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Last book for this year is a classic -- Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. It's very very short, and widely available. Meeting will be on Thursday 3 December.

Currently Reading . . .

This book is bound to split us right down the middle, between those who can't bear to see a classic tampered with, and those who appreciate the genius/humour/effort(?). . . . Or maybe some will just not like it?

Whichever camp you think you'll be in, don't forget to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this month!

Necropolis

The October Page Turners book for discussion was Necropolis (Book four of The Power of Five), by Anthony Horowitz. It's unashamedly YA (or younger) and targeted at boys. This is a relief, because if it were an adult novel with women as an intended audience, it failed dismally! (Most of us present were women, although I believe our male representative was of a similar overall opinion.)

For my part, I found the book a trifle dull. The characters were not that engaging, and the action not that exciting. Moreover, the YA writing style, which over-explained everything, as well as the omniscient point of view irritated me excessively.

I don't believe anyone in the group was particularly enthralled by it, and about the most interesting discussion topic was the difference between this, which clearly doesn't translate well for the adult reader, and other YA novels (such as Harry Potter, for example -- but there are many others), which do.

In addition, the morals of some of the lead characters were questioned (and the negative message this could leave with young, impressionable readers). Others also found the characters either dull, stupid or unlikeable. Hmmm, not too many positive vibes!

Currently reading . . .

Currently we're reading Necropolis, by Anthony Horowitz, book four of the series, The Power of Five. Meeting this Thursday. See you then!

Possession: A Romance

We discussed Possession: A Romance by A.S.Byatt last week. Of the six of us present, three had finished the book (including me!), one had nearly finished, one had read a small amount and seen the movie, and our host had seen the movie. (I too had seen the movie.)

It was a very weighty book to try to discuss in our usual time period of around an hour and a half, and as a result we jumped from topic to topic quite erratically as ideas formed and people bubbled over trying to express their opinions. I'm not sure how we would have coped with a larger group!

Somewhat inevitably, we discussed the poetry -- both in terms of how it was used to add atmosphere, texture and information, and whether it was necessary to read it all from end-to-end. I believe we were divided on that point. I personally found that experiencing the poems via the audio presentation was vastly easier and thus more enjoyable than reading them in the conventional manner, and I think the other audio listeners found this as well. And while it was certainly possible to enjoy the novel without reading them, I think they are an integral part of the whole and therefore enhanced the novel considerably. The bitterness of Mummy Possest gives great insight into Ash's feelings, for example. And those short, sad poems by Christabel left with Sabine's journal are also very revealing. (It was pointed out that most of the novel's complexity is derived from the poems, journals and letters. Without them you're left with little more than a slightly predictable plot hinged on coincidence!)

We also talked over several of the relationships -- Roland and Maud's is perhaps the central one for which the entire novel was declared an 'enormous foreplay' by one of our group. Certainly they spend an awfully long time getting to the point! In a podcast interview with Byatt she said that the novel had to end with Roland 'possessing' Maud to give the whole thing symmetry. She added that one of the sub-themes of the novel was exploring the effect overt 1980s feminism might have on a woman -- does it inhibit or enable? In Maud's case it was the former. Hence the waiting.

On the subject of the portrayal of academia, we discussed whether Roland's initial act of stealing the draft letters was reprehensible or not. I confess I lean a little to the side of not -- to my mind it's a bit like the proverbial tree in the forest. (i.e. if no-one knows they're there, does it actually matter?) Others thought the opposite! The discovery of the letters and the quest they engendered are for me at the heart of the story, and are what made me love the movie when I first saw it, which led me to select this book to read. Like Roland, like Maud, I wanted to know! I can clearly imagine the excitement they must have felt at such a momentous discovery!

Obviously we talked about all sorts of other things as well. I could go on about this novel for hours . . . about how I shared Roland's bereftness when all the others got in on the act and took the secret away from him and Maud . . . about how the plot relied a little too heavily on coincidence . . . about the fascinating characters of Leonora Stern and Beatrice Nest . . . about the various meanings of 'possession' and how they are explored . . . about the difference between feeling connected through words, as opposed to through artifacts . . .

