2013 November - Merivel by Tremain & Skios by Frayn

Merivel -- Rose Tremain                      Marks 7 Nov 2013

1. This is the sequel to Restoration which the group read earlier this year. It is 16 years since the events of the earlier book and Merivel has found his old journal to remind himself and us of what had happened.  Now he has his Manor back and a beautiful 17-year-old daughter, but she is lonely and wants to go away with friends to stay by the the sea. Making the best of this Merivel travels to Versailles to the Court of The Sun King. However he is not destined to recreate his relationship with Charles II with this French king, living in poverty and finding it difficult to even gain access to him for even the briefest time. However he makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Louise and together they rescue a bear and have a very brief affair before her sodomite husband breaks it up. He returns to England to find his daughter very sick and while she's recovering the King comes to stay for what seems like an unrealistically long time. In fact Margaret goes back to Court with Charles worrying Merivel about his intentions. So Merivel travels to Switzerland to visit Louise and is all but ushered into Louise's bed by her father.  Having agreed to marry her, and fought a staged duel with her husband, he has to hasten back to the bedside of the dying King. This act duly taking place he finds himself without an income, with his manor all but destroyed by the servants running amok in his absence, his Faithful Retainer, Will dead, but his daughter happily settled. So he has little choice but to return to Louise, however he makes the fatal mistake of calling on his old lover in London where a last dalliance rather shockingly proves the end of him.
     Merivel is described by the group as being compassionate with a sense of humour but licentious. He's a lusty man. The King was the real obsession of his life. Several people noted the parallels to Tom Jones. One member felt she didn't like his character and wondered if there was something she was missing. Another found him very real, with his heart ruling his head. He had a sad life with a rather sad end.
In general people had mixed feelings, some liked the love story, the section in Switzerland and the duel, although one in particular disliked the fact that he was writing about whether animals have souls.
People questioned whether the book stood on its own or whether it really only stood as a sequel. Again there were different feelings as to this. Some felt that expectations were rather too high having read the first one. One or two had not read the first book and still enjoyed this one. Which would seem to be the ultimate test.

2. I like Rose Tremain - I like her style very much and I enjoy historical fiction. I’m not sure how I feel about the character of Merivel - the book is a personal journal and shows many admirable qualities - he is compassionate and has a sense of the ridiculous, but I was troubled by his licentiousness. I suppose that this probably reflects the ways of the court. I wonder if he is portrayed as someone who aided and abetted, or even influenced the behaviour of the King. It is a while since I read Restoration - those of you who have read it more recently would possibly know.   6/10

3. The final years of Merivel, up to an including the kings death and the betrothal of his daughter. He is still a lusty man, but more introspective. He is infatuated with Louise until her wish for 'playing' gets too much and he has to fight a duel for her. It could be a history of the time of a man made rich by the kings benefice. Is it a good book? Hard to say. Difficult to recommend. It did not really stand on it's own, but relied on you having read the first volume, which we read a couple of months ago. We did wonder why it took 10 years for her to write the sequel to Restoration. 

Skios -- Michael Frayn                 Marks : High. 4,     Low.  2      Average. 3.5

- Dr. Norman Wilfred, a world celebrity in the field of scientific management of scientific research, descends from a first class flight with champagne pampering to the island of SKIOS.
He  is looking forward to delivering his classic lecture at the prestigious Fred Toppler Foundation Annual Conference. Unfortunately for Dr Wilfred, arriving at the same time are the soft smiling eyes and tousled blond hair that top off the younger, slimmer body of impulsive chancer Oliver Fox. Fox is having some doubts about spending the week with his latest conquest Georgie. He absent-mindedly picks up Dr Wilfred's suitcase at the luggage carousel, is mistaken for Dr Wilfred by Mrs Toppler's PA, the discreetly tanned, discreetly blonde, Nikki, and makes a spur of the moment decision to play the hand fate has dealt him.The story of the next few days involves Russian Oligarchs,Greek shipping magnates, money laundering, theft of ancient statues, a discussion on the probabilistic nature of determinism in the universe, the inability of foreigners to tell Greek taxi drivers apart, various attempts at sex, a grossly implausible number of misunderstandings and coincidences and an unexpected ending or two.

