Bloggery

Thursday 22nd Dec 2011

Nic Bottomley

The Book Group Round-Up

The Mr B's Delightful Book Groups will reconvene after Christmas to read "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan (Monday 23rd January) and "Frank Sinatra Caught a Cold" by Gay Talese (31st January, 2012).

Those who attended the snack-packed mince-pie fest that was the Mr B's Book Group Christmas Party will recall a lengthy discussion to decide which books the two groups should read first next year. Here is a list (as requested by many) of some of the books mentioned in that debate (some of which were your own favourite books of the year) in case you want to do some wider reading:

1. Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

2. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

4. Gold by Dan Rhodes

5. Bride in Blue by Miranda Lee (a representative of the Mills & Boon stable!)

6. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

7. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

8. Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi

9. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Psychology)

10. Various Titles by Studs Terkel (Essays)

11. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney et al.

12. The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

13. If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must be in Trouble by Joe Queenan

14. Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (Autobiographic Fiction)

15. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Autobiographic Fiction)

16. A Postillion Struck by Lightning by Dirk Bogarde (Memoir)

17. Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (Science)

18. Counselling for Toads by Robert De Board (Psychology)

19. Flatland by Edwin Abbott (Science/Fiction)

20. Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom

21. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

22. Black Rock by Amanda Smyth

Look forward to seeing you at a Book Group Meeting soon! 

Sorry book groupers, I have been unashamedly helping out in numerous ‘What on earth do I get them for Christmas’ debates, which has meant hardly a squeak of time to report back on the discussion of Rohinton Mistry’s ‘A Fine Balance’.

On balance, ahem, it seems this one got a thumbs up from the assembled Marvellous Monday and Tremendous Tuesday members. The (small) hiccups were around the overall length of the book – although even this was countered with the view that the myriad character family back stories were both interesting and perhaps integral to the reader gaining an overall understanding of the social structure and politics of India – and the fact that there were a couple of characters that verged on ‘stereotype’ or ‘plot motif’.

Interestingly, much of the discussion centred around Om and Ishvar, rather than Dina. The comment was made that the two tailors’ characters were polar opposites and each balanced the other out (there’s that word again). Politics was also a central theme of the book and for most of us, 1970’s India was a blank page. No one had any idea how oppressive Indira Gandhi’s regime was if you were part of the class underbelly. More importantly, it was noted that Mistry’s ‘non didactic’ narrative voice meant that the reader could take on board often difficult and harrowing messages, without feeling unduly harangued. It also meant that Mistry can cover politics, class, religion and gender without getting bogged down in argument: he tells it like it is even if the reader is left in no doubt what side to come down on. The stoicism of the characters was another characteristic of the writing that meant you never got bogged down in argument or philosophy.

We were mightily impressed that so many attendees had managed to finish the book in time for the meeting. A big sigh of relief from me then, that one of the stalwarts of my favourites shelf at Mr B’s passed a pretty stern test…oh, and note to self – never, ever try to fob off the book groupers by skim reading a book that you think you know well – they’ll pick you up on any mis-remembered detail in an instant! Happy Christmas (Lucinda)