The Barga Book Club

The Black House

2012-01-20T20:20:00.001+01:00

The Barga Book Club met on Wednesday, at the warm and welcoming home of Krysia Bell. A heated discussion ensued of The Black House by Peter May. Opinions diverged sharply but overall more enjoyed the book than did not.

It is the story of a young detective investigating what seems to be a parallel or copy cat murder. He is sent from his base in Edinburgh back to his native Isle of Lewis. What ensues is a tale delving into his own childhood in a drama with psycho-social and religious overtones which are intertwined into the crime mystery.

The predominant positive feedback from the group had to do with the author’s skill in evoking a sense of place and using all the senses to set the scenes. There were spectacular story within the story sequences. Social, historical and strong religious imagery are used to establish the background of the motives and drives of the principle characters.

Some readers enjoyed the book as just the very good page turner crime mystery it is. Some could identify with it through first hand experience of the area, but it was drawn so well that there was universal appeal. Others of us were compelled to dissect the story like coroners in the crime morgue and found that clues didn’t hold together and felt we were blind sided by the ultimate revelations. There will be two more books in the series.

The book we’re reading for the meeting on 22 February is a classic: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The following month is humour: Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons.

Thank you very much to Krysia for, as always, gracious hosting and to everyone who participated and contributed to the lively and engaging discussion. We look forward to seeing you next month.

One Day at a time

2011-12-29T20:35:00.002+01:00

A good representation of The Barga Book Club met Wednesday December 21st in the village of Santi with Sheila as genial host. The book under discussion was One Day by David Nicholls. It was the story told of two principle characters’ lives over a period of 20 years with one day, St. Swithin’s Day, July 15th, as the marker. The book follows the lives of two characters Emma and Dexter, who connect at their graduation from University. It seems to have rained on St. Swithin’s day and continued for the following 20 years.

As per usual, opinions varied, widely. The dislikes outweighed the likes by a considerable degree.

Thematically it seemed to be representative of the disillusionment of life, its twists and turns and how the dreams of one’s twenties devolve. It was enjoyable overall only in retrospect when all loose ends were tied, but many were disappointed with the resolution. Some found the story contrived, artificial, manipulated. Other adjectives included banal and mundane.

On the other hand there were a couple of readers who did enjoy it thoroughly, and had real affinity for the characters and their circumstances. Everyone seemed to project his or her own experience into the reading and some found the characterization shallow and not credible and had difficulty identifying with them. It was seen as a story of the lives of two characters who were frustratingly inept or downright self destructive with no redeeming values.

The book we will discuss on January 18th at the home of Julie Flynn, is Black House by Peter May. The following month we will discuss Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and to lighten things up a bit, in March, we will read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and for the delicious offerings and to Sheila for her most congenial hosting.

Wednesday November 23

2011-11-24T17:15:00.003+01:00

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Margaret contributed these observations:

The book discussed this month was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Anne Shaffer. It is written in the epistolary form which all agreed is a very arduous undertaking and the general consensus was that the difficulties inherent in this form were not overcome. Set in 1945 the book did not ring true with regard to London post war. Despite research it was felt that the author was unable to recreate the atmosphere either there or in occupied Guernsey. The language used in the letters is unconvincing, and perhaps as an American the author did not understand speech usage of the time (or moreover, at all, kb).
The first part of the book deals with Juliet’s (the main character, an author) first contact with the literary society, which was set up in Guernsey on an impulse, to deflect the attention of the German occupying forces when a curfew was not respected. One of the members, Darsey, finds a book with her name in it and writes to her. There then follows a series of letters about the members of the society and she becomes intrigued and eventually goes to Guernsey to meet them.
The main interest for most was the fact that Guernsey suffered five years of German occupation of which many were unaware. That this was inevitable is proved by the fact that the British authorities evacuated all the children from the island, before the arrival of the occupying forces. The occupation is the focal point of the book. From it came about the society, with an unlikely choice of books, Charles Lamb and Seneca. The other character of great importance is Elisabeth, who invented the society and she is a strong character, despite her physical absence, probably the most convincing in the book. She was arrested and deported for harbouring a Polish worker who was starving to death. Her child, the result of a love affair with a German officer who is sickened by the war, will help bind Juliet to Darsey.
The general feeling was that the book was unconvincing for the era in which it was set, superficial and at times flippant.

Krysia added:

We examined the book in detail and everyone contributed to a most interesting critique. We ate supper most elegantly and most deliciously. Next month's meeting on December 21st.will be at Sheila's. The book is 'One Day' by David Nicholls. Several of us have already read the book, but if you haven't, there are copies circulating. Let me know if you need one.

I found the epistolary writing style of this novel rather difficult because it took a long time for the characters to be developed. Even the main character Juliet Ashton took some time and until the characters came alive I wasn’t really pulled along by the novel. And of course there are lots of characters. Also the quaint way the letters were written in a kind of PGWodehouse nineteen twenties style, irritated me after a while so at times the book didn’t really engaged me. I kept on thinking about whether people at that time really spoke like that or wrote like that.
Those who had rarely read anything more than scripture, seed catalogues and the Pigman’s Gazette would they have read ‘Selections from Shakespeare”
selected essays of Elia by Charles Lamb, ‘The Letters of Seneca”

However the things I liked about it were:
It was accessible and easy to read and not too long thank goodness.
I liked the warm heartedness of the characters and the way they were brought together through books, and their wartime camaraderie which continued after the War.
The book was a great idea; the Nazi occupation of Guernsey, which historically is very interesting. It prompted me to think about what it would have been like if the Germans had occupied England and how my grandmother learnt German when war broke out in case England was invaded. She said that if she was going to be dominated by a load of foreigners she at least wanted to know what they were saying. It made me realise that the fear of occupation must have been ever present.
The contrasts between the horrific stories of Nazi brutality and the gentile lives of the characters.
I also liked the romance between Juliet and Mark

Kerry:

Overall, while most felt that the premise was fascinating and well covered through research, Anne observed that it sounded like writing by number and detracted from any interest one might develop in the actual story. Taken as a light read, as Diane suggested, it was enjoyable, but that was difficult to do considering the subject matter.

