The group agreed on Victor marrying “Baby” as she was a substitute for his true love Nick, her brother. Often parallel stories of being a spy and being gay were told, as he compared it to acting all the time in life.

§ The family dynamic was interesting, with a brother with disabilities and clear class divisions within the family. Victor appears human at infrequent times, but only when with his own children and his relationships with his family does this really come into effect. Banville writes so intellectually about his life, but then includes humour with “he he” when Victor teases his son, and the comment “there’s always spies about, whoops!”.

§ One member felt that by telling you the plot in snippets i.e. Baby, I will marry her later, it was a rush to get to the next point covering this part of the story, and there wasn’t a need to tell you the plot that is coming as in some ways it spoilt the storytelling element.

§ Overall the book adds context to history and gives a very authentic coverage of the eras and the differences in society. It highlights the slapdash style of spying back in this era, whilst covering several other topics which were handled well such as sexuality, class and disability. It would make a great book for someone reading it to get a sense of history and Britain during this time but also makes a marvellous read for those who lived during this time and can relate to the real life counterparts described.
By Virginia

"The Shining" by Stephen King - February 2015

Only one person in the group had read any Stephen King before and the others had always avoided the “horror” genre so approached this book with some trepidation. The first surprise was how different the novel was to the well-known film version. The film was a straightforward horror movie with no back-story for the characters whereas reading the novel we discovered a psychological drama.
We admitted that some of us were biased and thought the novel would be dreadful but we were pleased to encounter “real” characters. One reader commented on how she enjoyed Dick Halloran’s Florida story – a wonderful vignette of a man who is disdainful of his bosses yet able to get on with his job and life.

We agreed that the drama builds very well at first and the depiction of Jack’s deterioration is absorbing and credible. However this is not maintained throughout and we are forced to start suspending disbelief. We felt that the device of the scrap book was not enough to explain the rapid change in Jack. Too many mystical elements are introduced and not joined together well enough. There is a sudden and, to our mind, unnecessary change from Jack wrestling with his internal demons to “possession” by external demons. We are no longer witnessing the sad decline of a man, rather the malign influence of the hotel itself.

The story made more sense before Wendy heard and saw ghosts. Up until that point all the strangeness was in Jack’s mind with Danny able to see it because of his ability to read minds. Once this change of tone occurred the story became less gripping and started to drag. The endless repetition of “take your medicine” was irritating. The ending was not believable, how did a badly wounded man get Danny and a badly wounded Wendy out of the hotel? We definitely felt it was a novel of two halves.

There was concern over the depiction of Halloran and the constant reference to his colour. There was no justification for the stereotypical portrait of the single black character. If the intention was to expose racism it back-fired.

The group felt that the depiction of Jack was a very sympathetic portrait of alcoholism showing real respect for those on the wagon. His fall from grace was well handled and I was a nice touch having an educated man, an academic, go through this rather than the usual poor manual worker.

We also discussed how real a character Jack’s mother was; would anyone put up with all the abuse she suffered at her husband’s hand? We agreed that it was a disturbingly accurate portrayal of domestic violence. This led to discussion of whether Jack had chosen Wendy because she was like his mother and the issues that Wendy had with her own mother. These relationships, Jack and Wendy’s marriage and the jealousy she felt when looking at her son and husband’s interaction all rang true. In summary we found Stephen King a far more skilled writer than we had given him credit for even if we weren’t happy with where he took The Shining.

"Butterflies in November" by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir - January 2015

This was yet another free bookset we won from The Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

We had mixed reactions to reading this novel! It was hard to get into it for some members of the group. The characters (especially the narrator, she's never named) react in such an unemotional, detached, slightly off-topic way to each major event that happens, that it's difficult to form any emotional bond to them. We thought that they were all over the place, not reacting in any way that you would expect them to; therefore it was hard to start caring for them. Some of us felt that we were waiting for the action, or the emotional connection, to begin, only to find three quarters into the book that it never does. However, we had very positive reactions as well: the quirkiness of the characters' responses is intriguing, and does propel the story forward in unusual ways, it's just maybe not as successfully done as we would have liked! This might be due to the translation (or the fact that it is translated at all). Or is it an Icelandic thing? Members of the group who've been to Iceland definitely attested to a quirkiness of character, inspired by the quirkiness of landscape, light and dark, and isolation, perhaps! It's interesting that the jaggedness / dottiness / flitting about of the story and the characters' actions and reactions mimic the flight of a butterfly; butterflies pop up every once in a while throughout the story.

One thing that we all agreed on was that the landscape of Iceland is very richly and satisfyingly portrayed, even though the entire journey the protagonists undertake would, in fact, take place in utter darkness (a bit of poetic licence there, as admitted by the author herself in an interview); however, that didn't mar our enjoyment of the author's descriptions. We thought that the novel might be designed to give a snapshot of Iceland itself, rather than an individual character; both because we never learn the protagonist's name, and also because her actions are so off the well-trodden path, a bit like Iceland itself maybe. She's a bit icy, she's all about survival, practical and matter-of-fact, but a little bit lost in her own world as well. She has a fanciful counterpoint in Audur, her best friend (and pretty much the wackiest character in this book), maybe as a warm, chaotic, colourful energy to balance the heroine's slightly robotic demeanour. However, every person in the book acts so wackily, that we thought that if anybody's only information on Iceland was this novel, they'd get a very weird impression of its citizens!

