Unspoken words and written words

Hoo-girls!  It was our first full house for a few meetings at Mogs on 3^rd May, so there was a lot of pre-book club chat about various haps including bargain dog beds at Audi, dog tussles on the beach and men who talk to the television, before Moggy pulled us in to line, sat us down, moved Bonnie off her lap, and introduced her selection, ‘All that’s left unsaid’, by Tracey Lien.   After hearing her talk at Book Week, Mog jumped right in and traced Tracey’s journey from growing up in a migrant Vietnamese family/community in Cabramatta, to journalist in Australia, then on to Los Angeles, where growing anxiety about journalism and ethics drove her to study for her Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas.  “Research your own experience” is one piece of advice sometimes given to emerging writers and so Tracey did exactly this in her first book.  Set in Cabramatta during its drug days of the 1990’s it follows her (possibly) alter ego Ky as she investigates the death of her younger brother at Lucky 8.  True story it wasn’t but based on a true crime it was.

Australia comes out of this book quite whiffy with the stench of racism continuously swirling through the book.  There was a lot of discussion about this element of the book, along with the difficulties faced by the Vietnamese community when they arrived in Australia (which coincided with Australia’s late 1970’s transition from the White Australia Policy to multiculturalism).  So we learnt it was mainly the first generation of Australian born Vietnamese who haunted the druggie streets of Cabramatta in the 1990’s, while their parents worked hard, drank hard, gambled hard and often (it seems) set against each other, verbally and/or physically.  There was a lot to pick through and we agreed the book explored the conflicts, pressures and characterisations of the Vietnamese with some finesse.  In hindsight, it was interesting that Vietnamese males (of both generations) seemed to struggle more to adapt - though this can be contested as some females lost the plot as well.  However, this may be one of the many reasons why Denny’s death was so tragic, as he was regarded by all as a ‘good’ son.  Though it also has to be said one of our readers thought the good person/bad person trope was overdone and puzzled why the author used this analysis to the extent she did (who could that be now?).  Despite this lone criticism we all agreed it was a great book selection, and was important to read about the difficulties growing up as part of a minority community in Australia.

 

Yuendumu Doors at SAM

After a bigger discussion about minorities and racism, aboriginal communities and racism and artificial intelligence, and when Bonnie had settled down again on the floor, we time travelled 30 years and geographically travelled 16,438 kms with Cherrie’s selection ‘Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop’ by poet Alba Donati (translated by Elena Pala) – a very different book in sooo many ways.  

 

Written in diary format, with book orders at the end of each day’s entry (count the number of books you’ve heard of, if you dare), Cherrie gave us the run down of the book as we marvelled at her mastery of the Italian pronunciations of towns and names.  There were quite a few how's in this book - how Alba started the bookshop (crowdfunding campaign), how it burnt down shortly after it opened and how it was resuscitated with the help of the local community only to then strike Covid lockdowns.  We also read about Alba’s family and background as it emerged bit by bit from the diary, including (after 50+ years) the separate reconciliations of her 101 year old mother and 20 years younger father, and then her brother and Alba herself, the 19 years younger sister.  And interspersed were delightful rapid fire stories of most of the other 180 villagers living in Lucignana – along with Alba’s attempts at commercialism by organising and selling literary-themed jars of jam (go figure), Freda Khalo tea (it was highly coloured) and other unique products (read book-titled knitted socks).  

 

It was a short but alluring read about daily life in the village and the bookshop, and we all wanted to find our way to the bookshop’s garden with a coffee (or FK tea) in one hand and a book in the other.  

 

As Mogs moist fruity/mango cake triumphantly went down the book selections for 5 July at Kathy’s place started to tumble out – they are

 

Megan – Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith

Kathy – The bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams (you can get it at Big W for $16).

And you might get the right recipe for the cake here https://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipes/mango-fruit-cake-recipe/exyu8mue

(note to Mog: please review and assess, but don't use ChatGPT - if you want to read a scary article about AI, try this one - https://www.theage.com.au/national/when-the-godfather-of-ai-warns-you-about-his-offspring-you-listen-20230504-p5d5ig.html

Lessons for life - Chemistry and Sanity

On the first day of Autumn 2023 (yee haa, end of summer) we gathered at Cherilyn's place for our first meeting of the year - apart from Megan who was golfing her way around New Zealand, and McLassie who we all missed too.

Our heartfelt conversation began on the subject of pacemakers - that is, the internal ones for Cherrie and Kathy and not Gerry's mob - and agreed that medicine can be a marvel in the 21st century but what a pity some of the medical practitioners aren't so much.  All hoping for a better next day for Cherrie.

