Booklovers
We started Booklovers because we wanted to talk about the books we’ve been reading and to introduce those we’ve enjoyed to others.
We each take turn to speak about our chosen book and this invariably leads to discussion of broader topics. Four times a year we agree on a shared title to maintain the value of close reading and to hear each other’s interpretations of different aspects of those works.
We are a friendly group of people, meeting on the third Thursday of each month in a member’s home. You’ll find you’re never short of ideas for a new book to read and we warmly welcome others to join us.
For further details, please contact Christine Roberts.
For current events please visit our events page.
We each take turn to speak about our chosen book and this invariably leads to discussion of broader topics. Four times a year we agree on a shared title to maintain the value of close reading and to hear each other’s interpretations of different aspects of those works.
We are a friendly group of people, meeting on the third Thursday of each month in a member’s home. You’ll find you’re never short of ideas for a new book to read and we warmly welcome others to join us.
For further details, please contact Christine Roberts.
For current events please visit our events page.
Notes from the Booklovers Meeting held on April 19th, 2018
Present: Simon, Denise, Sue, Gaye, Christine
Denise read: ‘London Rules’ by Mick Herron.
This is the fifth in a series of books about the ‘Band of Spies’. Denise hadn’t read any of the previous works but had been engaged by a sample she’d read on her Kindle. In the words of the critic Mark Lawson, writing in The Guardian, the series is ‘essentially a rollicking subversion of John le Carré’s books about George Smiley.’ Denise found the characters hilarious. The key character in this book is Jackson Lamb who due to an earlier misdemeanour has been sent to run Slough House, the ‘naughty step’ for spies.
The book is set in the present against a background of Brexit and terrorism. According to Lawson, Herron is ‘a very funny writer, but also a serious plotter: London Rules smartly turns on the realisation by foreign enemies of how a piece of colonial knowhow, discovered by Britain during its imperial pomp, can be turned against the 21st-century nation.’ Denise was greatly entertained by the novel and will probably read more of the series.
Sue read: The Group by Mary McCarthy. Written in 1963, though set in 1933, the book is concerned with a group of Vassar girls and how their lives progress. At the time of its publication its frank descriptions of sex, contraception and breast-feeding as they affected a group of eight female graduates in 1930s America caused such a scandal that the novel was banned in Australia as an offence to public morals. Norman Mailer dismissed The Group in the New York Review of Books as "a trivial lady writer's novel" Sue found it very interesting and was pleased that the women managed to steer their way through various male chauvinists.
Sue also read: ‘Black Diamonds: the Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty’ by Catherine Bailey.
This book tells the story of the Fitzwilliam family, owners of Wentworth House a huge house with 365 rooms and its 70 neighbouring coalfields in Yorkshire. But it is also the recounting of the ends of two classes, the lower and the very upper. The story of coal lies at its heart. It is very well researched drawing on documents and interviews with remaining members of the Wentworth family. It shows the enormous changes wrought over fifty years in the twentieth century Sue deemed it ‘history written in an accessible way making a very enjoyable read.’
Gaye Read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.
Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely for having written a counter-revolutionary poem. (Penguin Books) Gaye said the book was written with the lightest of touches and the Count’s post-revolutionary life turns out to be much richer than the one he led before his arrest. Despite living in the hotel attic rather than a luxury suite, the count is convinced that “by the smallest of one’s actions one can restore some sense of order to the world.” His character, according to Gaye is optimistic and resilient. He loves the hotel and forms a family within it. Although there is a sense of isolation and grief in the novel, there are also absurd and comic moments.
Overall Gaye found it to be ‘fresh and unpredictable; beautiful and thoughtful. You could never tell what was coming and the ending is unexpected.’