We really appreciated the backstory in the novel; the dream-like memories and reflections that interject the plot, written in italics, reveal her having a son while she's a teenager, and having to give him up for adoption (we never find out how/why). She meets him later, during her road-trip, and she does want to know about him, but still reacts with her typical stone-cold manner; she's being told by the boy's father to let sleeping dogs lie, and we read no more about it.

Another wonderful thing was the character of Tumi, the partially deaf four-year-old that the narrator goes on her trip with, and their evolving relationship; we did enjoy him and her together. We also talked about feminism and male and female roles in the novel; how accepting the women seem to men's dominating and dependent behaviour throughout, and how it goes uncommented by everyone! A novel to stimulate a lot of debate, for sure.
By Cordula


One member of our group couldn't make it to the meeting, but emailed her comments to me. Here they are:


- Choosing the boy to have hearing and sight impediments and not be a "normal" boy was a very interesting concept given the minority of children being affected by both. It added dimensions to each part of the story that changed the focus completely, I felt it really opened up what can be a difficult and sensitive subject when it comes to writing about it and the author really conveyed this very well.

- The descriptions of Iceland were so vivid to me, having been there I could really imagine the roads as they drove across the vast expanses and the volcanic barren terrain, for those who haven't been some descriptions may have seemed quite uninteresting or unimaginative - but having been amongst it I could really feel it.

- I found the plot a bit wishy washy in places, it was obvious what they were doing, where they were going etc, but there was no big song or dance about anything that happened along the way - it was almost natural to have a bird of prey in a box as it was to hit a sheep, or buy chocolate or petrol, or win the lottery, or end a relationship. Maybe this was down to the translation, I felt it lacked highs and lows and emotions which I wanted to feel when reading the story and these things happening.

- The ending was a real disappointment to me, I felt we were mid novel and I wasn't prepared for it to be over. It did have me hooked and I wanted more from it, but I was left feeling confused and wondering. Maybe this was the aim, or maybe this was the translation I dont know but I felt we got the first half of the story and wanted the rest...maybe part two will come soon!

- Adding in some dimensions like the side track when hitting the sheep, the bird of prey being with the vet, never finding out her name (i dont think we did?) the choir following them around and the butterflies were all very quirky; they made no sense yet the story needed them and I found the author's imagination incredible and in the way they linked into the tale.

- This is exactly the sort of book I would choose to read, it made me laugh, question, made me re-read sections and challenged my thinking about a lot of subjects from winning the lottery, to random encounters, to eating roadkill - it successfully covered a lot of unusual thought provoking items.

- As I write about this I recall so many amusing parts of the story, but it left me with both a feeling of having read a wonderful book and frustration at not getting as much out of it as I would have liked.

December 2014 - "I Was Here" by Gayle Forman - blog post to come

We really enjoyed Gayle Forman's "I Was Here", a Young Adult novel about a 18-year old girl coping with the suicide of her best friend. Review to come soon!

This novel was given to us for free by The Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - November 2014

The reading group all agreed that this is a very well written book with one member calling the writing “silky”. Descriptions are so well formed that readers can almost taste the food and smell the surroundings, and characters are believable, minor as well as the major ones. The book’s title refers to the half of a yellow sun on the flag of the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from May 1967 to January 1970. The symbolism of the flag is explained in the text.
Through the lives of two economically privileged sisters, Olanna and Kainene, their respective partners, the revolutionary academic Odenigbo and the rather insipid English would-be writer Richard, and, in particular, Odenigbo’s peasant houseboy Ugwu, the author reveals the horrors of war. Readers are given an understanding of why the civil war took place and the role of the colonialists in fermenting tribal unrest, but the core of the story is what happens to people in war. The characters are well rounded and complex: Olanna is kind, caring and forgiving (she brings up her partner’s child as her own, she forgives his transgression) but she betrays her own sister in an unforgivable way. Ugwu, who could be seen as representing outmoded superstitious values of pre-industrial Nigeria, is kind too, but he also commits an appalling act that will disturb readers.
The book is an intelligent read; one comes away knowing something about Nigeria in the 1960s, the failure of the Biafran state and the tremendous cost of the civil war.
Although the narrative is clear, a glossary of all the non-English words used in the text and an historic timeline showing major events would have been a help to readers who had very limited or no knowledge of Nigerian languages and history.
By Jasmina

"The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom, from our group in June 2014

We won this title from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

Most of our reading group agreed that ‘The Kitchen House’ by Kathleen Grissom was a good story and a good read.

