meeting notes




	Meeting Notes : 8th May 2012 Many thanks to the 10 of you who came along to explore 'The Last 100 Days’ by Patrick McGuiness- longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011. Apologies from Liz and Rosemary. And a warm welcome to new member Damien! Irene moderated the meeting. The Cambridge Blue pub in Gwydir Street was very welcoming. No music! And the food was deemed to be good. So we will continue on with this venue. We had quite a number of voting at 7 which as it goes was the exact average.. The scoring ran as follows: 10x1, 9x1, 7x4, 6x3, 5x1. Our next meeting will be 12 noon for 12:15 at the Cambridge Blue pub, on Tuesday 12 June. We will be discussing 'The Flying Man' by Roopa Farooki - long listed for the Man Booker. Nick will moderate. Thank you in advance Nick! The July discussion select is yet undecided : It may be from the following: 1) The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco - only available in Hardback - 448 pages - Paperback will be released on 5th July (1 week maybe too short to read this?) 2) The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - PaperBack - 624 pages (yes 624 pages ) - amazon markeplace £3.49 avail on Kindle - no price yet. 3) The Lotus Eaters - Paperback (2nd hand 0.01p) - 400 pages 4) New Finish Grammar - Paperback - 196 pages (!!). £4.38 amazon markeplace Here is the to our current prize lists http://www.onlinedesignmakers.com/glitter/html/prize_lists_2012.html And now to the highlights of our discussion on 'The Last 100 Days’ by Patrick McGuiness: This is the story of an unnamed narrator telling the story of his time in Bucharest in 1989, in the first person. Some found him too smart, the author hijacking the narrator to tell his story and opinions We discussed the credibility of a 21 year old naive junior lecturer being drawn into the politics, black market and people trafficking, almost on his arrival. Suspension of disbelief in many areas, including his mastery of the Romanian language. Some felt the narrator was a superficial, detached character. On discussing this we came to the conclusion that the novel probably wouldn’t have worked if told in the 3rd person, or by an experience journalist/academic. The naivity of the narrator enabled us to view the situation of the time with a clear perspective. Some found the book week as a novel, but good as a history of the time. Some found the book intelligent, some found it too smart - it was not a natural unfolding of observations. We discussed the overlays of the narrator’s tyrannical father, the shadowy figure of Belanger, the amusing larger than life figure of Leo, his own book ‘The City of Lost Walks’, and Trofim, writing his two versions of his book. Colourful characters we added including Milosevic and his cronies. Some inclusions were felt to be inappropriate - like post-it notes of good ideas, but not relevant to this novel. Characters had shadings of good and evil. Each one was given special poignant qualities - especially Leo. Some found the novel too long. After 10% through, they wished it was finished. It required more personal feeling/depth. Unrealistic. We needed to know what was happening behind closed doors - in a way that Kafka does well. Some found the novel the right length, a good political description of communism, with farcial elements thrown in for good measure. A reportage novel - a cracking good read. An angle of looking at the book allowed a member to enjoy the novel more. Understanding it as a ‘quest’ novel, a formulaic fairy story. Many admitted the author was a good writer, he created a poetic mood, a sense of endless grey, the anger of the people, smoke, queuing, and eastern europeaness. Descriptions of the destruction of villages/old Bucharest were very evocative, as was the description of the river crossing, the orphanages, the miscarriage This was the kind of novel that could resonate strongly with some, especially if involved with Eastern Europe of the time We discussed the theme of people spying on each other. The strongest feeling one is left with was that the people in this story were entirely separate from the things that they did. Meeting Notes : 10th April 2012 Many thanks to the 8 of you who came along to explore 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan - the Pulitzer Prize winner! Apologies from Liz, Beth and Diane. Next month we have new member Damian joining us - do look out for him on the 8th May. The Alexandra Arms proved a bit noisy with a bit of a struggle getting the landlord to turn down the country and western music. So next month, we decided it would be good to give the refurbished Cambridge Blue another try! Melanie