Our verdict was short and unanimous. A particularly irritating farce that was mainly a painful read . It might well work as a play but not as a book. We could happily have moved swiftly on but Chris insisted on mentioning one or two funny bits that tickled his schoolboy sense of humour and waffling on about Oliver Fox being the personification of creativity and spontaneity we all admire in writers who just make things up as they go along. No-one was convinced by this. (admits Chris)

- An irritating farce.  3/10

- It is like a 'norman conquest' play with mistaken identities and bed-hopping. Frayn is a playright. It takes place on the Greek island of Skios, where Norman Wilfred is to give a lecture to a charitable foundation, and his place is usurped by a young bounder 'just because he could' Bounder is supposed to be enjoying an illicit week with a married woman, in a resort arranged by another lover, and Wilfred ends up there and starts to like it, except for sensible thoughts of responsibilities. It all comes together in a climax as The Bounder starts to give Wilfred's famous lecture, and chaos ensues. The author sort of gives up and supposes at this point. Very light read, lots of misunderstandings. Not a classic, 3

2013 October The Unicorn Road - Martin Davies & The Thread - Victoria Hislop

The Thread

Victoria Hislop

Told as a story being told to a young man by his grandparents in Thessalonika, about how Katherina was rescued from Smyrna in 1917 by a young soldier, ended up in Thessalonika separated from her mother, taken in by another refugee family, and intertwined this story with that of a greedy materials supplier's family throughout the turmoil in Greece, the second world war, and all the uprisings afterwards, until love is discovered. I lived the story, could see the environment, and couldn't put it down.

We as a group found this book interesting, especially the history of the Greeks during their conflicts which included the civil, World War 1 and their fight with communism. We learnt a great deal about the country and it’s people. It was a clever book in which Victoria Hislop made her well written story fit the history of Greece and Thessaloniki, many authors do the opposite. The main story was about the people who lived Irini Street, their different nationalities and religions who lived side by side in harmony.

The among the characters were Katerina who was separated from her mother during an evacuation to Athens, in the confusion she arrived in Thessaloniki on her own, Eugenia another evacuee took care of her along with her own twin daughters, Maria and Sofia, so became her foster mother. They were allocated a house in Irini Street, where they met Olga Komninos, her son Dimitri and Paulina, who was her maid and companion. Olga was the wife of a rich cloth merchant Konstantious, their large house in the affluent area of Thessaloniki had burnt down and she lived in Irini Street whilst her husband rebuilt first his business then a palatial home for his family. Please note that the business came well before the comfort of his wife and son. Next door were the Jewish family of Roza and Saul Moreno, their sons Elias and Isaac, Saul had a tailoring business, so this is the beginning of ’The Thread’. Katerini became an expert needlewoman and worked at the Moreno tailoring workshop. 

There are many tales ‘woven into’ the book but the story is the love between Dimitri and Katerina. In a section of the book Katernia believes Dimitri is dead and succumbs to the advances of the new owner of Moreno’s, Grigoris Gourgouris, who was a German collaborator and informer. When Katerina discovers his past she sets about killing her greedy repulsive husband by feeding him until he is so overweight he has a heart attack. (Murder)?

Victoria Hislop wrote the book as if Katerina and Dimitri were explaining their history to their grandson, which suited her style of writing.

Many of the group would recommend this book especially on the history of Greece and Thessaloniki.

Marks 6 (ranging from 6 - 9)

  

The Unicorn Road

Martin Davies

This book is an example of the author writing history to fit his book, it is an adventure story set in 1258 about a group of men searching for exotic beasts such as a Unicorn which were depicted in an ancient book. This was to gain favour with the Pope of that time in return for the right to a kingdom. The narrative of the book is written by the different characters that were either part or had connections with the convoy. It was a long and arduous journey as well as being a long and arduous book, with different tales woven into it.

Some of the group struggled, but kept going wanting to know what happened to all the characters and some persevered because it was a group read. Others thought the writing was beautiful and were surprised by it.

We follow a father looking for his son Benedict who went on the expedition with the scholar Antioch as his servant and companion, the father follows the route as best he can collecting information on the way.

Apart from Antioch and Benedict the other three main characters consisted of Decius, Venn, and Ming Yueh. The other characters who played important roles were the Gt. Khan, the evil Emperor, Lord Rustum, Leah of Kairouan, Song Rui and Pau. We came to understand Decius and the story of his wife Messalina; his looks didn’t show the man beneath. There was Venn who was a good man and befriended Benidect during the journey and kept him safe from harm on many occasion. Ming Yueh was a young woman in love with Song Rui a commander in the Emperor’s service; she was on her way to marry him and joined the convoy for protection. The very interesting side story of Ming Yueh was the writing on the women’s wall. Venn and Ming Yueh become lovers and plan to live their life together but events take place that this is not to be. There is such a sad ending in the book that some were enraged and others moved to tears.