The main setting is in the ‘Kitchen House ‘on a cotton plantation in the Southern states of America.
The story features black slavery, but is about multiple types of entrapment that physically, emotionally and mentally enslave most of the white characters and all of those that are black. It illustrates the stark difference between good and evil and exposes an age that had little regard for personal respect, human dignity and sexual choice. An age that was afraid to lose control and was motivated by feudal power to its own enragement.

The main character is Lavinia. She is introduced to the reader as a white, Irish seven year old. A child traumatised by the loss of her parents and by witnessing a slave hanging.

The lot of the Irish in this era isn’t clear. The reading group would have appreciated more information about indentured servitude as Lavinia is the character that we follow throughout the novel.

The owner of the wealthy plantation is called the ‘Captain’. Lavinia is transported to the plantation to work and is put into the kitchen house under the care of two black slaves: Belle and her mother Mama Mae. Belle is a favoured slave as she is the captain’s illegitimate daughter. Throughout the novel Belle and Lavinia’s lives become increasingly more entwined. Both women care for children who are jointly dependent on each of them. Two of their children are conceived by the Captain’s legitimate son Marshal; Belle’s as a result of rape and Lavinia’s within her marriage to Marshal. Both women were forced by circumstance into their pre-marital and marital roles. Both were in love with other men.

Lavinia considers her black family her kin. She struggles in a conservative white world to assert her identity. Members of the reading group found some of the other characters in Lavinias ‘family‘ story came across as stereotypical, and it was difficult for the reader to make them real. Some found the complexity of the relationships hard to follow. However, it was felt that the life of the plantation owner’s wife Miss Martha was more believable and that her descent into drug dependency and insanity served as a dynamic illustration of social entrapment.

Ben, a black slave at the plantation, is Belle’s true love. Lavinia loves and trusts Will Stephens, a white plantation owner. Will is a practising Christian and treats slaves with comparative respect. This makes him the natural enemy of Rankin, the Captain’s overseer. Rankin is the all-time white ‘Bad guy!’

The actions of Ben and Rankin affect the lives of all main characters. Rankin’s credibility with the Captain causes the monstrous side of Marshal to develop. In the early stages of the story, Rankin encourages Waters, a paedophile tutor, in his abuse of the child Marshal. There is no communication beyond formality in the ‘Big Plantation House,’ it’s only in the ‘Kitchen House’ that there is awareness of what is happening.

A dynamic tension of values arises as Ben chooses crime to prevent Rankin’s cruelty to both fellow slaves and Miss Martha’s children. Will Stephens is the only white person who displays integrity and refutes Rankin and his methods of control.

The tension between good and evil continues to escalate and towards the end, similar to how the story starts, Lavinia’s young daughter Elly is a witness to the hanging of innocent Mama Mae. Following this, Elly also loses her father Marshall to an early violent death.

Members of the group agreed we would like to read the sequel as we need to know what happens to the children.

Ann . Clapton reader.


.

"The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood - October 2014

All of us were tremendously impressed by the writing, the story, and the history in “The Blind Assassin”. One member said that the story “grabbed her straightaway” from the opening sentence, and we all agreed that the writing was intriguing and beautiful, with inventive turns of phrases and cleverly constructed ambiguity. We readers were never sure if the narrator was reliable (and we learn later on that she has led us down the garden path in several ways), but despite switching between different ages and perspectives, Margaret Atwood always manages to make it perfectly clear where we are, and manages it elegantly and seamlessly, with no clunky constructions or other possible pitfalls a lesser author could have stumbled into. An amazing novel.

We felt that we got a good overview of the history of the 20th Century; politics, feminism, and fashion included: one member commented that she “could practically see the hemlines rising” in the descriptions of changing fashion, and that the portrayal of women’s clothing, the sister-in-law Winifred’s in particular, was deliciously detailed. (Speaking of Winifred, we thought she was a perfect beast – well, we used a stronger b-word, actually – a wonderfully hateable and horrible character!). Atwood describes the impact WW1 (and 2) had on both the soldiers and the women left behind; the helplessness of all involved, the unprepared-ness for the trauma of loss, the resulting isolation and disconnection people felt.

We loved the individual characters; beastly Winifred, the strangeness of Iris’s sister Laura, the sound aphorisms and resolute no-nonsense commentary of wonderful Reenie, who brought warmth, comic relief, and something concrete to hold on to in the midst of the emotional turmoil Iris went through. The class contempt Laura feels towards Iris's hard-headed industrialist husband is cleverly expressed in snide, aside remarks - with few words we get a complete picture. We also loved the powerful similes, and expressions like "baleful weather" expressed perfectly a dreary November or February day.

One group member commented that she did not enjoy the novel within the novel (the excerpts of Laura’s “The Blind Assassin”; technically a novel within a novel within this novel) at all, but that that fact did not hamper her enjoyment of the book one little bit – it fit the story overall.

It was impressive how all the different strands of the book pulled together perfectly in the end. We witnessed the changes in the narrator with awe – Iris develops from her initial naivety to a mature character without losing any of her unique voice, and all the ambiguous bits of information come together in a finale that is the opposite of rushed. In fact, one group member commented that as far as 50-100 pages from the end, the big revelation that turns the entire book on its head is casually, confidently, dropped into the text, and the reader is left to work out the implications in her own time; this shows a respect for the reader’s intelligence, and is a sensational feat exactly because the casual reveal so far from the end looks like the opposite of sensational.