Krysia also thoughtfully compiled a list of classics from which to choose the book for February which will be: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The list also included:

Dickens, Bleak House, Great Expectations
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
Wilkie Collins, Woman in White
Mishima, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea
Murakami, After Dark
Guy de Maupassant, Bel Ami
Collette, Cheri
Simone de Beauvoir, She Came to Stay
Melville, Typhee
Raymond Chandler, Farewell my Lovely

It was a lively discussion in any case and thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable evening.

We look forward to seeing you all on 21 December at Sheila's.

Back in the saddle

2011-10-27T09:01:00.005+02:00

The Barga Book Club met on Wednesday after an extended hiatus and we're off and running again for the season.

After much needed catching up we concluded the meeting with an intense discussion of numerous excellent suggestions for up coming titles. The suggestions included:

The Twin, by Gerbrand Bakker
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer
Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
Sense of an Ending, the new novel by Julian Barnes
Case Histories is a 2004 detective novel by Kate Atkinson
One Day by David Nicholls
The Blackhouse is a crime novel by Peter May
Sex & Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido

Win, Place and Show, the books selected for November, December and January in this order are:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer
One Day by David Nicholls
The Blackhouse by Peter May

Enormous thanks to Krysia (and Chris) for their delectable dishes and delightful hosting and to all who brought other delicious fare and especially for all of the book recommendations and an exceptionally productive and enjoyable meeting.

The November 23rd meeting will be held at Kerry's, Via di Mezzo 51, and the December 21st meeting will be held at Sheila's.

Engleby

2011-02-18T19:54:00.004+01:00

Having survived an adventuresome trip over the bridges and through the woods to Krysia’s house we went. The threesome, folded into the Smartcar, made a bridge party and had a rollicking discussion of Engleby by Sebastian Faulks.

Without delving into Pop-psych, the story unfolded, in an obsessively detailed recount of the early life of a possibly schizophrenic, assuredly obsessive/compulsive, addictive, psychotic- savant, personality disordered young man and his obsession with a fellow co-ed at Cambridge. The psychosis was inherent in the telling of the tale, not unlike Poe’s The Raven, in which we experience, in the repetition of sound and imagery, the protagonists illness.

The story itself is a study in schizophrenia as the two halves are as different as night and day. The first half unfolds with the monotonous, repetitive account of his obsessions including a laundry list of early seventies popular music and an account of continual hazing by his house mates, which ultimately add up to the delusions of a psychopath.

In the second half of the story the protagonist develops, seemingly by happenstance, a successful career as a journalist, which to no one’s surprise is what the author did and the author’s voice and perhaps experiences are too audible.

As always there is the specter of socioeconomic conflict. With reason, some readers felt real empathy and identified strongly with the protagonist.

In consensus it was a valuable read to study the devices which the author uses to portray character and develop plot.

As ever, the food was delicious and thank you to everyone who participated.

The next meeting will be held on the 9th of March at the home of Isobel Dodds, during which we will discuss The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal. The books for the following months were chosen and will be April: Disgrace by J M. Coetzee, and for something totally different in May: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

We look forward to seeing you there.

At Sea

2011-02-02T08:05:00.002+01:00

Sometimes an author's, or an artist's, work touches us deeply in a way that we cannot explain, but our affinity is palpable. The 2005 Booker Prize winning novel The Sea by John Banville is one of the works which seems to have touched many readers, but left others unmoved.

The story develops amidst the reminiscences of a bereaved widower as he tries to come to terms with his life and the death of his wife, and work through its connection with his coming of age experiences and tragedy in a seaside resort town involving a larger than life family of four and their governess. He rents a room in the resort home occupied by the Grace family in his youth, now a boarding house, and goes adrift on a storm of remembering. He has a life and death struggle against the maelstrom of grief and tries to forget by diving into alcohol abuse. The tide turns when he has a near death experience and is saved by another boarder. Missing links in the story are neatly replaced and eventually he gains a foothold and moves on.

The settings are beautifully presented and universally evocative. He successfully describes settings with which we could all identify. The characters are drawn in vivid detail involving all the senses. The language is rich with allusion. The vocabulary exercised all of ours. Descriptions often used metaphor, personification or anthropomorphism. The sea is an ever present leitmotif against which and on which the author drifts.

In the words of Krysia Bell: Like several of his other books which deal with death and bereavement the narrator, a bad tempered, egotistical, intolerant, inebriate speaks openly and honestly about his feelings even to the point of uncomfortable rawness. But concedes that she would quite happily spend hours with a dictionary by my side reading about ‘every detail of every smell in every room’ as long as it was written by John Banville.

Margaret Moore emphasized the apparent mythological references citing Diana and Apollo, Demeter, an Edenic moment being offered an apple, like Eve the temptress, and the siren's song...he is Ulysses, as we all are, on a seemingly endless journey.

Some readers were very moved either by the language or the story itself. One either connected with it or not, there was little middle ground.

Thank you once again to Krysia for most gracious hosting and to everyone who contributed in all ways. We will meet again at Krysia’s on the 16th of February to discuss Engelby by Sebastian Faulks. (This is a change from our agreed upon date and book.)

We look forward to seeing you there,

Kerry

Glass Houses

2010-12-22T00:01:00.003+01:00

The Barga Book Club met last Wednesday graciously hosted by Krysia Bell. The book club meeting opened with an overview of the over a year and a half since its inception at The Osteria in Piazza Angelio. Since that meeting we have read and discussed a variety of books in many categories from autobiography through literary fiction and thriller. It can be said that all of the books have appealed to some of the readers but not all of the books have appealed to all of the readers, but in all, there has been variety and the challenge to read a book that one might not read on one’s own, has been worthwhile.

The reading list to date has included:

The Glass Room, by Simon Mawer.
Seta (Silk) by Alessandro Baricco
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Tehran Conviction by Tom Gabbay
The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.
158 lb Marriage by John Irving
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters by J D Salinger
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright
The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers.
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Of Love and other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The novel discussed at the meeting was The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. In consensus, it was one of the more popular books with the group. All agreed that it was superbly set and described. The plot left something to be desired and characterization had a range of support from ‘love, love, loved it’ from the delightfully delighted Salene to varying connections with characters as believable or accessible. Socioeconomic references to The Great Gatsby were acknowledged. The Story revolved around an architectural tour de force of the early 20th century, a home built in glass and steel in the Czech Republic with references to Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier and evocative of the whole of the inception of modern architecture and culture as it related to the rise of the Third Reich. The Glass Room was seen as a metaphoric parallel for Kristallnacht and the theme of the shadow of the holocaust overcame the serenity of transparency and freedom. Early 20th C. cultural mores were explored in the overtly libertine behavior of certain characters in contrast to those bound by tradition. An engaging sense of history and evolving sense of time were successfully executed. The strength of the novel was clearly in a sense of place and evocative atmosphere recreating the sensual ambiance and shock of the new in architecture and elitist power potential rendered impotent through racism.

