Sunday, July 30, 2017

July meeting - September book: Lincoln in the Bardo

Thanks for joining me at my place today. Good roll up. Missing Pat R and Moy, and of course Maggie, who's still not well.

Everyone loved Sebastian Barry's Days Without End, mostly for its writing. Highly recommended and one after another we repeated our praise and chose favourite quotes. In awe.

Next month, we are reading The Sympathiser, at Pat R's Potts Point home.

In September, we will read Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Sanders. I've just sent it around. Who is hosting? Thanks everyone, it's Sue W! 

Regards P

Monday, June 26, 2017

June meeting - August book: The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Lovely meeting at Stella's house, with Pat R, Sue E, Ros M, Moy G, Pat S and of course, Stella in attendance. A few empty seats at the table, sadly missed.

However, discussion was brisk for The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose. 'Worth persevering with' was one description of the book. Ros liked its clear structure, with 49 chapters, 7 books, following the 7 stages of artistic progress cited in the early pages, ending with 'a gift'. The creative spark is the gift, we thought. None of us were knowledgeable about performance art, and all of us were intrigued with Marina Abramovic's art, as described in the novel. Some went to youtube to watch her. We noted that the novelist doesn't match the bravery of the artist, and the the book has a tendency to preach, which the artist never does. The book covers a great many themes: What is Art?; giving, collaboration, grief, women's liberation, silence - all these were explored. We finished with a discussion of MONA, MOFO, and DARK MOFO, before we got stuck into the great hummingbird cake prepared for us by Stella's girls. Many thanks.

The July book was suggested by our absent member, Maggie. It is a Pulitzer prize winner, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The July meeting will be at Pat Rayner's place.

The June book group meeting is at my place, and we will discuss Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. PS

Monday, May 29, 2017

May meeting - July book: Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Dear Bookgroup People,
What a lovely meeting at Jane's place. Good turnout, missed Ros though. Split decision as to the merits of the book, The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. More than half of us loved it, and embraced its innovative approach to history but others had no patience with it, and didn't read more than a couple of chapters. Making the underground railway metaphor into a clanking huffing reality was, for me, an audacious piece of writing, that sent me off to check the internet. Sending Cora on the journey through several states, several different slave experiences, that happened in reality across decades, made the political personal. I was gripped by her journey, her bravery and her optimism. We found the quote a few chapters from the end, from Lander's oratorary at the Valentine farm, that seemed to sum up the point of the book, in classic cadences of black American rhetoric. Is this it, Sue? Maybe I've cut too little...

“For we are Africans in America. Something new in the history of the world, without models for what we will become.
“Color must suffice. It has brought us to this night, this discussion, and it will take us into the future. All I truly know is that we rise and fall as one, one colored family living next door to one white family. We may not know the way through the forest, but we can pick each other up when we fall, and we will arrive together.”

Excerpt From: Whitehead, Colson. “The Underground Railroad.” Doubleday, 2016-09-13. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Anyway, food for thought, and yes I'd definitely recommend the book.

Lots of us had been to the writer's festival, so we got some reviews. Positives about a session on Helen Garner's writing, prompted by a new book. No one had seen Colson Whitehead though.

Finally, the next book came down to a vote. We were considering Liam Piper's The Toymaker, Noah Hawley's Before the Fall and Sebastian Barry's Days Without End. The last was the winner, by a show of hands, so we will be talking about it at my place in July. Next month at Stella's for the Heather Rose book.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

April meeting- June book: Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose

I wasn't at the last meeting, so a short post.

Our June book will be Heather Rose's Museum of Modern Love - at Stella's.

See you on Sunday at Jane's for our May meeting, discussing Coulson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Ros and Moy filled me in on a very stimulating book group meeting, which I'm really sorry I missed,  at Margaret's lovely home at McMahon's Point. The meeting welcomed our former book group member Bette Beresford with her friend Suzanne.

Ros wrote: 'Bette and her friend Suzanne seemed to enjoy the idyllic venue. Neither had read the books.

All sun and blue skies and water. And sumptuous food.

Your report (see below) was highly valued and most agreed with your judgments.

Margaret's renovations provide even more space and utility.

The issues raised by the novel were discussed more than the way of writing. The legal issue seemed to be generally accepted - although some of the 10 were quiet. Reserve, perhaps or sensitivity to the subject? Those who supported the view felt the novel explored it very well through the case studies which showed different aspects and through the humour which made the serious contemporary issue digestible.

The sex scenes did prove divisive.

Ros finished - The May meeting will be at Jane's - 'The underground railroad'.

I've sent the the next 2 books round electronically. I have the monthly diary - sorry, I forgot all about it. I'll pop it over to Ros.

And there was the shocking news from Maggie that the symptoms she experienced while reading a book group email last Friday afternoon has led to a diagnosis of cancer. Early days, and she's hoping for a confirmation that these tumours are indeed secondaries from a melanoma 5 years ago - because a new treatment for melanoma is producing encouraging recovery rates. A ray of hope. Maggie wants a local book group to sustain her and fortuitously, Bette may be able to help - she's talking to her group. And of course, Maggie you are still a long-distance member of ours!

I'll miss the April meeting too - An Unfortunate Incident. 