Cherilyn sat us down and introduced us to Bonnie Garmus, author of her book 'Lessons in Chemistry' giving us an overview of the author's story and the book's story.   (There are quite a few interviews with Bonnie on Youtube - this one is only 3 minutes but you can get other longer ones by searching Youtube.  And here is the link to the book review in the Guardian if you missed Julie's earlier email - theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/25/bonnie-garmus-so-few-of-us-havent-been-pushed-aside-lessons-in-chemistry?utm_term=63fb1185ad3100e51db7a477ca939672&utm_campaign=Bookmarks&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=bookmarks_email

The book was started after a work meeting during which Bonnie's voice wasn't heard, so she went home and wrote the first chapter starring Elizabeth Zott as the woman who wouldn't be dismissed.  Five years later, the book combining "feminism, history, science, and television in an engaging and thought provoking way" (review by ChatGPT) emerged and hit the no 1 bestseller list.  We were all highly engaged with this book, mostly because it resonated so much with our varied experiences.  Becoming Elizabeth Zott became an aspiration.  

We learnt the voice of Six Thirty was inspired by the author's dog, Friday, who apparently recognised many words, including some German words (did I just make that up or did I remember it from the discussion?).  Six Thirty was highly intelligent too (with over 900 words) and had a key role in the book - as a companion, guardian and importantly a truth teller. We didn't get to talk about many other characters (including the good ones like Mad and Calvin, the not so good ones, and the ones that came good in the end) but did chat about the wonders of the television cooking show 'Supper at Six', and possibly its model, Julia Childs 'The French Chef' (who, if you watch the clip, amazingly sounds just like Meryl Streep).  While the fairy tale ending was a bit of a downer for some, (not everyone has a fairy godmother), we all agreed it was a great read and a great choice - a very engaging story reflecting the social milieu of the 60's (and sadly beyond), but laced with humour and charged with positivity. 

It was then on to Barb's book 'How to stay sane in an age of division', by Elif Shafak.  This was a little book with a BIG message, and has, we learnt, kept Barb awake at night.  Barb told us about Elif Shafak who is well known as a celebrated writer  - coming from a cross cultural background (Turkish; German; English), with a sexual orientation that also crosses over.  The book covered issues such as social dislocation, the decline of democracy, the role of technology and social media and extremism - and Barb referred to the collective narcissism that this can create. We talked about the anger in those who dive down rabbit holes of conspiracy theories and/or anti-vaccination and/or extremism, and Kathy reminded us how important it is to stay calm and rational in the face of such anger.    This brought us to a discussion on the limitations of the book, where practical solutions were not so easy to find.  Story telling is offered as one solution but for some of us it was hard to get to grips with how this was going to resolve the seemingly intractable challenges of the 21st century.    And for some the book's messages were equally applicable for people who don't want us to stay sane in an age of division - aka right wing promoter Jordan Peterson (a Canadian psychologist and media commentator according to Wikipedia - think child of Steve Bannon and Sidney Powell - boy has Trump got a lot to answer for!)).  But then, the book's title assumes the reader is already sane, so perhaps we're OK after all.   

No one was sure whether Barb would get a good nights sleep that evening - but it was an interesting conversation about an important little book by a writer whose time has come.  Whatever the sleep quality was, Barb's hair looked great and it sounded like an interesting conversation in the hairdressing salon about book clubs and guts (see below).   We all enjoyed Cherilyn's fabulous Plum cake and apres livre conversation, which included many torrid tales of Hissing Sid - then some of us drove homewards through the CBD without headlights switched on (OMG - who could that be!).  

Cherilyn's yum plum cake 

And here is the Cake recipe: Slice 4 large nectarines, 3 large peaches, or 5/6 plums in basin/colander and sprinkle with 2.5 teaspoons of sugar and toss (Cherilyn added a good teaspoon of cinnamon as well).  Set aside to drain.

Cream together 320gm butter with 300gm sugar.  Add 3 eggs and grated zest of 2 lemons.  Add 250 mls milk, 400gm self raising flour and 1.5 teaspoons baking powder.  

Divide the batter between 2 x 30 cm torte tins.  Cover one with the drained fruit and place the other into the freezer for later.  Sprinkle over the fruit a further good tablespoon sugar, and bake at 180C for around 55 minutes for nectarine/peaches, and 60-65 minutes for plums.  Remove when skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.  Serve with whipped cream.  

