The Gift of Rain

A brief and belated entry to record that we met at Maria's recently to discuss the The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng. Despite its length, and it is probably too long we decided, everyone apart from me had finished it (and I'm nearly there now) and enjoyed it very much. We were unanimous in agreeing that the portrait of Penang in the run up to and during the Japanese invasion was very atmospheric; and we really felt the cultural divisions there and Philip's duality. The general view was that there was a bit too much historical narrative "dumped" into the novel on occasions and that the martial arts sections, whilst interesting, were rather too protracted for most tastes. We had a spirited discussion about Endo-san and Philip's relationship - suffice it to say that some of us read more inference into some of the aikido scenes than others!

We are turning our attention next to more feminine matters: we will meet at Lucy's on 18th April to discuss Mary S Lovell's biography, The Mitford Girls.

Apologies & Jane Austen

A series of apologies are in order.

First, for my failure to thank Caroline and Peter on behalf of the Book Group and this blog for hosting such an enjoyable evening with the men in January. The food and wine were delicious and plentiful, the company excellent and our discipline in sitting down and discussing the books we had read quite remarkable. I have a feeling that we were on our best behaviour in order to impress the men.

Secondly, for my failure to record our reading and discussion. For the record we read This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and, in light hearted contrast, Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Most of us had read at least 2 of these books. Sweet Tooth gave rise to a surprisingly animated discussion (to the extent that Ann, who is Ian McEwan phobic is tempted to read it). Everyone was moved by the extraordinary story of the 19 year ordeal of a group of Moroccan political prisoners in the exquisitely moving and strangely beautiful and spiritual  This Blinding Absence of Light.  As a generalisation, those who had read A Day in the Life as teenagers or young adults were less moved by it on re-reading whereas those who were discovering it for the first time enjoyed it very much.

Thirdly, for my failure to confirm details of our next meeting: we are at Maria's on Thursday 7th March and the book involves a mood change and a move to the Far East with The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng.

Finally, an apology to Jane Austen (my all time favourite author) for failing to acknowledge the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice on 29th January. I was so distracted by the many photos in the press of Colin Firth in a wet shirt that I forgot to do a blog entry.

As for the future, this blog is going into semi-retirement over the next few months as I return to the workplace.

Christmas books

The stilton is reduced to crumbs, the final mince pie has been devoured and only the cob nuts are left in the bowl. These are all signals that it is time for my third annual review of Christmas books and this year there was an interesting collection under our family tree.

Biographies included In Two Minds: A biography of Jonathan Miller by Kate Bassett (theatre critic on the Independent on Sunday) - has there ever been anybody who has excelled in quite so many different fields?  Serious non-fiction included Robert Peston's very well reviewed book How do we fix this mess? which I shall read (even though it was not given to me). My personal highlight is a huge book on modern art by the goofy looking, entertaining and highly articulate Will Gompertz, What are you looking at? 150 years of modern art in the blink of an eye. Gompertz is described as the world's first art history stand-up comedian so I'm definitely looking forward to getting stuck into this,  seduced by the "tube map" of modern art inside the front cover.

Another intriguing gift is One on One: 101 True Encounters by the former Times and Sunday Times journalist and satirist Craig Brown. It describes, in Brown-like terms, a "daisy-chain" of encounters leading one historical figure to another starting and ending with Hitler via Rasputin, Frank Sinatra, Noel Coward, The Queen, Edward Heath, George Galloway, Roald Dahl and many others. It was, apparently, chosen as book of the year by half of the literary establishment and is next on my list to read. I expect it to be both funny and informative - it feels as though it will read like a Christmas game of consequences but with satire, history and greater wit.

Finally, a gift designed for book group members and a masterful choice. A translation from the French and written by Pierre Bayard, a Parisian professor of literature and psychoanalyst , it is about reading and talking about books and is delightfully titled How to talk about books you haven't read. To quote from the cover, 'Bayard argues that not having read a book need not be an impediment to an interesting conversation about it.......it is a book for book lovers everywhere to enjoy, ponder and argue about - and perhaps even read". I'm inclined to think it would be a good choice for our next book group read.