Discussion: March by Geraldine Brooks

Meeting date: Monday 8 September 2008
Quorum: 7/11
Rating: 7.6/10 (Range 7-8)


Why the book was chosen

*Alternative to the original choice (Middlesex) which was deemed a bit long.
*Had read author's other books Year of Wonders and Nine Parts of Desire and loved them
*Topical issues surrounding African Americans considering that the US has their first African American nominee for President
*Everyone read and loved Little Women so would be interesting to see how this book dovetails to that one

What we discussed about Geraldine Brooks

*Born 1955 in Australia
*Worked as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald before heading to Columbia University, NYC
*Worked as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal
*Won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for this book
*Married to an author with a keen interest in everything to do with the American Civil War

What we discussed about the book/author

*Geraldine has written about the Middle East, Britain and the US but not about her home country, Australia. Would we accept a non-Australian writing about points in Australian history? For example, the Ned Kelly story? Perhaps her absorption of Civil War history via her husband places her in a unique position to write about US history? Perhaps her ability to distance herself from the issues helped?

*Is the character of Grace, a strong African American woman, really possible in this context and this time? Was reportedly based on a composite of real characters.

*Did this book change anyone's opinion of the US Civil War? No, we are exposed to many resources about the war including many good quality documentaries which detailed the true horror of the times.

*Is this book an allegory for conflict in the Middle East? Most felt it was. The purpose being to reflect on the many interwoven, complex and conflicting reasons why individuals and countries go to war.

*That Geraldine was clever to interweave this story in with the story of Little Women so cleverly and so believably.

*Was March a vegetarian? Could we recall whether the March girls were vegetarian in Little Women. One member thought not as she recalled that they mentioned eating sausages in the book.

*At an author event a couple of years back some of the members recall Geraldine Brooks showing a Civil War era buckle she found at a battle site and how it made her wonder who it belonged to and what their story was. Had she mentioned this as the inspiration for the story?

*Some members felt that there was an interwoven theme of "Hair" throughout the book. With a genesis in Jo March selling her hair in Little Women there was much mention of hair - grabbing hair, locks of hair etc throughout the story.

*Did we like the character of March? He was described by one member as "idealistic" and by another as "pious". One member found herself falling in love with him while another was put off by his relationship with Grace. Overall his character was viewed positively.

We also digressed to these topics:

*We enjoyed hearing about Fe's recent trip to Europe and asked after our former bookclub member Wikke who has recently returned to her native Holland.
*Why people can discuss whether or not they like a book without getting into a heated discussion but not politics. We then had a luke-warm (rather than heated) discussion about US politics.
*Knitting bags for orphaned and ill wildlife.
*Why don't vegans use wool? It doesn't harm the animal to shear it. Is it about the treatment of the animal?

September book: March by Geraldine Brooks

Our September book choice is March by Geraldine Brooks.

You may like to look at the following links to help get your thoughts together for our discussion on Monday 8th September at Fe's house.

• Click here: for Book summary on Geraldine Brooks' own website
• Click here: for Notes on March from Readinggroupguides.com
• Click here: Views from a blogger
• Click here: here's another blogger view
  

August book: The Gathering by Anne Enright

Our bookgroup has chosen to read Man Booker Prize winner The Gathering by Anne Enright this August. Discussion will be held on Monday 18 August.

July Book: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Our bookclub met on Monday 21 July to discuss The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

A record of this discussion will follow shortly.

June Book: The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Discussion Date: Monday 16th June 8pm
Genre: Crime
Pre-Reading:
Review in The Age
Amazon page
Crime Fiction as a literary genre

May Book: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Our book choice for May is:

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.

You might like to check out the following links:

Ian McEwan's website

Amazon.co.uk's page for this book

SMH review

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Meeting: Monday 6th April 2008

Quorum: 6

Average Score: 8/10

I chose this book after reading it last year and being completely drawn into thinking about our relationship to the food we buy and eat.

This book chronicles the 12-month journey taken by Barbara Kingsolver (author of The Poisonwood Bible) and her family to see if they could live off whatever they could produce on their small property in Virginia, USA. Throughout the course of the book Barbara not only discusses the family's experiences but comments on the state of food production in the US, the trend away from eating a diverse range of food species and the number of miles food travels before it gets to our table.

"According to Indian crop ecologist Vandana Shiva, humans have eaten some 80,000 plant species in our history. After recent precipitous changes three-quarters of all human food now comes from just eight species, with the field quickly narrowing down to genetically modified corn, soy and canola." [excerpt from book, p.49]

Research by Australian group CERES (Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies) estimates that the contents of the average shopping basket will have travelled over 70,000km to get there.

This book is a discussion of the culture of food.

We discussed:

• the difficulty in sourcing locally produced food
• the Victorian family who became "Locavores" and committed to the 100-mile diet by eating only what could be grown, caught or raised within 160km of their home.
• understanding the "provenance" of food - where it comes from, who made it, how they made it
• food choice dilemmas: fair trade coffee or locally produced coffee? Is it better to buy an organic item from overseas than a non-organic locally-produced item? Could we give up Italian Parmesan? Kalamata Olives? Pine-nuts?
• that eating locally means buying in season and buying food that has had no or minimal processing. It means making more things from scratch and this goes right to the heart of our food culture: can we do this anymore?
• did the pursuit of local food completely take-over the Kingsolver/Hopp family's life? What else did they do in that year?
• are we prepared to kill our own animals? Or can we only handle meat in polystyrene packs? Do our children understand where Lamb or chicken comes from, really?

In relation to the writing:

• While some found this book to be an easy, well-flowing read others disagreed and found it "difficult to get into".
• It was generally agreed that a potentially dry subject was made readable by Barbara's expert writing.
• Many members enjoyed the side notes by Stephen Hopp and Camille Kingsolver noting that the extra information was important to the overall story. Others (myself included) largely ignored their entries choosing to focus on Barbara's contributions. We've heard reports that Camille's recipes are delicious so maybe I was wrong to ignore them.

We also talked about:

• Coeliac disease and other dietary restrictions
• The emergence of Peanut allergies in children - is it related to the increased intake of nut products including peanut oil in a wide range of foods?
• Whether by purchasing a product while overseas and bringing it back with you on the aircraft can be constituted as not having travelled additional "food miles" because you were coming back on that flight anyway, with or without the product? What if you had flown Carbon Neutral?