Simon read: The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre (1945). This novel set in 1938, is informed by Sartre’s Existentialist philosophy of life, and recounts three days in the life of a philosophy teacher, Mathieu Delarue. Discovering his girlfriend is pregnant, Mathieu tries to raise money for an abortion. In the background of the novel is the Spanish Civil War (one of the options considered by Mathieu as a solution, i.e, joining up) and beyond that there is also a sense of the approach of WW2. The novel attempts to illustrate the existentialist notion of ultimate freedom showing how each of the characters make decisions. Each of them has some problem and Sartre shows how difficult it can be to take charge of one's own life -- to accept that one has the responsibilities that come with 'the age of reason” -- and none of his characters achieve this. The final sentence uttered by Mathieuto himself is “I have attained the age of reason.” The key message seems to be that people are ultimately all self-interested and that things are ultimately out of your control. Simon enjoyed the novel very much and would be interested to read the other two books in the trilogy.
Christine read: ‘Lullaby’ (‘Chanson Douce’) by Leila Slimane. (2017) Awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt for this novel, its author has recently been appointed by French President Macron as his “personal representative to French-speaking countries.” Her job, essentially, is to burnish the image of the French language (and thus of France) abroad. She herself was born in Morocco and has dual French-Moroccan nationality although she says her family never truly espoused Moroccan values. They moved to France when she was six and later she studied Literature at Sciences Politiques in Paris. She worked as a journalist before reporting on Northern Africa and the Maghreb.
The novel relates the story of ‘a perfect nanny’ (coincidentally the name given the book in the US). Louise (named by Slimane after Louise Woodward who strangled one of her charges) is appointed by a professional Parisian couple to be nanny to their two small children. The novel begins with the infanticide of these children by Louise. Having got that shocking act out of the way, the story moves back in time in an attempt to explain how this came about.
Christine found it a gripping narrative, a sensitive exploration of current day socio-economic relations in the French capital touching on questions about motherhood, parenthood, social inequality, gentrification. Racism is also touched on: for example Louise, who is white, feels isolated in the parks of the arrondissment since most other carers are black. One idea surfaces strongly - the unknowability of other people. The fact that this confident, well-off Parisian couple have handed their most precious possessions, their children to someone who, although ‘the perfect nanny’ is a mentally unstable isolate, is shocking in itself. The story unfolds and we learn a little more about Louise’s background – none of it edifying, but none of it, in the light of the immaculate care she is providing for her charges, worrying. There is no satisfaction in the ending. Everyone remains mystified as to what has happened to provoke the opening act. Christine found this a haunting novel and would thoroughly recommend it for the way it penetrates the depths of human relationships and social values at the present time.
Denise read: ‘London Rules’ by Mick Herron.
This is the fifth in a series of books about the ‘Band of Spies’. Denise hadn’t read any of the previous works but had been engaged by a sample she’d read on her Kindle. In the words of the critic Mark Lawson, writing in The Guardian, the series is ‘essentially a rollicking subversion of John le Carré’s books about George Smiley.’ Denise found the characters hilarious. The key character in this book is Jackson Lamb who due to an earlier misdemeanour has been sent to run Slough House, the ‘naughty step’ for spies.
The book is set in the present against a background of Brexit and terrorism. According to Lawson, Herron is ‘a very funny writer, but also a serious plotter: London Rules smartly turns on the realisation by foreign enemies of how a piece of colonial knowhow, discovered by Britain during its imperial pomp, can be turned against the 21st-century nation.’ Denise was greatly entertained by the novel and will probably read more of the series.
Sue read: The Group by Mary McCarthy. Written in 1963, though set in 1933, the book is concerned with a group of Vassar girls and how their lives progress. At the time of its publication its frank descriptions of sex, contraception and breast-feeding as they affected a group of eight female graduates in 1930s America caused such a scandal that the novel was banned in Australia as an offence to public morals. Norman Mailer dismissed The Group in the New York Review of Books as "a trivial lady writer's novel" Sue found it very interesting and was pleased that the women managed to steer their way through various male chauvinists.
