December Book - Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller

Betrayed by her husband, Annabelle Beck retreats from Melbourne to her old family home in tropical North Queensland. There she meets and begins work with Bo Rennie, one of the Jangga tribe.

Annabelle is intrigued by Bo's modest claim that he holds the key to her future, and she sets out with him on a path of recovery that leads back to her childhood and into the Jangga's ancient heartland, where secrets are uncovered which have been buried in her family for a generation. The terrible moral force of these secrets will challenge the possibility of happiness with this man.

It is never easy to predict how a book will be received, but the outcome can be surprising never-the-less. Journey to the Stone Country is a good example of this. Disguised as just another Australian novel, Stone gave us all something worth expressing. Our levels of enjoyment and perception varied just enough to make for a great discussion. Not just on the racial or historical issues that pervaded the book, but also on the author's writing skills, research practice and particularly on how and why an author's views can be embedded into a story.

All these angles make for a great discussion, and everyone who read the book contributed. We did have two members who were unable to nab the book in time for our early December meeting, but through listening Denise was keen to have a go whereas Kathy believed it was not going to be on her Christmas reading list.

By and large comments went something like this;

"I connected easily with the characters"

"Well written"

"Good juxtaposing of the white and aboriginal country situation"

"The main character in this novel is the bush itself"

And ...

"Not well written"

"I didn't find the relationships plausible"

"Too much repetitive description about the bush"

This is just a sample of where our discussion led to, so regardless of scores (ranged from 3-10) it would have to be said that this book is bursting with great discourse material and a must for anyone looking for an authentic Aussie read.

November - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carsons McCullers

Set in the isolation of a small southern milltown in the 1930s, this sentimental yet powerful story centres around a deaf-mute, John Singer, and Mick, a teenage girl. Mick and Singer become friends, though they are separated by Singer’s lack of communication and Mick’s struggle with teenage traumas.
The lives of the people Singer touches are varied, linked only by him they include a deaf-mute, a drunk, and a doctor. Singer does his best to help those around him solve their problems, but who is there to help him solve his own?
Although the five central characters cross paths continually throughout the course of a year, they are not able to connect with one another, and their loneliness becomes the over-powering theme of this classic work.

Last month’s book, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers produced a mixed bag of opinions. We went from ‘absolutely wonderful’ to ‘rather indifferent’. These comments were directed mostly towards the book’s characters, which we all agreed were the driving force of this novel. In fact, it was the range of characters and their individual isolation which really pulled on some of our heart-strings.
Denise made comment on how she had never read an American novel that dealt so well with the anger of the working class and at the injustices of society. A few of us found similarities with Steinbeck’s work; the struggle and inequities of life tends to overflow in his novels, and Heart seems to find the same space. Here is a story of unique tenderness and love that lacks the ability to share and soar, leaving more than a few souls lost and forlorn. There are few who could not be touched by this exquisitely human dilemma.

Interestingly, Jeanette and Lorna found the character of Singer to be a representation of Christ, and their points were well taken by all of us. He was, to many a confessor, a listener, a sign of hope and a friend. And although this religious slant seems to be generally missed by most critiques that we read, it is a good example of the many diverse views a book club can unearth.

To sum up, we found this book to be beautifully written, considering the young age of McCullers, which was just 23, an incredibly mature book for such a young woman. The adolescent female character of Mick, we are sure, has some biographical foundation, and the supporting roles so exceptional that they certainly must have come from personal life experience.

This was not an easy book to get copies of, so approximately only half of us were able to read it before meeting. But as the others read and offer their views I dare to predict that it will be one of our best loved books this year.

October Book - Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital

In the ancient myth, Orpheus travels to the underworld to rescue his lover Eurydice from death. In this compelling re-imagining of the Orpheus story, Leela travels into an underworld of kidnapping, torture and despair in search of her lover. A mathematical genius, Leela has escaped her hardscrabble southern hometown to study in Boston. There she encounters Mishka, a young Australian musician who soon becomes her lover. Then one day Leela is picked up off the street and taken to an interrogation centre. There has been an 'incident', an explosion on the underground; terrorists are suspected. Her interrogators reveal that Mishka may not be all he seems. But as she struggles to digest all this, Mishka disappears ...

This book is the first of Janette Turner Hospital's that our group has read and generally the feed back was positive for her writing style and talent. We all found the story intriguing with a well drawn plot and praised the inclusion of current social and political issues. It was agreed that only a talented writer could pull this one off!

But on the other hand, a few of us had trouble relating to the characters, and in fact did not at anytime find ourselves able to empathise or particularly care much for any of them. This is an issue if you are a lover of character driven novels ... although in saying that, the book's characters are not necessarily meant to be sympathetically attractive. They are an obsessive, intellectual lot (with plenty of emotional baggage) stretched over three wars and three continents, so in actual fact, it would be asking much to connect with any or all of them!

Our scores rated high for this book though; from 5 up to 9, so it would be considered a worthwhile read in our view ... and if you do pick it up, take it to the end ... it may be a little whimsical, but with an interesting twist.

September's Book - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Paris, July 1942. Sarah, a 10 year old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard - their secret hiding place - and promises to come back for him.

Sixty years later, Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julie Jarmond, a journalist investigating the round-up. Sarah's Key is an emotionally gripping story of two families, forever linked to and haunted by one of the darkest days in France's past.

Although this book rated high with our members, there was plenty of criticism on the author's writing style and story structure. On the positive side, many of us found the history compelling and some new knowledge gained around the Jewish arrests in France and particularly of the Vel-d-Hiv round-up by the French police. The sad treatment of Jewish children was a little too much for some, while others found it contrived and soapy.

But overall we had to agree that this was a very readable book and should certainly be suggested reading for anyone who normally finds historical reading not to their liking. It does impart specific knowledge of that time in a 'page turner' format.