However, some of us thought that the novel was getting repetitive and overlong, especially towards the end when Iris elaborates on her ailments and bad moods - we thought that it might have been a deliberate attempt at conveying her feelings by making the reader feel as weary and bored as the narrator, but more likely the reason was lack of rigorous editing!

Overall however, we praised the confident handling of the dramatic aspects of the story, a nonchalance that shows that, in one of our group member's words, Margaret Atwood is a "mistress of her own material", confident in the manner and pace of her narrator's revelations, and her narrator's lack of sentimentality. We all came away impressed with Ms Atwood, and eager to read more of her books - for most members this was their first Atwood book, and everyone was intent to read more. We finished the group chatting about holidays in Canada: its bitter winters, entertaining/frightening encounters with bears, wolves, and moose, and examples of some other writers the country has produced that are among our member's favourites, namely Saul Bellow and Steven Pinker. Margaret Atwood has provided us with a great group meeting all round.

"The Secret Place" by Tana French, September 2014

We won this title from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

The Secret Place is a murder mystery set in a girls’ boarding school in Dublin. It is the latest in a series of novels by Tana French involving the Dublin Murder Squad. Unlike other detective series these novels do not have the same detectives as the main protagonists (e.g. Rebus, Dalgliesh, Wexford) although characters may reappear. This time the police officers are Conway, a female murder squad detective and Moran, from the missing persons squad.

Our reading group felt that the murder mystery was not the real focus of the novel; it is about relationships. The central whodunit is a framework on which to look at how a variety of relationships work. We have Conway and Moran, both misfits in their own way, both clever and ambitious, both working class, yet so very different. It was felt that the book was at its strongest when focussing on this pair. We all liked the strong feminist aspect of Conway, a non-conformist who won’t compromise in order to fit in and be popular. The narrator is Moran and his voice was authentic, we felt French really pulled off writing as a man. By the end of the novel there is clearly genuine mutual respect between Conway and Moran and perhaps the beginnings of true friendship but refreshingly absolutely no hint of romantic involvement.

The contrast between Conway and Moran’s responses to the upper middle class surroundings of the school was also well written. Conway is prickly, she clearly dislikes many of the people there and is dismissive of their sensibilities. She bristles when having to deal with them and finds the place oppressive. Moran on the other hand finds the old building and the art on the walls beautiful and he aspires to be comfortable in that environment. French nicely inverts the usual stereotypes and we have Moran as the empathetic one and Conway as the gruff, tough cop.

Moran is approached by a schoolgirl, Holly, whom he knows from an earlier case. She brings him a message she’s spotted pinned on the eponymous “secret place”, a noticeboard in the school where the girls can express their feelings. The message says “I know who killed him” and refers to the murder of a boy in the school grounds the previous year. Conway had been the detective on that case and she and Moran go into the school to try to discover the identity of the author of the note.

There are 2 groups of friends, four in each, on whom the attention is focussed. Much of the story is told through social media and text messages and teenage dialogue. Our group was divided on how successfully this was done: how true to life was the slang? Was this just an adult’s view of how teenagers speak and behave? We felt there should have been more differentiation in the language as it seems unlikely that teenage girls intelligent enough to run rings around detectives should have such limited vocabulary. On the other hand some scenes seemed very accurate, such as hanging out in the Mall and the varied reactions to it.

At the centre of the novel are the friendships and rivalry between the girls and the groups of girls. As the story unfolds we understand that many mistakes and terrible actions were caused by a need to protect friends at all costs. While some of these may not be believable in ‘real life’ you are swept up in the story as the depth of feeling these girls have for each other is completely credible. The hermetic environment of the boarding school fuels this closeness and it is very well invoked. The evolving sexuality and sexual awareness of all the girls and the discomfort poor Moran feels around these ‘predatory’ girls was palpable.

Beyond the interaction between all the central characters, other relationships were also well depicted. Holly and her father, the tension between Holly’s parents and the effect it has on her are convincing.

There is an element of magical realism in the book which had our group divided as well. Was it necessary? If so, why not carry it through? It moved from being fairly central to the dynamic of one of the friendship groups to being dropped and not mentioned again.

Generally the response to The Secret Place was extremely positive with one reader saying it was one of the best books she’d read with the group and another buying more Tana French. Even the less favourable reactions were tempered by positive comments on some aspects. Overall a hit.

"I Can't Begin To Tell You" by Elizabeth Buchan - August 2014

We won this title from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

"I can't begin to tell you" by Elizabeth Buchan is set in Denmark at the beginning of World War 2. It is the story of a married woman's struggle to
obey her conscience and do what she believes to be right by resisting the
Nazi occupation in Denmark even though this brings her into conflict with the husband she loves, who does not share her viewpoint. The book raises important questions about obeying one's conscience and the willingness to do so in the face of real danger and risk. It also speaks to us about how we might react in a similar situation. The book suggests that obeying our conscience may involve risk at times but it is the only way to live an authentic life and to live at peace with the consequences of our actions. To act decisively and courageously is very important for us also.

