D.H. Lawrence's controversial novel written in 1928, which tells the story of an aristocratic woman, Constance (Lady Chatterley) who has an affair with the estate's gamekeeper when her husband is paralyzed and rendered impotent. Central to the theme of the novel is the need for physical as well as mental stimulation in order to feel complete as a human being.

Due to the offensive language and subject matter of the book, a charge of obscenity was brought against it in a famous 1960 trial in the UK. The novel and Lawrence were cleared of the charges and for the first time the book was allowed to be published without restriction.

This month our group was to acknowledge yet another positive for book clubs; they can force your hand and get you reading that one book you know you should read, but have never got around to.
After 10 years, our club now purposely works on rounding out our reading experiences and includes many of the classics that we know should be read. Hence last month's book Lady Chatterley's Lover, the controversial classic that spent many years underground and banned from library and bookstore shelves.

Our views were on the conservative side with the term 'over-rated' being mentioned, but that seemed to be more of a comment on the years of hype that the book enjoyed than anything else.

Many found the descriptive passages wonderfully written and Lawrence's social comment within the book brilliantly done. We believe the theme of 'class' was sorely missing from the film versions and felt the explicit sexual references stole much of this book's main subject matter.

Regardless, our entire group felt it was worth the reading and enjoyed a lively discussion of D.H. Lawrence and his times. And we got to tick off another classic from our list!