Sunday, 16 March 2008
Orpheus Lost in April
Our next meeting is on April 10th at Pat's. The book is Janette Turner Hospital's Orpheus Lost. On the night the votes for this book were an impressive 7.1. Well done Janette.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
March was What is the What
Julia's choice for the March meeting was Dave Eggers story of a refugee "lost boy" of Sudan, Valentino Achak Deng. Title of the book is: "What is the What". The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation continues to support the lost boys and help rebuild Valentino's village in Southern Sudan. Rating of this book by the group was 5.5
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Book for January 2008
The book for the next meeting at Jen's place on 24 January 2008 is The Broken Shore, by Peter Temple. The average rating of this book was 7.5
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Book List and best books of 2007
The booklist for 2007 is:
Suite Francaise, Irène Némirovsky
Ursula , Under, Ingrid Hill
A Fringe of Leaves, Patrick White
Two Caravans, Marina Lewycka
Careless, Deborah Robertson
Notes on a Scandal Zoe Heller
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
Black Girl White Girl, Joyce Carol Oates
Best books were judged by the group:
1.Black Girl White Girl, 2. Careless. 3. Two Caravans
Suite Francaise, Irène Némirovsky
Ursula , Under, Ingrid Hill
A Fringe of Leaves, Patrick White
Two Caravans, Marina Lewycka
Careless, Deborah Robertson
Notes on a Scandal Zoe Heller
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
Black Girl White Girl, Joyce Carol Oates
Best books were judged by the group:
1.Black Girl White Girl, 2. Careless. 3. Two Caravans
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Leonard Woolf: A Life, by Victoria Glendinning
Leonard Woolf: A Life Victoria Glendinning
You’d think maybe not much more could be written about Virginia Woolf and the group of early 20th century artists and intellectuals knows as Bloomsbury set? Wrong. Victoria Glendinning’s biography of Leonard Woolf brings to life a forgotten link in all this. Leonard Woolf was remarkable man, an author, publisher (the Hogarth Press), active in political and foreign affairs.
The Woolf family were Jews who came to the UK in the early 19th Century at a time of growing tolerance, when punitive racial laws were being, unlike other parts of Europe.
Interesting to me was his early life at Cambridge, where he was a member of The Apostles and met the leading lights of the time: Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, John Maynard Keynes. Later he some years spent in the civil service in Ceylon. He gave up this careers and returned to England and married Virginia. VW’s mental illness meant their life was difficult and if it had not been for LW’s devotion and care VW would probably not have lived long enough to write her masterpieces. This has been speculated upon by others and seems to be true. He comes across as a ‘man for all seasons’, an urbane, cultivated man, ahead of his time in political and social attitudes; all the time enduring the entrenched antisemitism of the upper classes at the time.
His own writing included columns for the New Statesman and The Nation. He wrote also on subjects as far ranging as life in early 20th century colonial Ceylon and various political works and a 5 volume autobiography. LW lived a full, long life for another 28 years after VW’s death.
Thanks to LW a vast amount of Virginia’s diaries and letters were preserved and spawned a veritable industry of Bloomsbury research. VW had wanted them all destroyed.
You’d think maybe not much more could be written about Virginia Woolf and the group of early 20th century artists and intellectuals knows as Bloomsbury set? Wrong. Victoria Glendinning’s biography of Leonard Woolf brings to life a forgotten link in all this. Leonard Woolf was remarkable man, an author, publisher (the Hogarth Press), active in political and foreign affairs.
The Woolf family were Jews who came to the UK in the early 19th Century at a time of growing tolerance, when punitive racial laws were being, unlike other parts of Europe.
Interesting to me was his early life at Cambridge, where he was a member of The Apostles and met the leading lights of the time: Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, John Maynard Keynes. Later he some years spent in the civil service in Ceylon. He gave up this careers and returned to England and married Virginia. VW’s mental illness meant their life was difficult and if it had not been for LW’s devotion and care VW would probably not have lived long enough to write her masterpieces. This has been speculated upon by others and seems to be true. He comes across as a ‘man for all seasons’, an urbane, cultivated man, ahead of his time in political and social attitudes; all the time enduring the entrenched antisemitism of the upper classes at the time.
His own writing included columns for the New Statesman and The Nation. He wrote also on subjects as far ranging as life in early 20th century colonial Ceylon and various political works and a 5 volume autobiography. LW lived a full, long life for another 28 years after VW’s death.
Thanks to LW a vast amount of Virginia’s diaries and letters were preserved and spawned a veritable industry of Bloomsbury research. VW had wanted them all destroyed.
Sunday, 25 March 2007
Guidelines for the Group of ‘97 Bookgroup
At our meeting on March 29 2007, we discussed the need to have some guidelines for group discussion. This should help to keep discussions on track. We could also give this to new members, so they know how we operate.
Those who weren't at the meeting can email me your comments, thanks Julia
These are the Guidelines for the Group of ‘97 Bookgroup
The format of our meetings is pretty informal, but we try to follow some guidelines for discussion:
The person who has chosen the book “chairs” the meeting and introduces the book prior to any wider discussion.
