[I accidentally deleted this post]
See you at the All Nations next year on December 4!
Thursday, 12 December 2019
“Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent (5 Feb 2020)
I really enjoyed reading Stasiland by Anna Funder. I found that in spite of the grey, oppressive and desperately sad stories in the book, it was beautifully written and compelling. Not long before the meeting I found a link to an article by Anna Funder talking about thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall which was absolutely fascinating and raised even more topics for thought and discussion. The on-going influence of the Stasi, the feeling of resentment towards those who did speak against the regime because it raises the question of why hadn't they too. It's a very powerful article following on from a very powerful book.
The discussion at book group though was very fragmented and it was difficult to keep people on track without diverging off to explore Richard's recent trip to Clayton or famous soccer goals. I'd been feeling really crook so I wasn't in good shape to keep people on track. Quite a few people had read the book a long time ago and their memories while favourable, lacked that bit of freshness.
The next book, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, was picked in a bit of a rush and I'm sorry to say, breaks two of the book club rules: rule 1 (no long books) and rule 9 (no referrals from other book groups, specifically, the women's book group has already read this book). My irresistible need to get home and get to bed made me drop my guard for which I apologise [Okay, this is mollified but the fact it's not that long (355pp) and it's over the summer break and my wife, Monica, assures me it's a great book].
See you at the All Nations next year on February 5!
The discussion at book group though was very fragmented and it was difficult to keep people on track without diverging off to explore Richard's recent trip to Clayton or famous soccer goals. I'd been feeling really crook so I wasn't in good shape to keep people on track. Quite a few people had read the book a long time ago and their memories while favourable, lacked that bit of freshness.
The next book, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, was picked in a bit of a rush and I'm sorry to say, breaks two of the book club rules: rule 1 (no long books) and rule 9 (no referrals from other book groups, specifically, the women's book group has already read this book). My irresistible need to get home and get to bed made me drop my guard for which I apologise [Okay, this is mollified but the fact it's not that long (355pp) and it's over the summer break and my wife, Monica, assures me it's a great book].
See you at the All Nations next year on February 5!
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