“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.