August meeting

Well done for staggering in for the August meeting, when you could have been sitting on a sun-lounger by the pool, sipping a Pina Colada. Do people even drink Pina Coladas any more, or did that terrible 80s pop song just kill the fun for everyone?

What an intellectual bunch we are. So many different views about what was meant in Lord of the Flies, where it was set, what time period it referred to, the nature of mob rule, how we define ourselves, Nazi war trials. And that was without us getting drunk. Seems it was a good book club choice, as it generated one of Mrs Merton's famed 'eated debaaates'. Excellent. We also learned about organic food places, restaurants where you apparently have to do everything yourself (up to and including kicking yourself out of the place for being unruly), and the correct way to pronounce Diane Arbus (apparently it's Deeann, if you're looking to impress someone).

When I first wrote this post, I mis-typed and put Lord of the Files. An excoriating satire on 1950s bureaucratic administration, in which a group of crash-landed schoolboys turn to anarchy and violence when the ring binders run out. It ends when they're rescued by a passing ship delivering to Ryman's. They were lucky.

We also chose a whole bunch of new books. I've put them in the cunningly-titled 'Coming Up Next' section. Can you see what I've done there?

July 2010 meeting

The book choice this month was A S Byatt's The Children's Book.

Fair to say it got an, er, mixed reception. Not many of us racing to the library to check out Ms Byatt's lifetime of writing. We thought the heavily-researched material came at the expense of storyline and pace. In fact, most of us struggled to even finish it. Still, you live and learn...

Once again we proved that outwardly-pleasant people hide some dark secrets. Cutting the heads off teddy bears, that sort of thing. Although, thankfully, there was no practical demonstration in the middle of an art gallery.  And we welcomed yet another new member! We're taking over the place.

Next month (7pm, 24 August 2010) is Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Another classic that we felt we ought to have read, and almost certainly a bit more digestible.

We also need some ideas for future books, so bring along a list and we'll have a heated debate.