Sue also read: ‘Black Diamonds: the Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty’ by Catherine Bailey.
This book tells the story of the Fitzwilliam family, owners of Wentworth House a huge house with 365 rooms and its 70 neighbouring coalfields in Yorkshire. But it is also the recounting of the ends of two classes, the lower and the very upper. The story of coal lies at its heart. It is very well researched drawing on documents and interviews with remaining members of the Wentworth family. It shows the enormous changes wrought over fifty years in the twentieth century Sue deemed it ‘history written in an accessible way making a very enjoyable read.’
Gaye Read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.
Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely for having written a counter-revolutionary poem. (Penguin Books) Gaye said the book was written with the lightest of touches and the Count’s post-revolutionary life turns out to be much richer than the one he led before his arrest. Despite living in the hotel attic rather than a luxury suite, the count is convinced that “by the smallest of one’s actions one can restore some sense of order to the world.” His character, according to Gaye is optimistic and resilient. He loves the hotel and forms a family within it. Although there is a sense of isolation and grief in the novel, there are also absurd and comic moments.
Overall Gaye found it to be ‘fresh and unpredictable; beautiful and thoughtful. You could never tell what was coming and the ending is unexpected.’
Simon read: The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre (1945). This novel set in 1938, is informed by Sartre’s Existentialist philosophy of life, and recounts three days in the life of a philosophy teacher, Mathieu Delarue. Discovering his girlfriend is pregnant, Mathieu tries to raise money for an abortion. In the background of the novel is the Spanish Civil War (one of the options considered by Mathieu as a solution, i.e, joining up) and beyond that there is also a sense of the approach of WW2. The novel attempts to illustrate the existentialist notion of ultimate freedom showing how each of the characters make decisions. Each of them has some problem and Sartre shows how difficult it can be to take charge of one's own life -- to accept that one has the responsibilities that come with 'the age of reason” -- and none of his characters achieve this. The final sentence uttered by Mathieuto himself is “I have attained the age of reason.” The key message seems to be that people are ultimately all self-interested and that things are ultimately out of your control. Simon enjoyed the novel very much and would be interested to read the other two books in the trilogy.
Christine read: ‘Lullaby’ (‘Chanson Douce’) by Leila Slimane. (2017) Awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt for this novel, its author has recently been appointed by French President Macron as his “personal representative to French-speaking countries.” Her job, essentially, is to burnish the image of the French language (and thus of France) abroad. She herself was born in Morocco and has dual French-Moroccan nationality although she says her family never truly espoused Moroccan values. They moved to France when she was six and later she studied Literature at Sciences Politiques in Paris. She worked as a journalist before reporting on Northern Africa and the Maghreb.
The novel relates the story of ‘a perfect nanny’ (coincidentally the name given the book in the US). Louise (named by Slimane after Louise Woodward who strangled one of her charges) is appointed by a professional Parisian couple to be nanny to their two small children. The novel begins with the infanticide of these children by Louise. Having got that shocking act out of the way, the story moves back in time in an attempt to explain how this came about.
Christine found it a gripping narrative, a sensitive exploration of current day socio-economic relations in the French capital touching on questions about motherhood, parenthood, social inequality, gentrification. Racism is also touched on: for example Louise, who is white, feels isolated in the parks of the arrondissment since most other carers are black. One idea surfaces strongly - the unknowability of other people. The fact that this confident, well-off Parisian couple have handed their most precious possessions, their children to someone who, although ‘the perfect nanny’ is a mentally unstable isolate, is shocking in itself. The story unfolds and we learn a little more about Louise’s background – none of it edifying, but none of it, in the light of the immaculate care she is providing for her charges, worrying. There is no satisfaction in the ending. Everyone remains mystified as to what has happened to provoke the opening act. Christine found this a haunting novel and would thoroughly recommend it for the way it penetrates the depths of human relationships and social values at the present time.
Read the notes from previous sessions here.
