December: Favourite book read this year

Judy De la T:  Judy read 4 interconnected books written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón:

The Shadow of the Wind

The Angel’s Game

The Prisoners of Heaven

The Labyrinth of the Spirits

 Set in Barcelona in Franco’s Spain, it involves intrigue, mystery, corruption and circles around Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the bookshop of Sempore and Sons.

Connie:  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Connie found the characters likeable and the dilemma they found themselves in was intriguing. A young highflyer with career and everything it brings, becomes paralyzed following a motorbike accident. His carer, a young girl from a not well off family takes on looking after this miserable bloke.

Tam:  A Passionate Life by Ita Buttrose

Having listened to Ita Buttrose talk about her life, Tam was interested to read her autobiography. As well as being a wonderful and dignified speaker, her life was very interesting. She was a trendsetter being a pioneer in the media industry, and she had her struggles including a couple of marriages, but never lost her dignity.

Pamela:  The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

This is a very strange book narrated by a Pakistani man. He tells the story of his life to an American in a café in Lahore. The format of the book is interesting, there are a lot of ambiguities and parts of it are very sinister.

Bev:  A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski

For over 10 years, four women have been members of an online Book Club, but they have never met. They are all very different people, at different stages of their lives and careers. They decide to meet for a week in the Blue Mountains and each has to bring a book that personalizes their life.

Lesley listed a variety of books she had enjoyed this year.

They included

Kristina Ohlsson ~ Silence, Unwanted and The Chosen

Robert Galbraith ~ Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike), Cuckoo’s Calling, Silkworm

Judy Nunn ~ Maralinga

Jane Harper ~ The Dry and Force of Nature

Liane Moriaty ~ What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret and Truly Madly Guilty

David Lagercrantz ~ The Girl in the Spider’s Web continuing the Millennium Trilogy following the death of Stieg Larsson

Val:

Val read a poem by Robert Risenden, better known for his thrillers.

 

Pat:  The Stony Ground by Michael Crowley

This book had a personal connection for Pat as it told the story of James Ruse, a First Fleeter who eventually settled and farmed along the Hawkesbury River, close to where Pat now lives. No biography has been written about him because he was a convict, so this is a fictional account based on historical records.

Wendy L:

Jane Harper’s The Lost Man is her third book and in Wendy’s opinion, her best. It is totally different from the first 2 books featuring Aaron Falk.

Her second recommendation is Feet of Clay by Markus Zusak. This book took many years to write and tells the story of several generations of one family. The Dunbar boys are a gaggle of bruised and battered brothers, raising themselves in the wake of tragedy. Their mother is dead, their father has fled and most remarkable of all is Clay. Watch out for the twist at the end!

Charis:  Starlite Drive-In by Marjorie Reynolds

A young girl and her parents live in the Starlite Movie Theatre. When a young man comes to work at the theatre, both mum and the daughter fall in love with him.

There is a murder but the the story is told very gently.

Rosemary: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

This is the incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved, Gita, whom he met within the camp. It is his account of what they needed to do to survive.

“If you wake up in the morning and you’re alive, it’s a good day!”

Jo:

Jo read 4 books from The Cotswold Mysteries, a series of 16 books. Tragedy and intrigue set among the muddy paths and winding roads of this beautiful countryside.

Anne: Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales

Following unexpected circumstances in her own life, Leigh Sales became interested in how ordinary people turn their lives around following tragedy The book is full of many interesting stories of people who have managed to survive.

Kris: Red Notice by Bill Browder

This is the true story of high finance, murder and one man’s fight for justice. Bill Browder was in the ‘dog eat dog’ world of hedge fund investing in the 1990s.

He had developed his business in Russia investing in undervalued Russian oil stocks. He later finds himself on the wrong side of some very powerful men when his young lawyer is murdered after uncovering a huge fraud committed by Russian government officials.

                        

Natalie:  Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriaty

This book was a disappointment, certainly not the author’s best work. Natalie thought it became bogged down in parts.

Sheila:

Sheila has thoroughly enjoyed reading Sharpe’s Company by Bernard Cornwall.

This is a series of historical fiction stories centered on the character of Richard Sharpe in the British Army beginning with the Napoleonic Wars

 The stories are historically sound and very good fun to read, covering the period from 1799 to 1821.