moderated the meeting with a thought provoking preamble and summary. Many thanks Melanie! We had quite a number of voting at 8. A few who didn't like the book at all. Anyway scoring ran as follows: 8x5, 7x1, 6x2, 4x2 giving an average of 6.7 (10 voting - Liz and Diane by email). Our next meeting will be 12 noon for 12:15 at the Cambridge Blue pub, on Tuesday 8th May. We will be discussing 'The Last 100 Days' by Patrick McGuiness - long listed for the Man Booker. Beth will moderate. Thank you in advance Beth! Advance notice of the novel we have chosen to explore at the June discussion : it will be The Flying Man by Roopa - long listed for the Orange 2012 Prize. Nick mentioned a website called www.bookprizeinfo.com. I've had a look at this and think that the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize look interesting. Do let me know what you think, and which ones I should include on our PrizeList. Here is the to our current prize lists http://www.onlinedesignmakers.com/glitter/html/prize_lists_2012.html And now to the highlights of our discussion on ''A Visit from the Goon Squad': What was this book about? - the spotlight kept moving and moving What happend to some of the characters? Sasha appealed as a character; The idea of memory is important; Some found it confusing, frustrating, 13 chapters, 13 voices 13 angles! It wasn't an enjoyable novel because of the structure. Some read it in parts, but from tit was easly to lose the thread of who wass who. It is importnat to read it stright throught, all in one go. It was a accurate portrayal of how people drop in and out of your life. Some found the structure fun, also the retrospective view. It is made for filming. Descriptions good - you could smell the fish! The writing was good- brilliant. It would be good to look back on other books : Jacqueline brought in ' to show us. This book was like a stew that needed longer to mature. One really needs to read it twice. Had to read every sentence, every word. The smell, the light - hair - and incredibly visual book,. An original perspective on life and people. It played with your emotions without being over the top. A book to savour. Dolly's party that went horribly wrong - very enjoyable read. The book needed more work. It felt like a summary of a book. Some felt the charcters needed to be drawn out - at the end you felt you didn't really know them. Life in the consumerist West. Nice to see that Scotty did well in the end. Good voice of the synical NewYorker The PowerPoint presentation loved by some, hated by others. The different devices in the book needed the reader to work hard. Some felt at the end of the book they couldn't remember the characters and were happy they had not spent good money on this book. A show of the true characters behind their public persona. Egan's craft with language was better than the book itself. Discussion on how it compared with another Pulitzer contender 'Freedom' by Jonathon Frazen. Discussion on who choses the Pulitzer. Many sections of this novel where published separately in the New Yorker and Harpers. Would have it been better to describe this as a series of vaguely interlinked short stories? It will be interesting to see the HBO TV series! Meeting Notes : 13th March 2012 Many thanks to the 11 of you who came along to explore 'Pure' by Andrew Miller. Apologies from Liz and Jacqueline. Welcome to new member Natasha! The Alexandra Arms again proved very conducive venue for our discussion, even with books appearing on the shelves over our table. Next time, remind me to ask the manager to turn down the music to the speakers in our room. Trish moderated the meeting with a thought provoking preamble. She kept us in order and gave a good sum up of our thoughts. Many thanks Trish. We had wide ranging opinions on this novel, as the voting shows: 9x2, 8x3, 7x1, 3x3 giving an average of 6.3 (12 voting - Jacqueline by email). Our next meeting will be 12 noon for 12:15 at the Alexandra Arms, on Tuesday 10th April. We will be discussing 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan - the Pulitzer Prize winner. Melanie will moderate. Thank you in advance Melanie! Advance notice of the novel we have chosen to explore at the May discussion : it will be 'The Last 100 Days' by Patrick McGuiness - long listed for the Man Booker. Also, I have updated our Prize List to reflect the upcoming Orange 2012 prize. Please consult the list before the next meeting with a view to selecting a book for us to read for the June discussion. Here is the link http://www.onlinedesignmakers.com/glitter/html/prize_lists_2012.html And now to the highlights of our discussion on 'Pure': · A very visual book, metaphors