Really the side story is about looking for the animals because if they found them, how would they capture and get them back, the book is about relationships.

Marks 6 (ranging from 5 - 7)

My best description is an intelligent juvenile fantasy. I cannot find many of the place names mentioned, though it sort of travels from Italy, via Basra to India and onwards, in search of fantasy animals like the unicorn. A Chinese love story is included. I cannot really get involved with it. The young man who is the centrepiece is almost a background character, overshadowed by others.

Two people loved it, and the rest when asked if they would have chosen it to read  implied not, and that they only read it because it was a chosen Reading Group book. It was a book that had been retrieved from the basement storage of the library. 

2013 September - Alone on a Wide Wide Sea & Restoration

Only five of us here.

Alone on a wide Wide Sea – Michael Morpurgo 2006

A simply written, easy to read story directed at Teanagers, Not too much detail, but enough to tell the story. The story conveyed the harshness and heartlessness of life in the outback. I was in tears as I finished it. Piggy's use of Religion made Liz fume. It pulled me in right from the beginning and I would have read it in two sittings if I could have. I guess not too much emotion on Arthurs part, but that was the harsh upbringing. It is the story of an orphan child sent to Australia in the early fifties, the harsh life he led, and his determination to return to England and find his sister, until the baton is thrown to his daughter, who at 18 sails singlehandedly to England to find her aunt. It helped that Allie had developed an interest in sailing from her father. There was discussion about the communications with the man in space and also the death of the Albatross and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In summary, it was a simple undemanding read, but there was no graphic horror in it.

Marks – 7 for four of us that had read it

Restoration – Rose Tremain 1989

A frivolous nothing of a book that has kept me from reading better books was my opinion. We have read five of Rose Tremain's books before. The hero is a dissolute courtier of Charles II who main interest is Rumpty-tump. I gave up at the badger coat thing, which the others commented showed that he cared for his fellow man. I was told that I should have persevered as Merivel is restored to an honourable man after he gives up the frivolous life and goes to practice medicine at the lunatic asylum with his friend Pearce. The descriptions of some of the medical practices are gruesome. The quietness in the asylum calmed him down. The last third of the book was more reasonable in comparison to court life which was so unstable and dependent on favours. But one comment was that it took longer than the usual 100 pages to get into the book.

It was commented that following his antics, downfall, and getting his self-respect back instead of playing the big man was interesting. He was not a cruel man. He was admired by Gates, his butler/servant, but he despised Pearce even though Pearce was his saviour.

In terms of the writing style, it was good, and didn't dumb things down.

A comment was that it reflects partly today's society, where a person trains as a Doctor and then throws it up to become a comedian.

If I am allowed thoughts, her other books have been better, and we have the sequel to this book coming up in a couple of months. Why are we having so many Tremains?

Marks for the three that read it were 7.

I feel I must comment on my thoughts of Restoration as the review above does not do it justice. I and many others in the group enjoyed this book and are looking forward to reading the second Merivel book called ‘Merivel A Man of His Time‘. True the first 100 pages or so read like a ‘Tom Jones’ romp, you have to read this section to find out how immoral he was in his youth and how he redeemed himself. This book ends just after his wife died in childbirth and his hopes for his daughter. I am more than happy to read Rose Tremain books, is it a female thing? The last reviewer was male, or am I being sexist.

2013 June - The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family memoir by a British renowned potter Edmund de Waal. He tells the story of his family the Ephrussi, who were once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, peers of the Rothschild family.The Ephrussi lost almost everything in 1938 when their property was taken over by Nazis. After the war the family never recovered most of the their extensive property including priceless artwork, but a collection of 264 Japanese netsuke (pronounced netski) miniature sculptures was miraculously saved, tucked away inside her mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at Palais Ephrussi in Vienna, during the war years. The collection was passed down as inheritance through five generations providing a common thread to tell the story of the Ephrussi fortunes from 1871 to 2009.

The group described this is a gentle, sensitive journey through generations of one family. It describes a privileged life, which was achieved through the grain trade. In some ways it parallels the better known Rothschilds.

 It was Elizabeth Ephrussi who took charge of the family during the war years, coming back to Vienna and obtaining permits for her parents to escape.

 It is a biography and a history, and as such of course can't help being a social commentary for the times.
The group noted the rationalisations given for taking the wealth from the Jews and not giving it back after the war, even by non-Nazis.