Joan: The Fox Hunt by Mohammed Al Samawi

This is a young man's moving story of love, war, and hope in which he recounts his harrowing escape from fanaticism and a brutal civil war in Yemen, with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of interfaith activists in the West.

Joan described it as a riveting page turner. It showed the generosity of the human spirit and is very current.

Diann: Daughter of Australia by Harmony Verda

Written in 2016, the book has epic scope along the same lines as The Thorn Birds. It is filled with characters and vivid details of the Western Australian landscape.

This year, Women in the Bush has been a theme for Diann’s reading.

Prue: Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter

This Science Fiction thriller is the first of a trilogy. Humanity has been decimated by a human pandemic and it looks like the end. But genetic engineers can change the genes in some people and also genetically engineer other people to do the work.

The story rolls along at a good pace, and the characters are well developed. Some of the problems they encounter are also the problems we have today.

Judy J: Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

This family saga portrays the lives of an Irish family in Brooklyn, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and then the second world war. A young woman becomes a diver to help the war effort and after meeting a gangster her father had worked for, she tries to find out how and why her father has disappeared. A magnificent book.

Julia: Redemption Point by Candice Fox

This book is a real thriller. It’s the story of a former police officer who was wrongly (according to him) accused of abducting a 13-year-old girl. The book is set in Queensland.

The author is also the co-writer of several best sellers with James Patterson.

Ed: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

This an enthralling historical novel about two women, a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War 1 and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947. This is a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

January 2019

Santa Sack: come along and tell us about a book you read over the Festive Season

NOVEMBER, 2018 - VARIOUS TITLES BY LISA GENOVA

Lisa Genova is a neuroscientist who writes novels about the diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease and how the family copes.  Lisa wanted people to understand these diseases and develop a compassionate awareness of what it feels like to have a disease like Huntington's or Early Onset Alzheimers.

Huntington's disease is an inherited Neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of voluntary motor control and an increase in involuntary movements. 

STILL ALICE:

This is a novel about Alice who has early onset Alzheimer's disease.

KRIS:

This is a story about Alice, a well respected Harvard professor, married to a successful research scientist.  They have 3 grown children.  She is only 50 when she gets the diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease.  Each of her children has a 50% chance of inheriting the mutation which has a 100% chance of causing the disease. It is a very poignant story of Alice and the family, how they learn to deal with it and the change in their relationships.  As readers, we go through the harrowing downward spiral of Alzheimer's disease.  It is a heartbreaking story but it's worth reading. 

BEV:

She found it a bit close to home as her mum had Alzheimer's disease.  Alice knows something is wrong but not sure.  When she gets diagnosed her husband refuses to believe it.  He insists on having more tests to prove the diagnosis.  The younger daughter who didn't always get on with the mother proves to be the most support.  Alice eventually loses power of speech but at the end she is still Alice.  Bev understood how the family felt as she went through the same thing with her mother.

DIANN:

She found it a bit difficult to read and confronting.  She didn't finish the book and said it wasn't relaxation reading.

CLAURENE:

It was very interesting and Claurene enjoyed it thoroughly.  The author knew all about the disease.

JUDY D:

Judy's father had Alzheimer's in the 1960's when people didn't know about the disease.  She didn't enjoy the book and felt it was painful because of the association.  She said it wasn't a book to read for enjoyment.

INSIDE THE O'BRIENS

 This a novel about Joe O'Brien who is diagnosed with Huntington's disease.  It is an inherited condition affecting the nervous system.

WENDY: 

This book was written in 2015.  Joe O'Brien is a 44 year old Boston policeman who is diagnosed with Huntington's disease.  He had noticed some unusual things happening. His co-workers notice and think he is dangerous at work.  A few of the symptoms are involuntary movements, dementia and anger. He is put off work to be diagnosed.  Huntington's is a genetic disease.  The story is told from his daughter Katie's point of view.  It is very informative but sometimes a bit like a lecture.  The characters were stereotypical.  Wendy enjoyed the book.

PAT:

Pat started reading it and even though she liked the way the author writes, she didn't want to read a sad book at this time.

DI:

This is a story about a family dealing with a nightmare disease.  It's a macabre lottery that passes on the disease to some children and not others.  Joe, who is diagnosed with the disease, thought his mother was a drinker but she actually had Huntington's disease.  There was a stigma.  He had years without knowing.  Di said the Irish family lived like they have just stepped off the boat - very religious. They expect children to marry someone from same religion - Catholic.