The group did think that the writing was a bit clumsy and disjointed in certain places and that there could have been two separate stories written out of the one book; one about the historical details of the work of the resistance, and another book about the moral dilemma of Kay, the main protagonist. However, some of the threads of the book were woven together cleverly, such as drawing in emotionally the two female code breakers in England to the fate of the agents working in Denmark. There were strong themes in the book of love, betrayal, suffering, loneliness and fear. In the end love proves stronger than betrayal, courage stronger than fear and justice stronger than oppression. This book is not great literature but it is a very moving and thought-provoking book which is easily readable.
By Lydia

"Any Human Heart" by William Boyd - July 2014

Jasmina couldn't make it to the group meeting, but emailed her book review in - now that's dedication! Here's her review:

This book was a real pleasure to read; William Boyd's style is clear without being simple. His characters are well formed and Logan Mountstuart, the writer of the diaries we are reading in Any Human Heart, feels like a real character. Throughout his very eventful life he meets real people as well as the fictitious and Boyd plays with his readers: is Nat Tate, the subject of Boyd's book An American Artist, and footnote referenced on page 337 in Any Human Heart, fact or fiction? He's fictional, but we are cleverly manipulated by the author to wonder. There are plenty of other factual and fictional references too, throughout the book, to place Logan in his time and give the reader more knowledge about him and other characters.

Logan's life is fascinating. The reader is given, as Jeremy Paxman on the cover of the Penguin paperback version writes: "A terrific journey through the twentieth century". I agree with Paxman's final comment too, the book is: "Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable".

"Any Human Heart" by William Boyd - July 2014

William Boyd – Any Human Heart


Maybe it was the glorious weather or maybe it was just coincidence, but this July, our usually 8-strong reading group was reduced to just one member, Craig, and myself (Cordula). So I initially thought we’d run out of things to talk about after 10 minutes, not having our usual group input, but I was wrong – somehow, we ended up chatting about Boyd’s 2002 novel for over an hour, and I certainly could have continued for another one at least.

The themes are so many, and the experiences Boyd describes are so multifaceted and richly detailed, that there’s no shortage of incidents and topics to go into. To outline, the novel is a fictional diary of Logan Mountstuart, following his life from his first diary entries as a 10-year old boy born in Uruguay to a Uruguayan mother and British father. The Family moves to Birmingham when he is 10, and he grows up going to boarding school, Oxford, and then taking a variety of jobs (and lovers, marriages, friendships, and celebrity encounters) throughout his life. We follow him sometimes continuously, sometimes sporadically, through WW1, the Great Depression, his tries and successes as an author, through WW2 and his role in it as a spy (following the abdicated King Edward, Duke of Windsor and the Duchess, Wallis Simpson); his time in London, his time in New York (as an arts dealer), an episode in Africa, and, finally, his second time in London and his death.

Just recounting it I could go into so much detail as to fill pages, so I’ll stop myself here and just mention the things that stood out to us the most:

First of all, both of us loved the fantastic writing. Craig pointed out a killer line early on, when the 17-year old Logan writes this effortlessly arrogant sentence in his diary: “I shall now smoke a cigarette behind the squash courts and think some more brilliant thoughts”, which had stood out to both of us as just wonderful, capturing the dismissive, know-it-all haughtiness a teenage boarding schooler would easily possess. We both also thought that throughout the novel, the changing tone illustrates Logan’s maturing nature while retaining his own way of thinking and writing - it’s coherent yet shows his development, his deepening reflections as well as his blind spots. A scene that stood out to me as such a blind spot was the moment when members of the royal family remark to Logan how Duke (then King) Edward should have handled his affair with Wallis Simpson: they think he should have installed her back in America for a year or so, claim to have nothing to do with her any more, then secretly reinstate her in his life in a cosy little flat in London. When Logan expresses his disgust at the duplicity of this, they reply: “He’s the King, he can do what he damn well pleases”. Logan remarks in his diary how amoral and terrible he judges these people to be – remaining utterly unreflective of the fact that he’s practically living that exact story, having married a rich heiress, fathered a son, then met the love of his life and put her up in their cosy little London love-nest for a few years (until his wife discovers the flat and divorces him).

We dissected a good many more individual moments in the novel, but I’ll restrict myself to just one more: Craig pointed out another good line (and an interesting and possibly very true sentiment) when Logan remarks to his (second) father-in-law, that the difference between Americans and Brits is that an American uses his manners to further business relationships and get ahead in life, while the British use theirs in order to protect their privacy. We both agreed that this rang true!

We discussed much more: the amorality of Logan’s friend Peter (his childhood friends set him up to fail!), why Logan marries his rich first wife (he wants to get back at the girl that refused him!), the easily flowing, economical yet richly expressive language, the relaxed ease and the psychological astuteness with which Boyd describes Logan’s sexual encounters and views.