Some sympathy was shown for Anna who managed to save all the netsukes but her own future was unknown. There is some name dropping because the Eprussis socialised with or even commissioned Monet, Proust and Renoir who are all part of their rich history.

The details of the extra asparagus amused.

All in all the book went down well.

Marks 8.5

Added notes from OL: Briefly!

 

Hare with Amaber Eyes - based on what I think I thought on reading it some time ago.

Fascinating story but hard to follow - family trees and maps could have been clearer.

Possible a bit of editing would have helped. Felt sorry fpr the maid whose fate did not seem to concern the family.

Mark 8

2013 June - The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell

The story is set in the fictional town of Krishnapur during the Indian mutiny of 1857 and tells of a besieged British garrison which holds out for four months against an army of native sepoys. Among the community are the Collector, who is an extremely Victorian believer in progress and father of small children and who can often be found daydreaming of the Great Exhibition; the Magistrate a Chartist in his youth but who sees his youthful political ideals destroyed by witnessing the siege; Dr Dunstaple and Dr McNab who row over the best way to treat cholera; Fleury, a poetical young man from England who learns to become a soldier and Lucy a "fallen" woman rescued from a bungalow who eventually presides over a tea salon serving hot water in the despairing community. By the end of the novel cholera, starvation and the sepoys have killed off most of the inhabitants, who are reduced to eating dogs, horses and finally beetles, their teeth much loosened by scurvy. When the relieving force finally arrives they have so little idea of what the survivors have suffered that they offer alcoholic drinks all round .

We thought the book a marvellous mixture of tragedy and comedy ; horror and bravery . The story highlighted the need for people to believe in something in order to survive an extreme challenge . They needed to believe that the Collector was up to the job of leading them , and we saw the strain this put on a very able man . They also needed to maintain apparently trivial rituals of normal social life in order to keep up their spirits and prevent descent into uncivilised behaviour . The book also showed the gulf in understanding between the British and Indian communities and cultures .

Marks: High 9 , Low 6 , Average 7.5

Added comments from OL: Not what I expected at all.  Very clever. Humour in desperate situation well conveyed and very surprising.. I loved some of the set pieces like Lucy's teaparty, and the doctors' spats, The horror was there all the time however, and very vividly portrayed. Perhaps some of the women did not quite come to life.

I usually hate "For Reading Groups" at the end of a book but did think one question in this one was interesting,  something like this:  This book won the Booker prize in 1973; do you think it would have been likely to win in recent years, and if not why not?

I don't think it would, but cannot work out why that is what I think -

Mark from me 9

2013 August - The Elephanta Suite -Paul Theroux & Song of Achilles - M. Miller

2013 August Only five of us there.

The Elephanta Suite                          - Paul Theroux

I didn't finish it. I read two of the three stories and glanced through the third. I wasn't the only one. It was a depressing book made up of three stories about different elephanta suites. In all stories Americans come to India. the first, after Mr. & Mrs each have a brief affair with an Indian they are effectively thrown out and possibly killed. In the second a business man in India becomes enthralled with a young girl, then his business partner leads him into eastern mysticism, and Dwight gives up all to pursue it, handling over the American business to Shah, who is eager to grab it. The third was about an innocent young girl in an Ashram, who tries to leave. She is bothered by a man, and lets an elephant trample him. We didn't like the three stories being seperated and thought there was no real ending to any of them.

India seems to be all sweetness and light to strangers, but we do not know what they are saying about us in their own language. There was lots of discussion about visits to India. The consensus was that it was a good portrayal of India.

The two Americans from the first story and Dwight from the second are not very nice people at all. Dwight is not good at life – he lives a sterile life.

The book is about temptation, with possibly a biblical emphasis.

• the first story is about Adam & Eve, the second and third stories we did not discuss enough to give a biblical reference.

Perhaps this is why one of us referred to it as a sexy book, and wondered how it could possibly have been chosen for us.

We noted all the other books that we have read in the past with an Indian venue: Sari Shop, Marigold Hotel, Shantarum, Bookseller of Kabul, Passage to India, 3 Cups of Tea, 1000 Splendid suns, Sea of Poppies, - there were more-

Final comment was that we would remember the book, but not fondly.