As usual, my take on the novel is fairly analytical in terms of craft. I stand in awe of Byatt and her ability to create such a complex and convincing world -- she wrote all the Victorian poetry in two distinct voices, plus fairy tales, journal entries, letters etc in more voices again. Moreover, she says she wrote them in-situ, not after the fact, so they are integral building blocks of the story. But it's not just the poems. In fact, they might almost have been easy in comparison with all the other sources she created -- such as excerpts from Cropper's The great ventriloquist. This is replete with academic theory and analysis that sounds convincing enough to an ignoramus like me.

The novel is also rich with subtext and symbolism, and I'm sure I missed most of it. But for instance most of the characters are defined by colour -- Christabel (and Maud) is green because that's evidently the colour of fairies; Ellen Ash is white. I confess the colours were revealed to me in the podcast, so now I'll have to read it again to take more notice! (A very interesting thing Byatt said was that she sees novels in colours -- like an abstract painting -- and she can't write without knowing what colour it is . . .)

The final thing I am going to share is Byatt's inspiration for the novel. She was sitting in the British Museum library watching a Coleridge scholar pacing around the catalogues, and started wondering whether the woman had an original thought, or whether it was all the poet. Does he possess her, or does she possess him?

For those that are interested, here's the link to the podcast.

Here's a link to my (very different) post on Possession on Forge and Brew.

Amsterdam

Sorry for my silence - it has been a crazy few months with work and moving house such that there just hasn't been much time to do anything else. However, in all of this, I did manage to read 'Amsterdam' by Ian McEwan. I was definitely intrigued by the title, living in NL, and was curious to see how Amsterdam would be incorporated into the story. Unfortunately, that seemed to be where the intrigue stopped.

I must be honest and say that I didn't get the story - did I miss something? From the first chapter, I did not feel any empathy towards the characters. They were not interesting, they were not people I think I would relate to, they certainly didn't make me want to find out what happened to them. And although I persisted, my feelings didn't change.

So when it came to the turn of events in Amsterdam, I was somewhat relieved. They were put out of their misery, and I felt relieved. And yet, I had a hard time believing that two 'friends' would go to such lengths? I can understand that the book was meant to be satirical, but a satire about what? Is this were I missed the point?

I would be very interested to know what others thought of the book, and perhaps to explain where I lost the plot (so to speak). Sadly, 'Amsterdam' has not intrigued me enough to want to read another McEwan novel.

i read a girl's book

Brainspiked from too much young adult fiction, i went in search of something new to read... no wonder guys don't read. Apparently this is a widely acknowledged issue - guys don't read so nobody publishes stories that guys might like. No surprise then that the entire best sellers list on Amazon looks like some kind of Oprah book club nightmare designed to send male audiences straight back to their day jobs.

Anyway, limiting my time investment, i picked four books and placed an order. I knew "Bertie" would be a bit soft, but i wanted something for light reading on a plane. It's safe to say that it did discuss love and happiness far too much for my liking, but there were also some gems of literary construct to be found. The writing style deliberately adapting itself to suit the characters, but not in an obvious or patronising way. The emergence of a modern saint at a point coincident with the lament of their passing was possibly my favourite part of this story - that and the evil little girl Olive who dropped a line that still makes me laugh to think of it.

So yes i read a girl's book and i survived the journey. Please don't tell anybody i did it though. I promise you that i drank a lot of beer, went surfing twice, lifted a couple of heavy objects, changed the oil in my car and wrestled a bear whilst reading it.

Still i'd rather do that than read what passes for male fiction these days - apparently we are supposed to like murder mysteries with crass innuendo (plot optional). Whatever.

One final piece of small advice for the male reader (apparently there are three left in the southern hemisphere) - do not succumb to exhaustion and google "adult male fiction" - a lurid error to be made only once.

I suggest... "literature -young -adult -Oprah -Jane -Austen +please +anything +really? "

Currently Reading . . .

The book for September is POSSESSION, by A.S.Byatt. Winner of 1990 Man Booker Prize.

