"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Süskind (1 November, 2017)

There was a good turnout to discuss Tirra Lirra By The River by Jessica Anderson.  While the book started out a little bit slowly, I found myself becoming more and more involved in the story as Nora's life seemed to drift from one turn to the next, the story itself being told as she reflected back on her life after returning to Brisbane her old age.  In the copy of the book I read, there was an excellent epilogue written by Anna Funder which talked about how much she had loved and been influenced by this book which she'd had to read for her HSC back in the day.  Coincidentally, she also mentioned another book,  The Green Road by Anne Enright, which we'd read only the month before.

We had a suggestion from a newcomer to the group, Jason (welcome!), which was for Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind.  I'd seen this book discussed on the ABC's Tuesday Night Book Club and they'd spoken very highly of it.

Next meeting will be on 1 November at The All Nations Hotel.  I am quietly hoping the weather will be warmer and we won't need to be surrounded by heaters blazing like searchlights from sentry towers around a prison block.

"Tirra Lirra By The River" by Jessica Anderson (6 September, 2017)

We sat outside at the All Nations huddled under the warmth of an array of heaters around us to talk about last month's book, The Green Road by Anne Enright. The consensus was that the book was well-written and had moments where it really took flight and carried the reader along but there were other parts where that momentum was lost.  I thought the setting for the story was a bit corny: the dysfunctional family, the gay son, the alcoholic daughter, the do-gooder, the daughter who married into money and a mother who's losing her grip on the family and her mind.

We had a long discussion trying to choose the next book and eventually settled on Tirra Lirra By The River by Jessica Anderson, an Australian author and the book won the Miles Franklin award in 1978.

"The Green Road" by Anne Enright (2 August, 2017)

There was a small turnout on a cold night to discuss Where Eagles Dare by Alistair McLean.  While I think that it's probably the most straightforward book that we've tackled – there's not much to discover with characters' motivations or any underlying subtext – I was surprised at how much we were able to talk about.  While the writing was corny in parts, the way that women were introduced into the story was pathetic and sometimes the writing was just mechanical description, there were genuinely exciting passages and the twists and turns in the plot kept the story from getting too stale.

I had bought along a copy of the film that I thought we could play on one of the TV's in the pub, we stayed inside next to the fire and just chatted while coverage of the Americas Cup played.

Our next book is The Green Road by Anne Enright, which has won several awards and she herself is a Booker award winner.

The next natural book club evening falls in the holidays so I expect there'll be an extraordinary meeting then and we'll reconvene to discuss The Green Road in August and The All Nations.

"Where Eagles Dare" by Alistair McLean (7 June, 2017)

There was a good turnout to discuss Ben Lerner's 10:04 which was considered by everyone to be a very disappointing book, possibly the worst that we've read in the history of the book group.  It seems more like a disjointed series of vignettes joined together haphazardly with no story to convincingly join it into a whole.  Oh well.  I thought that there were a couple of places where the writing did seem really convincing and engaging, his reminiscences about the Challenger space shuttle disaster were great but just as it got into its groove the book moved on losing any momentum it might have found.  There was an intriguing "meta" aspect to the book where it had a thread of being a book about writing a book which was this book, but again it never really rang true – another opportunity lost.

The book did prompt a long discussion about what the best or most memorable books that we've read have been which was really enjoyable.

Our next book is a complete change from anything that we've tackled before, Where Eagles Dare by Alistair McLean.  See you at the All Nations on June 7!

"10:04" by Ben Lerner (3 May, 2017)

A small turnout to discuss The First Stone by Helen Garner but there was a very lively discussion of the motifs of power, sexuality, age and privilege.  Made for very enjoyable and warm evening.

The next book is 10:04 by Ben Lerner at The All Nations thanks to Mark and Tom for the suggestion.

"The First Stone" by Helen Garner (1 March, 2017)

Great turnout for our last book, Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu, Black Seeds, with a really lively and thoughtful discussion about aboriginal and white history, the place of aboriginal agriculture alongside western land use in Australia and a lot more besides.  I worked hard to get this book up and I'm thrilled it was a success.

Our next book is Helen Garner's The First Stone which will be back at The All Nations on March 1.

"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.