Even though we were again meeting via Zoom, it was a very lively discussion about last month’s book, The White Girl by Tony Birch. Everyone seemed to quite like it and it was a real eye opener to see the way that aboriginals were treated and the whole permit system which restricted their movement and the way that the police officiers in the district just seemed to own them.
That said, I thought that the characters lacked much in the way of depth, which is something that I’ve noticed in the historical fiction books that we’ve covered in the past, eg, The Secret River by Kate Grenville.
Edward spoke about how his old family car had come onto the market at some extraordinary price (£75k). It had been lovingly restored since it had been his father’s. There are pictures here https://www.jonathan-wood.co.uk/for-sale/1934-rolls-royce-20-25-sports-saloon/
It had been Grant’s 50th brithday only two days before so we all sang Happy Birthday to him which, as you can imagine over Zoom, was a complete debacle but the sentiment was lovely.
There was an extended discussion about the Chinese classes at RHS and how after some lobbying they will now be offering it at year 12 level.
The next book was settled on fairly smartly despite an attempted Gerald Murnane insurgence from Rohan. Instead, we settled on Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin. It felt like a fitting choice, coming on the back of an indigenous Australian story, “black lives matter” and recent death of John Lewis.
I suspect our next meeting will be via Zoom on September 2. I’ll send out an invite on the WhatsApp channel closer to the time. Let me know if you need to be added!