To serve the second cake, thaw, cover with more drained sugared sliced fruit (ie another lot as above), add the tablespoon of sugar and cook.  (Or you could just halve the batter quantity and make one cake).  

Other books mentioned were

• Hitlers girl by Lauren Young (about one of the Mitford's dalliance) - NOT Mog's selection for a number of post-meeting reasons (difficult to find; reviews not flattering; historical errors; and do we really need to know?)
• The glass castle, by Jeanette Walls (this is the book Mog was trying to remember that was similar to Education). 
• Against the loveless world, by Susan Abulhawa (go see her at Writer's week if you dare)
• Diary of a Tuscan bookshop, by Alba Donati - probably Cherrie's selection for next meeting
• Gut - the inside story, by Gulia Enders (from Barb's hairdressing salon somewhere on Goodwood Road)
• All the broken places (follow on from The boy in the striped pyjamas), by John Boyne

And for something different - 

• watch - The extraordinary Attorney Woo (on Netflix)
• listen to - the podcast, Pongsu https://www.theage.com.au/pong-su and also on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-last-voyage-of-the-pong-su/id1481166968
• watch - The Outfit, a must see film with Mark Rylance that has just come on to Netflix

Next meeting at Mog's place on Wednesday 3rd May 2023 - books are:

Diary of a Tuscan bookshop, by Alba Donato (Cherrie)

All that's left unsaid, by Tracey Lien (Mog)

Farewell 2022 - Hello 2023

 

Its the 2022 wrap up and 2023 opening book selection

Book selections for 1 March 2023 at Cherilyn's place:

• Cherilyn: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• Barb: How to remain sane in an age of division by Elif Shafak

2023 Schedule (first name hosts unless otherwise arranged):

• Wednesday 1st March - Cherilyn and Barb
• Wednesday 3rd May - Mog and Cherrie
• Wednesday 5th July - Megan and Kathy
• Wednesday 6 September - McLassie and McMargie
• Wednesday 1 November -  Sue and Julie

And lets get more 'F' into the FnB club - feel free to share any films you think are worth seeing. Here's a start

She Said - you'll never watch Miramax again; its on in theatres now

Burn before Reading - an older Cohen Bros film now on Netflix (yes it does channel Fargo)

Feel free to add to the list.....

 

Little books - Big themes

It was third time lucky for our last rendezvous of the year at Fox Street, Goodwood. Banjo greeted the six of us (well 5 if you discount his owner who he already knew) and we were all pleased to see he was operating on all fours.  And now I'm trying to finish this para with the numbers 1 and 2 - oh yes, how about there was one late scratching (Cherilyn) and two earlier apologies (Barb and Margie P), while Mog was off to dinner somewhere.  So numbers done, we got down to the words, where little books (ie around 300 pages) with big themes emerged as the motif for the evening.  

We started with Julie's choice, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - chosen after watching the film of the same name. The story was about particular events set in four different decades (1940's, 50's, 60's, 80's) with the characters Hanna and Michael taking centre stage throughout.  The book started out as looking like a coming of age story for young 15 year old Michael, but it quickly left that thread dangling as the story moved us on further into the unholy trinity of shame, guilt and secrets.   

Bernhard Schlink

So there was much to discuss: whether Hanna exploited the younger Michael in their liaison (50's); whether Hanna was so ashamed of her illiteracy she couldn't spring to her own defence during the trial about her role in events in the 40's; whether Michael could have changed the outcome of the trial in the 60's if he hadn't kept secret about Hanna's illiteracy; and whether Michael's reluctant renewal of the relationship 20 years later when Hanna was still incarcerated was due to his past guilt and/or shame (80's).  

We enthusiastically explored these 'whethers' with 'yes-buts'.   Yes, Hanna did exploit the young 15 year old (you're wrong Kate Winslet) - but then the age of consent was 14 back then.  And no, she didn't because Michael was a very willing participant and the 50's were different times. Yes Hanna was ashamed of her illiteracy and couldn't present her own defence because of this - but no she couldn't see that her role in the events upon which her trial was based was morally unacceptable anyway. But then, while her moral compass may have been askew, so perhaps was her mental capacity - (from Julie's research you can read more about that here https://jaapl.org/content/37/3/427).  But surely, Michael's failure to do anything at the time of the trial was immoral too - and yes it was a deliberate choice he made at that time. Would it have made a difference?  Perhaps not in the 60's - but is that an excuse?  Nevertheless it did appear to be the reason he came to visit Hanna 20 years later in prison and decide to reconnect with her - albeit mainly via tape recorder.  

