Non cosi buoni

It was the last bookclub meeting for the year 2019, and there was no Banjo to greet us.  The night was hot, windy and dusty and the dogs were keeping cool somewhere else.    Cherilyn was an apology, as was Marg, and we all were glad we weren't Marg who was sailing the high seas possibly somewhere around Kangaroo Island.

First Person by Richard Flanagan was the first book discussed.  After listening to an interview of RF by RF (Richard Fidler), Julie introduced the book which was roughly based on the life of JF (no not JFK, but John Freidrich, CEO of the National Safety Council of Australia - who was jailed for fraud).  Whether this book followed the story of JF closely was conjectured - but most thought it must have strayed considerably because it was filled with a whole lot of waffle and baffle.   Why did Kif agree to do the bio of Heidl in the first place; why did he keep going back when he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with him; did he pull the trigger in the end; was the violence really necessary - these were the unanswered questions from most bookclubbers.  In other words, most thought it was 'non cosi buoni'.  One dissenter though - who thought the book was about the narrator (that is, the First Person; because we are all the first person of our own life) and how he constructed the story through his memories to justify his life choices.  Not everyone agreed however.  Somethings we could all agree on was that Kif had a train wreck of a life - most could agree on the scores for the book (around 3), with one exception of 8.  It seems RF is on the back burner of future authors for the FandB Club to read after this little excursion into the Tasmanian Booker prize winner's oeuvre.

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith came next.  Chosen by Sue (who is your first person in this little blog) because it was short and recommended, most bookclubbers found the book an uncomfortable read.  It was a hard life for the main characters, Maben and Russell, who were individually looking to the future, but actually were just surviving in the deep south (Mississippi) after separately experiencing life changing trauma (one an ex-con and the other an ex-junkie).  Those who had travelled in this part of the world thought the book captured both the steamy atmosphere and characters well.  There was a lot of drivin', drinkin', and shootin' - both in the book and for real in that part of the country apparently.   The viscerally written Larry was the centre of the violence, hate and anger - and not surprisingly, and thankfully, he exploded in the end.    The saving grace of the book was the lovely Consuela, wise and strong, even though a minor character.  The few who liked the book read it as a story of redemption; others thought it was corny, lightweight and too scary to read at night.  Scores ranged from 4 to 7, so another 'non cosi buoni' read for most.

With the hot wind and temperature still rising outside, we moved on to goss, cups of tea, chocolate cake and 'meringa buoni' - and then to a Christmas/New Year reading list.  Barb and Cherie took to the task and produced

• The Museum of Modern Reading by Heather Rose
• Bruny by Heather Rose 
• The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Our Souls at Night; Eventide; Plainsong - all by Kent Haruf
• The elegance of the hedgehog by Murial Barbery
• Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas
• A little life by Hanya Yanagihira
• Lost but found by Peter Sharp

The next meeting was tentatively arranged for 11 March 2020, at Cherilyn's place.  Barbs choice is The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, so definitely a new years read.  We all decamped outside to a stifling 36 degrees around 9.30, and during the long hot and sleepless night (at least for some - still 35 at 3.40 am but its not due to climate change!), wondered about Cherilyn's book choice and confirmation of date/place.