Points for the chair to cover in book group discussion can be:
§ Background: eg why you chose the book
§ Author’s biography
§ What are the main theme(s)?
§ What style is used?
§ Characters and their development
§ Plot and narrative
§ Setting and related historical data
§ The book’s conclusion. Does it work?
§ Summing up. Overall impression
To assist discussion, the chair may introduce some reviews or pose some questions to group. Members should refrain from interrupting until the chair has finished.
The book group size of between 6 and 8 seems to work best. Suggested names for new members are discussed and agreed by the group. We keep a list of members’ addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
At the end of the year we rate the books and come up with a best books 1-3 rating. We could also rate them after each meeting.
Meetings are usually held at 5 or 6 weekly intervals on a Thursday night starting at 7.30pm
Those who weren't at the meeting can email me your comments, thanks Julia
These are the Guidelines for the Group of ‘97 Bookgroup
The format of our meetings is pretty informal, but we try to follow some guidelines for discussion:
The person who has chosen the book “chairs” the meeting and introduces the book prior to any wider discussion.
Points for the chair to cover in book group discussion can be:
§ Background: eg why you chose the book
§ Author’s biography
§ What are the main theme(s)?
§ What style is used?
§ Characters and their development
§ Plot and narrative
§ Setting and related historical data
§ The book’s conclusion. Does it work?
§ Summing up. Overall impression
To assist discussion, the chair may introduce some reviews or pose some questions to group. Members should refrain from interrupting until the chair has finished.
The book group size of between 6 and 8 seems to work best. Suggested names for new members are discussed and agreed by the group. We keep a list of members’ addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
At the end of the year we rate the books and come up with a best books 1-3 rating. We could also rate them after each meeting.
Meetings are usually held at 5 or 6 weekly intervals on a Thursday night starting at 7.30pm
Saturday, 24 March 2007
A Fringe of Leaves
Background Why I chose the book?
I read David Marr’s excellent biography of White when it came out. Having only read Voss and The Aunt's Story, both of which I enjoyed, I have intended to re-visit White for some time. Then recently in conversation with a friend and colleague who is writing a book about White, we got to discussing White and why Australia’s greatest writer and the only one to win a Nobel prize, has fallen out of favour. My friend recommended A Fringe of Leaves as White’s most accessible and satisfying novel. Is White being re-discovered? Just recently there has been a few articles about White in the press. The ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club recently chose The Solid Mandala. Some claim this to be his finest work and this was White’s own favourite. I thought it was interesting in the First Tuesday Book Club that opinions were evenly divided between the younger and older panelists, with the 2 younger having no patience with the wordiness of White.
Author’s biography
I think there is plenty on the web about this and David Marr’s biography is the one to read.
A Fringe of Leaves
As in Voss, Patrick White has taken a well known Australian historical story as the basis for his narrative. But this is not an historical novel and he has changed the original story significantly. The real Eliza Fraser was on board a ship that was wrecked of Queensland in 1836. She survived and lived among the aborigines and was eventually brought back to civilization of Moreton Bay. So this is a “first contact” story. In the early 1960s, Sidney Nolan, a friend of Patrick White’s, produced a series of paintings based on the Eliza Fraser story. In turn White was influenced by the Nolan paintings, but it took him several years to complete the story.
White’s language and style
White’s style, according to a recent article by David Malouf, published in The Age is described as high modernism. As such it can be hard to get into. White’s wordiness is something no longer familiar in most contemporary literature. But if we look back not too far, to great writers such as Faulkner and Conrad we realise that styles have changed, and even Dickens can be “difficult” for modern readers. The glory of the language of White is something to savour, but it does require some effort on the reader’s part.
Themes of the book
Humanity
This has been called White’s most humane novel. The Ellen character is not idealised she just is. She doesn’t aspire to soar among the birds as Miss Scrimshaw does, but stays firmly planted on the earth. According to Veronica Brady, A Fringe of Leaves represents in White a return to humanity.
Civilisation
Ellen survives the shipwreck and is taken hostage by local Aborigines. She comes to leave the Aborigines and she eventually returns to "civilisation” with the aid of an escaped convict. The title of the novel A Fringe of Leaves, comes from the clothing Ellen takes on when among the Aborigines. This symbolises the civilisation she clings to. Clothing assumes significance in other scenes in the novel: the widow’s clothing she dons after re-entering European society in Moreton Bay, the garnet coloured gown as she assumes a confident new position in European society.
Landscape
Like many Australian writers and artists, White explores Landscape in A Fringe of Leaves Is this the big theme in Australian art? What are we doing here in this “alien” Landscape. In 1973 Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature for bringing this continent to international attention.
Class
Class in 19th century European/Australian society was obviously strong. Ellen moves between classes and adapts as she goes along.
Character of Ellen
Atypical for White the character of Ellen is a sympathetic female character with active sexuality. While in the action she in some sense more above it and is able to adapt to surrounding. She is very practical and the chief carer of her invalid husband.
Aborigines
There is no sentimentality or idealism in White’s portrayal of the Aborigines. He avoids the “noble savage” cliché and they are not seen as victims. This seems to be more of a realistic and historically accurate portrayal.
