It was a night of ruOK

Banjo didn't greet us all at Fox Street - he had already made his great escape to Port Elliot before the second lockdown of 2020 began at midnight.   So it was a bold little group who met on lockdown eve to talk about our last two books of the year - Minimum of Two and The Erratics.  Marg P and Barb W were absentees caught up in the pre-lockdown hassles - and we commented on what good genes Marg P must come from as we heard about her 90+ year old Aunt who drove from Keith to Adelaide and then in to the city, then on to Marg's place to stay.  Wow!!  

We started the evening with a big collective groan about the lockdown including how dogs were going to be walked, masks worn with which outfit, haircuts and other effects of the lockdown, and then moved to Julie's selection, Minimum of Two.  It soon became evident that most readers found the book a struggle - just like the main theme that ran across the 14 short stories making up the book.  The disjointed story of the Nilsam family, Jerra, Rachel and Sam, was told in 7 stories, and the other 7 stories sprinkled some light on life on struggle street anywhere, or maybe everywhere, near the WA coast.  

The title, Minimum of Two, came from the gaol sentence handed down to Blakey in the very troubling story of the same title (about the rape of Greta and the narrator's response), and perhaps Tim Winton had a little play on words as most of the stories were connected by relationships between two people - breaking down, changing course, finding renewal, or not.  (A subtextual comment here: but then again, maybe TW didn't play with words for the title because humour is something he seems to struggle with - just sayin'?)  

'My favourite read/s' from the 14 stories were nominated and dissected by everyone, along with the way TW handled gender, being stuck (Jerra and other blokes), finding a way out (Rachel and Queenie), not finding a way out/denial (Jerra, the narrator of Minimum of Two), a sense of place (most of the stories), and mental health (The water was dark and it went forever down, and others).   We all generally agreed TW's writing was spare though powerful,  but in the end most readers were disappointed in the book and gave it a score of around 5, though some thought better of the book and tried to push up the count to at least 6 and maybe even a 7.  

We turned our attention to The Erratics, Sue's choice recommended to her by that cultural beacon of the coast, South Seas Book Shop in Port Elliot.   As notes for the meeting were left at home, little or no introduction to the book or author was offered - except to say that it was an achievement for an author to write her first book at 77 and win 2 prizes with it.  Discussion of the book was launched into, and centred around

"It will grab you by the throat and not let you go" (remark by South Seas assistant) -  well, not so much for Cherrie who found the book a troublesome and uneven read.  Others agreed and wondered about the to-ing and fro-ing between Australia and Canada, and the sister/sister relationship, while some took the view that it gave insight into overcoming family dysfunction, and was a real page turner 

"Why write a memoir, when you're 77, about your life with your mother who had a severe personality disorder?" was a question posed and many answers offered, including   

answer 1: to assuage the guilt of 20 years of being estranged from your parents 
answer 2:  answer 1, plus the guilt associated with the author's reliance on her Canadian based sister to manage the ageing parents 
answer 3: to explore a part of yourself and set yourself free 

"Did the humour ring true or was it a cover for getting through the dark days" - probably a bit of both with some really liking the humour, and others finding it perhaps disingenuous, or non-existent

"And what about the ending" - some were glad to get there  (finally at last), while the description and significance of the Erratic rocks fitted well as an ending for others.

It was certainly a book that divided opinion.  And then there was the BIG discussion about living with a person with mental illness and how difficult it is - ending in the absolute agreement by all that bringing mental illness in to the open is really really important.  And though the book was unequivocally liked by some, moderately liked by others and not liked by a few, perhaps this was the real value of the book, and the reason it was written.  (Just a thought - all comments on this riff will be posted; and guess what?  I just found my notes for last nights meeting!  Too late now.) 

As we turned our attention to cakes, cheese and activities for lockdown, and how to get through the next 6 (and possibly more) days of lockdown, some Netflix titles were suggested - The Crown, The Queens Gambit and Away.  Other suggestions were to keep reading, and keep up the exercise regime - here is an image of me in my gym class on a good hair day(yeah right!)

As we were packing up to head off to our various lockdown boltholes, and making sure everyone was OK, a tentative plan was made by a few to start up 2021 Bookclub on Wednesday 24 February 2020 assuming there is some semblance of return to normality next year.  Yes - this is the first most of you have heard about that little plan so let me know if it works - probably at Wildy's place with book selections yet to come from Wildy and Barb.   

