Fight Club -- Chuck Palahniuk

One disappointed comparing it to the film ,the rest not sure if it is a good book or a book full of more or less amusing ideas that is not a great book .
Still some discussion of what it means to be a man... the pointlessness of existence and the need for aggression

New season

So after the Summer break we are about to start again; Fight Club informal soundings suggest a mixed reception - we'll see.
The next book we had planned is not available ( short of scouring Amazon for second-hand copies which has worked before) despite having had two good reviews recently .
We originally thought of reading through Booker or Nobel winners - but lots of them are out of print.

Sorrows of Young Werther -- Johann W. von Goethe

An early- ? the first? Romantic novel - Feelings more than actions . The illness of uunrequited love , Great says Bloke D . Not my cup of tea says I. Historically important it may be but really Werther is a tedious plonker.

Candide -- Voltaire

A very short book that is still fresh more than two hundred years after publication . Satire, debauchery and political wit. Several members of the group reported "laugh out loud " moments.

What Sport Tells us about Life -- Ed Smith

Ed Smith, a cricketer with a love of baseball, seems to have collected a series of essays rather than write a book . Some of them are interesting and certainly kicked off dicussion in the largely sport-loving book group last week . Amateurism , cheating , coaching all worthwhile topics . Not all the pieces kept up to the standard of the best .

Next Candide

How many is too many?

Now we are eight ,would nine be too many? Do we have nine pint glasses , can the discussion thrive with this number or is it just aversion to change?

Next month What Sport Tells Us about Life : Ed Smith
then Candide

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man -- Siegfried Sassoon

A captivating description of pre First World War hunting, country life and gentility .The country-side, the people an idle life and then... the War .
Not a life-changing book but a lovely read .

Welcome C ; a trans Atlantic visitor.