Plot and Narrative:
The novel has a strong narrative line. The importance of the opening chapter comes later. We can then see it as prophetic. It introduced the characters as it were “off-stage” and later the Miss Scrimshaw character reappears in Moreton Bay. There are forewarnings of the impending doom and challenges the Ellen character will face.
Summing up. Overall impression
The plan and layout of the novel is masterful and the writer is in full control. This is not a melodrama, but the story has elements of the melodramatic. He handles some scenes with humour, eg the early scenes with getting to know Austin R. In some ways the novel’s style reminded me of Jane Austen. There was irony, some humour suhc as the scene towards the end where Ellen’s future partner, Mr Jevons, spills tea all over her dress. This could be straight from a Mr Collins scene in Austen.
References: Veronica Brady’s article in Southerly A Fringe of Leaves Civilisation by the Skin of Our Own Teeth
I read David Marr’s excellent biography of White when it came out. Having only read Voss and The Aunt's Story, both of which I enjoyed, I have intended to re-visit White for some time. Then recently in conversation with a friend and colleague who is writing a book about White, we got to discussing White and why Australia’s greatest writer and the only one to win a Nobel prize, has fallen out of favour. My friend recommended A Fringe of Leaves as White’s most accessible and satisfying novel. Is White being re-discovered? Just recently there has been a few articles about White in the press. The ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club recently chose The Solid Mandala. Some claim this to be his finest work and this was White’s own favourite. I thought it was interesting in the First Tuesday Book Club that opinions were evenly divided between the younger and older panelists, with the 2 younger having no patience with the wordiness of White.
Author’s biography
I think there is plenty on the web about this and David Marr’s biography is the one to read.
A Fringe of Leaves
As in Voss, Patrick White has taken a well known Australian historical story as the basis for his narrative. But this is not an historical novel and he has changed the original story significantly. The real Eliza Fraser was on board a ship that was wrecked of Queensland in 1836. She survived and lived among the aborigines and was eventually brought back to civilization of Moreton Bay. So this is a “first contact” story. In the early 1960s, Sidney Nolan, a friend of Patrick White’s, produced a series of paintings based on the Eliza Fraser story. In turn White was influenced by the Nolan paintings, but it took him several years to complete the story.
White’s language and style
White’s style, according to a recent article by David Malouf, published in The Age is described as high modernism. As such it can be hard to get into. White’s wordiness is something no longer familiar in most contemporary literature. But if we look back not too far, to great writers such as Faulkner and Conrad we realise that styles have changed, and even Dickens can be “difficult” for modern readers. The glory of the language of White is something to savour, but it does require some effort on the reader’s part.
Themes of the book
Humanity
This has been called White’s most humane novel. The Ellen character is not idealised she just is. She doesn’t aspire to soar among the birds as Miss Scrimshaw does, but stays firmly planted on the earth. According to Veronica Brady, A Fringe of Leaves represents in White a return to humanity.
Civilisation
Ellen survives the shipwreck and is taken hostage by local Aborigines. She comes to leave the Aborigines and she eventually returns to "civilisation” with the aid of an escaped convict. The title of the novel A Fringe of Leaves, comes from the clothing Ellen takes on when among the Aborigines. This symbolises the civilisation she clings to. Clothing assumes significance in other scenes in the novel: the widow’s clothing she dons after re-entering European society in Moreton Bay, the garnet coloured gown as she assumes a confident new position in European society.
Landscape
Like many Australian writers and artists, White explores Landscape in A Fringe of Leaves Is this the big theme in Australian art? What are we doing here in this “alien” Landscape. In 1973 Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature for bringing this continent to international attention.
Class
Class in 19th century European/Australian society was obviously strong. Ellen moves between classes and adapts as she goes along.
Character of Ellen
Atypical for White the character of Ellen is a sympathetic female character with active sexuality. While in the action she in some sense more above it and is able to adapt to surrounding. She is very practical and the chief carer of her invalid husband.
Aborigines
There is no sentimentality or idealism in White’s portrayal of the Aborigines. He avoids the “noble savage” cliché and they are not seen as victims. This seems to be more of a realistic and historically accurate portrayal.
Plot and Narrative:
The novel has a strong narrative line. The importance of the opening chapter comes later. We can then see it as prophetic. It introduced the characters as it were “off-stage” and later the Miss Scrimshaw character reappears in Moreton Bay. There are forewarnings of the impending doom and challenges the Ellen character will face.
Summing up. Overall impression
The plan and layout of the novel is masterful and the writer is in full control. This is not a melodrama, but the story has elements of the melodramatic. He handles some scenes with humour, eg the early scenes with getting to know Austin R. In some ways the novel’s style reminded me of Jane Austen. There was irony, some humour suhc as the scene towards the end where Ellen’s future partner, Mr Jevons, spills tea all over her dress. This could be straight from a Mr Collins scene in Austen.
References: Veronica Brady’s article in Southerly A Fringe of Leaves Civilisation by the Skin of Our Own Teeth
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