Lost Boys, grief; and Uplifting women

 Wednesday September 23rd came around, and so we gathered at Marg's place for our next two selections - Hamnet (Maggie O'Farrell) from McLassie, and The Beekeeper of Aleppo (Christy Lefteri) from Marg.   Because of the unseasonably cold September, and the fact that Barb wasn't in Noosa (as was her preference), Marg's fire was lovely and warm and the conversation even warmer.  

As we rolled on through the evening, the similarities in the book selections became apparent.  Both books, though entirely different in time, place and storyline, involved lost sons, ghosts, grief, relationships under stress, and strong women shining through.  

Marg introduced Nuri the Beekeeper to us first, with a brief synopsis of the life of the young author - a person who had experience working with, and had family connection to, refugees and asylum seekers.  This located the book in a writing style that was non-judgemental and reflective.  It was a calm, structured and unsettlingly peaceful telling of the modern world-wide tragedy of displacement, and this way of storytelling somehow gave the book more gravitas.    Fleeing from war torn Aleppo after witnessing the death of their son, Afra and Nuri both independently struggled through debilitating episodes of PTSD as they made their way across Europe.  But getting to safety meant compromises, particularly when dealing with people who exploited their vulnerability.  We all knew there would be trouble ahead as Nuri navigated their way to UK - and sure enough, there was.  The PTSD came in the form of blindness for artist Afra, and ghosts for Nuri, and then they had to make their way dealing with smugglers and drug runners, all while trying to help other asylum seekers keep safe.

We all agreed this book was a great story, very well told.   Though the storyline was tragic, there was always a sense that there would be light was at the end of the tunnel - to be found with Mustafa and the British black bees in Yorkshire.  As Afra started to see the light and Nuri came back from the edge, we couldn't be sure but I think we all just hoped that turned out to be the case. 

After a big collective sigh of relief, McLassie introduced us to her selection Hamnet (and I'm going to get tired of having to correct from the auto-corrected Hamlet!).  It was written by a very busy Irishwoman, who married and lived in Scotland with her writer partner and 3 children.  McLassie wondered how she had time to research and write the book, and some of us pondered whether McLassie's life wasn't actually busier!  But well researched it was - set in Stratford in the 1580/90's it followed the lives of a young playwright to be, his wife Agnes, and their twin children, Judith and Hamnet.  Sound like someone you know?  The storyline took us through the romance of Agnes and 'Will', their different characters (one unusual; one a gifted dreamer - no prizes for guessing which is which), then marriage and setting up in Stratford - and someway through the book came the departure of 'Will' for the big smoke, fame and fortune, leaving Agnes as the solid homemaker. 

But it was the loss of Hamnet to plague at the age of 11 that was the centrifuge of the book, with the two main characters finding different ways of coping with the grief.  This spun them around in very different directions.  For Agnes, it was to become strong, respected and the centre of the family; while for 'Will' it was to write and produce the tragic masterpiece, Hamlet.   And it was only by seeing the production of the play 4 years after Hamnet's death that reconciled Agnes to Will's distance - we were lead to the idea that the play put the ghost of Hamnet to rest and resolved a troubled marriage.   Whether this was just fictional was not the point - we all took a leap into how people cope with grief and come out stronger the other end.  Maggie O'Farrell also threaded some tantalising byways through the book - the story of the flea and the rat and the escape of the plague was fabulous to read, and had enormous resonance to C-19 and 2020; Will's father John was the ugly character of the book and we were all happy he disappeared from view; and while fame and fortune were in Will's hands, Agnes was the strong core of the family and the community.   Some of us wondered why the book wasn't called 'Agnes' rather than 'Hamnet',  but we all knew in the end it was a Shakespearean novel with a happy ending.  Another good choice.

Score for the books - consensus came in at a whopping 9.5 for each; and that went for the lovely raspberry short cake, avec les jolie fleurs, too!  As conversation turned to trees, equinoxes and gales (thats trade wind, not Kathy), the evening wound to a pleasant close - with thanks Marg and McLassie.  