Marks – 3.75 for four of us that had read it

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Song of Achilles                           – Madeline Miller

I copied these notes from Amazon as I felt they gave my feelings better than I could have done it: This book is very well-written and very involving in places but I did have my reservations about it. Patroclus's narrative voice is believable and gives a convincing account of his childhood misfortunes, the events which lead up to the Trojan War and the War itself. I like the depictions of characters like Odysseus and Agamemnon very much, place and mood are very well evoked, and there are some exciting and very interesting episodes. Madeline Miller is very keen to portray the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles as one of deep, enduring love, both spiritual and sexual. It is as if she wants to make homosexuality OK. Whether or not this is justified by the source texts is arguable. However, what we actually get is long, long periods where Patroclus moons around after Achilles like a love-sick puppy, to the point that I felt that the author herself was the one in love with Achilles and wasn't going to miss an opportunity to write a beautifully constructed sentence about his muscles, his hair, the curve of his chin or the soles of his feet (which seem to hold an endless fascination for her) and so on, which I eventually found almost unendurably tedious in places.

We liked the historical side and the godliness though mixing of gods and humans disturbed some. In general the love story between the two men was hard to take and overkilled. The Iliad itself had very lavish descriptions of the hero because it was about hero worship. Other than that comment some of us said that it made us want to read the Iliad. We wondered how Achilles could have accepted and got on living in a Harem.

It was commented that it was easier to write a novel when the story is written for you.

Marks ranged for 4 to 8, average 6

2013 July The Hound of the Baskervilles - Conan Doyle & Flight Behaviour - Kingsolver

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle written 1901

Final comment – If we came across another Holmes on the shelf, we would read it. We thought that we wouldn't actively seek it out.

We were surprised by how undated it seemed. Change a few physical things like the hansom cabs and it could be valid today. It had a great set of characters. Especially noted were Cartright and the lawyer that spent his own money arguing any case, and even both sides of a case.

Conan Doyle has a deceptively simple sort of writing that carries you along. It is spare, with nothing extraneous. It was a nice easy read. A first Conan Doyle experience for one of us, and a flash back to our youths for many of us.

It was noted that Phrenology had also come up in The Siege of Krishnapur last month. Conan Doyle had a number of strange interests.

It was commented that the Sister/brother relationship was contrived, but Liz pointed out that there were a lot of cases like that in the Bible.

Mark was 7, with +/- 1 variation.

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Flight Behaviour - Barbara Kingsolver 2012

A good Book Club choice – everybody read it and the marks varied widely.

Comments were on the lines of:

• Struggled to read it due to expectations of Kingsolver. She writes better than this. It didn't flow
• Depressing picture of Society – unfulfilled lives

• Didn't like the book hitting us over the head with ecology

We expected the Mexican characters to feature more, as they came from the home of the butterflies.

Liked some of the comic bits – Preston getting his encyclopaedia, Dovie videoing the TV interview.

Concern about the children and poverty,

the husband was a simple soul, without ambition; she had an unstretched brain. It was nice to see her develop an enquiring mind as she got involved with the science.

Ros thoroughly enjoyed it, thought she did a good job trying to explain global warming in simple terms, and we all learnt a lot about the life cycle of butterflies. Others hated the way we were beaten up again and again about climate change. Called it heavy propagandising.

Dellarobia was proving a point to her Mother-in-law by staying put, but once she learnt more about Hester she didn't have to, so took the other turning.

We could see where Dellarobia was coming from, how she married because she had to, made a wrong decision and everything that followed was a result of that. But, she fought and found a way out. It started with a sort of suicide, She was desperate to get out of her life. Working with the scientists and developing her self knowledge gave her the confidence in her abilities.

It was pointed out that the headings of the chapters were sociological and economics terms that grew around the story

Generally people thought that 'Prodigal Summer' was better.

Another comment was that the book was too long, but once she reached page xxx the author shut it down quickly It was a flawed book, and that make it easy to analyse.

Mark 6.5 varying from 4 to 9

2013 May - State of Wonder - Ann Patchett & Capital -John Lanchester

State of Wonder                             – Ann Patchett

It starts with such a weak premise that it is unbelievable, and therefore I could not continue it. I gave up about 50 pages in. The premise that a pharmaceutical firm would let one female researcher go off into the Amazon jungle by herself, and then send another top-flight researcher after her by himself, followed by a third, is not on. It destroys any credibility.

The definition of fiction that I remember from my school days is that it should be plausible, could happen. Non-fiction included factual stuff, and fantasy.

Today’s definition: the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, especially in prose form. So I suppose it fits.