VAL:

Val said the characters were stereotyped.  She didn't want to read about this disease.

JULIA:

Julia really enjoyed the family.  She thought she writes well about the disease and what the family is going through. 

KRIS:

Lisa Genova is very good at portraying a family facing the consequences of a terrible disease.  She takes you on a journey with the family watching the symptoms worsen, the changes in the family dynamics and at the end, the deep love and respect they have for each other.  It was a bit difficult to get into at first because of some of the characters but it's worth a read, although a bit depressing. 

LEFT NEGLECTED

CONNIE:

This is a story of a young wife and mother of three children.  She is well off.  She is involved in a car accident.  Although she hasn't injured much, she has a bump on the head and gets tested for brain damage. Her brain has been so affected it won't acknowledge anything on her left side.  It's not able to be fixed.  She can't work or drive or cook.  It unites the family and Connie was uplifted by the fact the family got through it and it ends happily.  Connie said it was well written and very precise.

LOVE ANTHONY

This novel is about an autistic boy and the effects it has on the family.

LESLEY:

There are two parallel stories.  The first is about Anthony an 8 year old autistic boy who is very challenging.  He is uncontrollable, non verbal, throws tantrums and it all falls on his mother who is consumed by him.  There is a major crisis and Anthony dies.  Olivia, the mother has so much grief and thinks "why me?"  The marriage breaks up and Olivia goes away.  She meets another woman, Beth who is grieving over her husband who is having a long term affair.  They form a friendship.  Beth has autistic tendencies and writes a book about an autistic boy from his perspective. When Olivia reads the book it helps her understand what Anthony went through and gives her comfort.  Lesley said it was well written although some things were a bit shallow like Beth suddenly being a good writer. 

JUDY A:

Judy found it a bit contrived, although the author did express well the anxieties and worries parents experience.

ED:

She enjoyed it as much as you can from a certain point of view.  She didn't realise how bad things could be for families with autistic children. She said "it opens your eyes to what people are experiencing".


EVERY NOT  PLAYED

This is a story about a man who get ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) - a neurological disease that affects the nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement.

ROSEMARIE:

Rosemarie was amazed by the research of the mental and physical aspect of this disease - ALS. 

CHARIS:

This is a story about a concert pianist who loses movement to ALS, and his ex-wife, both unforgiving. Charis didn't want to read it as it is very explicit about the nursing care and the demands made on carers.  She also thought the storyline about the demise of the marriage and final forgiveness did not hold up enough over the descriptions of caregiving.  She felt at the end she was reading a marketing tool as a fundraiser for a dreadful motor neurone disease, which was proven in the author's note at the end of the book.


Joan read a different book.  She read SMALL FRY by LISA BRENNAN JOBS. This is a memoir by Steve Job's illegitimate daughter.   Steve Jobs was a college dropout and he and his girlfriend had a baby.  He denied paternity but did eventually agree to pay child support.  Lisa had no father around and craved his love.  Joan found it a very interesting read. 


In December we will discuss our favourite book we have read this year, not including any book club choices.

Our next book club meeting will be on Thursday 13th December, 2018.  Please bring your own morning tea.  After the meeting we will meet at Cornerstone Cafe, Windsor for our Christmas lunch.

Kris
 

OCTOBER, 2018 - BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR SUSAN FLETCHER

Susan Fletcher  is British novelist. She won the 2004 Whitbread First Novel Ward for Eve Green.
Her themes deal with loss, loneliness, guilt and the psychic damage caused by the burden of keeping secrets.


EVE GREEN

JO:
She really liked the book.  She found it interesting but rather confusing.

PAULINE:
Following the loss of her mother at aged eight, Evie is sent to Wales.  She sets out to discover her family secrets.  The story is about her remembering as she awaits the birth of her baby.  Pauline said the writing was good and descriptive but there was no great plot.  It was interesting how the child Evie viewed everything. The writer has attachment to the Welsh landscape.  Pauline's only criticism is that the story goes back and forth.

JULIA:
She didn't like the flashbacks.  She thought it was a sad book.  She like how she dealt with lies and how to survive when love is gone.