Thank you very much to all who participated and to our hosts Krysia and Chris Bell.

The book to be discussed on January 19th will be The Sea by John Banville. The following month we will review The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kerry

Silk

2010-11-11T20:54:00.003+01:00

Thank you very much to Margaret Moore who graciously hosted the meeting again this month and kindly wrote this in depth and perceptive recap including contributions from Liz Marroni and Krysia Bell.

The meeting for December may be held on the 15th due to holiday conflicts. Thanks to everyone who participated.

The Barga Book Club met , with very reduced numbers yet again, in November, to discuss Alessandro Baricco’s book Seta (Silk). It was suggested that everyone try to read the original as it is a short book and the language is not too difficult to follow. It should be added that the translation is not good. Comments were varied. Here are two:

1)I found it empty, devoid of interesting characters, characterization and psychological plausibility. It stuns me that this empty and hollow narrative is supposed to be internationally popular. It could possibly be clumped together with other books written by young authors who seem to want to show their intellect and just lose the plot after the second page. I found the style, plot and characters completely dull, thin, and perfunctory, plodding. The only good thing is, it’s short.

2)In this novella you are left with a deep sense of the people, the places and the time (19th century France and Japan) not as a result of character development and descriptions, but conversely, by the lack of them. Like hypnotic suggestions the author flits from one idea to another giving you just enough information for your imagination to create the world of Herve Joncour , a world which you want to return to. Consequently, this poetic fable still lingers, and like an unresolved evocative dream remains in the subconscious.

Not by chance is the French town in which the protagonist lives, called Lavilledieu, (the town of God)which leads to considerations on the nature of the character Baldabiou (we are told no one knew how old he was), who seems to play a decisive role in the lives of the population and in particular the life of Hervè Joncourt, who says that Baldabiou had rewritten his destiny. Taken at face value the book may appear facile, repetitive and empty, and one person described the book as boring, plodding and thought the characters were flimsy. It was also observed that given the title there was not the sensual feel to the book that one might have expected, as with for example with the book Chocolat, a feast of luscious sensations. However, it is as delicate and as light as silk and, for some, as unsubstantial.

It is written as a fable and rich with symbolism, some of which we did not actually uncover. It is also a love story and perhaps a moral fable. The protagonist seeks an elusive love that is never consummated except by proxy and is willing to risk his life and that of others to follow ‘to the end of the world’ what is in fact an empty dream, an illusion, unaware that he already has what he is searching for: his wife, Helene, who loves him enough to let him go. It is she who writes a lyrical letter to him, which can only be described as a declaration of undying love, and which he believes comes from the unknown woman he loves . Only after Helene’s death will Joncourt realise that it was she who wrote it.

Perhaps the saddest thing is the comment that Joncourt is one of those men who are unable to ‘live’ their life, they merely ‘witness’ it , men who ‘observe their fate as others observe a rainy day.’

So in his search for a ‘love’ that he feels will fulfill him he travels time and time again to Japan, so alien to the French culture, in the latter half of the 19th century, that it embodied the fascination of the unknown. His quest is involved with the silk industry. Silk, the name of the book , that beautiful sensual material woven from the cocoon of the silk worm. In France there is an epidemic that causes the death of all the silkworms; those in Japan are unaffected so the lengthy journey to procure fresh healthy eggs is undertaken by Joncourt. It is while he is there falls in love with a woman with whom he cannot speak and whom he can never know. This over-riding passion will take him there one last time, during a period of war. It will cause the death of an innocent boy and bring disaster , for the return home takes too long and all the eggs die. The ‘affaire’ is over. Joncourt lives the rest of his life feeling that he has lost something precious, and that the most precious thing he had was unappreciated by him.

The moral of the fable ? Perhaps that we should appreciate, enjoy and explore what we have, and not seek for it in worlds that do not belong to us. It is inevitable that only when it is too late does Joncourt realize what he had and what he has really lost.

To quote Proust;
The true journey of discovery is not to seek new lands but to have new eyes.

On Elegance and Hedgehogs

2010-10-07T20:30:00.002+02:00

A surprising number of dedicated book club members gathered at the home of Margaret Moore on Wednesday to discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog by the French novelist and professor of Philosophy, Muriel Barbery. Most agreed that the book was enjoyable on a number of levels and that the translation was very good. Some felt, justifiably from their viewpoint, that the story lacked depth and was disappointing from the standpoint of not delivering on promised substance with regard to philosophical allusions.

The beginning of the book was somewhat hard-going and left some feeling that the story was about as elegant as a hedgehog but, beyond around page 70, it began to flow and, in part, rose to the representation of a Zen like image of the elegance of the hedgehog.

The strength of the writing and translation was in its descriptive quality and a brief discussion ensued regarding written imagery vis-à-vis visual imagery in that, at certain points, the writing was so rich one could almost see, hear, smell, or taste whatever the author was describing.

Characterization was another strong point and most members felt drawn to the protagonists. The story revolves around a highly intelligent Parisian apartment house concierge who feels the need to hide her intelligence to fit the mold of the rigid social structure. The theme centered on the two protagonists mortal struggle with the class system and the artificial roles they felt they needed to play. In all, a highly recommended read.

The book club members have handed themselves a challenge in choosing Seta by Alessandro Baricco to be read in the original, and/or, if necessary, in translation. We will discuss this book in November.

The following month we will discuss The Glass Room, by Simon Mawer.

I know it is not about the food but, I would like to thank all of those, particularly Margaret, who put so much effort and expertise into serving up such delicious fare!

Thanks too, to all who participate, we look forward to seeing you next month.

Kerry

Barga welcomes the Lucca Book Club

2010-09-17T09:17:00.003+02:00

The Barga Book Club enthusiastically welcomed many members of the Lucca Book Club to their meeting this month in the elegant surroundings of the Hotel Villa Moorings for a lively discussion of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn.