If you haven't already started, get reading now, because it's >500 pages long!!

Another kids book for August

On behalf of Louise

Currently Reading . . .

For August we're reading children's books to children on Sunday 2 August. I tried to think of what my favourite picture book was as a child, but (unsurprisingly) can't remember back that far! So I've settled for a classic here.

Please everyone post a kids' book they remember or love from now or yesteryear.

PS. The book following is Possession by AS Byatt. Would recommend people start reading this now!

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On that clear and stormless night following the days of plague and famine, a hundred thousand hungry creatures came out from their retreats to hunt for food. For eighteen hundred miles east and west and a thousand miles north and south, slim gaunt-bellied creatures hunted under the moon and the stars. Something told Kazan and Gray Wolf that this hunt was on, and never for an instant did they cease their vigilance. At last they lay down at the edge of the spruce thicket, and waited. Gray Wolf muzzled Kazan gently with her blind face.

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Meeting in 2 weeks!

May book (were reading)

Nobody has blogged about this - how sad. I'm afraid I didn't manage to read it, but I believe people found it good . . .

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Into the Wild (2)

I have 'reviewed' Into the Wild over at Forge & Brew. Will post some more personal thoughts here, plus sum up general comments from last week's meeting in a day or so . . .

Into the Wild (1)

I saw the movie 'Into the Wild' last year some time, upon the recommendation of my brother. I remember thinking how tragic the story was, and so when the book was selected for the reading group, I was interested to see how close the movie was to the actual events. Of course, I knew that there wasn't going to be a happy ending, but I wondered how the author of the book would interpret the course of the events and perhaps shed some light on why Chris McCandless decided to embark on such an adventure. Although it is not entirely clear as to what were McCandless' motivations, I think the book did manage to give some insight into who McCandless was.

One may argue that his behaviour was the result of his upbringing - that the standards and expectations of his parents were what forced him to abandon his former life, to seek a less oppressive alternative. However, I never got that impression. The fact that McCandless was always somewhat of an outsider suggests that he had quite a different (unreal?) expectation of the world and society. It was mentioned several times in the book that he seemed almost naive in how he viewed the world, and I think that this particular trait was his undoing. From my perspective, I think McCandless was in actual fact trying to find himself and he chose to do this by isolating himself from others. I got the impression that he felt that he didn't want or need to live a 'normal' life - to interact with people, to have money or possessions - and could be self-sufficient without these elements of society. And so he embarked on a journey to test this hypothesis. However, this journey of self-exploration only resulted in the realisation that he was not meant to live (and die) alone.

But I think that that most of us go through a similar journey, albeit not to the same extreme. At some point, we question where we fit into society, and who are we as individuals. Sometimes, it is necessary to displace oneself from our own habitat in order to find out who we are - I can say that this was one of the reasons I left Australia. I wanted (needed) to put myself into different situations/enviroments to see how I would react. And by doing so, I learnt more about myself, and my limits, as well as what I wanted from myself and the people around me. Had I stayed in Australia, I may have also discovered this over time, but I do believe that the journey would have taken longer.

I thought it was interesting that the author of the book, Jon Krakauer, had undertaken similar adventures during his younger years. At first, I thought this was a bit egotistical, but after reading of his experiences in the context of McCandless story, I think it helped to give some perspective on McCandless' thought processes. Had McCandless survived his ordeal, I think he would have returned to civilisation and carried on life in a more or less 'normal' way.

A tragic yet thought provoking book, and one that I am sure I will read again, sometime.

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Back into it

It's hard to think about anything but bushfires today, but we have kicked off Page Turners for the year with a nice evening last Thursday. How long ago that seems already.

Most of us have had a relaxing summer with many books read, including:

All that happened at number 26 (Denise Scott)
People of the book (Geraldine Brooks)
Kushiel's Scion (Jacqueline Carey)
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
The undomestic goddess (Sophie Kinsella)

. . . plus many more I'm sure! (Feel free to add any in the comments section.)

I'm compiling the 2009 reading list, with the first four identified. Stay tuned for more additions.