The final book club book of the year was Delirium by Lauren Oliver.  Set in a world where love is considered a disease that the population can be cured of when they come of age, Lena is counting down the days to her operation.  But when Lena meets Alex things take a turn.

Overall most of the group seemed to enjoy the novel, pronouncing it interesting but at times a little superficial.  Certain aspects of the books didn’t seem to quite add up, particularly the timeline with Lena’s mother and the concept of passion amongst the regulators finding pleasure in their job.  But with reminders of 1984 and cold war communism this book seemed to tread the balance of science-fiction dystopia and a love story well.  The group really liked the way a teenage relationship was depicted from Lena acting silly and irrational, but being self-aware enough to know this.  In fact the group felt the whole depiction of being a teenager, even trapped in a dystopia, was accurate and the theme of growing up was well played.  Certain questions like why the regime exists and how big the compound they all live in were left unanswered, but being the first in a series of books it was thought they might be answered in later novels.  Overall an absorbing read.

Questions/aspects we discussed:

• How well did you find the portrayal of a love-cure?
• Did the book do a good job of explaining first love and did it feel relevant to modern day as well as the novel’s setting?
• Did the book explain how people could feel pleasure in their job like the regulators?
• What about the idea of unnaturalism, the idea that homosexuality can be cured in this regime – how did that make you feel, did you notice it (p.47/8 in our copies)?
• What about why the family unit still existed – do you think this was realistic in the world the book was set?
• Did it remind you of any other books/regimes?
• And the usual: did you like it, would you recommend it and if so to who?

The German Market is back in Birmingham and the John Lewis advert nearly had me in tears, so it has got to be time to prepare for Christmas.  And what better way than with some crafting!

Cut outs ready to be (machine) sewn

Last weekend I wandered down the first of a series of workshops being held by Oh Buttons at the Jewellery Quarter branch of Urban Coffee Company.  The first session was the simple yet hugely delightful paper garlands workshop.

Being a bit of an emo-kid I decided on doing a garland of stars.  Hannah from Oh Buttons had brought along a bunch of Christmassy papers and pieces of inspiration.  So once we had our idea and sketched it out, we had to cut out 24 pieces 8-10cm in length.  I’m pretty sure you could do smaller or larger pieces if that’s the affect you were going for, and I’ve seen versions with much more intricate paperwork than I’ll ever be able to manage.

Anyway, once the cutting was done it was onto the sewing.  Sewing machines always make me a little nervous, even my own, but feeding through the bits of paper to make the garland was pretty therapeutic.  And the good thing was that a little gap sort of needed to be left in them so they’d have some movement…so there really was nothing to worry about!

And behold the finished product!

The finished product - paper garlands sewn and displayed!

I’m pretty pleased with mine and I’ve already hung it up in the house (as you can see).  I’ve got some butterfly templates which I picked up from a papercraft shop years ago and once I can find some suitable paper I’m going to try again and make some for my bedroom.  But first I think we need more to add to the Christmas decorations in the house!

Hannah is running another three sessions on Sundays in the run up to Christmas.  The one this Sunday (20th Nov) is on felt Christmas tree decorations, then after that its things which can be made as gifts – embroidered brooches on the 4th Dec and Phone/MP3player cosies on the 11th December.  Sessions are two hours long, only cost £10 (more than reasonable in my opinion) and they’re good fun and easy to remember so if you want to make them again you can.

Now, to try and convince my housemate to let me put up more decorations…

I completely forgot to mention it here, but I’ve written a guest blogpost over at Urban Coffee Company‘s website on how to survive a book club.  Its about what to look out for if you’re new, have been going to book clubs for a while or are running one yourself – as well as trying to dispel the idea that book clubs are just retired old ladies discussing stuffy historical romances.  Kind of apt timing really, given my previous post here was about attending another book club.

It has been up since last Wednesday, but check it out here and let me know what you think.

So, the book club choice for March (The Bell) has been decided for ages, as we agreed to be the guinea pigs for my friend Liz’s research piece into how book clubs respond to Iris Murdoch.  I have to admit I was a little concerned by this, as I thought it was going to be a bit of a tough read.  Turns out I was really wrong.  The book is very readable, or as I exclaimed to Liz early in the month “I’ve started it and I don’t hate it”.  And as a bonus for me, this counts towards the British Book Challenge!