To finish off -here is the quick note I wrote about my reading of the book, which Ros refers to above. if you had other ideas - we can talk about them later. It's an ongoing conversation.

Re Steven Amsterdam's The Easy Way Out.

There is no Easy Way Out. That's the message I got.

I found the book fascinating and truthful, the work of a writer who knew what he was talking about. And the acknowledgement at the end confirms that Steven Amsterdam works as a palliative care nurse. I assume he's also gay, as his writing about Evan's sexual experiences as the third in a semi permanent loving gay threesome is just as enlightening, even shocking, as the exploration of ways of dying. It's sympathetic too. His sex writing is never cringe making, and believable. Interesting mechanics. Quite sexy even to me. Though I'm glad it's not my life. I'm interested to see what our book group people make of it.

I love speculative social fiction, where a fictional change in technology or the law, like measure 491 or whatever, is teased out. (Black Mirror on Netflix does this for technology.) I had the book from the library via Ros, but started reading it without enough time to finish it. A lesser book I would have scanned. I bought an online copy and finished it. I'm glad I did. I'm only sad I can't share it.

As a character, Evan is well-rounded. I recognise Viv too,and her sharp wit is sustaining, and it underpins their close relationship. Nettie is a touchstone for Evan. Evan might be seen as a loser, with his odd relationships, loved third to 2 loving couples, though sexually expressive with only one the male couple. His relationship with Viv might be too close, dependent. We see him in the end curled up in bed with his mother, perhaps where he's always wanted to be. Amsterdam doesn't make Evan a wuss, he's in charge of his life, choosing to care, choosing to kill .. or not. A grown man lying in bed with his dying Mum might be primal, certainly babyish, but in this book, it's a loving, mature, admirable action. Whatever he does, it's done with love. It's a hard option sitting with someone while they slowly die, as Lon says. It's no easy assisting them to die either. 

It's great that the options are explored: a legal assist for the terminally ill, an illegal assist for anyone in sane mind who has considered their options and wants to die (but very tricky, that sane mind thing, as we see), and the possibility of under the blanket assisted death as part of regular aged care treatment. Then there's old fashioned suicide, like his father's, which wasn't officially suicide anyway. It's great to explore through the nurse practitioner who is also a family member confronting the dilemma, and to see the effect on the assistant, in whatever circumstances. 

I went into the book with reservations about assisted dying, under the law. I still have reservations. I think it has a place, but I still don't know when it's the best thing, and without those guidelines, my support is useless. The decision is final, no possibility of retreat.

I read the Memoir too about Dying. I don't like to speak I'll of the dying but it was boring. I read it a few weeks ago and I can't think of a thing to say about it.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

February meeting - Dark Emu and April book - Emily Maguire - An Isolated Incident

Home again from a wonderful afternoon spent with friends, talking about the book Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, drinking champagne and eating cakes. Thanks Sue E for hosting us. There was plenty of discussion about the book - some varied viewpoints, which always makes for a lively afternoon. No one faulted the passion with which Pascoe approached his argument and all believed that what he was saying was important. But some found the book boring to read, and felt he was cherrypicking his evidence to support his thesis, with too much reliance on secondary sources. Others disagreed, finding it opened a new vision of Australian history, a cathartic truth telling that they would want to share, a starting point for other researchers. Some of us will be passing the book on to family and friends - but some were pleased to finish it. Gave us fuel for hours of robust discussion.

Agreed quickly on the April book - An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire, a writer we have ignored for a long time! In April we will meet at Ros's place. The March meeting will be at Margaret's home at McMahons Point, when we will be discussing Steven Amsterdam's The Easy Way Out and (Optional) Cary Taylor's Dying: a Memoir.










Monday, January 30, 2017

January 2017 Hot Milk and new book(s) for March

Thanks to Pat Rayner for hosting us at her new home in Potts Point. The view from the roof was amazing so please share pictures. Our very first book group meeting was at Pat's place at Dundas, and the book was Elizabeth Jolly's Milk and Honey. Pat placed a carton of milk and a jar of honey on the letterbox that time, but I didn't think to look out for a cup of hot milk on the doorstep of number 17 yesterday. We were too busy with the mechanics of our journey and the newness of an inner-city post-car location. All worked well. We met our newest member too, Cathy Forster (I'm not sure if I've spelt her name right!) who established herself as a confident and positive contributor right from the start.

The book, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, had its fans and its detractors. But the detractors read it to the end and also had plenty to say about the characters, the themes and the language. A voice from a younger generation, a 25 year old daughter, negotiating her identity, her 'archaeological study' of her own relationships. All up it was a successful book group book, which stimulated lots of discussion, probably because some people didn't like it, but they cared.

We settled down to tea and coffee with lamingtons and biscuits, to decide on the March book, which was decided very quickly. We will consider end of life issues, with the main book a fiction: The easy way out, by Steven Amsterdam, and if people have time for another, to round out the view, they can also read: Dying: a memoir by Corey Taylor.

We also voted for the best book of 2016 by show of hands. Clear winner was The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood.

We have had a change of venue in the following months. The February meeting (Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe) will now be held at Sue Ellyard's place with the March meeting at Margaret's newly renovated Kirribilli home. Thanks to everyone for their contribution to another year of book group. Welcome to our new member!