May - The Third Policeman

Anna has chosen The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien for our May meeting.

"A masterpiece of black humour from the renown comic and acclaimed author of 'At Swim-Two-Birds' - Flann O'Brien. A thriller, a hilarious comic satire about an archetypal village police force, a surrealistic vision of eternity, the story of a tender, brief, unrequited love affair between a man and his bicycle, and a chilling fable of unending guilt, 'The Third Policeman' is comparable only to 'Alice in Wonderland' as an allegory of the absurd. Distinguished by endless comic invention and its delicate balancing of logic and fantasy, 'The Third Policeman' is unique in the English language."

April's Book - HHhH

For April we are reading HHhH by Laurent Binet.

HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich" or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich".

Based on a true story concerning Reinhard Heydrich - The Butcher of Prague.

Musings on Dangerous Liaisons by Maddy

Les Liaisons Dangereuse (Dangerous Liaisons)

Scandal, deception, lust… What more could you want from a book?

The clever use of letters as narrative lets you in on several characters’ secrets, most of which are shocking even by today's standards. Each character has a definitive voice and every one is believable and entertaining, if not always likeable (although each of us warmed to different characters).

I must confess that I couldn't help comparing it to the film Cruel Intentions (a modern retelling of Dangerous Liaisons) quite a lot, which actually helped me as I still had 30 pages to read by the time everyone arrived - baking the cake seemed more important, somehow. It was a shame, as they were pretty eventful pages, it turned out...

In our book group chat, we mainly talked about the way the book handles gender equality (why is it more socially acceptable for a man to use and discard women than it is for a woman to have a string of lovers?), religion (it is often the vessel through which characters are undone), sex (there's a lot alluded to in the book, not all of it consensual), and friendship (can it always be trusted?).

I think we all enjoyed it - even Ian, by the end of the evening - and would recommend it. I definitely would, especially if you like a bit of old school gossip and intrigue.

March - The Fault In Our Stars

In March we are discussing The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten."

Some thoughts on our last book, Dangerous Liaisons, to follow!

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."