Book Club

Well back at the library, surrounded by books and sitting on the squeaky chairs, feels like coming home!

What I love about book club is not the list of  books we have read and our recommendations but rather the ideas that spring forward and then the way these insights spark off other members thoughts on the subject. This leads to some pretty lively conversations.

Like our first book, “Things I’ve learnt From Falling.” By Claire Nelson which details this tramper’s  hike in The Joshua Tree Park in California. She became lost ,  a broken pelvis and only survives by drinking her urine (you might remember seeing her on the news after her miraculous rescue). Our reader said it was a mediocre book but interesting.  But she said she woke the next morning angry at Claire Nelson. She did everything wrong! Left her spare water in the car didn’t tell anyone of her plans, wasn’t well prepared  and so the question became, heroine or foolish person? We had quite a discussion on this topic.

And the history of the Cutfield family was our next book, the story of a lost fortune, which brought to mind what it was to be female in bygone years. And the way racism existed in previous times. As someone said reading history makes me angry. 

This is how  we came to the contentious point should our statues of previous dignitaries remain or should they be removed? Who is destroyed and who stays? We didn’t find a unanimous consensus in our group? 

And Alex is partway through “Our House is on Fire” The Thunburg novel on climate change which he agrees with me it is a book worth reading but until it is completed it is a WIP.

And so to “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich, the story of her grandfather who as the title suggests was employed as a night watchman at a factory but his fight to halt the dispossession of the native Indian people from their land in pending legislation was the real focus of this book. It also builds up a good picture of family life on their reservation. He was a tenacious fighter and The Turtle Mountain delegation did prevail, but in all 113 nations suffered the disaster of termination and 1.4 million acres of tribal land was lost. This wealth flowed to private corporations not to the native people.

Again reading history can make you angry and also ashamed to be part of the human race.

Last book was Christopher Booker’s “Group Think -a study in self delusion” interesting ideas from how  we are all led on the PC pathway to are we deluded about climate change the author thinks we are. Christopher Booker  also includes many other topics, mixed feelings on this book!

So if you want a lively conversation (no subjects are barred), a chance to talk about the book you have jut finished reading Come to book club

Next meeting Thursday August 20^th 10.30am at the Library