Elisabeth Marseglia opened the discussion with her thoughts on the story’s rendering in translation. As reflected by others, she felt there were some things lost in translation, but overall the translator’s difficult job was executed satisfactorily if not colorfully. Citing examples such as the impact of the image of ‘bloodless shadow’ substituted with ‘spidery shadow’ or the gravitas of ‘dragging his spirit and his feet’ with the simplified ‘dragging his feet,’ Elisabeth represented what was missing in the tenor and import of the language.

The strength of the storytelling was in character development, with vivid and lucid descriptions of a diverse and colorful, almost Dickinsian, cast of characters. The other strength was in the descriptive quality of the setting in which the reader was transported onto the broad boulevards or narrow alleys and into stately mansions or seedy apartments of post war Barcelona.

While at times, in the opinion of some readers, the book seemed superficial and more like a young adult caper, Elisabeth and others emphasized the apparent political and cultural ironies of the post war period, the Spanish civil war and Franco’s regime, which at times bordered on satire. The reader whose historical grasp of the period was informed could read between the lines and glean greater understanding of the author’s intent.

Thanks very much to Carolyn Slater and the members of the Lucca Book Club for joining us and contributing to this interesting interchange and we look forward to meeting you all again.

The members of the Lucca Book Club have recommended the following books which have been added to our reading list. (click on the link to the right of this blog post)

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
Scoop Evelyn Waugh
Disgrace J. M. Coetzee
The Citadel A. J. Cronin
We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
The Dig John Preston

The book which has been chosen for the October meeting is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Thank you to everyone of the Barga Book Club who participated and we look forward to seeing you next month. We would also enjoy a few new recipes. If anyone has a favourite to add to the recipe blog, please send it to me in an email.

August meeting

2010-08-12T15:29:00.005+02:00

Hosted at the home of Margaret Moore, the book club met Wednesday, August 4th to discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby. For most of us it was at least a second reading and raised many questions regarding its status as a classic in American literature. Nevertheless an enthusiastic discussion followed and, as usual, members raised interesting points as to the plot, characters and underlying theme of the tragic fate of the American dream.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated and especially Margaret for her always unreserved welcome and selfless commitment.

By popular request we're starting a recipe blog and I'm anxiously awaiting more recipes to post. There are several special requests which have been conveyed and we'll welcome any other personal favorites. http://bargabookclubrecipes.blogspot.com/ This link is also on the sidebar of the main book club blog.

We have had the pleasure of a request for a get together with the Lucca book club and have set the date of Wednesday 15 September. The time will probably remain the same and the place here in Barga will be announced closer to the meeting date. The book selected for this meeting is: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn.

We look forward to seeing you all there,

Kerry

Two meetings in one

2010-07-26T22:34:00.003+02:00

The Barga Book Club, hosted by the always convivial Julie Flynn, met in June and were enthralled with the presence of the author Tom Gabbay of The Tehran Conviction. A fascinating discussion was led by the author regarding the background, history and inspiration for his engaging story of intrigue in Tehran. Read the book is the simplest and best recommendation we can offer. It is excellent.

The July meeting was held on the new terrace of Isobel Dodds home to discuss Rebecca Wells' The Divine Secrets of The Yaya Sisterhood which was well reviewed and the recap of the meeting by Margaret Moore follows. Thank you to our wonderful host Isobel, everyone who participated and especially to Margaret for writing this summary.

The books chosen for the months of August and September respectively are the following: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

This month’s book club meeting was kindly hosted by Isabel Dodds .
The book chosen for the July meeting was The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. Discussion of the book centered on two aspects; the immense value of a group friendship which starts in childhood and lasts a life-time; and the rapport between mothers and daughters.
The very special kind of friendship described in this book is the YaYa Sisterhood, which is able to give support to all its members, without judging them, in the way that close sisters would. There is love and it is strong enough to survive any situation. This amazing group of southern Louisiana women, hemmed in by the conventions of their time, through the sisterhood are able to experience life in a different and more exciting way as they grow up together. Their lives are immeasurably enriched by it. As they get married their friendship encompasses each other’s families so that their children, the petite YaYas, have an extended family to turn to as well.
When one of the group has a breakdown and physically abuses her children, she is not judged by the others but is supported by them and helped to overcome this terrible event. It is this event that is the focus of the book. Because of the physical abuse she suffered on that occasion, Sidda, Vivi’s oldest girl, finds herself unable to commit. She leaves her partner and goes away for a period of time alone to think. She has argued with her mother whom she has publicly accused of hurting her although she remembers little in detail of what happened. Vivi sends her the scrapbook of the events of her life in the sisterhood. While Sidda ponders over these tokens of memory, and does indeed remember many good things, the other members of the sisterhood, now much older and physically fragile, arrive at her retreat. They are able to provide more information about the relics and Sidda learns the truth about what happened to Vivi. They also give her detailed information about many events in her childhood, and her mother’s burning love for her and her brother and sister are manifest. At the same time we learn about Vivi’s own experience with her mother. What is discipline to one generation is child abuse to the next.
The book struck many chords for most of us. Some remembered friendships that had lasted for a life time and other lamented the lack of such important and enriching relationships. It also called to mind our own relationship with our parents and the totally different kind that we have with our children. We are all products of our time as Sidda too came to understand. Breakdowns were once secret events, never mentioned; now most people who have this experience, see a psychiatrist, take medication, have therapy, sometimes group therapy and talk their way through it.
So, through the relationships formed in childhood that extended throughout a lifetime and encompassed a huge extended family, The YaYa Sisterhood, were able to enrich not only their own lives but those of their large families too. The general consensus was that this was a very beautiful book, though perhaps a ‘women’s’ book. The men in this book are peripheral and we see them only as they relate to their wives or daughters, not to each other. (Men’s comradeship seems to be of a different kind and related to external events especially stressful ones, as for example in war. )
Next month’s book is The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald

158 lb Book

2010-05-08T08:14:00.000+02:00

Seven enthusiastic members of the Barga Book Club met Wednesday evening to discuss the novel, 158 lb Marriage by John Irving. The story was a period set piece of mid 1970’s lifestyle choices, exploring sexual attitudes and representative of the author’s early thematic development.

