Happy New Year Everyone
Here are our books for the next few months.
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant, Lawrence Durrell's Esprit d'Corps and Cat on a Hot Tim Roof - which we will also watch as a film and see what we think about the adaptation. So we are roaming from Israel to the Balkans to the USA - continuing our literary journey around the world, having been to the Spice Islands, 16th Century England, cyberspace and Brighton.
Saturday 26 December 2009
Friday 18 December 2009
2009
Chris started us off with Ursula Le Guin's science fiction The Left Hand of Darkness at her house where she also started the tradition of wine and cake.
What did we all think?
I would never have even known that le Guin wrote adult stories and indeed found it all rather weird.
Then we moved to Lynne's house after we had read 26A by Diane Evans an interesting book in that it felt like the author had written it either while studying creative writing or had just finished a course. It was too full of figures of speech which were rather laboured. It describes the gradual deterioration of one sister's state of mind. I certainly dont agree with the Independent's comment that it is -Very enjoyable...beautifully realized and wholly convincing...Evans writes with tremendous verve and dash' or that as others have desribed it as very witty? Sorry but suicide is NEVER witty.
Donna gave us Giles Milton's Nathaniel's Nutmeg which covered every thought and aspect of the trade in spices between the English. Dutch and the East Indies. These two great trading nations treated the islands as their own. There is much to discuss here. The author does seem to have felt that he couldn't leave anything out after what must have been years of painstaking research. Why Nathaniel's bravery was cnsidered to have changed the world is debatable though it obviously refers to acquisiton of Manhattan by the British but he is not mentioned until one is nearly finished reading the book.
At Marion's house we first watched Richard Attenbrough in Brighton Rock and then went on to evaluate the adaptation. We didn't find him all that convincing as Pinkie.
Our last book of 2009 was the Booker prize winning, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell. I did wonder if any of the judges actually read the whole book. Did it need to be so long? I have already packaged mine up as a gift for a friend. Rather like Nathaniel's Nutmeg one wonders why the book is titled Wolf Hall unless it is seen as a symbol of what was going on in England at the time and also perhaps to tempt you to buy her sequel.
What did we all think?
I would never have even known that le Guin wrote adult stories and indeed found it all rather weird.
Then we moved to Lynne's house after we had read 26A by Diane Evans an interesting book in that it felt like the author had written it either while studying creative writing or had just finished a course. It was too full of figures of speech which were rather laboured. It describes the gradual deterioration of one sister's state of mind. I certainly dont agree with the Independent's comment that it is -Very enjoyable...beautifully realized and wholly convincing...Evans writes with tremendous verve and dash' or that as others have desribed it as very witty? Sorry but suicide is NEVER witty.
Donna gave us Giles Milton's Nathaniel's Nutmeg which covered every thought and aspect of the trade in spices between the English. Dutch and the East Indies. These two great trading nations treated the islands as their own. There is much to discuss here. The author does seem to have felt that he couldn't leave anything out after what must have been years of painstaking research. Why Nathaniel's bravery was cnsidered to have changed the world is debatable though it obviously refers to acquisiton of Manhattan by the British but he is not mentioned until one is nearly finished reading the book.
At Marion's house we first watched Richard Attenbrough in Brighton Rock and then went on to evaluate the adaptation. We didn't find him all that convincing as Pinkie.
Our last book of 2009 was the Booker prize winning, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell. I did wonder if any of the judges actually read the whole book. Did it need to be so long? I have already packaged mine up as a gift for a friend. Rather like Nathaniel's Nutmeg one wonders why the book is titled Wolf Hall unless it is seen as a symbol of what was going on in England at the time and also perhaps to tempt you to buy her sequel.
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