A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French

Linda chose A Tiny Bit Marvellous because she loves Dawn French (who doesn't) and had read her memoir Dear Fatty.

It was a small bookgroup gathering with only half of our membership attending. Three of us had read the book, two didn't quite finish and one had read a completely different book (Dear Fatty) by mistake! One other member had read the book and emailed comments in.

Nevertheless it was a great discussion. Starting with watching the youtube videos uploaded to advertise the book we discussed whether people would read the book just because it was written by Dawn French? We decided yes, such is the good feeling about her. However, we also noted that the cover to the book is extremely appealling; and given that covers are very important in attracting people to books a % of people would likely have chosen the book this way.

It fascinated us that Dawn French doesn't own a computer and that she still writes out longhand. Simone said this is quite common for writers as the slower process of longhand gives the author more time to consider his or her words than modern keyboard typing.

We then digressed to a discussion about the teaching of touch typing in schools. We argued that if cursive writing was going to be eliminated from the curriculum because our children were going to grow up using computers then touch-typing should be a compulsory element of the school curriculum. We all lamented that while our children were reasonable typists they had poor technique which will trip them up later on. Many of us had tried to teach our children touch-typing but no matter the program used it was like learning an instrument - unless they practise and are prepared to go through all the boring repetitive bits they soon lose interest.

Back to talking about the book we universally disliked the Dora's 18 yo character. Many of us are mothers of teenage girls and secretly hope that our daughters are nothing like Dora in a few years time. Does Dora represent a composite of the teenage girls we know - we didn't think so. If this is a composite of teenage girls in modern Britain then we were horrified.

Largely we decided that this was not a book we would recommend others to read and this was reflected in the scores which ranged from 5-6 with a single outlying score at 8.

Average score: 5.9

Our next book is Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson. Some pre-reading to get you started:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/in-memory-of-a-working-mum-20110721-1hpg9.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/16/before-i-sleep-sj-watson-review

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Kate chose this book because she was about to move to Prague and Milan Kundera is a Czech author.

On the whole we found the book to be misogynistic.  The theme of heaviness and lightness was well thought through but the vehicle was not. The same themes could have been illustrated around the subject of the Prague Spring - the time during which the novel was set - but instead we felt the author chose this book as a vehicle to justify his own existence.  His assumptions about women were annoying.

Our side discussions about our teenagers, Facebook, social development and the demise of our children talking face to face in light of social media and texting were far more interesting.

Eight members scored the book ranging from 0.5 to 6.

Average score: 4.4

Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong

Chinese crime novel set in the mid 1990s at a period of reform in China.

1991 First McDonald's in Beijing
1997 Hong Kong handover
1997 Deng Xiopeng dies

7 out of 14 members finished the book and gave a score: Score range: 6 - 7.5.

Average score: 6.8

April Book - Bereft by Chris Womersley

This book was chosen because it was set in Australia and because "it was short, with big writing" - always elements of a promising bookclub book! There was a general murmur of appreciation for this. The blurb:

It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging through Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There are rumours it is the end of the world.

In the NSW town of Flint, Quinn Walker returns to the home he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of an unspeakable crime. Aware that his father and uncle would surely hang him, Quinn hides in the hills surrounding Flint. There, he meets a mysterious young girl called Sadie Fox, who encourages him to seek justice — and seems to know more about the crime than she should.

Early on in the book we learn what "the unspeakable crime" was. We agreed that we were grateful that this was dealt with early in the book so the reader can concentrate on the core of the book which was the return of Quinn and his defence of his innocence. Discussed:

• The author believes the book has definite musical themes, one of which is Chopin's "Nocturnes".


• We discussed whether Sadie Fox was real or imagined? None of us considered the possibility that she was imagined but agreed it was possible.


• The book is set in a real area of NSW - Hillend, near Bathurst - the site of early gold rushes.


• The book was full of spiritual themes - seances, witchcraft.


