November book choice confirmed:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Scheiffer

You remember that the October book is the 25 year Booker of Bookers Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

At the September meeting, The Household Guide to Dying stimulated lots of discussion, ranging beyond its literary merits. We all enjoyed reading the book but found the plot/ situation unravelling a bit under scrutiny. We would recommend it to others though.

Moy's Birthday Bash














































It was a great evening with the star looking spectacular in black and red witha red chapeau and ostrich feather perched jauntily on mass of curls. All guests dressed for the occasion.

Unfortunately the star of the show does not appear here due to technical problems (I dropped my camera). Hopefully this can be rectified.

Happy 70th Birthday to Moy

Ros has turned the Book Group's halting rhymes into a great little poem, entitled:

IRREPRESSIBLE

Moy, you are arty,
Life of the party.
We’re dressing up tarty
For your food that is hearty.

You’re a bloody great cook;
We should write a book.
May you never get crook
In your Long Jetty nook.

How long have you been
On our lit’rary scene?
At our book group so keen
And so frequently seen.

Together we’ve shared,
Our souls we have bared,
Books, we’ve declared,
For each other we’ve cared.

Together we pen,
So, women and men,
On her three score and ten
Le’s drink to our fren’.

The Book Group
September 6 2008

November book
Margaret has recommended The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Scheiffer. This proposal will be confirmed at the next meeting, but looks like its worth reading anyway. Available at independent bookstores if not at the big chains. Reviewed in last Saturday's SMH.

October book
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie was recently selected as the Booker of Bookers, so the group thinks it is worth discussing. Venue will be Sue E's place.

September book
A Household Guide to Dying by Deborah Adelaide is the next book, and the meeting will be held at Stella's place.

August Book
We talked about Secrets of the Sea by Nicholas Shakespeare. Set in Tasmania, the novel received a lukewarm reception from the group. Interesting discussion though.

July Book
This was Hoi Polloi a memoir by Craig Sherbourne.

I wondered if the MS fundraiser had received our application, as I haven't received the trivia questions yet. When I signed on, I called us the Sunday Arvo Book Club, as we had to have a name..

This article was in Spectrum in the SMH on Saturday May 17, Page 26, and look, we got a mention! Click on the article to make it bigger.

Throw the Book at MS

I had a letter from the Good Reading mazazine, encouraging book groups to run their June meeting into a fund raiser for MS. They have a book trivia quiz running with book-related questions, so you can take part in that, or just do whatever you want to support MS research. For deatils have a look at www.goodreadingmagazine.com.au.

There is a also a public Trivia Night at the Paddington Town Hall on Wed 4th June if people are interested. I have signed up to get the trivia quiz and maybe we can do something extra. What do you reckon?

Regards

Patricia

June Book:
The Good Parents by Joan London
Have a look at the review by Michael McGirr in Spectrum on 3 May, which starts' 'Joan London writes wonderfully about intimacy between strangers.'
http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/the-good-parents/2008/05/02/1209235136463.html

By the way, the May bookgroup is at Sue Ellyard's place and apparently I missed a top turnout and discussion at Margaret's last time for Salmon Fishing.
cheers till next time,
Patricia

Books to come:
May book is What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt.
Watch Siri Hustvedt speaking at the Adelaide Festival recently, with an intro by JM Coetsee.
http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/video (thanks to Ros for the tip).

Reminder: April Book is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday at Margaret L's place.

More Blue Bay days. This photo is for Ros. What a great blue sky! Weren't we lucky!

We discussed the book over breakfast. Only Moy actually had a copy of the book on hand. Moy put us on our mettle with some strong criticisms, that drove the rest of the party to defend the book. Interesting discussion - The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas turned out to be a good book group book after all.

February sleepover bookgroup - Lobsters at Moys
More pics tomorrow, but just a reminder that next bookgroup is at my place, reading Patrick Gale's Notes from and Exhibition.

The following bookgroup on the April long weekend we will be reading Paul Torday's book, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

Cheers
Patricia

January 2008 meeting - The Gathering
We met at Sue's house - great roll-up with 9 people in attendance. Anne Enright's "The Gathering" was an excellent book group book, stimulating lots of discussion and many perspectives. The sort of book that gains much from reflection and examination. Not an easy book - emotionally engaging.

The February meeting will be at Blue Bay/ Long Jetty at Moy's, with accommodation at Moy's and Stella's. Meet on Friday afternoon at Moy's, dinner there on Saturday night will involve lobster at $25 per head, brunch on Sunday morning from 8.30 for book discussion. Next book is 'The Boy in Striped Pyjamas' (by John Shand I think).

The March meeting will be at my place at Cheltenham and the book will be "Notes from an Exhibition' by Patrick Gale.

Ros had put together a new contact list of bookgroupers. Ask her for a copy if you haven't got one yet.
Regards
Patricia