KRIS: 
She really enjoyed this book.  It was difficult to begin with but then she became quite absorbed in the story.  She liked the character of Evie as a child.  When she is sent away to live with her grandparents in rural Wales, Evie sets out to discover her family's dark secret. Evie is fiery and spirited just like her mother and grandmother before her.  She becomes involved in the search for a local girl, Rosie who has disappeared.  I liked the characters and the descriptions of the wild Welsh countryside.



A LITTLE IN LOVE

PAMELA:
She didn't like the story and found it very depressing.

JOAN:
33 years ago Cameron McIntosh produced the musical Les Miserables - adpated from the novel by French novelist Victor Hugo (1862).  "A Little in Love" is a vignette of Les Miserables.  The main character, Eponine lives with her cruel family of thieves in Paris.  Cosette comes to live with the family as the kitchen slave.  She shows kindness to Eponine.  Joan liked the characters as she loved the musical. She said it was an easy read. The backtracking was well done and she was quite 
impressed.  

DIANN:  
She loved it.  She said it touched her.  The author writes beautifully.  Eoponine was a formidable character.  The story flowed well and she would highly recommend this book.

ANNE:  
She hated this book.

JUDY A:
She didn't like it and only got half way through.  The first person narration irritated Judy.

CHARIS:
A little way through this book she thought she was reading something akin to Hans Christian Anderson for teenagers.  It was a high school book teaching the morals of good and bad behaviour set against a testing background from being born into a criminal family.  Love was vested in the people showing good and living the life envied by the main character, Eponine. Set against the lower classes rising against the King in the French Revolution, it contains stories of brutality and heartlessness.

THE SILVER DARK SEA

CLAURENE:  
She tried to skip over things and didn't finish.  The story is set on an imaginary small island in  Britain.  Four years previously one of their men was lost at sea. The islanders are still in mourning.  An unclothed man is washed ashore.  He has no memory.   She didn't like this book.

BEV:
She read for one hour and didn't like the book.  "It goes every which way" Bev said. It was too descriptive and Bev thought "why waste my time".

CHARIS:
It's about experiencing grief and only once did it go too far in the grieving process.  The characters were engaging.  It goes along at a slow rhythmic pace making it a slow read.  Charis said it was well written and gives hope in the grieving process.  She really liked this book.  Charis also read A Little in Love but didn't like it and felt it was more like a High School book.



LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT A MAN I KNEW


TAM:  
This is a fictional story that begins with a new patient with wild red hair and a savaged ear who comes to an Asylum in the south of France.  The doctor's wife ignores her husband's wishes and visits Van Gogh regularly.  Her life was pretty boring and he made it more exciting. Tam said she liked this book and would read more.


ED:
She had trouble getting into it at first but things improved.  The story is about a husband and wife who grew apart and weren't telling each other things.  She relearns things about her husband after getting to know Van Gogh.


CONNIE:
She had a bit of trouble with the use of real names to make a fictitious story but apart from that she enjoyed her descriptions of scenery and people.  It didn't explain Van Gogh too much.  What the doctor saw in the Crimean war is what affected his relationship with his wife.  They were close before the war.  Connie felt the author did that part quite well.

LESLEY:
She liked it.  It's set in an Asylum in Provence.  The story is not about Van Gogh, a poverty stricken artist who has episodes of madness.  It's about a relationship with no communication - the doctor and his wife and the change Van Gogh brings to them.  Lesley didn't mind it was a blend of real and fictitious. Lesley also spoke about the Mistral - the strong wind that blows two months of the year.  It was like another character who created change.

DIANE:
She can't say she enjoyed it.  She said Susan Fletcher was a beautiful writer but she wanted more action.  She has a way with words that evoke the time and area and creates an atmosphere but nothing really happens. It's more about internal things.  A painter wants to come to the institution to be inspired.  The doctor's wife becomes obsessed with the painter.  As her last birth was very traumatic her husband did not want to have an intimate relationship with her.

JUDY D:
She read it in one day and could not put it down.  She knew Van Gogh's story but it wasn't really about Van Gogh.  It was about lack of communication in the relationship between the doctor at the asylum and his wife, as well as problems with their sex life.  The priest intervened to try to help them.

ROSEMARIE:
She didn't finish it but enjoyed it enough to renew it.  She said Van Gogh is not the main character in the book.