The plot revolved around two couples who exchanged sexual partners in an early experiment during the so called sexual revolution. Twisted rationalization prompted the beginning of the experimentation and extreme disillusion ended it and tragically ruptured one family.

Though the opinions were typically divergent, the consensus was that though readable, the writing was heavy handed, the story contrived, the characters calculating and exploitative. It is representative of a particular period in time and therefore seemed dated. Various influences on the author at the time were cited as too apparent. Opinion varied as to interesting aspects of the writing such as the seeds of typically wry John Irving humor and touches of the absurd. One member noted that the peripheral characters seemed to have been very interestingly developed but not integral to the story. There was an overall wrestling metaphor with allegorical implications of Irving wrestling with a theme of the period, which was inter-relational sexual experimentation that ultimately went very wrong.

We will next meet on Wednesday the 2nd of June to discuss The Tehran Conviction by Tom Gabbay. We’re very happy to report that the author will be there for the discussion.

In July we will discuss Divine Secrets of the Ya -Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.

A sincere thank you to Julie Flynn-Ciniglio for hosting the meeting again and thank you very much to everyone for patience and effective cooperation in the book exchange process. A special thanks to Margaret Moore for getting copies of the books and helping to organize the exchanges.

We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting and we’ll confirm the place closer to the date,

Kerry and Julie

Small Island

2010-04-17T21:27:00.003+02:00

The Book Club met on Wednesday to discuss Small Island by Andrea Levy. Krysia Bell opened the meeting and gave this astute summation of the book.

‘Small Island’ by Andrea Levy doesn’t really need to be unearthed and analysed like some of the previous books we have read because it speaks for itself. The novel is about the arrival of Jamaicans in England just after the war, the racial discrimination and hostility that they encountered and the disappointment in a land which they regarded as their mother country. As Jamaica was part of the British Empire they couldn’t understand why they were not welcomed with open arms. The characters and events are based on the experiences of the author’s parents who sailed from Jamaica to England in 1948. The author skillfully moves backwards and forwards in time using multi narratives to create the four main protagonists in the novel.
Gilbert, who has come to London from Jamaica to make a better life for himself and his new wife Hortense. Their landlady Queenie rents out the rooms in her grubby Earls Court house and is frowned on by the neighbours for accommodating ‘darkies’ and bringing down the neighbourhood. Queenie has waited three years for her miserable husband Bernard to return from the war and by now considers herself a war widow. The opening chapter of the novel tells of Queenie as a child when she is taken to the Empire Exhibition. She follows the smell of chocolate to the African village where a black man who is manning the stand shakes her hand. Her father reassures his frightened daughter that the man would have been a chief or a prince in his own country ‘you can tell he’s been civilised says her father, because he speaks English. The story starts with Hortense’s arrival in the middle of winter on a boat from Jamaica ‘on the boat women were in their best clothes, cotton dresses, hats and white gloves, jumping up and down waving, being met by black men in scruffy coats and hand knitted scarves hunched over in the cold’. The scene is set. The contrasts made. You know what awaits them.
However the discrimination which pervades this book is quite shocking at times. Queenie says to Hortense when she first arrives at the house ‘I hope you are not bringing anything into the house that will smell’.
Mr. Todd, a neighbor relates the story of how his sister is approached by two black women who, in passing, force her to step into the road. He says, ‘don’t they know that it should be them that steps into the road and not a white person.’
Then of course there is the scene in the cinema where the black and white GI’s are segregated, and the heart wrenching scene when Hortense goes to the Council offices to apply for a teaching job and ends up walking into the broom cupboard. But horrible bigoted Bernard is the most dislikeable character in this book especially at the end when he walks into Gilbert and Hortense’s room and looks at the curtains ‘The curtains grubby and ripped. He thought Those coloured people don’t have the same standards....the war was fought so that people might live amongst their own kind. Everyone was trying to get home to be with kith and kin except for those blasted coloured colonials. I’ve nothing against them in their place but their place isn’t here. Mr. Todd thought they wouldn’t survive another cold winter. I hope he was right.’
For me this was an award winning book. A story, simply written, with brilliant dialogue, big characters, funny, moving and above all memorable. Yes, I did find the Michael Roberts connection and the baby rather incredulous but it’s a good story.

An animated discussion ensued and the reviews were mixed. In many ways the book succeeded in capturing a sense of the times which was rendered in excellent use of description and dialogue, but there was a minority opinion that it missed an evocative rendering of Jamaican life. Some felt that, despite an overall successful telling of the tale, there were aspects which lacked continuity, while at the same time being strongly written. At the end, one wonders to which small island the author was referring. An interesting read nonetheless.

The book chosen for the May meeting, which will be held Wednesday 5 May, is The 158 Pound Marriage by John Irving. The book selected for June is The Tehran Conviction, by Tom Gabbay.

A huge thanks to Margaret Moore for hosting the meeting and providing several delicious dishes and equal thanks to everyone who participated and contributed.

We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

In Tribute to J. D. Salinger

2010-03-04T17:56:00.006+01:00

Thank you to everyone who attended the Barga Book Club Meeting on Tuesday. Thank you as well, to our host for the splendid setting and delicious meal.

Margaret Moore has honored us with a perspicacious recap of the meeting below.

Although Salinger's work merits much further study we will move on to discuss Small Island by Andrea Levy at the meeting which will take place 13 April and then Book of Illusions by Paul Auster at the May meeting. We would like to encourage everyone to participate. Even if you did not like the books which were chosen, your contribution is appreciated and valuable to the discourse at hand. We look forward to hearing from any and all of you as to which books you might wish to read and discuss.

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you on April 13th.