No score.

comments from AW:
I have to say I found this dull at first (even though we are going to Manaus in January), and in normal circumstances would have given up if a) it wasn't bookclub (so,  fear of Liz), and b) it hadn't won an award.  However once Marina actually got into the jungle I found it considerably better paced and very enjoyable. It was well written to bring you round to the obstructive and 'doesn't suffer fools - gladly, if at all', character of Dr Swenson as actually trying to do something great for humanity. Still a bit of diplomacy with her financial backers wouldn't have gone amiss. So sorry for poor Easter though. Perhaps he will bring the tribes together one day.

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Capital                                                – John Lanchester

What happens on a typical urban London street, from the Muslim family in the corner shop, to the old lady at no. 27, to the rich banker who has a spendthrift wife, and then gets fired. Meanwhile someone is posting postcards about the neighbourhood, one house is used as a temporary residence for an African footballer, and Zbigniew the builder fancies the bankers nanny. You feel that you get to know the people. A good read, well paced and enjoyable.

Score: 8

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/01/book-club-capital-john-lanchester

Comments received from AW: It took me two goes to get into this, but it was prior to it being a bookclub choice. However at the second attempt I enjoyed it all the way through. I liked the characters, and the postcards theme which pulled everything together satisfyingly in the end. The only thing I found unconvincing was that the first postcard transgressor turned out to be the more devout of the Muslim brothers, the one that disapproved of the Western lifestyle. Would he really claim to want it rather than just condemn it? It's not impossible to be ambivalent about these things of course, but it felt unlikely here. I felt that the author wanted the postcards as a device and as the later perpetrator didn't know the people he was targeting he, the author,  had to have someone who set up the situation but without evil intent. Not a convincing choice.

2013 January The Observations - Jane Harris & Before I go to Sleep - S.J. Watson

Before I go to Sleep                 - S.J.Watson.

A first novel from this author. A couple of us got bored with it and found it hard work. I gave it up twice.

Chris announced controversially that the whole book up until she wakes up in Hospital after the fire takes place in one day. It seems longer because she is reading from the diaries.

There were flaws in the book. We disagreed with the fact that she was released from hospital without medical supervision – Our Doctor was not happy with that either, though it was commented that she was in there voluntarily. A point of contention was the Doctor telling her that her son was dead, despite him only knowing that because she had told him.

It was weak, with lots of loose ends, such as how did she find things, and implausible. The implausibility made it annoying to some of us. How did she get out of the hotel when she was tied to a chair and gagged, and 'Mike' didn't despite being free?

So feelings were mixed. It held some peoples interest, but others got bored with it. Someone thought it was a good bock, though ending was contrived, and problematic. More stated that they were disappointed with it. One said that it reminded her of Sophie Hannah, but wasn't as deep. Another felt that things were not right throughout, except the ending. And didn't like what it does to your head when the only person you trust is lying all the time.

We thought that it would make a brilliant film. Is this the way literature is going these days, written so that it can be made into a film? Is that good or bad? Does it reflect the attention spans or constrained time for reading that most of us have?

Marks ranged from 4 to 8. Is this the mark of a good reading group book? Marks 6/10

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The Observations                     Jane Harris

Bessie, a young prostitute fleeing Glasgow, finds a job in a country house where the mistress is always taking measurements - Observations – of her until she goes mad, causes havoc in the village, and ends up in a mental home. Bessie comes to work at the mental home looking after her mistress and finds happiness and security.

Here's a statement that pretty well describes it: “ I quite enjoyed it once it got going, but it took me a few tries to get into it. I felt I had to finish it so I could join in the discussions, but out of preference I would not have read it.”

Three people gave up on this book. It was called tedious. I gave up twice and then skipped to the last few chapters, and didn't think that I had lost anything. The discussion was basically Daphne telling us about the story, with a few interjections. Chris thought that it was worth reading because it had a nice ending, though quirky. Mind you the lead up to the ending had the mad woman on the loose, and Bessie's mother being cut in half by the train. Some thought that it was so implausible that you couldn't accept the situation.

Other thoughts were that it was compelling and intriguing. You wanted to know about Bessie's past, and about Arabella. They were pleased that they had finished it. That was a consensus of those that did finish it. There was humour in it, though it was 'bitty'.

Again, marks ranged from 4 to 8, with an average of 5 5/7 = 6

2012 September Love and Summer - William Trevor & The Blessing - Nancy Mitford

The two books for September had similarities, but could not be more different. Similarities between the two books have been noticed before, such as the case where both books involved twins. In this case, both books were set in the immediate post-war period, but one was in the English and French upper classes, and the other in rural Ireland.

