Tuesday 18 December 2012

Mansfield Park -- Jane Austen

For a Classic novel ( not perhaps her best) this divided the group. Some struggled - and failed to get through it ; others gave their approbation to the  prose
Not great narrative  - it is about the characters.

Friday 16 November 2012

The Sisters Brothers -- Patrick deWitt

Billed as "Western"  but perhaps more a fable of redemption  this was well-recieved by the group. A slow-burn with some memorable characters and incidents  - and easy to read

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Kreutzer Sonata -- Leo Tolstoy

A polemic driven by Tolstoy inability to cope with women and his own sexual feelings . Nonetheless a few good lines in what Bloke J described a short book that was too long

Tuesday 11 September 2012

The Wandering Falcon -- Jamil Ahmad

A series of connected short stories by a retired Pakistani Civil Servant. Life in the tribal lands. Haunting and bleak  ,  One we recommend

Saturday 21 July 2012

Memento Mori -- Muriel Spark

Well tonight is actually discussing the 99th book  -Our founder BlokeS will be here from Cardiff as well as a another ex-member.  Bloke G ,current member can not come as he is trekking in India or somewhere like that.
A meal and no doubt some beer await -  The Book is Memento Mori
Ten years - not bad for blokes' book group

Sunday 20 May 2012

The Periodic Table -- Primo Levi

Most of us found this good in parts , but feel inclined to read more of Levi.
 One of us who read it at one sitting ( on a plane) got more of a sense of the whole concept than those of us who read it in sections.
What is  literature set against the Holocaust? Chemistry is truth  ... but Levi is a writer

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Keep the Aspidistra Flying -- George Orwell

All agreed a readable, interesting   book . You may be irritated by the central character but definitely one to recommend
The indignity of poverty , with some flashes of bitter humour

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Silas Marner -- George Eliot

After a taxing few pages this became, we all agreed ,a  good read. Quite radical in its way - as was "George"  . No one disliked it.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Zeina -- Nawal el Saadawi

The writer is a leading Egyptian woman writer  and feminist , Some of us found it gripping and illuminating, other found it predictable and unengaging.