The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The choice for our Christmas Book Club meeting was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (hereinafter “Guernsey”). (This book was recommended by Marnie when we last met at Georgia’s as an interesting read to discuss at our restaurant meeting on 13^th of December).  It was held at Circus Circus in Mt Eden.  We had originally booked a private function room for our Circus Circus night, but due to a mix up in the Book Club date, we had to rebook.  Our rebooking meant that we were in the general restaurant area, which on a normal night would have been fine, but on this particular evening we were placed immediately adjacent to a large gaggle of geese who honked loudly and excessively most of the evening.  (For our Christmas meeting in 2011, we must remember to book a restaurant private function room early to avoid a similar situation again.) Despite this, we had a lively and enjoyable discussion.  Present were: Anne, Marnie, Rebekah, Lona, Daniel, Laura, Nicole, Georgia, John, Chez, and Greg.

Book Club achieved a new level as our absentee member Paul provided detailed notes on all the discussion points.  It was unanimously agreed that Paul’s notes should receive an A+ grade.  (Again, a member of the Paul-Maite team excelling at Book Club.) 

Guernsey is written in an unusual style, that of the correspondences of the various characters in the book.  The book is not restricted by its form; for example plot and character development are achieved well.  Also, considering it was written by two authors (due to the untimely death of the original author), it maintains remarkable consistency. 

There was a diverse response to Guernsey, with scores ranging from 6.5 to 10!  Our lowest scorers were, Greg, Daniel and Georgia.  Georgia thought the book was ‘nice, but not riveting’, that she “didn’t engage with the characters”, and thought that the book could have benefited from the inclusion of prose.  She was tempted to categorise the book as “fluffy chick-lit”.  Greg thought that the book was “glorified gossip” and that it suffered from having “no events”.  Greg also considered the book needed some prose.  Daniel agreed with Greg in terms of the book needing prose, as otherwise, he felt the “information is diluted”.  Our second lowest scorer, at 7 was Nicole who considered that Guernsey lacked intensity, though she “enjoyed it, against her will”.  (In posting this blog, Nicole (in a revisionist mood) has decided that on further reflection, the book deserves a higher score than what she gave it on the night.) 

Lona enjoyed the historical aspect of the book, but otherwise tended to agree with Greg’s viewpoint, nevertheless giving the book an 8 for overall enjoyment.  John gave it an 8.5, particularly enjoying the development of the characters.  Rebekah gave the book a score of 9.  She found it easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable.  Paul also gave Guernsey a mark of 9 – his highest score yet.  He found the book accessible and well researched.  Marnie gave the book a 9.5, purely for enjoyment level and the clever contrast between the two parts of the book.  Laura, Chez and Anne all gave it the perfect score of 10; finding it easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable.  For Anne, it had a special relevance, having grown up in post-War England and having recently travelled to Guernsey where she had seen many of the sights mentioned in the book.

Part of the discussion involved a new Book Club question of who we would cast as particular characters for a movie based on the book.  (What a great cross reference in such a visually obsessed world!) 

Administrative matters: we agreed at our December meeting that Book Club night for 2011 will vary between Wednesday and Thursday night, depending on suitability for members each month.  

The Alchemist

Georgia chose The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  It was held at Georgia’s home in Papakura.  Present were: Laura, Nicole, Greg, Chez, Rebekah, Georgia, Marnie, Anne, John and Paul.  Food included an exciting array of cakes and cookies.

On the whole, The Alchemist was found to be an enjoyable read.  Georgia chaired a pleasant discussion of the book.  Many had enjoyed its fable-like characteristics and the positive feeling that ensued.  Although Coelho’s narrative style in the book is simple, most agreed that nevertheless he poignantly told Santiago’s story.  Many comments were made about the beautiful portrayals of many scenes in the book.  Rebekah was our lowest scorer for The Alchemist giving a 6.5. Paul and Marnie scored at 7; Nicole and Chez scored at 7.5; Greg, Georgia, John and Anne all gave the book an 8; with Laura our highest scorer giving an 8.5. 

This book club highlighted our current ability to consume books through different media.  Greg and Chez had downloaded the audio book and listened to the story that way.  They played a snippet of the story, with the familiar voice of Jeremy Irons as the reader. 

Thanks Georgia for introducing us to such an uplifting book and for hosting a thoroughly enjoyable night.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Chez’ novel of choice was Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.  This Book Club night was held on 11 October out at Chez’ home in Karaka.  Present were: Chez (of course), Laura, Jonathan, Greg, Nicole, Marnie, Anne, and Georgia.  Food included petites pastries and a fruit salad.

It was a great night, though regrettably, Chez was not particularly taken by her own book choice!  Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel, published in 1890.  The book follows the fortunes of Dorian Gray, who trades his soul for eternal youth/beauty.  The novel develops themes of the human relationship with the soul and provides a commentary of society at the time.  Most members found that Lord Harry was a charismatic and entertaining character; extremely articulate and a lover of all things fine.  One gets the feeling that Lord Harry was closely modelled on Oscar Wilde himself.  Everyone scored the book highly, aside from Chez, giving an all time low score of 3.5/10!  Laura loved Dorian and gave the novel the perfect score of 10/10.  Nicole and Anne also loved the book, giving the very high score of 9/10.  Jonathan and Greg gave scores of 8.5/10; with Marnie and Georgia giving a score of 8/10.  Chez found the book frivolous and did not enjoy the characters that Oscar Wilde had created in this novel.