The Bell is one of those books where not a lot happens until the end and then there’s a little bit of a plot, but is more about the characters than a traditional beginning-middle-end resolution novel.  If I tried to explain what happens in the book, I would do it no favours and wouldn’t really do justice to it.  But the characters, from Dora, flighty girl trapped in a marriage with a controlling older man to Michael, leader of the community who is struggling with his sexuality, are complex and interesting.  And the themes; repression, goodness and attitudes to faith, are all really really interesting and make for a fantastic book club discussion.

That said, whilst I’m glad I read it and for the most part enjoyed it, I read it in three sections, as it wasn’t one of those books that made me go back to it, but once I was reading it I sped through quite quickly.  And at times there was a little too much description for me.

As this was part of a research piece, we already had a few questions I was asked to put to the group, but there were a few of my own and ones that cropped up:

• What did you think of the book?
• What did you feel was the book’s message – did it have a point?
• What did you think were the main themes?
• What did you think of Dora’s character? And Toby‘s?
• Did you see a parallel between any of the characters relationships?
• Did you have any expectations before reading the book?
• Had you read any Iris Murdoch before?
• Would you read any more now?
• Would you recommend this to a friend and/or another book club?

Next month we’ll be reading Solar by Ian McEwan – another book that will count to the book challenge!

I know it’s midway through March, but the book club choice for February (Never the Bride by Paul Magrs) counts towards the British Book Challenge I’ve signed myself up to. Plus, I wanted to write a bit more than the general review I do for the coffee shop it’s hosted at.

Although some people in the book club really hated the book, I found it quite a pleasant book to read. It’s very easy to read, which meant that I managed to finish it without really feeling like it was a lot of effort. It read to me very much like a Sunday afternoon show on the BBC. It’s quaint, fun, a little dark, but in a wholesome kind of way. To the point where I was a bit shocked when one of the characters swore – it’s very middle England by the seaside, with a bit of a Doctor Who spookiness going on.

The chapters weren’t really chapters, and more a way of splitting up episodes of short stories. This works and doesn’t, as the short story nature of the book meant not everything was resolved. Being a fan of the monster-of-the-week type shows, I know they usually show the monster rising from the dead or something, but this didn’t feel wrapped up enough.

Not really sure who the book is aimed at either. But would say if you want a nice, light-hearted book to read and enjoy a bit of supernatural mystery, then this is probably for you. Suspect it would make a good holiday read.

• Questions for a book club/group on Never the Bride by Paul Magrs:
• What did you think of the book, would you recommend it?
• Did you finish it?
• Who did you think it was aimed at? There have been some suggestions it’s teenage fiction, does this fit with the characters and could you see teenagers reading it?
• What did you think of the Christmas Hotel and its owner?
• What did you feel about the chapters, did they feel like episodes?
• The book is the first in a series, would you read the others?
• Did you like the pop-culture like Manifest Yourself (we thought it was like Most Haunted) ?
• … and the literary references and Whitby & Bram Stoker and Frankenstein?

The book for the end of this month is The Bell by Iris Murdoch. My friend Liz is doing a piece of research into how book clubs respond to Murdoch and we’re her guinea pigs. She’s got some other groups signed up to read it too – if you’re interested, check out her blogpost on it.

Call it pathetic fallacy, but sat enjoying a warm coffee on a cold, dark night was the perfect setting to discuss this month’s book club choice; H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories.

Even though most people struggled to read more than a few of the short stories, the discussion was lively and everyone had plenty to say.  It seemed a mix of reasons why people hadn’t finished the book – some don’t like short stories, others aren’t fans of horror, some didn’t like the writing style and others just ran out of time.  But everyone recognized the importance of Lovecraft to the horror genre today – the documentary style reminded me of the X-Files, the lack of women brought us on to talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I’m sure at one point someone mentioned Start Trek.

