September's nearly done and October starts on Thursday!

This means Cityside Book Club will be meeting to discuss Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman this Thursday at the Community Venue at the Mackay City Library at 6.00pm.

Due to the classic status of Harper Lee's previous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, expectations are high for this novel which Harper Lee has described as the parent novel of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Cara Erica from The Guardian writes this about this long-anticipated novel while Michelle Smith in The Conversation posits a variety of aspects of Go Set A Watchman.

Looking forward to hearing our book clubbers experience of Harper Lee's new novel this Thursday!

'The Eye of the Sheep' impresses

Seven Cityside Book Clubbers met to discuss Sofie Laguna's 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner The Eye of the Sheep.

The title evoked much discussion. Some thought the book would attract a bigger audience with a more attractive title while others thought a title like this intrigued and encouraged readers. Most of our readers would like to know why the author came up with this title and deduced that it had special meaning to the author and, being curious, they were aching to know more detail. Some of our readers were glad that our Book Club Set sticker covered the book cover image of Jimmy Flick and they were able to develop their own version of him.

Some of our readers had had much experience, in some cases personal involvement with children on the autism spectrum and therefore found this book difficult and rather emotional to read. Other readers appreciated and were fascinated by the way the author endeavoured to portray Jimmy Flick's thought processes and concepts of the world. Other readers had great difficulty with the notion of an adult writing from a child's perpective and felt this lack of authenticity. There was much curiosity about how the author came to write this book. Our readers were very interested in whether it was personal experience of a Jimmy or was it extensive empathetic research?

Our readers generally found all of the characters believable. There was much sympathy for Paula and much discussion ensued about how caring for a child like Jimmy Flick usually fell to the mother and how exhausting this reponsibility was. Most of our readers loved the way Paula was portrayed and how Jimmy conceptualised his mother.There was much discussion about why Paula just gave up when Gavin left after beating both Paula and Jimmy. There was talk about how denial of the domestic violence by the victim effectively stymied any possibility of assistance from medical authorities. There was much conversation about the community's role as silent witness to family violence and the way family violence travels down the generations.

The relationship between Jimmy and his father and the longing Liam had for his father fostered much discussion about the need for connection between sons and fathers. In Liam's case the loss of this much yearned-for connection and the denial of this loss did not bode well for his future. His psychopathic behaviour was portrayed in such an understated but nevertheless unsettling manner. The pressure in the foster family furthered discussion about the exhaustion involved in caring for children with behavioural difficulties.

Our readers generally enjoyed the actual expression and style of writing in The Eye of the Sheep even though they found the content and story distressing and difficult. Most of our readers agreed it was a worthwhile read and some were considering re-reading it at a later date because they thought a slower read would do it more justice.

There was much excitement when next month's book was revealed: Harper Lee's second novel Go Set A Watchman. It should be a very interesting meeting when we discuss this much anticipated novel on Thursday 1 October at Mackay City Library at 6.00 pm.

Our next read is Sofie Laguna's 'The Eye of the Sheep'

Sofie Laguna has written twenty children's books, plays, a screen play and one adult novel prior to writing The Eye of the Sheep. Apparently it was one of her earlier plays that begat her 2014 novel which has won the 2015 Miles Franklin Award.



Susan Wyndham, literary editor of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote this about Laguna's prize-winning book.

Looking forward to hearing your views on this modern prize-winning Australian novel.

'The Denniston Rose' discussed

There was much discussion about the bleakness of the physical environment of the Denniston coal mine and the determination needed to survive in these conditions. There was a lot of talk about how the three women Totty Hanratty, Mary Scobie and Bella Rasmussen were the strength and really the founding mothers of the Denniston community. Many mining stories focus on the men but this one seemed focussed on the strength of the women and how the men made the decisions but it was the women who had to somehow ensure that things actually happened.

Rose's mother while coming under fire for her rather hands off approach to mothering could be seen as a survivor of her time who considered her only means of existence was under the wing of a man whether he hurt her (and Rose) or not. She certainly understood men and where they were concerned she generally got her way in the big picture even though in the detail she was somewhat less particular and certainly did not consider collateral damage.

There was a lot of discussion about the community knowing how Billy Genesis was treating Rose but how not one adult spoke in her defence: "No one liked to admit that a child's voice is always harder to hear than an adult's." There was also the excuse that 'Billy's skills were necessary to the community.' Despite being a small child, Rose was very much on her own. There was much talk about whether this was still the case today.