OYSTERCATCHERS


PAULINE:
 It's the story of two sisters, Moira and Amy.  Moira is the much older sister of sixteen year old Amy.  The story is told at the bedside of Amy who is in a coma.  Pauline wasn't sure she would like it but she loved this book.  It was well written.  The prose is beautiful.  Moira was away at school in Norfolk and always resented her younger sister.  In the story you hear about Moira's life - her thoughts and her regrets. Pauline said it was a lovely book to read.

PRUE:
Prue gave an account of the autobiography she read titled SONGS OF A WAR BOY: THE BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHY OF DENG ADUT - a Child Soldier, Refugee and Man of Hope.
Prue already knew a bit about him. Deng was born in Sudan.  She said it was very emotional.  It is plain talk about himself, as it happened.  It's easily written and nothing complicated.  He had no education and couldn't speak English but he got educated in university.  He discussed how his brother couldn't make it here despite his education but Deng has decided his life will be in Australia.

Next month we will be reading books by Lisa Genova.

Kris 
 

SEPTEMBER: Biography or Autobiography

Judy De la T:    A Mother’s Story by Rosie Batty

Judy described it as a good but difficult book to read. It was very sad and hard to understand the abusive relationship.

Connie:  The Selected Letters of Willa Cather edited by Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout

During her life she wrote over 3000 letters but indicated in her will that they were not to be published. Now they are out of copyright, and this book contains 700 of them. Her letters begin when she was 14year old and continue through her life, to her friends, family and famous people she met. Many of them reflect her love for Nebraska where she spent her early childhood.

She also writes about her books, making Connie wanting to read these books now.

Diann:  Women of Spirit, True-Life Stories of Inspiring Country Women by Anne Crawford

These are the true stories of 9 women who grew up in the country or married men working on the land. The book touched Diann because of these strong women who showed strength, fortitude, and courage often in very difficult conditions.

Tam:  My Story: Schapelle Corby with Kathryn Bonella

Understanding that the book is written from her point of view, Tam thought it raised some doubt about whether Schapelle was guilty. Much has come out later about the role baggage handlers may have played and how the media manipulated the story. The conditions in prison were horrendous but at all times Corby maintained her innocence. An interesting story.

Jo:   Survival: The Inspirational Story of the Thredbo Disaster’s Sole Survivor by Stuart Diver

Stuart had spent his childhood taking part in outdoor activities, including learning survival skills.

Following the avalanche he was trapped under concrete, next to his badly injured wife. The story of his survival was a fantastic, gripping story.

Julia: Judi Dench: With a Crack in her Voice by John Miller

This was a lovely book with lots of good photos covering her incredible and varied career. She has starred in many films, TV series, plays etc and ‘never wants to retire’.

As a young girl she had wanted to be a ballet dancer, but was talked out of this by her father because of the limited time in such a profession.

There are updated versions of her life story as her success continues.

Natalie:   Lucky Man by Michael J Fox

An interesting story, covering his acting career, his marriage and the diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, which forced him to give up acting.

 

Claurine:   A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her Work by Bernadette Brennan

The book covers the 40 years that Helen Garner has been writing and describes her life at the time of writing each book. The author spoke to family and friends and had access to Garner’s private papers.

Claurine really enjoyed the book, and it made her want to read more of Garner’s books.

Judy J:   Evita, the Real Lives of Eva Peron by Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navaro

This book gives many details of Eva Peron’s short but very full and interesting life. She grew up poor and had always dreamed of being an actress. After moving to Buenos Aries as a teenager, she later met and married Juan Peron and helped him to take on the presidency of Argentina. On her death at 33 years, she was a controversial figure, loved by the poor and unions but not popular with the military. The political history of the country is also well covered in this book.

 

Bev:   My Family’s Keeper by Brad Haddin

This book charts the rise of Brad Haddin from a talented junior cricketer to playing test cricket for Australia. Along the way he had to battle the stress of being an international sportsman and his family responsibilities when his daughter was diagnosed with cancer. As a cricket fan, Bev enjoyed reading about other cricketers and matches.

Luckily the story has a happy ending!

Charis:   I Me Mine by George Harrison

George Harrison was the youngest member of the Beatles and began playing with them in Hamburg when he was 15years old. This book tells of his life until his death aged 58 from throat cancer. Charis was interested in the account of the amount of money he donated to the Hare Krishna.

He left the Beatles when he was 23, to begin his own musical career, saying that the Beatles had overshadowed his life. As a music fan, Charis enjoyed the book.