Was there a resolution at the end?  The tin and money scene could have been but it is difficult to say - because sitting over the top of all these 'whethers' and 'yes-buts' was the big moral dilemma posed by the book - can the guilty ever find atonement for the past?  It was in this vein that the big under story of the book poked through - the collective guilt of Germany for atrocities in WW2.  We pondered on what Michael did in the end to try and atone, which was probably his best - yet was it good enough/not good enough?;  but all agreed how important it is for authors like BS and the next generation to keep writing about this period (especially in this day and age).

So we were all of one mind in agreeing this was an excellent book choice - well written, focussed, posed many complex questions and overall was enjoyed by all as a great read.

Not so much for the next book however - The Promise by Damon Galgut.  Clearly many of our readers didn't think it lived up to its title.   The winner of the Booker Prize in 2021, it was the story of the unravelling of a South African post colonial white family, set against the backdrop of the unravelling of the emerging black republic of South Africa.   Sometimes it was hard to tell which unravelling was at the centre of the book - though some might say this doesn't matter so much because the big theme was concerned with the lasting and devastating effect of colonialism (read the English and Dutch) on the emerging black republic.    

(Watch an interview with DG on the book here)

Most agreed it wasn't an easy read - not so much for the storyline of the 4 funerals of the different members of the Swart family set over 3 decades since Mandela's release from prison, but more for the way in which it was written.  Disjointed, hard to discern who was thinking/saying what some of the time, with a narrator who was often too intrusive (Eds note: I'm putting in a good word for the black satiric humour here!) and odd characters flown in to chapters and then disappearing - these were some of the criticisms of the style.  

Amor was the only Swart character any of our readers felt connected to, with the other members of the family falling apart before our eyes on the pages - racial prejudice, social climbing, moral turpitude, privilege, and class distinction all playing a part.  So as the family members disintegrated and died one by one (all by some type of misadventure), only Amor was left to fulfil the promise made by her father to her mother (on her mother's deathbed) 30 years earlier.  But then, by the time it came to fulfil the promise, it was too late - and that also seems to be the message from the author about the emerging black republic.  How hard is it to give up privilege?  And can it ever be forgiven?  It was pessimistic, dark, and difficult to read - yes - but important - some thought. 

Anticipating a lively chat about the book, here are the 2 opposing reviews of the book brought to the meeting

The good review - https://harvardreview.org/book-review/the-promise/

The bad review - https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n21/adam-mars-jones/orificial-events (its a long read)

Some concluding remarks then: both books were serious and interesting in 2 ways.  Firstly, they both looked backwards and made the reader think about judging the books' characters from the choices they made.  Should we judge them from the privileged position of hindsight - or the context at the time: and does that make us reflect on how we would have acted at the time?  And secondly, neither book offered simple alternatives - their moral nuance made the reader really think - and thats a good reason to keep reading (though being an enjoyable read is useful too!).   

To lighten the evening the mince pies and little cheesecakes came out, and we reflected on the years reading list with The Lincoln Highway and Songbirds emerging as highlights, along with All My Mothers and probably The Reader jumping into this list at the last hurdle.  Some holiday reading was suggested (anyone please add to the list)

• The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich: 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction
• The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak: a recommendation from last meeting also, and I'm sure Barb would add with anything written by Elif Shafak (if I recall)
• The Russian Wife - Barry Maitland: if you're after a light read its a page turning detective novel by an australian architect
• The Homecoming - Bernhard Schlink: if you're interested in following the author on another journey into German guilt its available from Sue's lending library
• The Reader on the 6.27 - Jean-Paul Didierlaurant:  a late starter from Barb who fessed up she had read the wrong Reader but recommended the one she did read (twice)!

Talk turned to 2023 - the first meeting was discussed as Wednesday 1 March 2023 assuming this meets with Barb and Cherilyn's approval (please advise).  Other dates and venues will be confirmed but at this stage look like

• Wednesday 1st March - Cherilyn and Barb
• Wednesday 3rd May - Mog and Cherrie
• Wednesday 5th July - Megan and Kathy
• Wednesday 6 September - McLassie and McMargie
• Wednesday 1 November -  Sue and Julie

And here's an unsolicited suggestion if anyone gets down this far.  To resuscitate the F bit, if you think there is a film worth seeing on the other first Wednesdays of the months in 2023 - 

• Wednesday 5th April
• Wednesday 7 June
• Wednesday 2 August
• Wednesday 4 October
• maybe even Wednesday 1st February and Wednesday 6th December 

send out a smoke signal beforehand to see if others have an appetite for the film and a quick bite afterwards.  Partners welcome but not dogs.   Interested in your thoughts - as always. 

