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 upcoming meetings, 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 upcoming meetings, please visit our events page.
![Picture](/uploads/4/0/5/0/40507153/published/picture1.png?1716973093)
Notes FROM THE BOOKLOVERS’ MEETING dated 23rd April 2024
Present: Denise, Sue M, Di, Christine
Sue read: Stanley And Elsie (2019) by Nicola Upson. This is the story of the unconventional domestic life of the artist Stanley Spencer. The book is mainly told, but not entirely, from the point of view of Elsie Munday, who was the Spencers’ maid / housekeeper. (There is a portrait of her in Brighton Museum.) The main section of the book is based in Sandham where Spence was working on his mural commemorating the death of his patron’s son in the First World War. At this time the Spencers’ marriage was strained, adversarial and distant. He falls in love with another artist, Patricia Preece, who is already in a relationship with Dorothy Hepworth, also and artist. Spencer marries Patricia but there is no happiness within the marriage and he ends up living alone. Through Elsie’s eyes the reader gets an impression of the charismatic effect Spencer has on those around him. There are some fascinating descriptions of the paintings at Sandham Chapel and good insights into his creative process. Sue enjoyed the book with its revelations about art and artists.
Christine read: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories (2019) Introduction by Murakami Haruki. Following just seen a Japanese film called ‘Blind Willow’ which was the animation of various short stories by Murakami Haruki about people in Japan navigating post-Tsunami life, she was keen to read more stories from that country. The book contains thirty-four stories ranging in date from 1898 to 2014 and these are organised by the following themes: Japan and the West; Loyal Warriors; Men and Women; Nature and Memory; Modern Life and Other Nonsense, Dread, and Disasters. Murakami had been unaware of the range of this genre and felt he had ignored his own culture. However, in his introduction he describes himself as having become, through reading them, more aware of its richness. Christine was struck by the very significant cultural differences displayed. She was struck by the fact that many of the stories have as a background natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, Tsunamis and, of course, the man-made disaster of Hiroshima and the recent meltdown of the nuclear power station at Fukushima following an earthquake. Many of the stories are fantastical and Christine felt she learnt a lot through reading them. She only had time to read fifteen of the thirty-four
Denise read: A Possible Life (2011) by Sebastian Faulks. This volume is a quintet of stories that zigzag in place and time from Vichy France to the Hippy era in California, from a Victorian workhouse, a downtrodden servant in the Massif Central in the nineteenth century to a futuristic setting of 2069. She particularly enjoyed the first story which tells of one Englishman’s war and its impact on his life. Denise felt drawn in from the first page and appreciated Faulks’ descriptive writing. All the stories are about possible lives and she felt that this book represents storytelling at its best.
the Pulitzer Prize in 2023
Di read: Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022). It is set predominantly in NYC and focuses on the world of finance. The novel takes a look at a secretive financier and his wife. It consists of fictional texts: a novel - ‘Bonds’, ‘My Life’ - an incomplete autobiography; a complete memoir - ‘A Memoir, Remembered’, and a diary - ‘Futures’ with each book focusing on the same characters. It is up to the reader of these texts, which are mutually exclusive, to determine where the truth lies. The novel received mainly rave revues and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 which Diaz shared with Barbara Kingsolver and her book ‘Demon Copperfield.’ It was also longlisted for the Booker Prize. Although Di enjoyed the intricacy of the novel and its plain prose, she was ultimately disappointed, not deeming it worthy of the rave reviews displayed on the front and back covers!
Present: Denise, Sue M, Di, Christine
Sue read: Stanley And Elsie (2019) by Nicola Upson. This is the story of the unconventional domestic life of the artist Stanley Spencer. The book is mainly told, but not entirely, from the point of view of Elsie Munday, who was the Spencers’ maid / housekeeper. (There is a portrait of her in Brighton Museum.) The main section of the book is based in Sandham where Spence was working on his mural commemorating the death of his patron’s son in the First World War. At this time the Spencers’ marriage was strained, adversarial and distant. He falls in love with another artist, Patricia Preece, who is already in a relationship with Dorothy Hepworth, also and artist. Spencer marries Patricia but there is no happiness within the marriage and he ends up living alone. Through Elsie’s eyes the reader gets an impression of the charismatic effect Spencer has on those around him. There are some fascinating descriptions of the paintings at Sandham Chapel and good insights into his creative process. Sue enjoyed the book with its revelations about art and artists.
Christine read: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories (2019) Introduction by Murakami Haruki. Following just seen a Japanese film called ‘Blind Willow’ which was the animation of various short stories by Murakami Haruki about people in Japan navigating post-Tsunami life, she was keen to read more stories from that country. The book contains thirty-four stories ranging in date from 1898 to 2014 and these are organised by the following themes: Japan and the West; Loyal Warriors; Men and Women; Nature and Memory; Modern Life and Other Nonsense, Dread, and Disasters. Murakami had been unaware of the range of this genre and felt he had ignored his own culture. However, in his introduction he describes himself as having become, through reading them, more aware of its richness. Christine was struck by the very significant cultural differences displayed. She was struck by the fact that many of the stories have as a background natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, Tsunamis and, of course, the man-made disaster of Hiroshima and the recent meltdown of the nuclear power station at Fukushima following an earthquake. Many of the stories are fantastical and Christine felt she learnt a lot through reading them. She only had time to read fifteen of the thirty-four
Denise read: A Possible Life (2011) by Sebastian Faulks. This volume is a quintet of stories that zigzag in place and time from Vichy France to the Hippy era in California, from a Victorian workhouse, a downtrodden servant in the Massif Central in the nineteenth century to a futuristic setting of 2069. She particularly enjoyed the first story which tells of one Englishman’s war and its impact on his life. Denise felt drawn in from the first page and appreciated Faulks’ descriptive writing. All the stories are about possible lives and she felt that this book represents storytelling at its best.
the Pulitzer Prize in 2023
Di read: Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022). It is set predominantly in NYC and focuses on the world of finance. The novel takes a look at a secretive financier and his wife. It consists of fictional texts: a novel - ‘Bonds’, ‘My Life’ - an incomplete autobiography; a complete memoir - ‘A Memoir, Remembered’, and a diary - ‘Futures’ with each book focusing on the same characters. It is up to the reader of these texts, which are mutually exclusive, to determine where the truth lies. The novel received mainly rave revues and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 which Diaz shared with Barbara Kingsolver and her book ‘Demon Copperfield.’ It was also longlisted for the Booker Prize. Although Di enjoyed the intricacy of the novel and its plain prose, she was ultimately disappointed, not deeming it worthy of the rave reviews displayed on the front and back covers!
Read the notes from previous sessions here.