Last, but by no means least, we admired the unique set-up for the novel. We speculated whether this diary, in which Logan meets so many of the big names of the 20th Century, from Hemingway, Woolf, Picasso and Joyce, to working for Ian Fleming and hobnobbing with the former King, was written as a result of leftover research for Boyd’s other books? He seems to have constructed a plausible timeline for these famous names, e.g. citing Woolf’s real-life diaries and Ian Fleming’s correspondence, to account for times and places, and then he inserts this fictional character Logan Mountstuart and makes him meet them all. Wonderfully, Boyd sets up his novel with an editor’s footnotes and commentary, completing the ruse. I remember feeling pleasantly surprised and nudged out of my comfort zone every time I read one of those real-sounding footnotes, mixing fiction and reality. My brain had the biggest “ping”-moment later on in the book, when the novel’s fictional editorial voice inserts a footnote referencing one of Boyd’s own books, which is, funnily enough, another fictional account about a fictional artist ('Nat Tate', yes, derived from the National Gallery and the Tate), also constructed to sound real – and the artist turns up as another character in this book! What a great confusion.

To close, I think I can honestly say that we thoroughly enjoyed having our heads spun about by this alternative take on a history of the 20th century, and were more than happy accompanying Logan on his many endeavours. A very human hero, and an incredibly good book. By Cordula

"Oh Dear Silvia" by Dawn French - April 2014

This is the story of Silvia Shute who is in a coma after falling off a balcony. We get to know Silvia only through her visitors at the hospital. Through their eyes and voices the story is in turns a comedy, a tragedy, a love story and a mystery.

The group thought it was generally a well rounded story. It was laugh out loud funny in places (as one would expect from Dawn French) but was not a comic novel. Several of the characters telling the story have strong accents (Jamaican, Irish, Thai) and there was some concern about creating comic stereotypes but mostly we thought it was handled well.

The humour allowed some profound insights to be made by people without them being pretentious. Other times the humour was there just for the fun of it. There were some hilarious slap-stick scenes with Silvia’s sister Jo: one involving a stripper, another a dog and a running joke about her hippy alternative remedies. Yet through the humour we come to see how sad Jo is, not only because of her sister’s coma but also the guilt she has been carrying since childhood and their mother’s death.

The plot device of having the main character unconscious with no voice worked well. It gave the story a filmic or theatrical quality – you could easily imagine this being made for television, with each character taking a turn to move the story on.

There was some discussion on how convincing Silvia’s relationship with Cat was. Not everyone was persuaded that Silvia would betray her family for Cat, however manipulative or crazy Cat was. Silvia emerges as a strong-willed, even hard character so why would she allow herself to be distanced from her family?

On the other hand, the emerging love story between Winnie and Ed seemed far more real; we could see why they would be attracted to each other and how the relationship would work.

Silvia’s coldness and Cat’s madness are contrasted well with the kindness of Winnie, Ed, Tia and Cassie. Although Tia is taking financial advantage of her employer, she still takes time to visit her in hospital, talks to her, makes her comfortable. Cassie evolves into a really strong woman, able to get beyond her anger at her mother and forgive her. Her maturity is a wonderful counterpoint to the raw hurt and anger her brother is still suffering and the group felt that his becoming a soldier and going to war was believable.

The enigma surrounding Silvia’s fall – was it an accident, was it deliberate – is explained at the end but does not ring entirely true. We concluded that a possible reading was that Silvia provoked the situation.

Not a great book but some great moments and some good characters.

"My Dear, I wanted to tell you" by Louisa Young

On the whole, the Clapton Library Book Group thought that this book was a good read, the first seventy pages being seen as "fascinating". Characters were usually well rounded and believable. For one member, the author managed to write one of the most evil mothers in literature in Mrs Orris. Mrs Orris's beautiful but role-less daughter, Julia, was another character that was considered very well written. Julia, in lesser hands, could have been a contemptible character: a failure of a mother concerned only with maintaining and improving her looks. Louisa Young allows the reader to understand Julia and to see that she was trapped; almost as trapped, in her own way, as the men in the trenches. Julia's obsession with her looks acts as a precursor of Riley's and her own fate. The early relationship between Julia and Peter (neither of whom the main characters of the novel) was, for another member of the group, beautiful and erotic.

The author skilfully uses her secondary characters to question and explore major issues: Rose's questioning of the existence of a god that allowed the horrors of war, the sympathetic treatment of homosexuality through the character of Terence and, of course, the role of women through Julia and Rose. In contrast it was Nadine and Riley, the main characters of the book, who received the greatest criticism from us. Riley's behaviour toward Nadine irritated us and their relationship, the backbone of the novel, seemed less understandable/believable than that between Julia and Peter.

