"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.

"Amongst Women" by John McGahern (2 November, 2016)

I missed this month's book group but I really enjoyed the book Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter.  I thought it was a powerfully written exploration of grief in a family when the mother dies.  The writing is beautiful capturing the interrupted thoughts as recollections intrude on everyday life and introducing a crow as an unwelcome part of family to be the grief, an inspired motif.

The next book is Amongst Women by John McGahern, an acclaimed Irish author and I understand this is his greatest work.

The next meeting will be at The All Nations Hotel at 20:00 on November 2.  See you there!

"Grief Is The Thing With Feathers" by Max Porter (5 October, 2016)

For only the second time since the book group started I had to miss last night's meeting so I'm reporting secondhand.

It would seem that no-one cared for After The Circus although Quinn has directed that I should say:

we thought it was ripper of a read, fast moving, exciting plot, well developed characters highly recommended

Next month's book is Grief Is The Thing With Feathers (2015) by Max Porter. The book was nominated for the Guardian's First Book Award in 2015.