“Lathe Of Heaven” by Ursula Le Guin (Nov 1, 2023)

 We had a good roll up to Nice Guys and talked about this month's book, The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin. We felt that the book was good, with the sort of middle third of the book really crackling along and very tense. Towards the end of the book it becomes a bit confusing and almost incoherent as the different threads of the dreams seem to become ever more convoluted.

One of the things that Mark has said in the past is that a good story has character development and while one of the main protagonists, Haber, does develop from being power hungry to being blindly obsessed with changing the world to his whim, there's not much change in the other characters.

While it's nominally a sci fi story, I felt as though there were elements of horror that came in as the reader wonders what else is going to go wrong. That's not a bad thing, it certainly built tension.

Our next book is The Lover by Marguerite Duras. Look forward to seeing everyone at Nice Guys for our last book group meeting of the year on Dec 6 at 8:00.

“Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan (Oct 4, 2023)

While Claire Keegan's book Small Things Like These may only be a short book – 128 pages – it really packs a punch. It's the story of a man, Bill Furlong, who is born illegitimately in Ireland but through the kindness of his mother's employer navigates his childhood and becomes a coal deliveryman. While delivering coal to the Magdalen laundry, he meets a girl locked in a shed who has recently given birth but who hasn't been able to see her child. Initially he is reluctant to become involved but finds himself back to try to help the girl.

One of the things I loved about the book was not just how it was written but how much wasn't written. Once the girl is with Furlong, the story ends but we've had so much detail about the repercussions about what might happen going up against the powerful catholic church that we know that there's a whole other tale to be told. And there's no need to tell it – this isn't a Disney movie – and we can let our minds spiral off through all sorts of permutations and wonder what might have happened.

We really enjoyed the story and it led to a lot of discussion about the church and social mores.

Our next book is The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin. See you at Nice Guys on Nov 1!

“If This Is A Man” by Primo Levi (September 6, 2023)

It was a really lively discussion about a book that most people seemed to really enjoy (for some version of “enjoy”). Very challenging reading about the author’s experience in a concentration camp during world war 2 under German control. I was taken aback by the way that the prisoners were so systematically dehumanised and treated so callously. We spoke a lot about how Levi really only managed to survive by luck when so many of his contemporaries died, how the inmates had to follow not the explicit rules of the camp but enter into the whole bartering and trading system that the camp really ran on in order to have any chance of survival. The writing in the book always felt immediate but the subject matter was described in a detached way which I think allowed the book to be read, it would have been too much otherwise.

A really powerful book – recommended.

Our next book is “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan. See you at Nice Guys on Oct 4!

“House of God” by Samuel Shem (August 2, 2023)

 While I thought a lot of the plot development was formulaic and predictable, the insight into what happens inside the medical system was really compelling. I thought it was diverting and very enjoyable but many others found it laugh-out-loud funny.

“Heaven” by Seiko Kawakami (June 7, 2023)

 I found this a very moving book describing bullying in a Japanese school and its impact. Others thought it was trite.

“Days of Abandonment” by Elena Ferrante (May 3, 2023)

 Very enjoyable book

“Cold Enough For Snow” by Jessica Au (April 5, 2023)

Disappointing. Very little character development.

“Dept. of Speculation” by Jenny Offill (March 1, 2023)

Lots of varied opinions about the writing style in this book. Some felt that the style of "social media" posts as a way of telling a story was disjointed, others liked it.

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad (February 2, 2023)

 Cloying and oppressive, capturing the feeling of the African jungle

“Bartleby The Scrivener” by Herman Melville (December 7, 2022)

 (no notes)

“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens (November 2, 2022)

Very well received book. While the story was told very simply and there wasn't a lot of character development, the book never seemed to be corny which it could easily have descended into.

“My Sister The Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaitè (October 5, 2022)

 This was a very straightforward book.

“Violets” by Shin Kyung Sook (September 7, 2022)

 Lots of comparisons with The Vegetarian which we had read some time ago.

“A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing” by Jessie Tu (August 3, 2022)

Some considered this little more than porn, others thought that there were intriguing suggestions for sexual antics they hadn't considered.

“The Trial” by Franz Kafka (June 1, 2022)

 (no notes)

“Keep The Aspidistra Flying” by George Orwell (April 6, 2022)

 At Cam's at Abbotsford Convent.

“Steppenwolf” by Herman Hesse (March 2, 2022)

 We met at Cam's at the Abbotsford Convent.

“Our man In Havana” by Graham Greene (February 2, 2021)

 (no notes)

“The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink (December 1, 2021)

 (no notes)

“A Journey Around My Room” by Xavier Maestre (November 3, 2021)

 (no notes)

“The Siege of Krishnapur” by J.G. Farrell (October 6, 2021)

 Some notes I took during our Zoom meeting

- restraint of Victorian England

- Satirical picture of colonialism and Victorianism

- Characters are likeable

- No heroes in the book

- it’s not post-colonial, not Slaman Rushdie or Vikram Seth

- Great Exhibition is used as a touchstone

- never gets lost in the detail

- Phrenology

- Magistrate condemning all the poetry

- Loved the way that the shells falling on the masonry caused all sorts of problems, when they fell on the earth was best, kind of showing the trappings of civilisation

- The only role of women was to go mad with boredom

- Rank hypocrisy of the the system in which their embroiled

- None of the Indian characters are very developed. This was discussed at length because it denies them a voice and an opinion about what is going on around them

- It really struck me that this was the pomposity of the colonialists

- Why isn’t Ballard better known?

- Victorians putting so much emphasis on the machines they build, exemplified by the World Fair

- The auction of the food was brilliant

- Fleury killing someone is the unbelievable part of the book

- Trenchant critique of colonialism portraying the the characters as being woefully shirt-sighted about the situation they’re in. Putting a spear through the omnipotent

- Discussion about UK versus US humour, Monty Python versus The Office (US), a comment about how in Animal House, John Belushi smashing the guitar of some wannabe musician who’s wowing the girls show the difference: in the US Belushi’s the hero, in the UK it’s the guitarist

- Wanted to ask the author about why things happened the way that they did

- Notable difference between the 70’s (when the book was written) and (say) 1985 when Haneef Kureshi’s “Buddha of Suburbia”  was written. It feels like a world of difference between the two world views — the difference between seeing Indians as “other” as compared to a part of society

- Watching the colonial oppressors getting their just desserts