“How To Be Alone" by Jonathan Franzen (4 February, 2015)

Our last book group meeting went very well with a good discussion of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.  While I found the book to be a well written story giving an insight into stolid and grey life in a gulag, it was pretty hard going, others found that there was a lot in it.  Tom said he felt it was the best book we’d read all year.

The next book is Jonathan Franzen’s How To Be Alone, a collection of essays and articles which appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker, and elsewhere.  It’s a little bit longer than our normal books at 278pp but we should have a little extra time over the summer break.

There will be an extraordinary book group meeting at The All Nations Hotel on January 7 for those who are available.  Normal meetings will resume in the new year at the start of the new term.

"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (3 December, 2014)

Unfortunately, I missed this book group because I had a long-standing engagement with a certain Jagger and Richards at Rod Laver Arena (and most agreeable it was too); it wasn't because I hadn't read the book, I had. Really.

This month we're back across the Iron Curtain reliving a day in Russian gulag in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's classic novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

This will be the last book group for the year.  I did hear some talk of choosing a longer book to read over the summer holiday.  That sounds like something to discuss at the next meeting at the All Nations Hotel on the night.

"Dream Story" by Arthur Schnitzler (5 November, 2014)

There was a small turnout for the discussion of Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha which was a shame because it's a really stylishly written story of a schoolboy growing up in Ireland, managing friends and watching the growing discontent between his parents.  I'm not sure whether it was cold weather, apathy or the 'flu that seems to have been going around that was responsible for the meagre turnout.

Initially I found the book to be a haphazard patchwork of reminiscences without much of a coherent theme.  As the book progresses – and Paddy gets older – it becomes more directed and the story and the relationships mature.  I thought it was a really interesting storytelling device having the short attention span of a younger Paddy growing into something much more focussed.

The next book is Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Story, the book on which Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut was based.  We have two months to find and read this because the next book group date would fall during the school holidays.

As per book group rule 11, there will be an extraordinary meeting on October 1 at The All Nations Hotel.

“Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha" by Roddy Doyle (3 September 2014)

At the last meeting there was a long – and circular – discussion about what the next book would be, the spiral seemed to tighten around a shortlist that included something about Albanian soccer, Ulysses, The Great Gatsby and a few others before the ball finally plunked in the hole with Roddy Doyle’s book.

The Yacoubian Building wasn’t considered a raging success. Most of us found we had to labour our way through it.  That said, there was a lot of discussion about the characters and the book's setting in its era (the first gulf war) and the stratified society of Cairo that it’s set in.  There was a sameness to the book that left us wondering whether it had lost something in translation.  At the end people felt that it was going to come to a cliffhanger finale, instead the cliff just kept going ...

In September, we will be meeting at The All Nations Hotel again.  Hopefully the weather will be a bit warmer and/or the heaters will be more reliable.

"The Yacoubian Building" by Alaa Al Aswany (6 August 2014)

مرحبا!  This month's book is an Egyptian classic, The Yacoubian Building (or عمارة يعقوبيان‎) by Alaa Al Aswany, picked after an extensive and circuitous discussion at the end of the last meeting.

The discussion of last month’s book, The Buddha Of Suburbia, was very lively and kicked off with a an epoch-appropriate question about if given the choice, we’d rather listen to Never Mind The Bollocks by The Sex Pistols or Give ‘Em Enough Rope by The Clash.  Everyone (but me) seemed to think that The Clash still had more to offer; I think the Pistols (somehow) managed to produce an incredible piece of work.

The consensus was that we really enjoyed the book, it had a terrific combination of humour, thoughtfulness and bit of sexy that was involving and an interesting read.

In August, we will be meeting at The All Nations Hotel again.  The new staff there have made a huge difference to the feel of the place.

As is our tradition during the school holidays, there will be an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, 2 July at The All Nations.  Note that the rules stipulate that the next book may not be discussed but that anything else is fair game.  In some ways I'm not sure how this differs from a normal meeting ...

"The Buddha Of Suburbia" by Hanif Kureishi (4 June 2014)

We will be meeting at The All Nations Hotel.  It's become much more hospitable since the management changed and it's so central.

Last month's book was discussed for a lot longer than I had expected, that said it had a pretty lukewarm  reception by everyone.

Our next book – The Buddha Of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi – is a comedy which both Edward and Mark have read and highly recommended.  It'll be a good change of pace.

"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe (7 May 2014)

We will be meeting at The All Nations Hotel.  It’s still being refurbished and the new management are a lovely change from the surliness of yore.

Margaret Atwood's Surfacing was covered in some detail with many different opinions about the book coming forth.

We also had a surprise appearance of Julia Mason who came over to ask us to take part in the RWPS open day (April 30) and which tuned into a lively debate about the school and the direction it's taking.

The next book was a bit confused but it was decided we’d tackle Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. There was some talk about Graham Greene's The End Of The Affair but that’s gone back into the pile for the moment.

“Surfacing" by Margaret Atwood (2 Apr 2014)

We will be meeting at The All Nations Hotel.  It’s being refurbished and is apparently under new management.

The discussion of last month’s book, Raymond Carver’s “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?” was a great success and was enjoyed by all who had read it.  Smaller turnout than usual, perhaps because of the difficulty in finding a copy.

We had an election amongst the attendees for the next book.  The results were (in order):

• “Surfacing” by Margaret Atwood (6)
• “The Sense Of An Ending” by Julian Barnes (3)
• “The End Of The Affair” by Graham Greene (2)
• “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks (2)
• “The Drowned World” by JG Ballard (2)
• “Zoe and Franny” by JD Salinger (1)
• “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley (1)
• “Time’s Arrow” by Martin Amis (1)

"Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" by Raymond Carver (5 Mar 2014)

We will be meeting at The Bridge Hotel, Bridge Rd, Richmond.

This is a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver.  There's some additional information about the collection itself here.

The Park Hotel was a real success at the last meeting. I think we'll be meeting there again at some stage.