This month the Barga Book club was hosted for the rather reduced number of members present. There was a lively discussion of the book, ‘Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters’ by J D Salinger, led by Kerry Bell who chose the book. For some this was the re-visitation of a book read and loved in the sixties, for others it was a first time reading. Approaching the book so long after its publication, one is perhaps more of aware of the historical context. It was suggested that this book has its roots in the Jewish background of the author, who also spent some time in Vienna in 1939 where he can hardly have been unaware of the precarious situation for Jews at that time. For others the overwhelming importance of this book was that it was emblematic of the culture of youth , when for the first time the young looked objectively at adults and rejected their values as phony. Youth was speaking its own language and communication with the previous generations was often impossible. It had not as yet acquired its own identity. The War broke down many barriers; for the young who were abruptly empowered when they took on the burden of active service, and for women whose role was changing, too.
The opening page of the book, through a story from the Dao, has an Eastern Philosophical slant, and the writing throughout is permeated with this Zen-like approach to life. The scene is set in 1942. Seymour’s sister is in the navy, Buddy in the army, Seymour has seen action, another brother was killed. Salinger too saw active service during World War 11 and was present at the liberation of a concentration camp. The effects of these experiences , after which he suffered a nervous breakdown, will be evident throughout his life as he seeks in Eastern Religions a more peaceful and compassionate way of life. While many post war books dealt with the external aspects of this period, Salinger was concerned with inner emotional perception and explores relationships, through the invented Glass family, of mixed Jewish/ Catholic parentage like himself
The main character, Seymour Glass, although absent , is presented through others. He is the bridegroom who leaves his bride alone at the wedding, too overcome and almost unbalanced by his immense happiness. It is up to the narrator, Buddy, his brother, (Salinger’s alter ego) to defend his brother’s absence. Through him the reader comes to know about this intellectual, erudite, sensitive, beautiful man and poet, who seems to live on a plane that the average person cannot approach, let alone understand. The Glass family, parents Jewish/ Irish, had seven children who all took part in the radio programme ‘It’s a Wise Child’ for child prodigies. They are set apart from their peers at an early age, partly through their astonishing intelligence but also because Seymour educates them in Eastern philosophy, and preaches love and compassion. The dynamics between the family members is realistic and convincing.
After the wedding fails to take place, the guests exit and seek escape. The atmosphere is suffocating, in a limousine in the heat of New York, where a very noisy parade is taking place and effectively blocks their passage. The noise is deafening. They then proceed to an airless closed apartment where Buddy hastens to turn on the air conditioning. He is surrounded by the bride’s guests, who do not know his identity. He is further constricted by plaster round his body as the result of an injury . While the Matron of Honour is vociferous, telling everyone that Seymour needs psychiatric help and may even be ‘a latent homosexual and a schizoid personality’ , and her army officer husband subtly reinforces the concept of authority, Buddy is at first unable to be himself and avoids saying who he is. Everything is claustrophobic ad vaguely menacing. The only person with whom Buddy can communicate is the deaf-mute uncle, who theoretically is the only person who cannot express any views and remains like a smiling Buddha throughout.
The language used by Salinger is immediately identifiable, as Manhattan-ese. It is credible, and reinforces the solid reality of the situation , where ‘normal’ people are commenting, what to them is inexplicable and abhorrent behaviour, which Buddy is defending , as not only acceptable but as supremely understandable. The abyss, between their way of perceiving things and his own, is emblematic of the rift between ‘normals’ or ‘phonies’ (See the Catcher in The Rye’) and the Glass family, as it is between youth and the older generations. The Matron of honour accuses Seymour of ‘freakish behaviour’ . What does not adhere to the norm is frighteningly incomprehensible and must be labelled as abnormal.
While the guests lie around his sister’s apartment in the heat, Buddy retreats to the bathroom to read his brother’s diaries. Seymour’s somewhat inexplicable love for Muriel who is quite different to the Glass family is summed up when he says, ‘’she wants her own Christmas tree ornaments to un-box annually, not her mother’s.’ Seymour defines himself as a paranoiac in reverse, ‘I suspect people of trying to make me happy,’
There was general recognition of the importance of Salinger’s writing, not only in its historical context but today as well. His output was slim but had a massive impact. It was prophetic and is still pertinent in the 21st century. Like a Zen aphorism; either you get it or you don’t . Margaret Moore, March 4, 2010

Margaret's work can be found here.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2010-02-05T14:12:00.004+01:00

The Barga Book Club convened Tuesday with a spirited discussion of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid, led by Margaret Moore who presented an astute and cogent account of her reading of the story.

It is told as a monologue by the Pakistani protagonist who recounts his personal history, as a gifted student who achieves select placement in the financial sector in New York, to an unknown American listener in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. It is an intricately woven tale of multi-layered symbolism and allegory. There are intriguing suggestions of a complicated conspiracy to assassinate either the listener or the protagonist. The strength of the story is in poignant and beautifully composed passages describing his relationship with a bereaved American woman and in vivid descriptions of his homeland and its history. Through historical references intertwined with topical subject matter, such as 9/11 and an allusion to the assassination of Daniel Pearl, the speaker tells his tale of infatuation and disillusionment in what amounts to an upbraiding of American capitalistic arrogance and hegemony.

Thank you very much to Margaret and everyone who participated.

The book we’ll discuss on Tuesday March 2nd, is Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, by J.D. Salinger. There are a number of copies in circulation so keep in touch if you would like to borrow a copy to read.

The following book will be Small Island, by Andrea Levy.

We look forward to seeing you in March,

Kerry and Julie

The Book Thief

2009-12-09T10:53:00.002+01:00

An enthusiastic group of 7 Book Club members met on Tuesday to discuss The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany, sent by her distraught mother to be taken in by foster parents at the height of the war. Narrated by an omniscient and omnipresent figure of Death, it is a poignant story of a family struggling not to become overwhelmed by the war effort, and to maintain their principles under the circumstances.

The meeting opened with an engaging discussion of members’ associations with the war and its aftermath. Several members recounted moving connections with survivors of the war from both sides of the conflict, as well as their own local associations, whether it was observing bombed buildings, studying historical texts, or an exhaustive investigation of the Imperial War Museum.

The readers’ responses were at extremes. Some felt the book was a moving and captivating emotional tale of characters with whom they could identify and empathize. Common agreement was expressed as to the wholesome nature of the portrayal of the protagonists relationships and certain well written aspects. Others were extremely frustrated by the author’s devices, which seemed contrived, its lack of effective imagery, and moreover, by the flippant superficiality with which the author treated the historical subject and circumstances of the war.

The book chosen to be discussed on Tuesday, January 12th, is the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated and for bringing incredibly delicious food and beverages and a special thanks to Julie for hosting the gathering, and providing more delicious food and punch!

We welcome any comments or suggestions for future meetings.

We look forward to seeing you January 12th, the date set to allow everyone a chance to enjoy the holidays.

