September meeting (The Lost Daughter) - November book (A Spool of Blue Thread)

September meeting was at Margaret's place. 8 of us were present - welcome back Moy, able to come for the first time this year, after illness. Pat R also present after 5 months travelling OS. Sue E, Maggie H, and Liz unable to attend this month. Thanks Margaret for a lovely afternoon, with yummy food and a wonderful sherry cake to end the feast.

The Elena Ferrante book, The Lost Daughter stimulated lots of discussion, though some of us wondered if we had read the right book, or enough books, to sample Ferrante's work.  We would have liked to read one of the Neapolitan novels. But The Lost Daughter was billed as 'close to perfection' in the Andrew Reimer review and it certainly occupied us for a good hour. We found the narrator annoying but intensely interesting, fascinating, shocking even.

We look ages deciding on the next book, looking at several from the Booker shortlist, deciding finally on the Anne Tyler book, A Spool of Blue Thread, which will be at my place in November - the Christmas meeting.

Ros has offered to host the October meeting, so we will all meet at Bellamy Street for the Bill Clegg book, Did you ever have a family?

August meeting - October book is 'Did you ever have a family?' by Bill Clegg

Reporting in after our August meeting at Stella's place, where we discussed 'All the light we cannot see' by Anthony Doerr, recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize. We had a smaller group - Maggie, Sue W, Jane, Stella and me. Ros and Margaret L are travelling, Liz has a weekend away, and Sue E wasn't quite up to attending, still recovering from her surgery.

The book got a positive review from all present, with some reservations. Stella, our host, really liked the book. Ros had reported in from her travels that it was a bit 'Boy's Own' for her taste, and indeed, we agreed it was plot-driven, an old-style genre book, packed with events, multiple themes. Some worried that the 'stone' plot device didn't work well, though it did hook in to the Nazi treasure hunter. The blindness metaphor worked on a number of levels.

Sue W provided book club questions - one used an Alexander Solzhenitsyn quote: 'The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every living being' - this started us talking about good and evil in the book. Also pointed us to the two epigraphs, one (Goebbels) about the power of radio for the Nazis - the book goes on to consider the internet in the modern day.

Discussion of the structure - jumps about in different time zones.  Would it have been a better book if chronologically told? Perhaps not, the forecasting of plot in front of being told would be lost. Through strong on plot, not over told - holds back detail, yet you know exactly what happened - for example in the rape scene. A well written book, and an old-fashioned good read.

Over a delicious pear upside down cake, baked by Rosie, (many thanks), we deliberated on the October book, without a clear standout. In the end, we chose a book from the Booker long list - 'Did you ever have a family?' by Bill Clegg. September book is 'The Lost Daughter' at Margarets, October book group is at Sue Wood's.