"The Sellout" by Paul Beatty (Feb 6, 2019)

There was a really good turnout for the last book group meeting of the year and we had a long talk about Gerald Murnane's The Plains.  Everyone agreed that it was a very difficult book to read, we kept wondering when some sort of insight was going to be revealed or a point to the story was going  to be disclosed.  But there wasn't.  I had this inkling that "the plains" and the ruminations upon them described so endlessly in the book weren't a metaphor for peoples' lives, that they just unfold in a featureless way until you look closely at their detail.  When I thought of this it made me wonder if I should start reading it again to make sense of the story in a deeper way.  But I didn't.

We wondered if it would be published today.  There was no mention of the first people who inhabited the plains – the aborigines – but is that just a contemporary preoccupation?  Or is it beside the point? Or women.  There was just the sketchiest mention of the landowner's daughter or the woman in the library whom he had designs on but that seemed to be it.

The preface to the book was wonderful: beautiful lively writing that painted a picture of a work rich with meaning and skill, a picture that seemed so at odds with the book itself.  My feelings about the book were so at odds with its description that I kept doubting I'd really understood it.  The writing was very good but it just seemed that I'd missed something.

We managed to settle on our next book very early in the evening and with very little debate so we're reading The Sellout by Paul Beatty, a Booker prize winner which is a good recommendation (IMHO) right there.  See you at the All Nations on Feb 6 next year!

"The Plains" by Gerald Murnane (Dec 13, 2018) [change of date!]

There was quite a lot to say about The Lebs by Michal Mohammed Ahmad.  We thought that while it was nicely written it lacked an overall story to tie it all together, it just felt like a string of "this happened, then this happened ..." rather than a coherent story.  That made a bit more sense at the end when in the epilogue it emerges that it was written as a thesis.

The way he describes his school life was really vivid and engaging, the swearing and the relentless vying for social kudos and the discomfort of trying to find your own identity.

Our next book is The Plains by Gerald Murnane.  There was a long discussion about which book we'd do next and eventually we settled on fiction rather than non-fiction which I think was probably a better decision and more in the spirit of the book group.

The next book group meeting – the last of the year – will be at The All Nations Hotel at 8:00pm on December 5 December 13.

"The Lebs" by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Oct 3, 2018)

While we had a smaller turnout this month the discussion about Fight Like A Girl by Clementine Ford was lively, extended and far reaching.  We felt it was an important book and I was really pleased to here that there were several people – myself included - who said it made them question how they behave and to want to improve that.  It made me think that the aim of the book was a success, although it's certainly directed squarely at women as a rallying call to not just accept the status quo but to expect and demand better.  The anger in the book is genuine and justified.

I found a couple of things in the book really disturbing: one was the level and amount of vitriol that has been dealt out to Ford by on-line trolls.  It just never occurred to me to speak to anyone like that, and besides what on earth does it do to help anything?  Secondly, I felt that there was no place in the book for me.  I know I'm not the target of the book nor that as a man that I should be the centre of any narrative but as someone who tries to support women and call out offensive behaviour it's a bit like we don't exist in the writing.  I feel like I'm committing some sort of heresy for saying that – it's a very hard book to say that you disagree with.

We have an extra month before the next meeting at the All Nations again.  Our next book The Lebs by Michal Mohammed Ahmad should be an interesting look at contemporary society.

”Fight Like A Girl” by Clementine Ford (5 September, 2018)

It was a great book group meeting: lots of talk about the changes to the school after the safeguards for the school put in place by the state government following the opening of the injecting room next door and the (misguided) public sensitivity about that. If I may editorialise for minute, having been at the school for 8 years, I have seen the drug problem in the area.  I do not see how a public injecting room can do anything other than benefit both the users and the neighbourhood.

We also had a live cross via internet to two group members at Mt Hotham which while of dubious worth was a lovely diversion.  Sorry Grant for directing you to the wrong book because of my mistake on the website.

Great to see a couple of faces reappear, Quinn and Mark.

The next meeting will be at The All Nations on 5 September.