Anne:   Natural Born Keller, My Life and Other Palaver by Amanda Keller

Anne described the book as light-hearted and reasonably well written. The author documents her early life and her path to her successful TV career. As she described this, it is a lot of hard work and not such a glamorous life.

There were some humorous parts, but much of it was forgettable.

Pamela:   Hildergarde von Bingen

Born in 1098, she was an artist, author, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher and theologian and is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Her feast day is Sept 17^th and she was canonized on 10^th May 2012.

Val:   Clouds of Glory: a childhood in Hoxton by Bryan Magee

Val had spent part of her childhood in Worth (UK) and in this book the author has written about his childhood in nearby Hoxton. Val could relate to the area, the games, the shops, the people and the life they lived.

She liked the way he wrote, straightforward and descriptive. It was lovely to read and reminisce.

Judy A:  The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar

This is the author’s story of his search for his father. When he was 12 years old, his family went into exile in Egypt from Libya. A number of years later his father was kidnapped and sent back to Libya. After the fall of Gaddafi the author sets out to find out what happened to his father.

The story had a complex structure moving between the past and present, intertwining the history of Libya with the search for his father and his frustrations with the British Government and access to information.

This moving and well-told story won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

 

Ed:  The Lost Boy by David Pelzer

This is the 2^nd book and begins when the author is about 9 years old. His early life had been dreadful, unloved and abused by his mother. In this book he is eventually taken into foster care and moves through a series of families and the Juvenile Justice System. He is fascinated by aircraft and wants to join the Air Force, but he need an education for this!

Despite the details of the boy’s suffering, there is no explanation as to why his mother hated him.

Wendy L:   A Fence Around the Cuckoo by Ruth Park

This lovely book tells the story of Ruth Park’s childhood growing up in New Zealand during the Depression. Much of what she experienced comes out in her books; tolerance, reliance, charity and humour. A delightful read.

 

Kris:   The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

She was a marvelous woman who led a very interesting life. Although she came from a wealthy family she seemed to be a very frightened child, her mother was aloof and her father’s health was ravaged by alcohol. She married Franklin D Roosevelt who served four terms as President of the USA. She became very involved in political life, particularly women’s rights. Her book also tells of the famous people they mixed with, and gives explanations for many of the decisions her husband made.  A remarkable woman.

Diane:   A Very English Scandal by John Preston

Diane described it as one of the best books she had read.  It is the true story of the Thorpe affair in Britain, in which former Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, was tried and acquitted of conspiring to murder his alleged former lover, Norman Scott.

Diane was flabbergasted by their behavior, all true and provable; members of Parliament conspiring to murder, cover-ups and the incredible power of the ‘upper class’.

Rosemary: Pastor and Painter: Inside the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran – from Aussie schoolboys to Bali 9 drug traffickers to Kerobokan’s redeemed men by Cindy Wockner

Although they grew up in similar circumstances, they really didn’t know each other until the lure of easy money through drug running, brought them to Bali. Having been caught and charged, they were sentenced to death. This book tells how they rehabilitated themselves while in prison; one became a preacher, the other a pastor.

They accepted what they had done; they didn’t want release, just life. But all their good work was not enough to change their sentence. They died being good men. So sad. A gut wrenching story.

OCTOBER:      Susan Fletcher  ~  various titles available from the Library

NOVEMBER:   Lisa Genova    She is an American Neuroscientist and author who  writes fiction about characters dealing with neurological disorders.

DECEMBER:   The best book you’ve read this year. (not from Book Club)

August: Segregation and The Colour Purple

This month we took advantage of the Library’s multiple copy collection with some members reading The Colour Purple by Alice Walker. Others chose books with similar themes of race and segregation.

The novel was written by Alice Walker, published in 1982 and won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize.

It is an epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.

Connie:

She found it interesting the way the author told the story through letters, and was disgusted by the behavior of the men towards women. She felt great sympathy with the people and the times they lived in.

Jo:

Jo loved the book, once she became used to reading the letters and colloquial language used by the author.

Sheila:

Sheila felt that Celie was a very strong character, but that it was an awful state of affairs when many accepted their situation. The incest and the beating of the women were horrendous. She thought the only way for this to change, was to educate the women. She was happy with how the book ended.

Judy D:

Judy liked the letter style of writing and thought the relationship between the 2 sisters was very heartwarming. But there were so many other horrific things that happened in the book.

