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Tuesday, December 4, 2007

2000




(Photos: Taken in June 2000 )



Jan - Eucalyptus (Murray Bail) An
No meeting but this book was chosen for us to discuss in February. I remember the scent of Eucalyptus that greeted us when we walked into Hea's place the following month ...... and the eucalyptus leaves that were all over the place. (A memorable meeting .... a variety of reactions to this book .... some loved it and went out and bought their own copy. Others found it average! Some suggested that this was a book that should be read slowly for reading it too quickly would lose the sense of beauty brought out by the descriptive passages within.





Feb
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Louis De Bernieres) Hea
An excellent discussion that made some of us change our minds about how we saw the book. Those who felt the book was unbelievable were open to the possibility of events occurring as it was set in the war and like it or not, war is a reality.  We also looked at a map of the places mentioned in the book.   



Mar


The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells) Ju


An enjoyable read! Lots to discuss!



Apr
The Colour of Water (James McBride) Da


Great discussion with lots of good questions from Da. Most rated this book 5-6. Ca must have been in a sentimental mood for she gave it 10 out of 10!



May
A Foreign Wife (Gillian Bouras) Cat
An autobiography of Gillian Bouras' life in Greece. Unfortunately discussion on this one did not work out well. Most of us couldn't get into the book at all.



Jun
Veronica Decides to Die (Paul Coelho) Ge


This starts off with the day that Veronica decides to end it all ..... and continues on with Veronica's story. We enjoyed this book and it generated heaps of discussion.


Cat leaves the group.



Jul
Disgrace (J.M. Coetze) Ca


Ca lost her voice and couldn't present this meeting. In fact, she couldn't come to it either as she was highly contagious! An did a fantastic job reading out her notes for her! The next day, she rang her at home and told her how the meeting went .... very strange conversation as Ca had absolutely no voice and could only make strange grunting noises at the other end!






Aug
The Blackwater Lightship (Colm Toiban) Fl


A family brought together by their brother, son and grandson who is dying of AIDs. This is beautifully written. Heaps to talk about.



Sept
Waiting (Ha Jin) An


The sense of "waiting" goes on forever with this book. Well written, but there are mixed feelings about this one.


(Ant joins the group!)



Oct
The Monkey's Mask (Dorothy Porter) Je


This was a little different as it was in short verse. We all read it really quickly. Most enjoyable!



Nov
Quarantine (Jim Crace) De


Well written but some of us were tortured by the happenings of this book........... which means it has to be the mark of a good book as we were quite emotionaly frustrated by the actions of some of the characters.



Dec
Christmas dinner. (Thai!)
A change in plan just for the first meeting, next year. We would all read our own choices over the holidays and then discuss at next meeting in Feb next year.







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