• It was well edited. Apparently the (female) editor cut the book by about a half.


• The imagery of NSW countryside was beautiful and compared in power to that in Breath by Tim Winton.


• One member, who was born overseas, didn't like the imagery in the book and the book didn't interest her which makes us wonder if the book would really only appeal to Australians who know or like the country.

In general, a very well-liked book. Scoring: Range: 7-9

March Book: Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

We discussed this book on Monday 21 March.

J chose the book because her daughter started high school this year so a book about high school teaching was very topical. She feels that teachers are often underrated.

Frank McCourt (1930 - 2009) was an irish-american teacher who wrote Angela's Ashes - a misery memoir about his impoverished childhood in Ireland. This book was written in 2005 and is a memoir of his thirty year teaching career in NYC.

Our views on the book:

Captures the hopeless atmospher of New York in the 1970s
Has lots of good bits but doesn't really hang together.
McCourt is good when telling stories but comes across as very needy. He writes like he needs to move on from his past.
McCourt focusses solely on the bad things.
No common thread pulling it together - as if his publisher demanded a third book and he threw it together.
The book reads like it is for the fans of Angela's Ashes and T'is (his second memoir) and has a lot of assumed knowledge.
Some enjoyed the Irish accent that seems to come through the writing. Others enjoyed his gritty honesty in writing.
Expected a less bleak story than Angela's Ashes
It rambled. Liked some of the lesson techniques but didn't get the point of the book.
Enjoyed the other books more.
An indulgent book about a needy author.
Lacks structure. Has some good comic points and some inspiring elements.

Score range: 5-6.5

Average: 5.6/10

Tinkers by Paul Harding

We met on 28 Feb to discuss Tinkers by Paul Harding.

Tinkers is the first novel of Paul Harding. First published in 2009 it tells the story of George Washington Crosby who thinks back on his life while on his deathbed - particularly that of his relationship with his father who suffered from epilepsy. The novel won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Set

Paul Harding was born in 1967 and while now considers himself as an author, also taught writing at Harvard and was the drummer for the band Cold Flat Water from 1990 - 1997.

What did we think?

Like The Slap we thought that the idea of the novel was better than the result. Like The Slap critical acclaim by the reviewers doesn't necessarily equal a book popular with readers. Not these readers anyway. Some comments from the group:

One member loved the cover (different to above) but the content was disconnected from the promise on the cover.

• There were little story gems eg. the story of the tooth being pulled, the epilepsy but found the descriptions a bit hard going.
• Enjoyed the little stories but not the flowery language and descriptions.
• Hard going. Skimmed all the clock imagery.
• Enjoyed the social commentary but skimmed a few bits.
• Too wordy.
• Not a great holiday read. Enjoyed it as it moved on but skimmed a lot.
• Often the winner of the Pulitzer isn't as good as the others on the shortlist.
• George's feeling of being trapped and running away was especially heartwrenching.
  
  Range of scores: 2-6 out of 10
  Average score: 4.5

Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons

We discussed Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons on Monday 7 February. It was almost a full house with 15 members present.

From the author's website:

"Jack is compiling a list: a comprehensive guide to the manners, customs and habits of England. He knows that marmalade must be bought from Fortnum & Mason, he’s memorised every British monarch back to 913 A.D. and the highlight of his day is the BBC weather forecast. And he never speaks German, apart from the occasional curse.

From the moment he disembarked at Harwich in 1937 he understood that assimilation was the key. But the war’s been over for eight years and despite his best efforts, his bid to blend in remains fraught with unexpected hurdles. Including his wife. "

This was the author's first book. Her grandfather received a pamphlet on how to assimillate to British society when he arrived from Germany before the war. This was the inspiration for a story of a man trying to assimilate. The author wasn't interested in writing a holocaust book, more interested in writing about the edges of history.

What did we think?

Score range: 7.5 - 8.5

Average: 8 out of 10