Next Meeting:  Wednesday 18 November 2020, at Julie's place, 1 Fox Street, Goodwood.  Book Selection

Sue:     The Erratics, by Vicki Laveau-Harvie

Julie:    Minimum of Two, by Tim Winton

Bright, but Lost for Words

Well, as usual, we weren't actually (lost for words that is).  Conversation flowed when, with the exception of Julie, we all gathered at Megan's place for our two books, The Dictionary of Lost Words and Phosphorescence.  As Eddie wandered happily about during the evening saying hello to anyone who would give him some attention (he's such a boy!), knees, sleep and goss took centre stage and kicked the evening off. 

Kathy introduced her choice first - Phosphorescence - which was enthusiastically recommended to her by two booksellers, so how could you not choose it.  After reading it, Kathy thought it would create some interesting discussion, and that was certainly so.   The general consensus was it was a remarkable book by a pretty remarkable woman; that it was an enriching read;  and was probably better read as a series of essays rather than a complete book about life (with some essays better than others).    Then different camps emerged.  Some found it difficult to read; others not so difficult.  Some found it too wordy and referenced too many esoteric sources; some thought it had too many quotations; some considered it an unusual 'self help' book, while others not so much.   But all agreed on some things: that swimming in the ocean in the dark was madness; that Julia's commitment to friendship was central to her being; and her optimism in face of adversity shone through.    Then we got on to the big questions of faith, religion, church and dogma.   Was it this element that drove her to write the book after closing in on the 'other side' through illness?  Who knows, but it was worth talking about.      As was the fact that we didn't learn much about her private life (though we couldn't talk much about that because we weren't allow in - which is fair enough Julia!)  Certainly Julia's strength of character was evident with her commitment to changing the church's view of women and their role in it.  (Then we were all entranced with the story of Barb and Cherilyn attending church some 50 or so years ago and lowering the average age of the congregation of 10 by a considerable number of years - with the image of the Father racing to catch up with them after the service to encourage future attendance).  So the final words on the book - it was intelligent and awe inspiring even though a bit patchy; and you can take the church out of Julia (well at least the conservative anglican tradition found in Sydney), but you can't take the faith out of her.  Perhaps thats how she manages to swim in the ocean in the dark?

Next it was on to Pip Williams, and The Dictionary of Lost Words.  Megan's choice was a novel written by an author now located in South Australia.  She was inspired to look further into how words shape our sense of self and society after reading Simon Winchester's The Surgeon of Crowthorne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surgeon_of_Crowthorne.   This is a well researched but very male telling of how the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary was compiled.

Pip's book is a combination of historical research and storytelling, and went into questions about the lack of female interpretation of both language and historical events.  Her general position was threaded throughout the book, but not stridently made: it was that this diminishes meaning and understanding for everyone. 

 

The story was woven around well drawn characters who we all loved  -  Lizzie (the 'bondmaid'), the lovely Gareth (always doomed),  EssyMay and her father, and aunts Ditte and Beth.   Front and centre were words, meanings, language, and the (gender) difference between the spoken word (most often slang and sometimes deriving from female anatomy), and the written word - which relied on (usually male) literary interpretation.  Lexicographers came and went at the Oxford Scriptorium (not spitorium!), and the work went on despite the thunder of the early decades of the 1900's.  Interestingly, two of those big events (2014-18 War and Suffragette/suffragists movement) were touched upon, but neither consumed much oxygen in the book.  All the while Essy collected her 'lost words', played on the fringes of the suffrage movement with Tilda (and on the fringes of something else with brother Bill); had an illegitimate daughter, married Gareth, who made a precious one off publication of her 'dictionary of lost words'; became widowed; worked her way closer to the top desk in the Scriptorium; and came to be respected in intellectual circles of Oxford.  The book then went full circle, landing back in South Australia with her (now grown) daughter taking up her mother's life tussles.  The author took us on a fascinating journey into Edwardian England, and we all jumped on board, so the general consensus was - good choice, good book, well worth the read.

Kathy then got to work and piled much cake onto everyone's plate (delicious hazelnut torte with a key lime pie chaser), and choices were made for the next meeting.  But wait - there is an epilogue - its a tale to tell about the lost phone and the nocturnal visit to Mog's - maybe next meeting.

Additional comment from host Megan:  Also a good discussion on COVID!  I’m a bit concerned that the masks I slaved over to send to Sarah in Melbourne have been hijacked - sent by express post to arrive the next day but so far haven’t arrived.  They’ve probably hit the black market by now & commanding an exorbitant price!  We’ll have to locate the post tracker docket to see where they might be.