”The Getting Of Wisdom” by Henry Handel Richardson (1 August, 2018)

[Oops! I made a mistake with the book for the next book group meeting when I originally put the post up, I had misremembered it to be "My Brilliant Career" by (Stella Maria Sarah) Miles Franklin.  The book in the title is correct now.  I blame my mistake on being “tired and emotioanl” after the last book club meeting]

There was a great crowd at The All Nations to discuss A Horse Walks Into A Bar by John Grossman and while there was quite a bit of discussion about it, no-one really cared for it that much.  It just seemed to be a sorry tale of man's life played out on stage.  Everyone was enjoying having a drink a really having a very nice time together until late in the evening.  It was great.

Our next book is My Brilliant Career by (Stella Maria Sarah) Miles Franklin which Tom suggested after the usual long debate about what to read next.

Note that because the first Wednesday of July falls in school holidays, the next meeting will be in August.

"A Horse Walks Into A Bar" by John Grossman (6 June, 2018)

There was only a small turnout to discuss Cannery Row by John Steinbeck which was a shame, everyone agreed it was a great book, with crisp and beautiful prose, vivid descriptions and a lovely turn of phrase.  Really enjoyable.

There was a long but productive debate about what the next book would be and people seemed more prepared for that discussion than in the past (perhaps it was just me). We finally decided on Tom's suggestion A Horse Walks Into A Bar by John Grossman, an Israeli author, published in the last 5 years and funny.

I've added a new page with books which have been suggested so send me any suggestions and I'll add them in.

Our next meeting will be on June 6 at The All Nations.  Look forward to seeing you all there!

"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck (2 May, 2018)

There was only small(ish) turnout to discuss Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett but the discussion was fairly lengthy.  There was a lot of discussion about the absurdist nature of the dialogue, skitting from subject to subject as the characters interacted almost mindlessly.  I thought it spoke of how each day in our lives is essentially the same, only differentiated by our memory of what has gone before.  Without that memory we are fated to just repeat what we've done before. That loss of memory is reflected in Pozzo and Lucky's loss of their different senses in the last act, Pozzo going blind and Lucky becoming dumb, and how that impacted them and their relationship.

I wound up reaching the end of the book and feeling like it had something to say and having quite enjoyed it.  I hadn't felt like that at the start: I was confused and a little irritated at the lack of direction.

I also noted how the characters were all tied together in their orbits: Didi and Gogo tied to their quest to meet Godot, Didi and Godot in this seemingly dependent relationship that they couldn't leave although they had tried, and Pozzo and Lucky's relationship were they are literally tied together.

Next month's book is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.  There was a little discussion about whether we should try a different meeting place but I think we'l be back at The All Nations next month.  Check here for final details!

Also please send me suggestions for books.  I'll put up a page here on the blog with possibilities for us to read.

Note: as the April 4 meeting falls in the holidays the next official book club meeting will be on May 2.  Note that there will be an extraordinary book club meeting on April 4 at The All Nations.

"Waiting For Godot" by Samuel Beckett (7 March, 2018)

Very few people managed to make it through to the end of Benang by Kim Scott, I think I was the only person who finished it.  I'm not surprised: the book was harrowing reading, dealing with the treatment of the aboriginal people and the relentless rape, murder, institutionalised victimisation and psychological battering to oppress them and remove them from the country.  There's barely a moment's respite in the story.

The story unfolds in a disjointed style without a strong sense of narrative direction and it was difficult to keep track of who was whom and, with a lot of jumping back and forth through time, when things were happening.  I wondered if that was perhaps a part of aboriginal story telling but maybe it's just the way that Scott has pieced together his family history with other historical sources.

I found myself asking myself how I would have behaved if I'd been there at that time.  I want to imagine that I would have been "enlightened" enough to be revolted by the actions of those around me, but I know I'm shaped by my culture and society's values.  It left me feeling very uncomfortable.

There was a lot of discussion about the next book which was finally resolved by a vote for Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett.  We'll be back at the All Nations Hotel on March 7 to discuss that.  See you there!