What more could one ask for?
The perfect way to spend a lazy wintry Wednesday evening with friends, includes a faux fireplace, a cozy room full of books, great guests, two cute and cuddly puppies running amok for entertainment, a slinky feline, random family members floating around and popping in to say hi, a great story to sink our teeth into, delicious treats and warm beverages to chase away the winter chills.
Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club had all this, and more, at its third (July) meeting. We had all the trappings of a great novel, including a sub plot: the third and final State of Origin footy match for 2010. Congratulations to the Queenslanders...commiserations to NSW. Better luck next year.
Attendees included:
Elizabeth
Leisle
Caryl
Deb
Apologises from:
Liz (visiting China)
Julie
Cheryl
Kimmy
Jocelyn
We'd like to welcome our new member, Caryl, to Novel Tea 'n Pages Book Club. It is always lovely to welcome new book lovers into the club (there is always plenty of room). Novel Tea 'n Pages is a very informal group of ladies who enjoy mingling socially and discussing their favourite books along the way. The objective is to build friendships and enjoy a social gathering, whilst sharing a common passion. So far, so good.
Book club members enjoyed a stimulating discussion revolving around this month's novel, 'A Story of a Marriage' by Andrew Sean Greer. Members who attended all agreed that the author was clever in his use of devices, such as voice, characters and elements of surprise to craft his story, even though some didn't particularly enjoy the story shared. It was, however, most interesting and very creative.
The group discussed Greer's characters and decided they were very strong and believable. It was interesting the way Greer dealt with the character of Holland, as opposed to Pearl and Buzz. The story revolved around Holland, yet we never got to hear the thoughts of Holland. His character was very passive, whilst all around him were very active. Holland's character was shaped and engineered by the opinions of others in the story. Greer was able to build and layer depth to each character well throughout.
The author was extremely clever in his use of voice for each of his characters. He was very careful not to leave clues behind, ensuring the reader enjoyed surprises along the way. A few of us who pride ourselves on the ability to predict situations or outcomes, were very much taken by surprise throughout this work.
This book was very interesting on so many levels. Many times the author planted a seed of thought, only for the reader to be led down a merry and misleading path. Touché for Greer. It was interesting to note the choices different characters made and the consequences that followed, which is very much mirrored in our own lives. Another interesting point was the author's use of certain superficial and shallow images within the characters' lives to obtain a desired look about a situation.
Questions we asked were: Why did Pearl do some of the things she did? What was her motivation. Was she a reliable narrator? How hard would it have been to be not only gay, but coloured back in the 1950's?
All through the night's discussion, the line: 'How well do we know the ones we love?' was bandied around freely and club members discussed at length the concept of 'seeing things how we choose to see them...
Overall, the book club members summed up the book with two words: fascinating and unpredictable.
Towards the end of the meeting, members selected and sequenced the four remaining novels to take us up to the end of the year. Thank you to the ladies who came along and made Wednesday evening an enjoyable time.
Please see my new page on this blog that details the reading list for 2010.
We look forward to meeting up again on the first Wednesday of August.
Until then,
happy reading...
PS Please feel free to leave a comment or continue the discussion. Please add your thoughts...what did you think about this book?
Next Wednesday evening, 4 August, is time to snuggle down with our next cosy book discussion, where members will discuss this month's novel, 'The China Garden' by Kristina Olsson. We hope you've popped us into your date claimer and can come along for some insightful discussion, tasty treats and warm cuppas.
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