March - The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt

I'm trying to figure out a way to link the recent sunny weather we've been having to the title of The Summer Without Men, but I'm not having much luck.  But it has been very nice weather, hasn't it?  Oh, yes, lovely.  It's almost like summer, you might say, perhaps a summer without...  No, that's not going to work.

Anyway, we met to discuss the Siri Hustvedt novel, and I think generally we were all very positive about it.  I have to admit I had my qualms before I began reading it; I thought from the title and its rather flowery cover that it was going to be a drab piece of chick lit.  Meaning I wasn't really prepared for its arty, considered prose, its well drawn characters, and its occasional ramblings into obscure literary referencing.  (Whether that last point was part of the character, or a superfluous attempt to show-off by the author caused us much discussion; personally it was only the meta-reference to her husband Paul Auster which made me yell, "OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE" out loudly in the staff room.)

But overall we enjoyed it, and possibly even thought it should have been longer and have given all its characters and disparate storylines a bit more meat.  Sue recommended another book by Hustvedt called What I Loved which I'll check out at some point.  Oh, and big thanks to Bev for suggesting we do the book in the first place; good pick.

Speaking of picks, we made an effort to arrange dates and some titles for future groups.  Here's what we decided on for the next few months:

May 22nd - The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (winner of the Orange Prize last year)
June 19th  - Snowdrops by Andrew Miller (nominated for the Booker Prize last year)
July 24th  - The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø (first [ish] in the popular crime series)
August 28th - Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (I have no interesting facts about this one, sorry)

But before all that we'll be meeting on the 17th of April to talk about Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Robert Shearman.  A couple of people have already said they've really enjoyed reading this one, so I'm breathing a bit easier about it now I know it won't be a re-enactment of the time I got everyone to read The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I still have nightmares about the sea of silent, resentful faces.  Brrr. 

See you in April!

February - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Phew - time for an update to the blog, methinks.  Quick, before all those Internet users out there believe we haven't been diligently meeting up every month and putting the world to rights by squabbling over books!  I mean, by our considered and intelligent literary discussions.  Oh yes.

February's meeting saw us discussing John le Carre's famous spy thriller, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which got the thumbs up from everyone apart from me because I was too stupid to understand what was going on in it.  Even though I'd already seen the film.  (To be fair, I didn't understand what was going on in that, either.)  The rest of the time was spent glaring at a rival book group also camped out in the back room of Edin's and made up of far younger and more attractive members than us.  No jumping ship, anyone!  They were doing the Julian Barnes this time, so we're one month ahead of them at least.  They all seemed very serious; we have a lot more fun at our meetings.  Honest.

Next month on the 20th March we're doing The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt.  Men will be present.  But it's not summer yet, so that's presumably allowed. 

17th April we're doing - DEFINITELY DOING THIS TIME, DAMMIT - independently published short story collection Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Robert Shearman.  They're witty, silly and strange little stories about failing relationships, and one of the most beautiful books I've read in recent years.  Well worth getting hold of this unique collection, even if you don't manage to get to the group.  (There's various copies going fairly cheaply new and second hand on Amazon right here.  Go on, live a little.)

Please post comments and suggestions for further books below.  Post!  Post until your fingers bleed!