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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

October meeting (Black Rock, White City) January Book (Hot milk, by Deborah Levy)

Thanks to all those who were able to make it to my place today to talk about the Miles Franklin prize winner, Black Rock, White City. Lots of us hadn't finished it, and those who did had reservations, but it proved to generate a lively discussion. Interesting characters living through the aftermath of war in Bosnia, rebuilding their new world in Australia. Graffiti a gripping device which wasn't fully realised.
Would repay rereading, but still, we thought we wouldn't be recommending it to all our friends and family. Johan a godlike heroic figure, his relationship with Susannah at the centre of the book.

Looked to the Booker Prize shortlist for our January book and decided on Deborah Levy's book, Hot Milk'. Look for it in libraries or buy the book! We will be discussing it at Pat Rs new home at Potts Point.

November meeting is at Stella's when we look at the Helen Garner short stories.

Thanks Sue W. for hosting us - the famous Papa's ricotta cake starred again. We missed Pat R who is in Tassie, and Jane and Liz. Even Maggie H was able to come this time, as she's in Sydney with family. Great to see her again at book group, looking tanned and bright after her sea change.

And yes, after 45 minutes we did talk about the book, The Turner House by Angela Flournoy. Overall, it was well-liked and stimulated lots of discussion.  We learnt about the politics of housing and poverty in Detroit - and good to hear it from a black family. The family dynamics were interesting, in the current generation and previous ones - the 'haint' intrigued us. This book was compared, favourably,  with Anne Tyler's A Spool of Blue Thread, which we read last year.

Next book is AS Patric's Black Rock, White City at my place (Pat S) in October. The November book will be Helen Garner's short stories, Everywhere I look, at Stella's. Then we break until January when we are invited to Pat Rayner's new place at Pott's Point.

Happy reading until we next meet on 30th October.

August meeting - October book - AS Patric Black Rock White City

Thanks Ros for hosting the spirited discussion about Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth. No trouble getting started on the book, in spite of 2 new grandchildren in the group. Book was thoroughly enjoyed by several of us, who found it funny and satirical, while others got annoyed by the sustained rant  - the complaint. We all found lots to talk about, plenty of quotable quotes. An interesting riff on the times, and a reflection on Masculinity and Jewish families. That doesn't do it justice - some of us were rereading after 50 years and finding that we had changed, finding it funnier, but not as sexy as before! Thanks to Liz for selecting it.

We decided pretty quickly on the Miles Franklin Award winner, AS Patric's Black Rock White City.
I'll be hosting the reading group in October, and Pat R will open her new Potts Point residence to us in January. November party venue to be confirmed.

We discussed our other reading - Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, Chris Cleave's Everyone Brave is Forgiven, Our Souls At Night (not sure of author) and Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove, were recommended - for private reading!

July Meeting - September book - The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy

I didn't attend the July meeting at Sue E's place as Liz and I were at a quilting workshop.

I hear it went well, with mixed reviews for Jeanette Winterson's The Gap of Time, a reworking of the story of The Winter's Tale to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's death (I think).

Tales of the cake spread throughout the land.

The meeting agreed on the September book, The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy. Sue W will host this meeting.

June meeting - (30th Anniversary) and August book details

Well, it was a great day for the 30th anniversary celebration.  Perfect weather for a trip to Avoca Beach. Thanks to Margaret for hosting us beautifully and providing a super lunch. Thanks to Moy for the picture book cake, decorated as only Moy can do it. Thanks to all those who could come and those who couldn't but have enlivened our group through the last 30 years. Pat R in particular, foundation member, sorry you had family business to attend to on the day - you were missed. Maggie sent a message which we read and enjoyed. Clare sent a message too as we revisited notes we had written 5 years ago, saying what book group means to us. We read these out, with a particular pang when we came to Clare's contribution. We each wrote a note about a special moment we remember from book group. These are also stored in the time capsule. Additions from absent friends are welcome.

Yes, we did talk about the book My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Again Ferrante provided plenty of discussion, with everyone getting something out of the book, but some wondering what all the fuss is about. There are the true believers who have gone on to read more and more of her work and we thought that this is what is intended. The book doesn't entirely stand alone. Talk about autobiography, about the identity of the writer, about the translation, about the nature of brilliant friends. I left you all talking after hours, so I have to end the report there.

