"Dark Emu, Black Seeds" by Bruce Pascoe (1 February, 2017)

Fantastic and lively discussion of our last book, Amongst Women by John McGahern, in fact we wondered whether it was one of the longest discussions about a book that we'd had.  Quinn made a great comment about Moran, the father and central character in the book, saying that he was in "paternalistic overdrive" – nice.  Mark said that McGahern's writing was especially good because he used suggestion rather than description.

The book charts the slow decline of an ill-tempered father's despotic command of his family.  The girls in particular seem inexplicably willing to tolerate and excuse his wild mood swings and sullen behaviour.

There is a 4-part series from the BBC based on the book made in 1998.  There's also an interview with him here.

Our next book is one that I've been putting forward for a few meetings now, Dark Emu, Black Seeds by Bruce Pascoe, a look back at pre-colonial aboriginal society and technology by looking at the records of the first settlers.

Note: due to a clash with RWPS school performance and general business in December, we are going to push the book group meeting for Dark Emu through to February 1, 2017 at the All Nations as usual.

"Amongst Women" by John McGahern (2 November, 2016)

I missed this month's book group but I really enjoyed the book Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter.  I thought it was a powerfully written exploration of grief in a family when the mother dies.  The writing is beautiful capturing the interrupted thoughts as recollections intrude on everyday life and introducing a crow as an unwelcome part of family to be the grief, an inspired motif.

The next book is Amongst Women by John McGahern, an acclaimed Irish author and I understand this is his greatest work.

The next meeting will be at The All Nations Hotel at 20:00 on November 2.  See you there!

"Grief Is The Thing With Feathers" by Max Porter (5 October, 2016)

For only the second time since the book group started I had to miss last night's meeting so I'm reporting secondhand.

It would seem that no-one cared for After The Circus although Quinn has directed that I should say:

we thought it was ripper of a read, fast moving, exciting plot, well developed characters highly recommended

Next month's book is Grief Is The Thing With Feathers (2015) by Max Porter. The book was nominated for the Guardian's First Book Award in 2015.

“After The Circus” by Patrick Modiano (7 September, 2016)

Wasn't the biggest turnout at The All Nations but there was one of the longest discussions about any of the books that we've read.  Kang's book is complex and while there are only a handful of characters who features in the book, each has their own peculiar trajectory as the effect of Yeong-hye's breakdown proceeds through the book.  Great choice.

Next month's book is After The Circus (1992) by Patrick Modiano.  He's won the Nobel prize for literature and Kobi says it's good.

“The Vegetarian” by Han Kang (3 August, 2016)

Last month's book, The Fight by Norman Mailer was a great read, vivid and engaging and as Mark said "far and away the best book on boxing that I've ever read."  I thought it was a surprisingly thoughtful book which talked a lot about the world surrounding the boxers and the milieu of the fight in Kinshasa, gave some background of the African man and some tribal customs, of the corruption and inefficiencies of such a nepotistic system of government under Mobutu, and the assorted personalities of the fighters' entourages.  The language in the book reminded me of the best of Hunter S Thompson's work where simple expression and powerful imagery makes the words leap off the page.

I later learnt that there was also a 3 day music festival – Zaire '74 – scheduled for the same time as the fight with many black American and African artists.  The fight was delayed by six weeks because of an injury that Foreman sustained but the concert went ahead and was quite successful.  I don't recall that being mentioned in the book.

Tom suggested this month's book, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, an interesting choice because it's a recent Korean work which won the Booker prize this year.

“The Fight” by Norman Mailer (1 June, 2016)

Great turnout to discuss Seneca’s On The Shortness Of Life and it was terrific to be able to welcome some new members to the group, Chris and Michael.  The book was a real handful to read, very long-winded with paragraphs that stretched over page after page, but it was still quite thought provoking in talking about our lives and how we live them.  The other two essays were similar but also good.

I was very struck by how this was a window to a very distant time: Seneca speaks of people wasting time waiting for things that are coming in the future and when the gladiatorial contest happens, it’s all too short after such a long lead in, of how when someone’s slave runs away how must he feel when his former slave has exceeded the wealth of his former master because he’s got more slaves now, of reading something and going to speak at the Forum with a fire in your belly.  Gladiators! Slaves! The Forum! It really spoke from another era and yet the themes that he spoke of seem just as relevant today.

Chris suggested that we should read Norman Mailer’s The Fight which he said had passages that had the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.

“On The Shortness of Life” by Seneca (4 May, 2016)

Great turnout to discuss  Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a terrific book that seems amazingly fresh 200 years after it was written.  We talked about a lot of themes in the book, a parent’s relationship with their child, loneliness, Frankenstein’s wilful obliviousness to his actions and a lot more besides.

While the book was written in a time when the reader was expected to enjoy the writing, the underlying story still had an incredible force that drove the narrative along.  We were surprised that Shelley was only 22 when she wrote it.

David Murphy bought along some books and we chose one of those: a collection of essays by Seneca called On The Shortness of Life.  We’re looking at the 2004 Penguin edition which is only 105pp – hooray!

If you can’t get that exact book, the three essays it contains are:

• On the Shortness of Life
• Consolation to Helvia
• On Tranquility of Mind

The next meeting will be on May 4 at the The All Nations Hotel and usual.  There will be the normal extraordinary meeting out during the school break on April 6 for those who are around.  I refer attendees to the rules regarding extraordinary meetings.

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley (2 March, 2016)

Very good turnout for the first meeting of the year and lots of people had read the book.  In spite of that, it was quite difficult to keep the group focussed on talking about that because everyone wanted to talk about other stuff (which, of course, is fine).  The Warden really excelled as a novel of its time, with a lot of description and prose written to be read enjoyably and to revel in its writing.  That can become cloying and clumsy but here it works really well. It tells a its story of a man with great conscience who found himself running a hospital with impropriety not of his making and who is then undone by another man who acts, perhaps naively, according to his own conscience.

The next book was chosen with a minimum of fuss, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I was delighted about: I'd always wanted to read the book, it seems to provide such a potent metaphor for all sorts of aspects of our own society.

The next meeting will be at the All Nations as usual.