Charis:

Charis called it a ‘woman’s book’, the letters were written between the two sisters who were both powerful characters and their attempts to get their families together again after being separated so long before. She commented on the interesting way that Celie’s faith developed for her. Both sisters had strong faiths.

Pat:

Pat thought that the behavior of the men was a learned behavior. She gave the example of Harpo who wanted to be like his father in the way he controlled his wife.

Celie developed as a character, accepting of what happened to her, until she met another strong woman.

Pat found it hard to read, but enjoyed it.

Judy J:

Judy commented on the languages, grammar and short sentences that the author used. This gave the book more authenticity.

The title comes from a comment by Shug to Celie that God would get angry if you walked past the colour purple in a field and didn’t notice it, referring to people who ignore the good and beauty in the world.

Tam:

Tam thoroughly enjoyed it, she liked the language that was used as it felt part of the characters.

She thought Shug was the catalyst to get the other characters to change.

Great book.

 

Wendy L:  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

In 1951 Henrietta died of cancer in a segregated hospital. Following her death, the hospital kept cells that had been taken for a biopsy and started to experiment with these . Permission had not been given and the family were never told. It happened that her cells were quite different from others and very reproducible.

The book is part biography of Henrietta, part expose of the science community and part detective story to discover what really happened.

Wendy described it as honest and intimate prose backed by strong research. A great read!

Wendy J: The last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

Honor Bright is a young English Quaker who migrates with her sister, to Ohio (USA) before the Civil War. Following several family tragedies, Honor is alone and gets drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom.

Wendy was interested, as she became a Quaker herself.

Diann: Short Stories of Apartheid by Ilan Ossendryver

The author is a photojournalist who grew up in South Africa during the worst years of apartheid. He has compiled a collection of stories from this time.

Family Reunion is the story of the small village Lwako. One day the chief receives a visit by Government officials who hand him a letter and advises him that the families must be ready to leave in 3 days as the government is taking their village. The chief is illiterate, but plans with his people to defend their homes.

The police and government officials arrive, and following a brief resistance, the village is destroyed and the people removed. When the chief’s son returns to see his father, he finds the letter and reads that the wrong village has been targeted!

Pamela: Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner

The story concerns Thomas Sutcliffe who could be considered as ‘white trash’ but he makes good in Haiti and marries a planter’s daughter. She proves to be an unsuitable wife, so he leaves her and returns to the south with 100 Negroes. Here he lives a respectable life, and fathers  two children with a married woman.

The story is very complicated, told by several narrators, very few chapters and very long sentences. 

Pamela described it as the most haunting book she had read, brilliant but irritating. It makes you understand the terrible problem of racial intolerance in the South

Kris: Small Things Great by Jodie Picoult

Three characters narrate the story. Firstly there is Ruth, a black midwife, well respected and 20 years in the job. Secondly, there is Turk, an obnoxious white supremacist who demands that Ruth does not look after their baby. When the newborn dies, Ruth is blamed. Finally there is Kennedy, the white Public Defender in the case.

Kris thought the characters were interesting, but the writing was too wordy with a tendency to describe everything in such detail.

The book was written from a white position and makes you question position, power, race and privilege.

Rosemary: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Written in 1964, the book has themes of racism and prejudice.

Rosemary enjoyed the book, commenting that it was full of insights, including that prejudice can go both ways.

Pauline: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Her comment was that the book was rather nice and quite humorous. She enjoyed their adventures down the river. It was interesting that 14-year-old Huck and Jim the black slave, who was 21 years old, and married with children, got on very well. They were both accepting of the role and position of slaves having grown up with it.

 But their relationship changed when they met the ‘nigger hunters'.

A classic book, well worth reading.

Judy A : There There by Tommy Orange

This is the complex story of 12 characters who, all for different reasons come to Oakland (California) to attend the Big Oakland Powwow. What once was a beautiful suburb is now an urban slum. The city mirrors the sad demise of the American Indian.

Judy liked it, but didn’t love it!

 

SEPTEMBER:  Your choice of an autobiography or biography

OCTOBER:  As Willa Cather books were difficult to obtain we will have a different author for our October meeting.  We will be reading Susan Fletcher, a British author born in 1979

Four titles have been chosen:

Eve Green
The Silver Dark Sea
A Little Love
Let Me Tell You about a Man You Know.