February's book - Dangerous Liaisons

We'll be meeting in February to discuss Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. There are differing translations of this book and we have not set a specific one, so it should be interesting to compare the differences.




On the 3rd of January we chatted about The Secret River by Kate Grenville.

There was cake. (Click picture for recipe!)


Thoughts on the book:

- Good and interesting read, but overall sad and upsetting.
- Annoying absence of speak marks and use of italics instead. We have seen a lack of speech marks in several books now and don't feel it adds anything. In fact it takes away.
- We loved learning about the early settlement of Sydney but some of us had found it hard to picture the landscape described - very green and growing but also very arid?

December - The Easter Parade

The book for December is The Easter Parade by Richard Yates.

"Even as little girls, Sarah and Emily are very different from each other. Emily looks up to her wiser and more stable older sister and is jealous of her relationship with their absent father, and later her seemingly golden marriage. The path she chooses for herself is less safe and conventional and her love affairs never really satisfy her. Although the bond between them endures, gradually the distance between the two women grows, until a tragic event throws their relationship into focus one last time."

Enjoy, and Happy Christmas!

November - The Philanthropist's Danse

Our book for November is The Philanthropist's Danse by Paul Wornham.

"Twelve people. Five days. One fortune.

Johnston Thurwell, one of the world’s richest men, dies unexpectedly. His family expects to inherit his wealth, but instead discover the dying philanthropist has spent his last days planning something called The Danse. The twelve most important people in his life are brought together to decide the most important question at the end of it. Who will inherit his fortune?

The family is sequestered in the philanthropists’ remote country mansion with a group that includes his best friend, his most loyal servants, and his greatest rival. They must agree who among them will share the fortune, but they must do it against the clock. Every twenty-four hours, the fortune is reduced. In just five days, it will all be gone.

The thin veneer of civility among the twelve is ripped away by naked greed as their lust for money drives them into betrayal, blackmail and violence.

The desperate family will do anything to save their inheritance. Except share it."

October - Mrs Bridge

The book for October is Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell, chosen by Eloise.

"Mrs Bridge, an unremarkable and conservative housewife in Kansas City, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. She spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren't growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life. In a series of comic, telling vignettes, Evan S. Connell illuminates the narrow morality, confusion, futility and even terror at the heart of a life of plenty."

See you in October!

September - Lights Out In Wonderland

 Our book for September is Lights Out In Wonderland by DBC Pierre, chosen by Ian.

From the back board (for you Eloise!): "The party's over... Our empire of shopping is in its last twitching throes. Bye-bye free markets, farewell terms and conditions, ciao bogus laughter..."

For our August discussion we read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Two girls enjoy 1930s New York in a year that will shape their life to come...

On 5 July we will be discussing The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins at Charlotte's.

"Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her younger sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature."

June's book - Alas, Babylon

The book for June is Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. It's a bit different to anything we've read so far, so not sure what people will think - hope you enjoy it though!