Both the men in the RG gave up on Love and Summer by William Trevor. It was beautifully written, but when he takes the best part of a page to describe the act of putting the kettle on for tea, that is a bit slow. Perhaps in this modern age we are used to action,action,action, and can't wait for the next thing. (not stated very well). The book was written in 2009! It was described as a clichéd situation that kept you going to see if something would develop, but nothing did. There were no surprises. A few people commented that it had a depressing ending. It was noted that Trevor describes the 1950's (Ireland) as no one else can.

It was even noted that one person that had read it before couldn't remember it, it had not been memorable.

The story was about the awakening of love for Ellie, the orphan girl brought up in a convent, who had started as a servant for the farmer Dillahan,and ended up being married to him as a matter of convenience. To the photographer Florian she was just a summers dalliance, but to Ellie he was the spark of a real life. Miss Connulty was a side issue.

On marks this came out as 4.5, but was biassed upwards by not taking into account the two who couldn't see the point in continuing with it, which is a valid literary criticism.

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Contrast this with The Blessing by Nancy Mitford, that was written in about 1950, and well received. It could classify as a classic on that basis.

The complicated courtship and marriage of Grace and Charles-Edouard could be taken to be semi-autobiographical as the author married a Frenchman and lived in Paris too. She too was an uneducated country girl. It was funny the way that 'the Blessing' Sigismond did everything to keep the two apart as he was the beneficiary of their separation, he thought, but got found out at the end.

It exaggerated the social issues of the three classes of people, French, English, and Americans who are partakers in the story. It was nicely paced, and fun to read. Some bits had people laughing out loud. People said that French Society is even more closed than the English upper classes, and the French attitude to the English hasn't changed at all in the years since this was written.

Four 8's, two 7's, and two 6's gave this an average mark of 7.

2012- June - The Hand That Once Held Mine - O'Farrell & The Dissident - Freudenberger

The Hand that First Held Mine            By: Maggie O'Farrell

This book was chosen by Liz as the title requested by O'Farrell was not available. The consensus was that it was a bit contrived, though it was an OK read – a 'passing the time of day' read. It was also said that it was long-winded, the reader was desperate for something to happen.

It was commented that the title is terrible. It looked to be chick-litty, and some thought it would be “Maeve Binchy” ish.

Some found it infuriating that in a book where different chapters occur in different years, that the year was not given at the top of each chapter, especially when it is jumping between two characters 50 years apart. The book was completely written in the present tense, which didn't help when chapters were separated by decades. This was not obvious as there were people who thought that it was completely at the earlier time and surprised when mobile phones were used, and people who thought it was all in the current day.

There was the comparison between the two different experiences of child bearing – Lexie took it in her stride, yet 50 years on, Elinor fell to bits. Ted was annoying about the way that he treated his wife after child-birth.

The word contrived appears again when discussing how both of a couple died in mysterious circumstances, and at the ending where Ted discovers the cache of paintings.

The score was 6 varying from 4 to 7.

Liz commented that we shouldn't write off O'Farrell on the basis of this book. 

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The Dissident                            – Nell Freudenberger

An obscure book – Liz scoured the basement for a book no one else was doing.

The Chinese side of the story was quite good; the American side was 'posey' – an unhappy prosperous empty family. The American characters were considered stereotypical. Opinions about the book varied from 'wouldn't recommend it to anyone' to 'loved it and thought it was full of great characters'.

One of the thoughts about the early part of the book was where was it all going? The actions of the American participants and what was going to be the outcome between Cece and Phil and why did it matter were part of that confusion. The Americans had strange expectations of their Radical Chinese Dissident- Why did they put him to teaching art in a girls high school?

It was an easy read, but not that gripping. One didn't mind being interrupted in one half of the story to change location for the next chapter. The writing was excellent, easy to read, and clear. After saying that there were some of us that did not understand that the young man Yuan who came to America was travelling under false pretences as the papers were actually in the name of his dissident radical cousin. Also some people thought that it was difficult to sort out characters.

There was also the dichotomy of ownership of art between 'X' the dissident who practised live art experiences,called 'installations', some times not to the approval of the government, and the photographer who photographed them and then claimed ownership of the event through his photographs. The events could never be reproduced and have the same meaning as the originals. It brings out the thought that X planned Yuan's trip to America and helped him go as an art experience in itself. Was the idea that all Chinese look alike and therefore he would look like his older cousin, but would be found out by Harry Yin, the American Chinese art scholar?

The idea of counterfeiting through Yuan copying an ancient art and the comparison with him coming to the US of A as a counterfeit of X was made. It was sad that Yuan couldn't express his own artistic talents.