to be found everywhere if you are looking for metaphors; · a coloured painting; not strong on plot; · a list of multilayered characters coming in and out of the novel like a stageplay; even the cat, Ragout, has a major role - his first scratchings at Jean's door hinting at perhaps a ghost to come. It was thought that characters should have stayed on more and contributed to some sort of plot - but we thought that this was because we were expecting a riveting story from a work of fiction and we expected the author not to abandon the characters he introduces. · for some it was too vivid and horrid, with smells etc., coming off from the pages - the stuff of nightmares; Smells from the cemetery, smells from the cheese street! · we found Miller's writing style excellent, loved the words and found them quite poetic; he could set a scene, describe it beautifully; we were dipped in the stench of melting body fat - we could never forget a place like this ; others found he did not set the scene enough; he assumed we all new the history; others found some scenes disturbing; some found the pit scenes repetitive - when you've seen one pit you've seen them all; · some personal events like the moving in of Heloise didn't ring true · discussion on Versailles, the elephant, the dead elephant at the end of the novel - a metaphor for the death of the old Regime · some didn't feel the plot to develop - we anticipated something was going to happen; we felt there should have been a development with the graffiti; · claustrophia was a common feeling with this book - set in a tiny part of Paris, the plot moved no further with only hints of an outside world, history and politics; · thoughts on utopia and dystopia; the dignity of labor; · discussion on the tense - present or 3rd omniscient here is an interesting link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_omniscient_narrative · discussion on post-modern devices; discussion on whether a novel needs a story, is it enough just to have a visual experience? It was thought by some to be the most visual book they had ever read; others felt visual was not enough, we felt we had been promised a story and it didn't eventuate; Meeting Notes : 14th Februrary 2012 Many thanks to the 9 of you who came along to explore 'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick deWitt. Most had not read a western before and thought they would not enjoy it. But generally the scoring was high and most thought it entertaining, and even philosophical ;-) Apologies from Rosemary, Richard and Wendy. Welcome to Nick, Beth and Diane. Again, the new venue at the Alexandra Arms proved very cosy, quiet and conducive to discussion. From the voting you can see it was a 'Marmite' sort of novel : the voting ran as follows : 9x4, 8x2, 7x1, 3x2 giving an average of 7.2 (9 voting - Wendy by email). Our next meeting will be 12 noon for 12:15 at the Alexandra Arms, on Tuesday 13th March. We will be discussing Andrew Miller's novel: 'Pure' - recently awarded winner of the Costa Prize. Trish will moderate. Thank you in advance Trish! Advance notice of the novel we have chosen to explore at the April discussion : it will be 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan - the Pulitzer Prize winner. And now the highlights of our discussion on 'The Sisters Brothers': A heart wrenching story; too gruesome; a clever book; a novel faithful to it's genre; picaresque, Don Quixote updated; for those brought up on a diet of Bonanza the setting was alive; others were unable to form a picture of the setting; there was discussion on what makes someone a psychopath characterisation was strong - however some thought the detail of Warm's life probably unnecessary; we enjoyed the vignette of his life with Eunice; Charlie's speech to himself in the bath of why he should be the leader of the team was enlightening; Eli's thoughts before killing - showed that he was endowed with empathy and understood very well his own nature; the structure of the novel encouraged us to not put the book down, had to slow themselves to enjoy it more; some of us stopped a the end of each chapter to think about the philosophical issues; some felt the whole story chopped up with very little linking each section to the other; laugh out loud moments; we found ourselves laughing at inappropriate moments - the narrative manipulating us to overcome our squeemish feelings; we loved the language used in Eli's narrative - the use of phrases such as 'choosing the lighter option' giving the narrative a modern edge; although we could not relate to the two brothers, we knew they were real products of their time and culture, the Gold Rush and the lawless era of the west.