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.

Cameras rolling in the Prague Hotel

Alice to Prague was our first book for the meeting on 18 September 2019.  McLassie made everyone welcome with wine, cheese and general bonhomie, and we settled in for the discussion on McLassie's selection.  Billed as 'The charming true story of an outback girl who finds adventure - and love - on the other side of the world", it was written by Tanya Heaslip who was raised on a station near Alice Springs.  Some astute minds turned their neurons to where Tanya had gone to school in Adelaide, and MLC came up as the most likely (could be confirmed or not by Lanie who would have been around the same time - which gives truth to the legend that there's always a school connection in this town!)

The book was Tanya's story,  a well grounded girl who decided to venture into womanhood by taking an adventurous and risky sojourn in life by jetting off alone to Europe.  This was in the late eighties/nineties and at a time of some political upheaval.  After seeing the Berlin wall come down; our writer travelled to the Czech Republic and spent time as an English teacher in an unpronounceable little village.  Some of us wondered how in Prague, where she spent most time, she had become an English translator of dense legal briefs without knowing a word of Czech - though we didn't dwell on this but rather amazed at her skill.   From the lightness of the language, it seems she sailed through these challenges, and her relationships, whether they were successful or not.  Charismatic Karel was the focus of her love in the romantic city of Prague, and though she found it with him for a while, she lost it later on - but still came out on top.  You go girl!!   Those who read the book found it a pleasant light holiday read, written by a clever woman who had her feet well planted in her sense of 'fitting in' - wherever she found herself.   Well if thats not an Australian outback trait, I don't know what is!

Our second book was The Electric Hotel, by Dominic Smith (author of 'The last painting of Sarah de Vos' and other books of a similar genre - ie social history smudged with a good dose of the arts).  It was the story of Claude Ballard, a follower of the Lumiere Brothers in the 1890's, and the making of his silent film masterpiece, The Electric Hotel.  The context used to draw out this story was the PhD student trying to find and save the masterpiece as part of his dissertation, in LA, in 1962.   The main part of the book was set at the time when the silent film industry was born, and Thomas Edison was flexing his legal muscles to make sure his invention reined supreme.  Which it did!  But back to Claude.  Sabine was his French muse, was the centrepiece of his film, and in many ways the centre of this book.  Some of us thought she was a strong woman; others thought she was selfish and off with the fairies.  Claude was besotted with her, but she rejected his advances - choosing instead to immerse herself in the travails of the TB ravaged widow, Dorothy and her 2 children.  (Are you still with me?  In case you're not, Sabine used Dorothy as her method acting model in Claude's masterpiece, which was the dramatic story of a widow with consumption trying to avenge her lodgers at the Electric Hotel.)  At this point, Marg did well to remind us that this was set at a time when Vaudeville was the mainstay of entertainment - which is good timing on Marg's part because the description of the filming of The Electric Hotel was something else again.  The film flopped at the box office mainly because of Thomas Edison's patent wars, and all the main characters lost their dosh in the production.  From there, the book moved to World War 1 and Claude's clever use of photography - which was clearly his talent and really, he should have immersed himself in that, rather than being obsessed with the fickle Sabine.  There was broad agreement that the second part of the book (during World War 1) was much more interesting than the first part, and that the first part could have done with a good edit.

As you can see from the above, I have taken some editorial license with the discussion of the books.  Feel free to comment if you disagree or have other views to add.

It was then on to Marg's fabulous Blueberry and Lemon Cake, cups of tea, and general gossip, and a welcome to McLassie's travel companions to Lake Eyre.  Hope the weather shines, the road is smooth(ish), and the tyres hold up.

NOW TO SOME IMPORTANT NEWS:

The next FnB meeting has been changed to Wednesday 20th November 2019.  Venue will be 1 Fox Street, Goodwood.  The books are

Julie:  First Person by Richard Flanagan
Sue:   Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith

Thank you Sue.  I did receive the invitation to join FnB's blog and will presumably now be able to post.  One just needs to have a gmail or Google account to be able to log in.

The reason I probably missed it when you invited me the last time was that it went straight into the server's spam collection.

Cheers,
Kathy

Kathy's report - 10 July 2019

Present:  Barb, Cherilyn, Cherrie, Julie, Kathy and Marg

Apologies:  Megan (contributed her report), Mog and Sue (contributed to the blog)

  

White Houses by Amy Bloom – Megan’s selection

This ‘fictional’ story was based on real-life characters in real relationships gleaned from several hundred ‘love’ letters to which the author had access. These letters were written by the two main characters in the book, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok (Hick).