It was nominated for the Orange Prize for fiction but not shortlisted.

Conclusions: An easy read, mixed opinions, she could do better. Marks 6. =/- 1

2012- April - Owen Meany - John Irving, and the Woodcutter -Reginald Hill

This looks like my review of the books before we discussed them. I'll edit it if I get the post meeting review.

Owen Meany.

This was a difficult book to read. It was very intense, and I could only read it a bit at a time. Each time I stopped I thought that I had had enough of it, but because it was a reading group book, I came back to it and read a few more pages. I think it is a religious book, but I can't determine whether it is for religion or against it. Owen was an utterly obnoxious little chap, makes Napoleon look like a gentle soul, the way he wheedles his way into getting his own way. The narrator was a bit of a non-entity, even when he moved to Toronto. I didn't like the way that it jumped about in time, even jumping into two- or three different times. I would rate it a 5 as sometimes when I was reading it I wanted to know what happened next, and sometimes I was fed up with the way it was going.

The Woodcutter.

Not entirely believable, as these kind of stories aren't, but a thoroughly good read. This hidden organisation that had it's feelers everywhere, and this Mr. Price who knew everybody. But the hero, even though severely maimed, and hiding his fitness under a limp, grabbed me. I have always thought that the heroes of British thrillers are much more believable than American heroes, who have super-human strength and resources. This man did it on his own, without using overbearing power. The characterisation of the upper class as given in his lordship and his overspoilt daughter, I thought was a bit caricatured. Revenge was sweet.

Grading scheme

Early in 2012, our retired economist suggested a grading scheme for the books as previosly we had just been suggesting marks without any real criteria.

Here it is, labelled provisional so that we can expand on it.

MINSTER READERS MARKING SCHEME (provisional MRMS)

MARK.                    DESCRIPTION

0.                Only got the energy to finish this book from the need to be allowed to express my utter disgust.  All copies should be pulped and used as cat-litter before being sent back to the publisher who inflicted it on the world.

1.               Badly written and boring.

2.               Not quite as bad as 1.

3.               Patchy . Some reasonably good writing and ideas but spoilt by a lot of bad stuff.

4.               Bit better than 3.

5.               Competently written. A decent easy read. Perhaps a book that works within its genre but doesn't rise above its genre.

6.                Better than 5.

7.                Maintains a good quality of writing and level of interest throughout and has some memorable moments.

8.               A book that really engages and absorbs. You're sad it had to come to an end.

9.               Top class stuff. A book that stretches the brain and imagination and that you know you will re-read.

10.             A classic. Instantly goes into your top ten.

Some other things that I think might go into a grading scheme are: 

Well written, good descriptions of scenes and actions.

Accuracy:

• No Inconsistencies -
• Technically appropriate.
• Dialogue, actions appropriate to period.

Plot development and Resolution: Clever, Realistic, Formulaic, or Poor

Weak endings

Absorption Level:

• Pulls you in (from the beginning)
• Keeps you involved
• Don’t want it to end

From Hampshire Schools reading scheme 2022

Books judged on

     Enjoyment

     Enrichment

     What you learned from it.

Minster readers - About us

The Minster Readers reading group has been going since the 1990's. It was originally an afternoon group at Wimborne Library, then it split and an evening group was formed. For many years we met upstairs in the reference centre at the library. Wimborne Minster is a picturesque market town in Dorset, and one of it's claims to fame is a chained library in the Minster.  The Chained Library

Early in the 21st Century, our librarian member, who was also working at Wimborne Library, moved to work in Dorchester, and since then we have been meeting in members homes. We generally have a membership of about ten. For a long time there were two males in that lot, then for awhile three, then down to one, and for the last few years there have been two.

We read two books a month. Over the years our evening has developed into a discussion of the books, followed by coffee and biscuits and a wide ranging discussion, and ending with the reading of the comments on the previous months books. Somebody always takes notes and writes up a bit about the books, including the marks out of 10 that we have given them. We didn't always grade the books. I don't know when this started.

Our age group is typically in the top half of the century, but we have had younger members occasionally.

We make suggestions for books to read, but this depends on whether there are enough copies in the Dorset County Council library. Sometimes Liz delves in the dusty basement of the library archives and surprises us.

This is just to start off this blog. The rest of it is going to be the reviews of the books that we have read. If anybody disagrees with my writings, they are welcome to edit and correct them. I hope that others will add reviews of the books that they have written, or send them to Liz or me to add.