And the next book. Well, the Jeanette Winterson book, The Gap in Time is our July book and our August book will be a classic - Portnoy's Complaint by Phillip Roth.

Photos of the day from Sue E.

 And a collage from Liz.

June meeting reminder - and 30th anniversary celebration!

30 years of book group!

Amazing!

We will be celebrating on Sunday with a lunch time meeting at Margaret L's home at Avoca Beach.

Festivities will begin at 11.30am. Margaret will provide lunch. Moy is baking a cake. We will need cameras and any old photos you can find.

I have the first blue book and will bring that along.

Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend should be a good conversation starter for this event.

See you there.

May meeting (Mothering Sunday) - July book (The Gap in Time - Jeanette Winterson)

Graham Swift's Mothering Sunday was the May book, for a very well attended meeting. Everyone was there except Liz and me - and of course Maggie! So I am relying on Ros's verbatim report here. Ros reported that most people liked the book - Margaret L, Sue Wood and Jane in particular. Ros herself was less impressed, as she 'didn't learn anything' from the book. Moy had thought it was repetitive on the role of the working classes, but Sue E advanced a theory that the orphan Miss Fairchild at the centre of the book may in fact have come from one of the rich families, hence their crossing of class boundaries for her.  It seemed that people found more to talk about in life than this book. There was not a long discussion of Mothering Sunday, but lots of lively talk.

Sorry I missed it  - please feel free to tell me if you disagree with my second hand report.

July book is The Gap in Time by Jeanette Winterson, which is a reworking of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. That will be at Sue E's home with the August meeting at Ros's place.

June meeting is rather special so I will give it a post of its own.

April meeting (The Theatre of War) - June book (My Brilliant Friend)

We had an almost complete rollup at Stella's place - only Sue Ellyard wasn't able to attend.

Much talk of house buying and selling to begin. Then questions about how this book group got to choose this book. Not a novel. Not our usual kind of book. True. But there were several of us who didn't give the book a go. And some passionate speakers in favour of it.

It was noted that Ros spoke first, unusually. Ros liked the book but noted that it is a self help book - Doerries had things to work out and the books was used to help him and others. Most of the talk about the book focused on the use of Greek theatre in dealing with PTSD in modern war situations. Jane on notes had difficulty in getting people to give her suitable copy for the book report - we tended to go off topic, into some very interesting places!

Lots of discussion of the next book in June. Finally we came back to a writer we did only last year, Elena Ferrente. We all agree we read the wrong book for bookgroup last year, and we are prepared to give her another go. This time we will read My Brilliant Friend - which I hope will please us a bit more.

We will celebrate 30 years of book group in June. It will be a lunchtime meeting at Margaret Lackenby's place at Avoca. Lots of offers for overnight accommodation there or with our other Central Coast book groupers if we want to make it a longer stay.

March meeting - May book Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift

We met on 21 March, a lunchtime meeting where Moy provided three lovely salads and a rich baked cheesecake, which we thoroughly enjoyed before talking about the March book - The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau. Thanks Moy (and Peter) for unfailing hospitality in your lovely location.

I won't say we got stuck into the book - it wasn't as spirited as that! We mostly liked it, sort of, but found it problematic, with loose threads, themes opened but not explored, characters not fully realised, a bit directionless. Moy liked the book, but reported that her other book group had split 60/40 against/for - with strong feelings for or against. We were not so divided, with more middling reviews - 6/10 from Sue W, 5/10 demoted to 3/10 from Ros!

Still there was quite a bit to like, as an exploration of grief, with a likeable central male character in Stefan. The central idea of the bees as a lead in to global warming worked for some, but unravelled somewhat when explored further. Elizabeth entertained us with stories of her experiences on communes in Australia and New Zealand,  someone declared her stories better than Juchau's version of the hippie life! Most of us had read the book fairly easily but won't be recommending it to friends and family.

On to the next book, we decided on the Graham Swift book, Mothering Sunday for May.

To sum up next books are:

April - The Theatre of War - Stella's
May - Mothering Sunday - Jane's
June - TBC - Margaret's.

