V&A Reading Room - not as serious as it sounds

The newish V&A Reading Room is an impostor, but a pleasant distraction nonetheless.  We are not talking reading room in the intense, academic, British Museum sense but rather a glorified coffee shop and wine bar full of exquisitely selected books displayed on "the iconic 606 Universal Shelving System designed by Deiter Rams in 1960". You can lounge around with a glass of prosecco or a coffee whilst delving into a selection of books which is far more museum shop than Waterstones. Good coffee, spitting distance from South Ken tube (8 Exhibition Road), excellent for presents and a refreshing pit stop before or after a museum visit.......it's a must.

Kindle Can't Cope

Yes, I have gone over to the dark side and my Kindle is looking very lovely in its leather case with integral reading lamp (great suggestion, Nikki). I thought I'd road test it by downloading our next book group book - the mysterious and little known one about the broken eggs (see below). Despite the fact that there are upwards of 700,000 books available for the Kindle, Jim Powell's first novel is not amongst them. And neither is our September read by Roberto Bolano. My conclusion? That we are pioneers in the world of book groups and that Kindle and Amazon will have to up their game to catch up with us. Meantime, I can download all my holiday reading onto the Kindle and fill the space in my suitcase with extra pairs of shoes. 

Decisions, decisions & a mystery

It is such a busy time of year that I am unable to report on the South American meeting last week as, along with Ann and Catherine, I missed it. However, I understand that in our absence, serious decisions were made - about not just one book but two, neither of which I have heard of but which no doubt have been well researched and well chosen. The South American theme is present in the form of The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. The critical reviews on The Omnivore are stunning: http://www.theomnivore.co.uk/Book/2747-The_Savage_Detectives/default.aspx and it sounds a wonderfully exciting read which will be enjoyed also by "the men" who are, I gather, invited to our September meeting (fond memories of John rushing in whilst reading an Amazon summary!).

However, we have time for one more meeting before the summer and the July book choice is unusual. Who found The Breaking of Eggs, a first novel by Jim Powell and who is Jim Powell?  It's all a mystery to me. There are no clues on The Omnivore and the only newspaper reviews I could find on a quick search were in The Times (a "fluent, unusual novel") and The Metro. Jim Powell's website is defunct. Curious and curiouser.

The title phrase, though, has some literary heritage. In  God of Small Things (surely this was a book group read ages ago?) Arundhati Roy uses this image to describe the violence in Kerala ("cracking an egg to make an omelette") and the bully boy Comrade Pillai is "Ayemenem's egg-breaker and professional omletteer”.  I wish I could say that my razor sharp literary memory recalled this, but in fact it featured in Celia's AS level English coursework. 

Kew Bookshop expands!

SHEEN BOOKSHOP OPENS

On a lingering visit to the Kew Book Shop this morning, I learnt that Mark and Isla have expanded their empire. A couple of weeks ago they reopened BookStop in Sheen as the Sheen Book Shop, in the style of the Kew and Barnes shops. This is excellent news for residents of SW14 and users of Waitrose (just opposite) as it's a really good size and will, I'm sure, be run in the knowledgable and personal style we have become used to in Kew. We have suggested to Mark that this now means that they are a chain ....... he was horrified! A good quality local bookshop is a real asset to any neighbourhood so I wish them much success.  For readers in Sheen, please visit and click here to see my earlier entry which extols the virtues of this great local business: http://kewgreenbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/local-bookshops.html

A variation on the South American theme

I know that our next book is supposed to be by a South American author (see entry for 14 April) but how about a book set in South America to complement this theme? Bel Canto was an excellent book group read (I think in 2003); it had all the required ingredients for vigorous discussion - suspense, an engaging plot, a striking female protagonist, a mystery man, music, oh, and it was beautifully crafted. Now I read that in her new novel, State of Wonder, Ann Patchett revisits South America where Bel Canto was set. The Independent describes it as "an adventure story with a strong woman at its centre" and talks about Patchett's desire to populate her novels with women who are heros, all of which sounds promising. The protagonist, Dr Swenson, is "a deeply moral rebel, part Indiana Jones and part Marie Curie". That phrase alone is enough to make me buy it. Mind you, the only other Patchett book I have read, Run, left me feeling shortchanged. So let's hope that this is more Bel Canto than Run.