We met at Margaret's house last Wednesday evening, and were delighted to welcome two new members to the Book Club, Janet and Sandra, and hope that they enjoyed the evening.
There were mixed feelings about The End of Your Life Book Club. Some found the long list of books within the book off putting and overwhelming, others picked up some ideas for other books they wanted to read from it. It was thought that the family in the story were not very warm. The mother was very academic, the father seemed to be sidelined and we found it sad that the mother only became close to her family (particularly her son, through books that she loved) towards the end of her life.
The Horse Boy was mostly enjoyed by all, we felt we were given an insight into autism and the challenges faced by both child and parent. We also felt that the book was very introspective, and as much about the father's journey as his son's - in fact the whole family went on an emotional journey, though it would have been nice to have read more about the feelings of the mother, as she was quite a shadowy figure and not much was said about her. The parts of the book about Shamanism were interesting and the book was very evocative of Outer Mongolia, especially the capital city and we enjoyed the descriptions. It was also felt the story finished rather abruptly and it would have been good to know how the family fared back in America and as the little boy grew older.
As well as these two books, we had all read a children's book of our own choice and discussed these. We found it very different reading an old favourite now we are adult - for one thing, books that seemed a long read to us back then could be finished much more quickly now. We also found the language quite old fashioned. One person felt that rereading an Enid Blyton Famous Five book had spoiled them for her now, as there was a dark undercurrent she had not known was there. We discussed the fact that although language and subject might be different now, and fashions in children's books change, they still take us on a similar journey - fun, adventure, often a naughty bit! and then the resolution, sometimes with a bit of a moral thrown in.
As always, the book talk was interspersed with chatting of many other things, drinking tea and coffee and eating nibbles. As at Sue's last time, the vegetable crisps went very quickly! (Yum). There was also the usual book swapping going on, as people bring along books they've read for others to take.
These are the books we have chosen to read this time (if you click on the name of the book, the links go to Amazon, where you can read about each one). I will be ordering mine from the library as usual, I find the online ordering system mostly very good, they email me to say the books are in and I just go along and collect them. The service is free.
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez
As always, feel free to read one, two or three, there's no pressure on anybody to read everything.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 20th November, when we will be going out for an Indian meal. As this will be our last Book Club meeting before Christmas, we will be doing our usual 'Secret Santa'. Please wrap up a book you have read and enjoyed and would like to pass on to someone else, and we will randomly pass them out. Be prepared, though - at our first meeting next year you will have to try and remember why you liked it and discuss it with the person who received it! If you can even remember which book you wrapped up (it has been known that we forget....)
I'll be sending out a reminder about the meal nearer the time, and will be asking then for definite numbers so that I can book.
P.S. My apologies for no photograph on this post. I was too busy eating the vegetable crisps.....