Keep your eyes peeled for black market masks, bookclubbers.

Next Meeting and Books:

At Marg's place (Ferguson Avenue, Myrtle Bank), on Wednesday 23 September 2020 (failing any lockdowns)

• The Beekeeper of Aleppo - by Christi Lefteri (Marg)
• Hamnet - by Maggie O'Farrell (McLassie)

Too much Lip on The Weekend

LOCKDOWN - and were we going to meet in May to talk about our next books?   That was the big question.  As the weeks of iso slowly slipped away it looked tricky.   But then May arrived, and with restrictions beginning to slowly lift, we started to think - well maybe!  And three weeks into May, with social distancing, elbow bumps and hand sanitisers at a premium, it was a goer at Mog's place. Megan arrived with consort in tow and right leg in stitches, while Barb arrived via the miracle that is the internet.  

Mog introduced her book - 2016 Stella Prize winner, The Weekend by Charlotte Wood - and gave an excellent synopsis of her take on the book and its storyline.  Ageing, friendship, betrayal, angst, all surfaced in the book.  Questions came thick and fast from the FandBclubbers - would you really go and clean out your friends holiday house over Christmas; where was her family; would you stay friends after fidelity betrayal; and what was the ageing dog Finn all about?  None of the questions were definitely answered of course, but we all had a thought or two.  Many thought the book wasn't up to her earlier work, The Natural Way of Things, and there were mixed reactions to it.   Most agreed it never reached the heights of a great read but found interesting reflections on friendship, life and ageing. 

Too Much Lip by the feisty Melissa Lukashenko, chosen by Cherrie, was next up.  Cherrie weaved her way through the various themes of this amazing book - a dark comedy in more ways than one.  But it was more than that, as it really drew the white reader into the unfamiliar life of an Aboriginal mob.   The voice was totally original and very down to earth (and yes we all agreed it was difficult to get through the language to start with); the fictional town of Durrongo struck a rather comical dischord; characters like Kerry's brother, Black Superman flew in and out of the story.   But all the while, the fragments of the family's dysfunctional and troubling life due to colonisation was revealed and slowly brought to the surface, shaken out, stirred around, and in the end, given the healing recipe of protecting Country and supporting each other.  It was confronting and thought provoking, and  some thought a bit too inaccessible to get to those who needed to read it most - but we agreed it was good to read such a different book.

After the meeting, as we munched away on Mog's fabulous and real orange cake (except for Barb who could only enjoy it vicariously) we could reflect on the interesting book choices for the lockdown time - both drawing upon overcoming adversity at difficult times. 

NEXT MEETING:  

• Phosphorescence by Juli Baird, chosen by Kathy
• Dictionary of lost words by Pip Williams, chosen by Megan.  

Wednesday 22 July at 7.00 pm, at Megan's place. 

Crawdad Confessions

11 March 2020 and 8 bookclubbers gathered at Barb's place to discuss 2 books, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Confessions of Blue Horses.  But before getting into the nitty gritty of the books, it was goss time.  Cherrie has almost sold her house/property at VH - we all anxiously wait to hear whether Bill's signatures appears on the dotted line in the next day or so.  McLassie is recovering from a huge cookup after providing the main meal for 70 people at her daughter's wedding reception on the weekend.  And then left we stunned bookclubbers a little early to get up at 5am to take her grandson rowing.  What a woman!!!  Barb shared her recipe for the fabulous cake we all ate (with gastronomic relish, plus strawberry/raspberry couli and cream) - now called Nutters Cake.

Here it is:  beat 3 eggs, then add 200g caster sugar and beat until creamy.  Stir in 200g ground hazelnuts.  Pour into a greased cake tin and bake at 175 (fan) for 40-45 minutes.  Sift caster sugar on top.  Simples!

Nutters Cake

OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

• Next meeting Mog's place on 20 May 2020
• Book chosen by Mog - The Weekend, by Charlotte Wood, and 
• Book chosen by Cherrie - Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko.   (Cherrie's recommendation is based on her 'being the Miles Franklin winner last year, and she is a feisty writer and person' - so Cherrie is looking forward to some robust discussion.)

Coming soon: reviews of the 2 books discussed - Confessions of Blue Horses (Sophie Hardach) and Where the Crawdads Sings (Delia Owens)