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Library Book Club 

March 31, 2020 April 2020 No Comments

It is hard to comprehend how much this virus has progressed from the morning when we met on Friday 13th. Words like the new norm keep appearing in our conversations. And I have been caught I don’t have enough reading material for an extended isolation. What is plan B?

In the few days I have been out of real contact with the world I realise I love people, conversations and cafes. Just talking about all the insights that come mainly from reading.

At book club we had our lovely Polly talking about Dona Leon’s  29th book in the police commissioner Guido Brunetti series. This is set in Venice and uses contemporary concerns such as misreporting contaminants in water samples, dead fish and a woman dying of cancer. She considered this a good read.

Another member of our group said she had read the story of Art Garfunkel and found it gobble de gook and also she was disappointed with the book about Meryl Streep as it was only about her movies and didn’t give the reader any idea of the real person behind the actress.

On the other hand she liked “I Shall Not Die” by James Bellich the story of a great New Zealander Titokowaru who tried to save his people and their lands from the colonial invasion.

Then the book entitled “The Outlaw Ocean” by Ian Urbina  a shocker which exposes a parallel world,( the sea which encompasses 70% of our planet) where murder and slavery is rife and law and order is non-existent. From magic pipes that let raw sewerage and oil flow straight into the sea to the way the fishing industry operates. This is a book that opens our eyes to the way we treat the earth we live in and it makes me feel ashamed to belong to the human race. As I read in another book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth” that contemplates  the worst scenario that could happen to mankind with climate change, a sentence has resonated with me is, the earth is fighting back and the earth will win.

Lastly the book The Cut Out Girl by Bart Van Es tells the story of a Jewish girl Lien who was fostered out during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam, the different families who kept her hidden and a falling out with the family who took her in at the end of the war when it was found she had no relatives to return to. This author took part in the writers presentations at the recent Festival of the Arts in Wellington. And this book is well worth reading and not only offers insight into this period of time but also into family life. Being fostered and hidden has a lasting impact on a young girl and her personality as an adult.

With our lock down I am not sure when we shall meet again, but keep reading!

Glenys Hansen

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