Our numbers exceeded the usual complement this month, with 12 attending, so the opinions and ideas were varied to say the least. But it did create a good discussion, particularly about human nature and how anyone would know how they would react given a certain situation. It would seem that we have more than adequately covered the Holocaust of World War II though, and that we will, to the delight of a few of our members, give it a rest next year!

August Book - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

In the spring of 1974, teenager Callie Stephanides finds herself drawn to a strawberry-blonde classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop - leads her to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.

The explanation for this shocking reality is a rare genetic mutation, and a guilty secret that has followed her grandparents from the crumbling Ottoman Empire to Prohibition-era Detroit.

Thanks to this gene, Callie is part girl, part boy. And even though the gene's epic travels have ended, her own odyssey has only begun.

Well, what a great 'toss around' debate we had with this month's book! I was surprised at the huge majority of acceptance Middlesex received from the group. Pretty well everyone agreed that it was a great read, with the history, description and compelling family dynamics being the common points of praise.

Nancy and Jeanette were a little more moderate in their views. Nancy found the subject matter of incest discomforting and the writing style laborious. She gave it 150 pages and then said goodbye to Jeffrey Eugenides! Jeanette who listened to it on audio book commented that it was repetitious and a little confusing. Someone else agreed that it was slightly lecture-like in style when it got into its genetic explanations.

But the majority found this book to be fascinating, especially the historic references of the time and the portrayal of an old world family adjusting to settlement in the new world of America. Viti thought there were many wise observations in the story and many of agreed. It covered more than incest and genetic accidents ... and we all found something that struck us enough to rate this book quite high.

Joan mentioned that she had read it took Eugenides nine years to write Middlesex. There was a brief discussion about whether this book was worth nine years of anyone's life, but the continuing discussion on genetics, personality traits and human make-up, in my opinion, made the book more than worthwhile of 0ur time.

If you've read Middlesex, leave a comment and let us know what you think, we'd love to hear from you.

Book for July - A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

When Lucy Honeychurch visits Italy with her prim

and proper cousin Charlotte, she is on the verge of an experience

that will throw her neatly ordered life quite off balance.

She is torn between lingering Victorian proprieties, social and sexual,

and the spontaneous promptings of her heart.

In this brilliant piece of social comedy, Forster is concerned with

one of his favourite themes, the undeveloped heart

of the English middle-classes.

The English abroad are observed with a sharp, ironic eye ...

thus there are hidden depths of meaning

in this sunniest and most readable of Forster's novels.

This is our Club's first classic for the year and it certainly was well received. Although a little slow for some of us, overall we commented that it was well written, with great characters and an accurate portrait of the times. We discussed E.M. Forster, as most of us had read some of his other works, namely Passage to India and Howards End, but Mary recommended his biography Maurice which she says throws a little more light on the author and his world.

A Room With a View, we all agreed, did not provide a complex or original story line, but it did give us plenty of fodder for discussion; English society and propriety (one of our favourites), religion, love, life experience. It was all there! We even touched on the meaning of the title and asked, 'Was Lucy, (our heroine), searching for a "life with a view"?

Anne made the very relevant point that we all seem to have perceived the story in much the same way and that nothing in our opinions varied in extremes. We would be the first to say that this is not always a good thing, we like nothing more than a good discussion with differing views.

Then again, the 'classics' are considered as such for good reason, and it could well be this appeal that gives them ... and continues to hold them to this status.

What do other readers think?

Book for June - A Lesson Before Dying

In a small Cajun community in the late 1940s, Jefferson, a young black man is an unwitting party to a hold up in which three men are killed. The only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation school teacher is persuaded by his aunt to visit Jefferson in his cell and impart his learning and his pride to Jefferson before his death.

In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting, and defying, the expected.

A novel rich with sense of place and a deep understanding of the human psyche.

This short but powerful book was popular with our group last month. A few of us thought it started off a little slow, but once established the story moved along well. From the comments made, all the characters had a strong presence with the time and place clearly and honestly portrayed. This sort of story ... hard times with racial undertones and personal struggle, always leads us to interesting and stimulating discussion. This book provided us with plenty of avenues on that front and the author himself, Ernest J. Gaines, is a more than interesting enough character to research. A highly educated man, he was plantation born in Louisiana and experienced great adversity during his young life, picking cotton from the time he was nine years old.

If you like a book with plenty of depth and emotional turmoil, A Lesson Before Dying would be a good choice. Wollongong Library has two copies available for loan, so give it a go and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear your view on this thought provoking book.

Welcome to our adventure!

Well it's been a while coming, but Dapto Library is pushing the boundaries into blogging. Our Book Club is just busting to get out there, so here we are, ready to be part of your on-line life! We like nothing more than to share our reading experiences with anyone who'll listen and please comment on anything you read here ... that's what we're all about, discussion.

We read a different book each month, then meet at the library to discuss and well, pull it apart if need be, or praise it to the hilt, which ever it is to be.


And we certainly don't always agree.

Last month's book was a good example. When I picked Sean Dixon's The Last Days of Lacuna Cabal I figured we had a great little book here that would give most of us something to exclaim over. Well... this quirky little book left most of the group unimpressed. Some felt it had promise to begin with but the author soon bailed out half-way through, leaving the reader with nothing to really hold on to. Others found it hard going at first but discovered some light near the end.

The story focuses on a Montreal Book Club and the jostling of its members when the decision to read the ancient story of 'Gilgamesh' is tabled. It heralds the end of the Club and begins a journey for knowledge and companionship. If this book was meant to be an epic of 'Gilgamesh' proportions, our general opinion would have to be one of failure. But if you are looking for something a little off beat ... something with a dash of humour in a surreal form, then you may just be looking for Lacuna Cabal!