The book outlined Hick’s horrendous early life of abuse and poverty and the courageous way she journeyed out of that to gain an education and become a well-regarded newspaper journalist.  She was given the heady assignment of covering FDR’s first Presidential campaign and it was during this time, Hick established a very close relationship with the soon-to-be First Lady.

For the four-month period between FDR’s election and inauguration, Eleanor and Hick spent a great deal of time together.  Eleanor asked Hick to accompany her to the funeral of the mother of Franklin’s secretary, Missy LeHand.  They spent the long train ride talking and beginning a long friendship. By the time of the inauguration, Hick had become Eleanor’s closest friend.  They made frequent trips together and spent nearly every day in each other’s company.  Hick joined the Roosevelts every Sunday night for dinner, while on other nights, Eleanor joined Hick at the theatre or opera or at dinners alone in Hick’s apartment.

This love story painted Franklin Roosevelt as a fairly selfish, cold-hearted philanderer, used to having his own way.  At the same time, he seemed open to his wife’s predilections and gave her the freedom to do what she liked, and he was always welcoming when it came to Hick.

Our group discussions demonstrated that there tended to be confusion around the way in which the chapters of the book were dated (more like frequent writing in a journal than telling a story as it progressed through time).  A few also discussed the difficulty they had in reading the story as a book of fiction BECAUSE it was based on certain fact and the lives of real people.  Overall, most enjoyed the read and it was given an overall score of 6½.

Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido – Kathy’s selection

In Brother of the More Famous Jack, the story is narrated by the main character, Katherine. She is a young and impressionable university student who is taken under the wing of her philosophy lecturer, Jacob Goldman.  She is invited to Professor Goldman’s home by way of a prospective lover and there begins her love affair with the Goldman family.  Jane, Jacob’s wife, is sharp-witted, wise and beautiful, calls a spade a spade, and loves her family dearly, whilst recognising the strengths and weaknesses in them all. Her two sons, Roger (beautiful, moody, intelligent) and the younger Jonathan (also smart, but volatile) are strong and precocious, yet strangely likeable in different ways.  Katherine becomes involved with the darker Roger, which leads to heartbreak and a trip to Rome to deal with her heartache.

She manages to move on with her life facing considerable obstacles including language barriers, a fraught relationship, and the birth and loss of a baby daughter.  After 10 years, she returns to London and resumes her connection with the Goldman family – including falling in love with Jonathon. The family bond was incredibly strong despite the members of the family being so different from one another, and they swept Katherine up in that inclusion and acceptance as one of their own.

Group discussions on this book were very mixed.  Those who enjoyed the story and its characters found it an easy ‘fireside’ read, but at least half the group really struggled with the Katherine’s incredible naivety and found the whole Goldman family atmosphere to be overwhelmingly clichéd.

There were some 4’s and some 7’s so an overall score of about 6.

NEXT BOOK CLUB MEETING:

Wee McLassie's place; 11 September 2019.  Selections are:

The Electric Hotel: Dominic Smith

Alice to Prague: Tanya Heaslip

Weatherbeaten

Hi all FnB clubbers - sorry to say that the weather has beaten me today so I'm a very late scratching for the meeting tonight.   Checked the radar at 5.30 and a big rain front was hitting VH (which I knew) with more behind it, and it was all moving up to Adelaide.   Hope you have a good night and discussion - my take on the books is as follows.

I didn't get that far into 'Brother of the more famous Jack'.  Maybe there was a lot more to it in the last two thirds of the book, but I found I wasn't really interested enough in any of the characters to continue.  I'm sure there are family units like the good Professor's (Jacob), especially in UK, but I didn't find them very attractive - and I thought it was a bit stereotypical of the oddball professorial type.  Perhaps I'm a bit too old for a 'coming of age' novel!! which is why I didn't go on to find if Katherine found true love.

I really enjoyed Amy Bloom's White Houses however.  I thought the writing was fabulous - there was a lot of wit and irony, and I really enjoyed the voice of Hick.  The time changes unsettled me to start with but once I found the rhythm of the novel I got in to it.  There were many interesting characters and much insight into the Franklin/Eleanor partnership - though it was clearly a novel, there has always been innuendo surrounding the Roosevelts.  I expect Amy Bloom took some license with it, but I also expect there was an undercurrent.  Some of the other characters were fascinating - Parker whatsisname for example - a really interesting scene when Hick when to visit him for lunch (eggs!) at White Horse.  And then later when he arrived a mess on the doorstep - I wondered who the black author who was with him was based on and thought maybe it was James Baldwin.  But who knows!!  In any case, the book made its way to its inevitable end (we always knew that was where it was going) and the last chapter was so sensitively written - it could have hovered on melodrama but didn't cross that line.

Hopefully you're all well and warm.   Its pasta, and a glass of wine by the fire for me now with Moj.    See you next time.