Book Club Meeting - 26th April

hannahbflynn

The next meeting has been set for 7.30 on the 26th April at the Old Dairy and the book decided on is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

The Amazon link is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Apart-Pocket-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141023384/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269335166&sr=8-1

Mirandola

Thanks Hannah,

For the short of cash among us you can also get it off abebooks for 66p (plus 2.49 p&p). And you get to support second hand bookshops.

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Chinua+Achebe&bt.x=46&bt.y=7&sts=t&tn=things+fall+apart

miss annie

Great, will get the book from Waterstones at lunchtime. See you all soon.

Temeraire

Hello - lookingf forward to actually making it this time! Can this thread be made sticky like the other one?

krappyrubsnif

Oh good, a proper book. I might get along.

miss annie

@ krs
I think that books, like most things, are a matter of taste and opinion and the whole point of a book club is to broaden one's literary horizons. If I wanted to read only books that I would choose for myself I probably wouldn't join a book club

Temeraire

i agree miss a, that was why i like the idea.

Donna

I'm in!

andy

stickyed

krappyrubsnif

@miss_annie
Couldn't agree more. I started that Guernsey thing but thought it was ghastly and stopped after 30 pages - didn't think I would have anything positive to contribute. So I've broadened my horizons and will avoid that particular writer. I studied Chinua Achebe at university and it will be a pleasure to re-read this book. I'll try anything. I even read Generation X last week which I thought was the most tiresome load of cobblers, but I did get to the end. And I once read everything by Dostoyevsky.

I bet no one would dare put Dostoyevsky on a book club list.

andy

A Dostoyevsky book club would only meet annually and the first half of the meeting would be going through all the family trees. In contrast, I was very pleased when Douglas Coupland signed my (early UK edition paperback) copy of Generation X. It was about as starstruck as I've been.

krappyrubsnif

Ah, but Douglas Coupland was only wittering on in a cloud of marijuana smoke about the tawdry consumerism of our fatally dying culture, whereas Dostoyevsky was dealing with the trauma of being put in front of a firing squad and addressing the great issues of life, death, religion, heaven, hell and how to use a Russian patronymic.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll go back to Douglas Coupland.

Donna

Aww Krappy I wish you'd come, it would have been really interesting to find out why you disliked it. Most of us said we enjoyed it, but we were also quite critical of some parts of it, arguing it was a bit whimsical and the characters were quite two-dimensional (good/bad) and also that it was hard to get into at first. But overall, I think everyone agreed it was a fun read, that managed to convey some interesting and moving facts about WW2 and Guernsey, and was quite funny and engaging. So it was a good discussion. But it would have been really interesting, I think, if we'd disagreed a bit more or had different interpretations and viewpoints... which again is probably saying something about the book. Having said that, I'm glad I read it and will recommend it to others! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Things Fall Apart. I've wanted to read it for ages and never had enough motivation to start.

ADGS

Surely a book club could happily do one of the earlier, briefer Dostoevsky books? eg I have Notes from Underground and The Double in a joint edition, and even combined they come in under 300 pages.

Mirandola

ADGS - that sounds like a wonderful idea.

Marquis

Thought [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8620249.stm) was perhaps relevant, interesting read anyway.

miss annie

Has anyone finished the book yet? And is everyone still ok for the date?

Charlo

I'm still ok for Monday although I haven't started the book yet! Have you read it?

Liz

I started today and am making good progress - confident I'll be done for Monday! It's not a difficult read at all.

Temeraire

This will be my first book club session and I am looking forward to hearing peoples oppinions on it.

Angelab

I most confess I really don't like the book!! Will tell you all why on Monday! Will be an interesting evening!

Donna

I've read it and I'm definitely coming on Monday - I can't make up my mind about the book but I'm glad I read it.

Salsa

I have to admit I've been struggling with the book but hopefully I'll finish it by tomorrow.

Quick request for tomorrow night - could people bring along a few suggestions for our next book? We were a bit caught offguard last time and it would be great to have lots of ideas and we could maybe decide between 2 or 3. It might be nice to read something current day seeing as we've read a few older ones...

Angelab

I have a few suggestions. I have started one recently which is great. I will bring it along tonight.

Charlo

I'm not going to be able to make tonight after all - disappointed to miss it, especially as I enjoyed reading the book when I finally got started and am really interested in hearing people's views. Have a good evening!

Mirandola

I can't make it either, but I do have a book suggestion for next time: Borges, Labyrinths. Short stories, so we could either pick one or go for the whole thing. I've wanted to read it for years, because every time I hear about it sounds more interesting and it'd be a great book to talk about.

This does a better job of selling it than I can: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A1113698

And it's here:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=2280223523&searchurl=an=borges&bt.x=55&bt.y=11&sts=t&tn=labyrinths

ADGS

That's a bloody brilliant book, though reading more than one story at a time can be a bit brain-melting.

Mirandola

ADGS - which story would you recommend, if we were to pick just one?

ADGS

They're pretty short, so one would probably be too little, but 'The Garden of Forking Paths' particularly sticks in the memory. 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' and 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote' are also especially strong, the latter being the first Borges I ever read.

jillzilla

Hmm, did this happen tonight? I went by the Old Dairy a bit late, probably 7.45, and circulated around a few times but didn't see any group that gave any sign of being a book club, and nobody noticed my, well, perhaps not extremely conspicuous copy of Things Fall Apart. For next time, how is the club identified?

I will remember the book for a long time. I've never read another quite like it.

miss annie

We were in the restaurant part, behind the curtain. Sorry you missed us, there was a lively discussion as the book really divided opinion.
Do come next time. If you can't find the group ask the lovely bar staff, they'll point you in the right direction.