Saturday, April 2, 2011
THE READER
Whilst we all agreed that we are glad that we have read this book (excellent choice thankyou Diane), we can't say that we "enjoyed" reading it. It certainly stimulated some very thoughtful discussion about love/relationships, family/relationships, guilt and forgiveness and being judgmental. Did Michael's relationship with Hanna affect his future relationship with women or had his family uprbringing contributed in some way? Hanna asks the judge "What would you have done?" .........? Before posting this today I googled "Bernhard Schlink" which led to Wikipedia, Youtube (an excellent interview) and Oprah's bookclub (scroll down to the bottom for other interesting links) and a podcast with Schlink on the BBC. I wish I had done this before voicing my opinion at bookclub as I thought Hanna had accepted imprisonment to "save face" but now feel it was because of feelings of guilt and deserved punishment. A point that was well raised by Colleen. Who is "The Reader"? Michael, many people or us? I'm going read the book again and watch the movie.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
OUR AGENDA
MARCH - Sue - Liz B's "Gang of Four at Lyn's home. APRIL - Diane "The Reader" Bernard Schlink MAY - Rhonda - "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton, at Rhonda's home. JUNE - Margaret JULY - Veronica - "Maralinga" by Judy Nunn AUGUST - Kaye - "The Shack" by William P. Young SEPTEMBER - Colleen OCTOBER - Lyn, you choose a Douglas Kennedy book, should be readily available NOVEMBER - how about we live on the edge and have a guest speaker? Groovy!
A SIMPLE LIFE
The vote is evenly divided amongst those who loved this book and those who only forced themselves to read it for group discussion.
Whilst some of us found it hard going the book raised interesting issues about family life then and now, country v city life - the similarities, the differences. How accepting his family, and most families of that era, were of quite serious medical conditions and their neighbour's unusual lifestyles and quirky characters. They just got on with it - it would be interesting to know if their lives, his dad's depression and his mum's burns, would have been improved by the use of today's drugs and counselling. Some members were able to talk to us about their own close association with epilepsy, thanks for sharing.
The point was also raised that this is Peter's (the youngest in the family) view of the family life, do all the siblings have the same reflections? I think we nearly all agreed that this is a book Peter Fitzsimmons wanted to write to put on record his love of family and most of all his mum ... another "Fortunate Life". An excellent discussion.
In some ways the book has not been a good influence on the group with talk of rubbing garlic on our feet (was this to ward away vampires/husbands?) and not washing our hair for months (definite cost benefits here) and even going barefooted- if this trend continues we may have to have an extra special general meeting on appropriate hygiene standards to be convened at the Tubulgum coffee shop.
March meeting - Sue's choice "Gang of Four" to be held at Lyn's home.
Whilst some of us found it hard going the book raised interesting issues about family life then and now, country v city life - the similarities, the differences. How accepting his family, and most families of that era, were of quite serious medical conditions and their neighbour's unusual lifestyles and quirky characters. They just got on with it - it would be interesting to know if their lives, his dad's depression and his mum's burns, would have been improved by the use of today's drugs and counselling. Some members were able to talk to us about their own close association with epilepsy, thanks for sharing.
The point was also raised that this is Peter's (the youngest in the family) view of the family life, do all the siblings have the same reflections? I think we nearly all agreed that this is a book Peter Fitzsimmons wanted to write to put on record his love of family and most of all his mum ... another "Fortunate Life". An excellent discussion.
In some ways the book has not been a good influence on the group with talk of rubbing garlic on our feet (was this to ward away vampires/husbands?) and not washing our hair for months (definite cost benefits here) and even going barefooted- if this trend continues we may have to have an extra special general meeting on appropriate hygiene standards to be convened at the Tubulgum coffee shop.
March meeting - Sue's choice "Gang of Four" to be held at Lyn's home.
JANUARY COFFEE MORNING
An opportunity for casual mingling of the Red Cross/Quilting and Golfing "wives" of our group. Of course we couldn't help having a small discussion about the upcoming book of the month but talk was mainly about our latest reads whilst enjoying beverages and refreshments. I did like the quote of the day from Linda that she suffers from "Food Envy" when noticing what other people have ordered.
Books were swapped, recommendations given and we looked forward to our next official meeting.
Books were swapped, recommendations given and we looked forward to our next official meeting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)