On a structural level there were criticisms about the abundance of over long sentences partitioned by commas, which some members of the group found to be an irritation. The denouement of the novel was also likened to a Whitehall farce. The coming together of the disparate characters was seen as clumsy and too much of a coincidence to be believable. However, the main criticism of the book was that the author had not done sufficient research: Riley would not have been in the trenches in November 1914. The group of men that the main character was meant to be a member of did not, in fact, get to the Front until July 1916.
The overall verdict on the book: a good read, but no "Birdsong" or Pat Barker.
By Jasmina

"My Dear, I wanted to tell you" by Louisa Young - May 2014

Every year, London's reading groups can join "CityReadLondon" and receive free books for their reading groups - last year it was "A Week in December" by Sebastian Faulks, the year before it was Oliver Twist for Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday.

This year, all of London's reading groups (that sign up to CityRead) are reading the World War I novel "My Dear..." by Louisa Young. Pop back onto our blog in May to read what Clapton library's reading group thought about it.

See this page for events in all the participating London boroughs:
http://www.cityreadlondon.org.uk/calendar

"Oh Dear Silvia" by Dawn French - April 2014

Our group met on 3rd April and discussed the book - review to come very soon!

"The Wedding Gift" by Marlen Suyapa Bodden - March 2014

We won this title from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

This book divided our book group. One member, who found the text interesting, liked and felt a sense of identification with it, “couldn’t stop reading”, and completed the novel in two sessions; others were far less complimentary with a number of readers unable, or unwilling, to read to the end. This reader was in the latter group finding the text, due to its written style, a challenge to complete.

Whilst everyone agreed that there was a good and deserving story in The Wedding Gift , a number of the group felt strongly that it had not been brought out by the author. What the story required was a far better writer! Criticisms of Boden’s writing were strong, it was passionless, rushed, careless, sugar coated, flawed in plot, and relied far too heavily on dialogue. Boddn, it was felt, was nt great at building up suspense, nor was she able to make voices distinct; at times it was difficult, some readers found, to know who was speaking to whom. In relying so heavily on dialogue she failed to develop sound descriptive passages, which, if used, would have allowed readers to have had a sense of character and place. Why, for example, was there no description of the sea or Sarah’s reaction to seeing it for the first time in her life?

The fact that very few of the characters were developed (including Sarah and Theodora, the main characters), angered readers, but this lack of development was not limited to characters alone. The plot left the majority of the group wondering how certain situations had been reached. Its denouement was to be found in two paragraphs at the end of page 461 and the beginning of 462, but where was the lead up to it that would have made it believable? It simply was not there – the reader was just told. And by not being believable the writer did not do sufficient service to attacking misogyny and racism, the two very serious, but unsuccessfully challenged, themes in her book. By Jasmina

"The Gallery of Vanished Husbands" by Natasha Solomons - February 2014

We won this title from the Reading Agency: http://readinggroups.org./

All agreed that the book was competent, engaging and easy to read. Juliet certainly posed as a cipher for the other characters in the book . But some found her unbelievable as a main character . The hyperbole she used for her role in the London gallery was alike to Valerie, Charles’s mother. This supported misgivings about her character.

The conflict between the woman that ran a London gallery and the traditional Jewish wife was interesting and threw some light on how difficult it was to be an Aguna following the war. The use of composition that describes the transition of thinking between the 50s and 60’s was thought to be brave and skilful. However the overall opinion also was that the author had possibly attempted too much. Given her authors’ note we didn’t believe that Rosie was done justice too.

Leonard, the son of her missing husband George summoned much more empathy to his character, some thought more could have been done with this and with the relationships with his dads’ other family. Frieda’s frustration too was very real and we could understand why a teenage girl who could not find her mother in so many portraits rebelled in the only way left to her.

There were mixed opinions about the many descriptive passages of the paintings . Some found the visualisations wonderful , others thought them superficial . There did seem to be some correlation between the many artists behind the very different paintings of one Juliet and the newspaper cutting of the different missing husbands (as summed up in the book title) but if this was intentional it served for many to make Juliet less real.

Most found Max a far more believable and moving character, one reader described the story of Max’s sketchbook and its loss , as a piece of gold in a box of imitation jewellery. His dramatic departure from Juliets’ life and the final painting found after his death , added more resonance to the gallery and to the novel.

All the members of Clapton group agreed they’d happily read more of the author's works. By Ann

It is written in an easy-to-read style, both in print and vocabulary choice. It moved along at a good pace, with enough detail to familiarise the reader to the characters, but not in a prolongued way. I enjoyed reading the story, and enjoyed the way chapters jumped back and forth in time. It was well-written and interesting, I would recommend this book to others. By Michelle

"Meet Mr. Mulliner" by PG Wodehouse - January 2014

By now, we were on our fourth Wodehouse book, and for most of us there was relief that we were moving onto another author. The phrase "one trick pony" was used to describe the impression that all the books were the same story told over and over with slight variation and several people said they had been unable to finish the book. We are uncomfortable with his class based settings and his casual racism and misogyny. Interestingly, for others Meeting Mr Mulliner had been a case of saving the best for last. At the risk of sounding heretical it was even said that this book could be enjoyed because there was no Jeeves!