Best wishes for a lovely holiday season to everyone, wherever you may be,

Kerry and Julie

November Book Club Meeting

2009-10-23T01:04:00.001+02:00

As it turns out we can meet on Tuesday, 3 November, and most likely it will be at Julie's apartment in Barga Vecchia. Now if I could just find a copy of that book...

See you there

The Buddha of Suburbia

2009-10-09T14:51:00.004+02:00

On Tuesday evening Julie Flynn Ciniglio articulately presented her selection, The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, to an enthusiastic group of least 12 Barga Book Club members in the lovely and convivial atmosphere of her own studio apartment in Barga Vecchia.

The Buddha of Suburbia is an engaging story of the trials and tribulations of an ethnically diversified young man coming of age in the London suburbs in the late 20th Century. The protagonist, Karim, with a long suffering English mother and charismatic Indian father, is presented growing up through the lenses of pop music and culture clouded by his ethnic heritage.

Political and sociological themes of family, immigration, racism, class, spirituality, religion, sexuality, and mysticism are explored. The author deftly negotiates the subject of discrimination in post-colonial Britain, remaining seemingly objective, while focusing on the exploits and evolution of society from the early 70’s onward. In addition to cultural issues concerning race, the conflicts of a multitude of religious influences from Christianity through Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are wrestled.

The book’s title refers to the protagonist’s father who develops a, first, suburban and then urban, following as a guru and spiritual leader, though his son can’t shake the feeling that he is more charlatan than shaman. Karim’s English mother fills an uncharacteristically subdued role of neglected partner while his father runs off with an artistic, sexually liberated sophisticate.

Karim himself goes through a laundry list of casual sexual exploits expected of the liberated.

Julie also thoughtfully provided the audio of an interview with the author in which he answers questions from a live audience and email queries. He gracefully skirts the prurient questions as to the book’s autobiographical nature and explains the story as the evolution of a new breed of British citizen, presenting the contradictory Indian characterization of sage and beggar by adaptation of identities and escapism.

The book seems to be a deceptively affectionate portrait of late 20th century British social issues and conflicts and covers many themes of contemporary interest.

The next Book Club meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 10th and the book presented will be All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.

The following month we will discuss The Tehran Conviction, hopefully with the author himself, Tom Gabbay.

Many thanks to everyone who brought food and/or wine and stayed to help Julie tidy up.

We look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting,

Kerry and Julie

Spilling the Beans

2009-09-15T09:18:00.006+02:00

The autobiography Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright is a sober account of the devastating effects of alcoholism and the violent physical abuse she endured at the hands of her father, neither of which discriminate against the class or economic status of her well connected and privileged youth. Even as she proudly achieves the hard won goal of youngest barrister and successfully practices for a time, her alcoholism takes its toll. After finally extricating herself and her mother from the abuses of her father, her mother dies and this sends her into severe depression and alchohol abuse. In a matter of fact account of her institutionalization, and ultimate salvation through AA, of which she spends much time extolling the virtues of twelve step programs, she describes her addiction and its toll. Ultimately through pluck and nerve she pulls herself up by her bootstraps and soldiers on, finding comfort and purpose in food and cookery. Avoiding self pity and the celebrity tell all, she recounts her life in carefully edited prose.

The book selected for the December 1st meeting will be The Tehran Conviction by Tom Gabbay and will be introduced by the author.

To recap the upcoming books:

October 6th: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi to be introduced by Julie Flynn
November 3rd: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy introduced by Kerry Bell

I have added the following titles of suggested reading to the Book Club reading list:

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

A sincere thank you to everyone who participated!

We look forward to seeing you in October,

Kerry and Julie

Passed by the Skin of Its Teeth

2009-08-05T17:46:00.008+02:00

The August meeting of The Barga Book Club opened on a spellbinding note in a spectacular setting with an august dissertation presented by Elliot Grant which covered almost all salient points of the story, plot, character, and setting of the first novel by Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion. Some of Elliot’s remarks are in italics.

As first novels go this was a tour de force contrasting images of, characteristically breathtakingly, life threatening swings of a monumental Toronto bridge girder with credibility threatening swings of story line and character. The book seems to be a series of stories which lacked a continuous narrative, a disjointed tableau of stories linked in a serious way in the end, only held together by the finest thread of artifice.

The book opens with introspective descriptions of insect inspection and pastoral life in rural Canada and continues with lyrical invocations of manual labor in adverse conditions, glorifying the dignity of labor, which is then blown out of the water, literally and figuratively, with images of the protagonist's father’s violent dynamite blasts to keep the logs moving down river.

Among several beautiful vignettes the most beautifully rendered story early in the book introduces new principal characters with a hymn of praise to the construction of a spectacular bridge with compelling descriptions of death defying manual labor practices of the period and a heart wrenching act of life saving recounted with the impact of religious zeal which lays the foundations for many of the important themes.

Unfortunately, from there the book devolves into patience defying plot manipulations of obsessional love, labor union struggles and workers rights issues intertwined with anarchist and politically edged themes with Beder Meinhof associations.

In conclusion the overall sense of the book referenced Pilgrims Progress in its exploitation of characters and symbols as metaphor. Of the few who read the book most agreed to about a passable 3+ out of five, citing the inherent contradictions of the sublime written imagery and poignant set pieces with violence and the banal treatment of the story line and seemingly arbitrary agitprop dialogue during perfunctory sex scenes.

Books have been chosen for the months of September and October to give members the opportunity to get a head start on the order process so that we might have a better turnout of those who have had a chance to read the books and thereby more viewpoints.

Huge thanks go to Elliot Grant who did such a thorough and enthralling job of introducing the book overcoming the distraction of bats and cicadas with aplomb in an altogether sublime setting. Thank you very much too, to our most gracious host. Thank you as well, to all who participated in the discussion and offered thoughtful suggestions for future meetings.

The book that will be introduced by Julie Flynn on September 8th (please note date) will be: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

The 6th of October book will be All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.

In view of the problems we have had procuring books there have been a number of helpful suggestions: An alternative book provider suggested by Elliot is AbeBooks.com Plan ahead, and if you have not been able to find a copy of the book email Kerry or Julie early and we’ll put the word out to other book club members who may have a copy to lend. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone who attends the next meeting will have had the chance to read the book.

We look forward to seeing you in September,

Kerry and Julie

A Legacy of Loss

2009-06-04T09:08:00.005+02:00

An enthusiastic group of about 18 Barga Book Club Members and friends gathered for an animated discussion of
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, many of whom had read the book.