I’m genuinely glad I attempted to read some of Lovecraft’s work.  I’ve been meaning to for years, and whilst I didn’t really get into it in time for the book club, I suspect it’s the kind of thing I might try and dip into every so often.  Sure the language wasn’t what I’m used to and some of the stories felt a little like the interesting stuff had happened off page, but they were worth a read – and definitely a notable classic, I’m sure.

The usual questions asked at most of our book club

• Did you enjoy the book?
• Would you recommend it to others?
• Did you finish it?

More specific questions for The Call of Cthuhlu and Other Weird Tales:

• How did you feel about reading short stories?
• How did you feel about reading horror?
• The writing style – did it feel older than the 1920s?
• Could you see how Lovecraft influenced the horror genre today?
• Did the device of the documentary style put you off or did you like it?  Do you think it made it feel more real – would audiences at the time feel the same?
• Did anyone notice the lack of women and how foreigners were treated in the stories?

Next month the book club is reading Never the Bride by Paul Magrs.  It’s not chicklit, despite what the title suggests (my friend Liz described it as ‘mad old lady lit’).  And double-points, because it’ll count towards the British Book Challenge!

*This was originally posted on my old blog Sisyphean Solutions*

This month, my book club read local author RJ Ellory’s arguably most well-known novel, A Quiet Belief in Angels. Although the meeting was last week, I haven’t yet finished. Not because I didn’t find the novel readable (I did), but more out of time, finishing one job, starting another etc…

I’ve tried to read the novel a few times and each time I’d never managed to get past the first few pages. There are a couple of reasons for this, which I think are a bit unfair. The blurb on the back was clearly written by someone who’d never read the book and along with the first page of reflection it put me off. I confess I’m one of these people that if they don’t like a book in the first few pages I put it down and read something else. There are too many books to read one you’re not going to like.

Anyway, the novel wasn’t as bad as I thought. It is far more descriptive than I like novels to be, but I happily skim-read these bits (like only a degree in English will teach you) and leisurely read the other bits. It’s very readable. Even people in Book Club that didn’t like it still read to the end. There are a lot of bits of plots that do feel were a bit frayed and a little unnecessary (I never understood the need for the Guardians, I don’t think they offered anything to the book and feel a bit like they’re there because someone insisted). But considering the book has been on my shelf for years I didn’t hate it and was quite glad I had the push to read it.

Book club questions we discussed:

The title – did it make sense/fit with the novel?
The blurb on the back.
The historical and geographical setting – did it feel authentic?
Likeability of the main character
The time Joseph spends in New York, particularly the first time.
The novel’s relevance to American literature – given it was written by an Englishman and the references to Capote, Steinback etc…
Our copies had suggested reading that mentioned On the Road and Catcher in the Rye – what people thought of this.
We’re not having one in December as it falls in the vortex between Christmas and New Years, so the next one is January. We’ll be reading HP Lovercraft’s The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. I am really looking forward to it!

Urban Coffee Company’s monthly book club is growing month on month.  It started off with two, got to four, jumped to ten and this month there were fifteen of us.

April’s book was One Day by David Nicholls – a book about two friends, Dexter and Emma, following their relationship from the last day of university, every year on that day for twenty years.  The story showed the idealism of wanting to change the world upon finishing university and the reality of finding a job and growing up, together and apart.

The book split the group somewhat.  Two readers disliked it, with one admitting he had problems with the male character from the first twenty pages and subsequently only read every five years/chapters or so.  The other found the female character too similar to her own experiences and found the reading uncomfortable. Apart from that, everyone else seemed to enjoy the very human aspect of the writing and will-they-won’t-they element of the characters relationship.  There were some concerns that parts were clichéd, but several of the group admitted to seeing these clichés in their own lives.  Observations about the role of alcohol and the subtle socio-political elements of the book made for a thoroughly interesting discussion.

Next months book is by local author, Christine Coleman and is her second novel, Paper Lanterns.  It can be purchased direct from her website, on Amazon or in select meetings around Birmingham, but best to try and stick to getting it online!  The group meets in Urban Coffee Company, Church St, Birmingham, at 6pm on the last Thursday of the month.  Meetings are entirely free and suggestions for the next months read are encouraged!

*This was originally posted on my old blog BeanHeartBatman*