There seemed to be much discussion about many facets of the novel but while Rose's situation merited opinions, the character Rose did not engender a great deal of discussion.

Most of our readers seemed to enjoy the read. One of our readers particularly enjoys books based in historical fact and followed up her read with quite a bit of internet research on Denniston, the coal mining industry there and the incline. One can even experience a virtual ride on the incline which was eventually closed in 1967.

Looking forward to our next discussion on Sofie Laguna's book The Eye of the Sheep on Thursday 3 September at 6.00pm.

Cityside meets this Thursday!

Hello folks,

Just a reminder that it's the first Thursday of the month and that means Cityside Book Club meets to discuss Jenny Pattrick's The Denniston Rose at 6.00pm in the Community Venue room at Mackay City Library!

See you there!

July's read is Jenny Pattrick's 'The Denniston Rose'

We're off to the wilds of early settlement on the inhospitable coal fields of Denniston on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. This novel follows the slow painful development of community in this pioneer settlement.

 

 

To find a few images to set the scene pop onto Google Images and type in 'Denniston'. I tried to upload a couple of them for you but computer is not playing the game - it didn't say 'No' exactly, it just ignored my instruction! There are archive photos of the incline and the break head which are really illuminating. I'd certainly prettied things up in my imagination so it was a good reality check.

 

Here is a brief precise of the book from Random House.

 

Certainly a book that needs to be read with a hot chocolate or a mulled wine.

 

Looking forward to hearing about your experience of this popular New Zealand novel.

 

 

 

 

 







'The Girl Who Couldn't Read' discussed in detail by girls who like reading!

John Harding's Gothic mystery stimulated much discussion among our avid readers. One of our regulars due to work commitments had not read the novel so the rest of the group had to very carefully circumvent discussing the novel's conclusion. Discussion was sufficient to encourage her to take a copy to catch up this read.

Our readers generally felt that Harding had created a dark, bleak menacing atmosphere well. There was much discussion about how asylums have been used to confine people, especially women, who did not conform to the social norms of the time and how these people appeared to have no basic human rights whatsoever. There was also much mention of the recency and even in some cases, the contemporary continuation, of this practice of isolation in the case of refugee boat arrivals. One of our readers who is associated with today's health industry and thus accustomed to processes and guidelines of accountability and duty of care was horrified by how people could be just 'disappeared' into an asylum. There was was much discussion about the cruelty of the 'modern methods of rehabilitation' espoused in the novel.

As The Girl Who Couldn't Read had a prequel, there was much discussion about whether reading it would have cleared some of the mystery surrounding Jane Dove but possibly ruined the twist in the tale's tail. Our readers are still keen to read Florence & Giles and there was much animated conjecture about what dastardly deeds Jane Dove concealed in her past thus resulting in her 'hiding' in the asylum.

Our readers spoke of Doctor John Shepherd's strong sense of intellectual superiority and how this smugness led to his downfall. Several readers commented on a variety of situations where, despite his cleverness, he left himself vulnerable. These 'mistakes' lulled our readers into a false sense of security about him leaving them ripe for a nasty surprise. Our readers talked about how, despite the fact they knew Shepherd  was a 'bad egg', his treatment of his 'fiance' had taken them completely unawares and physically shocked them.

Our book clubbers spoke of how maybe the staff running these asylums were probably more qualified to be inmates than many of their patients. Both Dr Morgan and Nurse O'Reilly were considered as prime candidates for institutionalisation. There was talk about how particular personality types were attracted to organisations where they were encouraged to indulge their unhealthy appetites.

Jane Dove despite having dark secrets still seemed to have the support of our readers who were quite satisfied with the book's conclusion. Readers felt that there were sufficient clues as to her reading competency and that staff just often ignored the simple obvious by accepting a less credible explanation. John Shepherd utilised this concept in his deception - 'I had always found that the extraordinary lie is the one most likely to be believed.'

Overall despite this novel not being the preferred genre of our book clubbers, they had enjoyed the read and it proved a good stimulus for discussion.

Our next read takes us back to the 1880s and the bleak coalfields of New Zealand's West Coast settlement at Denniston. It'll be interesting to hear about our readers' experiences of this book. The damp wintery conditions we experienced recently could prove a fertile background to reading this novel by Jenny Pattrick if they return as predicted.

We'll meet to discuss The Denniston Rose on Thursday 6 August at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library.