Once we started to talk about the stories the Wodehouse weariness dissipated. While laughing at the vision of a bishop and a headmaster off their heads on a large dose of "Buck-U-Uppo", we reflected on the casual way drugs and alcohol are used by Wodehouse characters. No one gets into trouble for it, the behaviour is completely accepted. This is in stark contrast to present day media interest in the behaviours of our celebrities.

On the cover of the edition we read there is a quote by Christopher Hitchens: "P.G. Wodehouse is the gold standard of English wit.", and we were asked how we felt about that. First thoughts were that the statement was hyperbole, Wodehouse is enjoyable but hardly a genius. Yet as we thought about it we realised just how rich his language is and how wonderfully visual his writing is. Add to that how enduring his characters are; Jeeves has passed into the vernacular and everyone knows who he is even if they have never heard of P.G. Wodehouse. We began to understand why he is so revered and loved by many. We are however pleased to be moving on to another author!

"Uncle Fred in the Springtime" by PG Wodehouse - December 2013

For our third Wodehouse book, Clapton library's reading group read Uncle Fred in the Springtime:

By now, blasphemous as it may sound, we were in danger of suffering a touch of Wodehouse fatigue! Most members made some comment to the effect of: "Seems like we've been here before..." when we started reading the book. Here's another set of love-tussles and other aristocratic "problems" to be sorted out with a clever/idiotic scheme by the hapless hero. Only this time, the main character, Pongo Twistleton, hasn't got the Bertie Wooster charm, or his optimistic wit, nor does he deliver the same sardonic exchanges with his counterpart Uncle Fred, as Bertie does with Jeeves.

Nobody liked Pongo, we thought he was just a pessimistic bore. However, luckily there was Uncle Fred, the real character of the story, he delivered where Pongo flopped! Some of us even admitted to falling a little bit in love with him. He sparkles, throwing himself with gusto into each chaotic scenario he encounters, or rather: helps create. And with his help, by the middle of the book the usual wit and the twists and turns of the brilliantly structured plot won us back round to admiring Wodehouse's craft.

Apart from Uncle Fred, we felt that a couple of the characters could have been expanded upon a bit more; all of us admitted to getting confused with the cast of the book, and were then relieved that we weren't the only ones thrown by all the eccentric uncles and clueless nephews. Which of the uncles threw the eggs? Which one's got the pig? And while we're mentioning the pig - why couldn't the pig owner just say to his friend, "Excuse me, but I'd really like to keep my pig"? What unwritten rules of politeness prohibit him from standing his ground over his own property? Also, why are there never any mothers or fathers in Wodehouse's books? It teems with aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, but parents are mostly absent. We agreed that there's something intrinsically funny about aunts and uncles, but why?

We were also interested in how Wodehouse introduces the first "common", non-aristocratic character in Mustard Pott. We all enjoyed the impromptu betting shop he creates during a pub breakfast. All in all, a very enjoyable read, guaranteed to lift you up. We had one issue regarding these newly published editions that our entire group agreed on: It would be helpful to have a blurb on the back of the book that actually tells you which series (i.e. Jeeves and Wooster, or Blandings Castle) and which particular book you're holding in your hands. Even at the back of the books, where Wodehouse's publications are listed, they aren't listed in chronological order. It would be helpful to have a newly published book and a bit of a Wodehouse guide all in one! By Cordula

"Joy in the Morning" by PG Wodehouse - November 2013

Two of our members collected the group's thoughts about "Joy in the Morning":

Lydia: We agreed that we found Bertie was more well-rounded as a character in this book. He is also more able to solve his own problems without too much help from Jeeves. He successfully avoids marriage to Florence and avoids being sent to prison as a consequence of stealing Stilton Cheesewright's police uniform in order to attend the fancy dress ball. Names of places such as Steeple Bumpleigh and East Wibley add to the satirical nature of the book.

The colourful character of Uncle Percy gives dramatic tension to the story and there are amusing incidents such as his meeting with the American business man J. Chichester Clam in the potting shed, a most unlikely place for striking a huge financial deal. The young boy Edwin adds some amusing incidents such as burning down the cottage by accident and putting a porcupine in Bertie's bed.

The story is rather drawn out in parts and it is not until the end of the book that Bertie is finally spared marriage to Florence. The book ends on a high note as Bertie's world is again set right as the birds sing again and the sun shines down on him. It is an entertaining and amusing book and is easily readable.

Cordula: I enjoyed that the plot wasn't told in hindsight as much, but was more directly experienced. What I enjoyed most were the endless twists and turns of the plot points, big and small ones alike, that I couldn't foresee. At one point during the middle of the book I was in danger of getting a trifle bored, because I had a Right Ho, Jeeves deja-vu experience; I felt we'd witnessed Bertie make that silly assumption here and finagle this love-merry-go-round there and put his foot in it everywhere, before. But then Joy in the Morning gathered its speed and surprised me on pretty much every page, pulling my expectations about, which was such good fun. I've since started reading Wodehouse's Berlin Broadcasts, on the Wodehouse Society website, and am fast becoming a PGW convert.

"Right Ho, Jeeves!" by PG Wodehouse - October 2013

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.