Opinions varied widely. The story was characterized from richly described narrative to depressing overblown cliché. The consensus was that the strength of the book was the voluptuous imagery of its setting in the shadow of the Himalayas. The palpable images of everyday life in post colonial India, from impoverished vestiges of the Tea ritual to the interior of a once grand, now derelict, home and its surroundings left little to the imagination. No detail was spared in the lush description of the torrid build up to the monsoon season and its steamy consummation.

The characters were represented through the back and forth of past and present reminiscences and the veil of the controversial relationship of the legacy of colonialism and conflicted sentiment toward its cultural fusion. The discrepancy between aspiration and oppression was an important theme. Intense pathos as a consequence of failed ambition was one aspect of the legacy of loss that touched all characters lives.

To some book club members, though the setting and characterization were richly portrayed, there remained a sense of detachment from emotional issues despite the representation of some inexcusable interpersonal violence driven by circumstances. The characters remained tentatively involved and the ending seemed flat and unresolved.

The book raised many more questions we didn’t have time to address and is a recommended read for the well written vibrant imagery and as a treatise on the human condition.

The book that was chosen to read and discuss at the Tuesday August 4th meeting is: In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje.

We will meet next on Tuesday July 7th to discuss The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers.

I will be posting several recommended reading lists of English Literature generously copied and contributed by Isobel Dodds.

Thank you very much for your enthusiastic participation and all of your contributions.

Kerry and Julie

Of Love and Other Demons

2009-05-06T08:57:00.004+02:00

A dedicated group of 12 Barga Book Club members met last night at La Pergola for pizza and a lively discussion of Of Love and other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The book club members discussed a variety of topics with regard to the historical, philosophical and ethical concerns raised in the story which falls into the category of Magical Realism in literature.

The story is the current day recounting of a legend set in colonial Latin America perhaps during the 18th century. The principal characters include a young girl, bitten by a rabid dog and its controversial consequences, her parents, a priest, a bishop and a doctor.

The historical setting referenced “American” titled aristocracy which comically had some of us, including myself, conjuring images of State siders which we had to dispel by remembering that all from both the north and south American continents are considered by some as “Americans.”

One of the first issues raised concerned the idea that this was a story of the pursuit of a 12 year old girl by a Priest and we were reminded, and rightly so, that Juliet was portrayed at 12 years old as well, and that even in today’s world in certain cultures this is acceptable.

Aided in large part with background information offered by Barga Book Club member Elizabeth Marseglia, the discussion then turned to the portrayal of the Doctor as a representation of a Spinoza type character for his ethnic origin, religion, and as a philosophical advocate of reason vs. religion, superstition, authority and materialism. In other words, a controversial spokesperson for conflicting ideas. The concept of censorship, the control of knowledge and limits of freedom led to a brief reference regarding Silvio Berlusconi’s current control of the media.

The book raised questions with regard to faith vis a vis superstition which were relative to contemporary Italy.

The consensus was that the book was an enlightening, if not enlightened, reading experience and that it would merit deeper study with regard to symbolism, historical and religious references.

The book we will discuss at the meeting to be held Tuesday, 2nd June, as previously decided, will be The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai.

The book chosen to discuss at the meeting of Tuesday, 7th July, will be The Other Side of You, by Salley Vickers.

Thanks very much to everyone who participated and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Last Minute Change of Venue

2009-05-03T17:35:00.000+02:00

The Barga Book club meeting will be held at La Pergola.

May Meeting

2009-05-02T17:27:00.001+02:00

The May meeting of the Barga Book Club will be held at L'osteria in Piazza Angelio at 7 PM Tuesday 5th May.

Please email this address by Monday to confirm attendance: kbitaly6 at gmail dot com

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there,

Kerry and Julie

Amazon and other demons

2009-04-24T11:20:00.002+02:00

With just about a week and a half to go before the next meeting we thought it might be a good idea to post an update and put the word out to anyone interested, that if you have not found a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'Love and Other Demons' (it took us almost three weeks to receive our copy from Amazon) you can post a comment here and perhaps someone who has a copy to lend might respond.

To post a comment, click on the comment link at the bottom of this post, post your comment and if you do not have one of the titled accounts listed, google, AIM, etc., just sign your post, and select 'anonymous'.

We are also thinking of other venues with more space, such as The Hot Club or The Jazz Club, and alternative catering ideas, so if anyone has suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. We'll let you know the details of the next meeting in about a week.

Happy reading!

Kerry and Julie

Reading List

2009-04-16T11:04:00.002+02:00

As promised, To the right is the list of notable books and/or authors which was compiled at the first meeting of The Barga Book Club. I scribbled titles and authors and could not find one or two in my searches, for instance, the title Savage Garden only brought up an Australian Pop Duo, and I don’t think that was what we were looking for, so if anyone has any information to add please do, (added). In addition, the last title I jotted down was The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, the film based on this psychological thriller was filmed at Il Castello Aragonese, on Ischia, pictured above last week. Which leads me to the thought that I’ve missed seeing many films in English, anyone interested in starting a Barga Film Club?

Cheers and see you on Tuesday, May 5th, Kerry (and Julie)

Some of these may be available in the barganews Book Exchange.

and they're off!

2009-04-07T22:24:00.000+02:00

The first meeting of the Barga Book Club was notable both for attendance and enthusiasm! At least twenty five Barga bibliophiles, and a few from the surrounding territories including Bagni di Lucca, turned out at L'Osteria in Piazza Angelio to talk books.

The first order of business was, what books shall we read, and a list was quickly compiled and edited. The list included many excellent recommendations and was narrowed down to two. The book that we will gather to discuss on Tuesday the 5th of May will be Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book we will discuss on the 2nd of June will be The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. Clicking on the title will link you to Amazon for both information and availability.

We have a number of issues to address in the future including venue and menu, and please feel free to post a comment and/or any suggestions you might have for the coming months. We've thrown this together quickly to spread the word but welcome any recommendations you have for further communication.

Thank you all for coming and we look forward to hearing from you and seeing you next month!

Kerry and Julie

P.S. In the next few days I will post the book list you all so generously contributed. There are some wonderful titles there and it will serve as a great general reading list. Thanks again.