Important note: early date and time for March book club meeting

Please note that the March book club meeting will be held on 20 March, not 27 March as per our usual schedule. The 27 March falls on Easter Sunday. Time is 12.00 noon.

We will be meeting at Moy's place at Long Jetty on 20 March. To make travel easier, we will get together for LUNCH not afternoon tea, so please aim to arrive there at 12.00. Moy will provide a light and yummy spread and we will talk about the book afterwards.

February meeting - April book: The Theatre of War: What Ancient Greek tragedies can teach us today.

February meeting at Sue E's place was well attended. Only apologies were from Maggie - birthday celebration - Jane - Canberra for family obligation and Pat R - in the midst of house sales.

After last meeting, it was good to hear that everyone had read the book, Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things, and generally declared it an interesting and well written book. Even Ros loved it, for the raw anger that poured out of it. We got straight into discussion and didn't stray too far away for hours! A book we will be recommending to friends and family.

There were several contenders considered for the April book and finally we decided on the well-reviewed The Theater of War: What ancient Greek tragedies can teach us today, by Bryan Doerries.
Stella will host the April book and Margaret has put up her hand for June. No decision yet for May.

January meeting - March book (The World without us by Mireille Juchau)

We met at Sue Wood's place, a good turn up to discuss the Booker Prize Winner, Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings, except that not one of us - yes, that's right, nobody had read the book. The most anyone had read was 25% or a couple of hundred pages. Some like me didn't really make a start, after finding the first couple of pages impenetrable. We talked about criteria for Booker prizes, how they are judged, lots of things. We voted on the best and worst books of 2015. Best book was tied - The Children Act and Madame Bovary. I don't think there was a clear worst, maybe 'Only the Animals'. Some books were chosen as both best and worst by different people. Then we chose the new book after considering several options.  The March Book is The World without Us by Mireille Juchau and lets hope it pleases us better!

November meeting - A Spool of Blue Thread and February book - Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Thing

November book group was at my place and nice enough weather to sit outside.  Thanks to those who were able to come, and sorry that Margaret and Jane were detained by their choir commitments.

We marked a technical innovation with Sue E joining us by FaceTime from Melbourne.

It worked well and gave hope to Maggie who shared the news that she and Ken will be leaving Sydney for the Byron Bay area. She may be able to keep up with book group online.

Pat R joined us direct from the Climate Change rally. She is also consulting the real estate agent, with plans to say goodbye to Blackheath and locate herself in Potts Point.

We did take a while to get to the book - but then there was a lot of stuff to talk about. There was no shortage of things to say about A Spool of Blue Thread,  either. Some of us enjoyed it very much, for the family saga with character delineations over generations, surprises, wry comments, its riffing on the idea of the American Dream.

It is Tyler's 20th book, someone said. Was it nominated for the Booker as a legacy, based on her body of writing, or on this book? Some of us thought it rather ordinary, lightweight. Even those who liked it agreed that the central image of the blue thread was a bit strained. But there was plenty of talk about motivations and plot developments, until someone remarked we were talking about the characters as if they were real people. And is that a bad thing?

We took a while to get to the February book but finally decided to do the Australian writer Charlotte Wood's latest, The Natural Way of Things. See your library or bookstore, I don't think I am going to be providing a copy. Remember January book group meeting is at Sue W's place.

October meeting and January book: Marlon James - A Brief History of Seven Killings

I neglected to write up the blog in October, but I sent an email:

Hi all
We met at Ros’s place today - Moy and Stella, Ros and me, along with Maggie and her daughter Rachel. The good news is that Rachel has decided to stay with us, so the average age of our book group will tumble considerably. Maggie, please pass on to Rachel and let me know her contact details to add to the list.

Discussion of the book took the customary 30 mins to get started but was quite brisk and continued into cakes and tea. Most people enjoyed the read even if ‘reluctantly’ as in Ros’s case.
Flaws in characterisation, a bit plot driven, but a well planned structure, muscular and energetic writing, which certainly engaged us all.

Next month, November, will be the Christmas meeting which will be at my place - A Spool of Blue Thread, by Ann Tyler.

The January book will be the Booker Prize winner, A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James. It’s anything but brief, but we have two months to read it, with no book in December. 

So lets consider October written up and go on to November.