Joyce, Tzeching, Bavani, Torie, Jo, Roo, Tania, Annelie, Ulrika ans Judy came to this feminist book discussion. Roo and Ulrika  heated soem covent garden soup and we had many amusing and interesting discussions.

Whilst I wouldn't naturally gravitate towards buying and reading this book, there have been 'moments' that I have enjoyed parts of the book and even uttered the odd chuckle. With out sounding too harsh, I am a little surprised that it won an award for 'book of the year'. Ms Moran charts the her life from late childhood through to womanhood and touches on all manner of subjects - sexism in the workplace, wedding expenditure, periods, sex, abortion etc etc. She grapples with the hefty subject of 'feminism' and the general consensus from those in the room is that she misses the point completely and seems to be battling within herself as to what it exactly entails. In short, we think she should stick to her day job of being an amusing columnist.

Its not a novel, nor a self help book, but reads more like a number of expanded columns put together to make a book. Part rant, part rave and also some funny parts. Some of it I identified with, other parts not at all. Would I recommend this book to a friend? Depends on which friend, but probably yes. Because if nothing else, it sparks some interesting conversations often with many funny anecdotes from personal experiences.

I felt the book had amusing observations on growing up. The part covering childhood was particularly true to life.  However, the rest of the book was more like a lecture although funny at times.  This is not a life story to read.  The author seems a little confused about her views on feminism. 

Present Book Club Members

Ulrika, Claire, Joyce, Catherine, Janie, Jo, Bavani, Roo, Annelie, Veena,


In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.

Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.

Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth.
Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the “artistic crime of the century.” A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. Hailed as a “fiercely original talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal.

Veena made delishes dahl from mung beans and home made bread. The book was rated 3.8 but quite a few didn't finish it as they found it slightly hard to get into and didn't find the stories connected in an interesting way.

We had very interesting discussions on how this pictured the changing world pre and post 911. No one wanted to wrire a review so we borrowed the above one from somewhere, thank you.
 

The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd

With 15 attendees, this was by far our largest group ever ! We missed Ulrika...get well soon!!

Sorry to wake you up, didn't know that you were unwell :( and so sorry that you're not there as I had brought some champagne since it's my last book club night. We're leaving the first week of April. Let's make sure we have a night out before we go.

So as far as the book goes, we all loved it. The story of a Scottish woman who travels to China to marry - a decision she comes to regret. She begins a passionate affair with an aristocratic Japanese soldier, but when she gets pregnant, her life takes on a course she never imagined it would. Written in letters and diary entries, we follow Mary's journey to Japan. She has and loses contact with two children and becomes a successful business woman.  The cast of characters is rich and eclectic. Mary is a strong woman constrained by the conventions of the era and culture of the country.

We ate carrot and coriander soup (with Ginger!) by Tse Ching

This was my first actual attendance at this famous book club and it was great, despite the absence of its warm hearted hostess.
The book was a well written page turner with a formidable Scottish heroine whose story had me gripped from beginning to end.  Highly recommended especially for those who have an interest in historical novels with strong themes.

Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

We had a mixed reaction of to this quirky off beat romance between Benny the muddy farmer and Shrimp the grey, cereberal librarian city girl.  An easy read, but one where the ending was slightly unsatisfying. Translated from Swedish, we discussed language and the translation and how that impacted on our enjoyment of the book. Some found it clunky and others too coloquial.

There was debate about whether we empathised with the hardworking country farmer or the intelligent, book loving career girl. Neither seemed able to compromise their lifestyle for the other, despite their deep love for each other.

Ovaries featured quite highly in the book, although the Swedes amongst us insisted this wasn't normal conversational topic for them!.



We ate tomato soup and dark chocolate.

"A good book, not brilliant"

Rating 3/5  

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

We were all moved by this autobiographical story of a very nomadic and unusual childhood. Jeanette Walls' parents could be described as unconventional at best and narcissistic and abusive at worst. She tells of how they were always on the move (usually because her father had got himself into some kind of trouble) through her early childhood, the 4 children and their parents from one depressing hicksville town to another, via sojourns in the desert. On the positive side, the children learned to make do with almost no material possessions and to be incredibly in tune with the natural world, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of nature. They learned to be more self sufficient than we can easily imagine, given the cossetted nature of our own childrens' lives. We were taken aback by the resilience of the children, when they were often cold, hungry and in physical danger. There were comments that the author's lack of obvious judgement of her parents became a bit hard to believe and also that the denoement of the novel was weak, with us having little insight into how she and her siblings managed to carve out such successful lives in New York. However, these were relatively minor criticisms and overall this is highly recommended.
Some of us also really liked the playful and happy way she described her sometimes tragic episodes in her early childhood, without any trace of bitterness. The way she saw it all like an adventure and never felt neglected in her early childhood, even though she clearly was in many ways. On an educational point of view they really did an amazing job, leaving some of us feeling a bit short changed as parents. Personally i felt like a very good mother reading about how Jennette's mum was. That is always a good thing in my view.

The Butter nut squash Soup was made by Roo and delicous. Present was Annelie, Tziching, Ulrika, Roo, Katheryn, Clair and for th efirst time Veena and Bavani.

Rating 4 out of 5.

Secret Life of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 
Tuesday 15th of November 2011
This is a book that you have to struggle through in the beginning. Don't give up it's wonderful. You become immersed in the story of the tough little tomboy  Liesle, her adoptive family the Hubermans and the boy next door, Rudy. The fact that the book describes Hitlers effect on the local Germans' family life shines through now and then but you tend to ignore this, because it's to depressing to take in; you just want to be a fly on the Hubermanns wall and see what's coming up next. The story is told from the perspective of "death" , which we felt was the worse aspect of the book - none of us could see the point of  Death being the narrator and we felt his monologues tended to be cliched. However, leaving this aside, the Book Thief is a powerful and moving story about first love, and humanity shining through in the most desperate circumstances.
We all liked it and were wondering if it will make it to the big screen like the last two books we read.

The soup complimented the conversation very well Ulrika's delicious lentil soup.