The mother colour and sound of no birds singing

It had been a day of thunderstorms and rain around Adelaide town, but by evening the weather had calmed down and our happy group congregated at Marg's place on 14 September 2022.  Sarah from Victor Harbor was a refugee from Covid and a surprise but very welcome guest - while everyone knew Barb, still basking in the northern sun, had an evening pass.  

Is it this leg or the other?

After hearing all about Banjo's recent surgery and oversize splint, McLassie led us on the journey to discover different kinds of mothers with her book selection 'All my Mothers', by Joanna Glen.   We all know McLassie is a very wise mother, and this was by unanimous proclamation a very wise choice.  It was a book for all  - an emotionally intelligent child at the centre searching for her birth mother, encountering both fragile and strong women, mothers assigned by disposition and given a colour by the author through Eva (blue is best), interesting relationships with males some of whom were gay, mystery about whether the priest was her father, the value of friendship, particularly heartbreaking beginnings and an ending just waiting to be read.  

From McLassie's research on the author we learnt Joanna loved all things Spanish, and so unsurprisingly the novel ended up in the south of Spain - and from Sarah's research we learnt that Joanna Glen may have a slight obsession with mothers as this is her second book (of only 2 so far) on the subject - 'The Other Half of Augusta Hope' being her first.  

All agreed the book was well written, was a great read, and importantly for some, easily able to be read in your pyjamas on a day when thunderstorms, wind and rain swirled around for most of the day.   And more thanks to McLassie because along the way we also found out from her that 'Saudade', the famous maker of the Mitcham portuguese tarts translates as 'longing' in Portuguese - the overriding sense which hummed along quietly in the background while reading the book.  The general agreement was so many sad but also so many good things came out of this read - whatever you were wearing. 

Marg contemplating big themes

Next up was Marg's choice and with her book of notes in hand, and sound advice from her daughter in mind (which was something like "Mum, at book club you don't rewrite the book - people have already read it.  You pick out a few themes and talk about them") Marg took us to her book 'Songbirds' by Christy Lefteri.  We last left Christy with the Beekeeper from Aleppo who finally made it to England after a perilous journey - this time we landed in Cyprus near the Green Line with  Nisha the disappearing nanny, Yiannis the poacher, Petra the mother who found her daughter but not her nanny, and of course the Songbirds. 

Entrapment was the key theme for Marg - with Nisha the Sri Lankan nanny trapped in 'servitude' (read modern slavery), and the Songbirds trapped in the poacher's nets for pretty substantial monetary gain - where they (the songbirds) ended up in a Cypriot 'national' dish 

Somehow we all knew it wasn't going to end well for Nisha and as Petra and Yiannis's search tracked her last journey down the lane, any way out for the songbirds and Nisha seemed to close off.   Marg followed up on this theme by checking on recent reports about the plight of migrant workers like Nisha, and attempts by the British army to stop the poaching.  But lo and behold - zip progress on both counts.      

Our discussion suggested there was a lot going on in this book.  Firstly, the very practical question of the smell that must have come from Yiannis's flat haunted some - but in the literary sense there was the engaging relationship between Yiannis and Nisha, the gap between Petra and her daughter, Nisha's story and her daughter back in Sri Lanka, then Yiannis and Nisha's daughter, the dark clouds always hanging over the Red Lake, and the black marketeers lurking in the background.  But we agreed with Marg - entrapment was absolute and overpowering.  We never heard the voice of Nisha or the songbirds singing - no doubt a decision of the author knowing they were destined to an untimely end.  Like the Beekeeper it was an enlightening read, but unlike the Beekeeper, it didn't end well - but then like the Beekeeper it certainly brought important issues to the surface, and thats what good books do.

The full house at Marg's place agreed the two book selections, though very different, were both from the top shelf - and after getting them under our belts it was time to dive in and get McLassie's delicious raspberry and pear cake under our belts - with refreshing tea and lots of goss about kings, queens, Richard Fidler interviews https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/episodes (especially the episodes on coast watchers and black war babies), and other recent events.

The the next meeting is Wednesday 16 November 2022 at Julie's place (1 Fox Street, Goodwood), when Banjo could be back on all four legs.   Book choices:

Julie: The Reader by Bernard Schlink (tip: the 2008 film of the book may still be on Netflix)

Sue:  The Promise by Damon Galgut  (after scratching The Paris Bookseller)

Recommended reading: for those wanting to continue with Cyprus, The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (nod to Cherrie's suggestion).