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Heaven: Ship of Fools Book Group - the 2021 Edition
As promised here is a thread to start thinking about next year's book group picks. If you are not sure as to the format or what we've discussed lately here is the 2020 thread.
First of all, do we still want to have a book group? The numbers discussing some of the books was a bit low this year, though discussing classics, as we are doing for the next three months does seem to result in more people joining in.
Secondly any ideas for next year. We agreed to do at least one detective novel and have had suggestions that we try The Dry by Jane Harper, or something by Cynthia Harrold-Eagles, Michael Connolly or Faye Kellerman. I can vouch for the later, but would be interested in thoughts about the other authors. Of course we can do more than one. I'd also like to discuss Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, which is the book I've enjoyed most recently. It should be widely available as it one the Booker along with Atwood's The Testaments that we read last month. We could also do more classics, any ideas?
Looking forward to your thoughts.
First of all, do we still want to have a book group? The numbers discussing some of the books was a bit low this year, though discussing classics, as we are doing for the next three months does seem to result in more people joining in.
Secondly any ideas for next year. We agreed to do at least one detective novel and have had suggestions that we try The Dry by Jane Harper, or something by Cynthia Harrold-Eagles, Michael Connolly or Faye Kellerman. I can vouch for the later, but would be interested in thoughts about the other authors. Of course we can do more than one. I'd also like to discuss Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, which is the book I've enjoyed most recently. It should be widely available as it one the Booker along with Atwood's The Testaments that we read last month. We could also do more classics, any ideas?
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Comments
The latter is a book about the differences in UK & US English; Murphy is both amusing and enlightening on twitter.
If we run out of solid suggestions we could try out themes/authors, so participants read any cook book or any Agatha Christie, and discuss it?
This book was made into a widely acclaimed film recently, which sounds promising. I did not see the film, but cold be interested to read the book.
I also enjoyed one of last year's books, the one about he Nigerian online scammers. That suggests to me that another "African" book might be a good choice; certainly it would widen my reading. I don't have much in the way of a specific suggestion for such a one, but am currently reading Out of Darkness Shining Light by Petina Gappah, which is a readable fictionalised account of the group trekking across Africa to bring David Livingstone's body to a port from which it could be taken "home".
I’m a fan of The Honorary Consul though I suspect you may be thinking of The Human Factor - also a good book as I remember though I haven’t read it recently. Anyway, I’d be up for re-reading one of those or perhaps some Le Carre - Tinker Tailor is the only one I’ve read.
Maybe a Le Carre for February and Greene later in the year? Anyone fancy doing that, @Tukai perhaps. Also which one should we do?
How about Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo for March. I think that should be widely available and it was one of my favourite reads of this year.
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
February - A John Le Carre, maybe led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
On my shelf I currently have The Spy who came in the from the Cold and A Small Town in Germany. "Cold" was his first best-seller, but is a bit tricky to start with (e.g. it took me a while to realise that "Control" was a person, the spy boss no less) . "A small town" is less well known and relatively straightforward (hero sent to cold war Bonn to find and plug the leak from the British embassy).
But the others , particularly those featuring George Smiley (so memorably portrayed on TV by Alec Guiness) are readily available. The main ones of these are Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People.
Does anyone have a strong preference?
Thanks for leading it @Tukai.
Programme so far:
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
Thread now open.
February - A John Le Carre, led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
.
Now reading Fahrenheit 451.
I wouldn't say many. I'd guess less than 5, probably closer to 2 or 3. (I just read them all last month.)
The up-dated programme is:
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
Thread now open.
February - A SMall Town in Germany by John Le Carre, led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
You did Mansfield Park last year. How about some other classics? I found Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters very readable last year.
We did Mansfield Park in November, so probably not another Jane Austen for a while. We also did Trollope not that long ago, but I quite fancy the idea of Edith Wharton. What do others think. Any suggestions as to which Janette Winterton we could look at @fineline.
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
Thread now open.
February - A Small Town in Germany by John Le Carre, led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
April - Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell led by ?
I would recommend Allingham's "The Oaken Heart". It isn't one of her crime novels, but a remarkable account of life in the coastal Essex village where she lived, between 1938 & 1941. I read it again recently and was struck again by the fact that when she was writing it, she didn't know how the war would end. We tend to read about WW2 with the comforting thought that "it will all be ok in the end" - that feeling is distinctly absent in Oaken Heart. She was living in a place where the Gernans could land at any moment.
She brings her skills as a writer to describing circumstances that were at the same time both astonishing AND shared by most of the country.
Melbourne bus drivers seem to prefer Smooth FM, the local easy listening station, Marama.
Whichever one people would want to. My favourite is The Passion. That's a mix of magical realism and historical, and plays with concepts of gender. I also like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. People might be more familiar with that one, as it was on telly years ago (Geraldine McEwan played the mother - before her Miss Marple days!). It's a coming of age novel, semi-autobiographical of Winterson's real life, growing up as a lesbian in a Pentecostal church community in the north of England. People might prefer that one if they are familiar with it, but equally if people have already read it, they might want something different. Her most recent novel is Frankisstein, which I haven't read, but I think I own it, and it looks interesting, and I want to read it. I don't know how different it will be from the other two I suggested; they were published in the 1980s, and this one was published in 2019. Wikipedia describes it this way:
I'm happy to lead any of these three. I find in general her novels challenge and subvert gender norms and binaries, which I find interesting, and enjoy - she is intelligent and playful with it.
Beloved by Toni Morrison was mentioned up thread. I was wondering about that for July. A book I tried to read and failed with, but a friend whose judgement I respect thought it very good. What do other's think. Totally different, but in keeping with the crime theme I do quite like the idea of a Rith Rendell/Barbara Vine as well.
Provisional Programme
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
Thread now open.
February - A Small Town in Germany by John Le Carre, led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
April - Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell led by @Mili
May - The Passion by Jeanette Winterson led by @fineline?
June - A Margery Allingham?
[Spelling correction
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(By the way, not to be pedantic, but for the sake of people searching for the book, the author's name is spelt Jeanette Winterson, not Janette Winterton.)
Corrected programme below.
January - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, led by @fineline
Thread now open.
February - A Small Town in Germany by John Le Carre, led by @Tukai
March - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo led by @Sarasa
April - Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell led by @Mili
May - The Passion by Jeanette Winterson led by @fineline
June - A Margery Allingham?
I'm very happy to lead either - they're both great books - but want to make sure I've given a decent sense of both. Though The Passion is one of those books that you kind of need to just read and go with it - it doesn't lend itself to a simple description in the way that Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit does.
I thought that generally most people would be familiar with Jeanette Winterson and have an idea of which they'd like to do. I also imagined most people would have read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and might want to read a different one. But as people aren't commenting, maybe they are not familiar, and so maybe people would prefer Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Books that involve church stuff do seem quite popular. It would be good if some other people commented their preferences too.
I suppose, as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is her first novel, and the one people often start with when they read her books, it makes sense to do that one, if people haven't read it. And if people enjoy it, maybe we could do The Passion in a few years time. (I need to reread both, as it's been a very long time - I remember loving both books when I read them though.)