We met on Wednesday March 20^th at the Old Punch Bowl in Warwick.  Sadly this is the last meeting we will be having here as the pub has been sold and is going to be the subject of a major refurbishment.  Thanks to Angie and the team who have made us so welcome over the last couple of years.  Good luck for the future – we will miss you.

We had been reading  “The Night Circus” by Erin  Morgenstern.  This is a truly enchanting book.  It is about magic, magicians and the amazing Night Circus of the title.  Full of atmosphere, the reader will certainly have no problem imagining the multiple tents that make up the “Cirque des Reves”, the smells and the mystery.

Set at the end of the nineteenth century, the book tells the story of the power struggle between two magicians, Prospero the Enchanter and the man in a grey suit whose name may possibly be Alexander.  They are both centuries old and the competition between them has been going on for generations.  In “The Night Circus” they use the skills of their latest protégés to compete, Propero’s (or Hector’s) daughter, Celia and a remarkable young orphan adopted by Alexander whom he names Marco.

To describe the circus there is a short passage towards the end of the book….”There are tents, I am certain, that I have not discovered in my many visits to the circus.  Though I have seen a good deal of the sights, travelled a number of the available paths, there are always corners that remain unexplored, doors that remain unopened.”

Everyone in the group enjoyed the book.  We discovered during our discussions that reading the book again gives a new perspective and it is probably worth reading three times or more!  There are at least two time lines running through the story and possibly three.  The characters, despite their magical powers, are rounded and believable.  We all want the Cirque des Reves to suddenly appear one night near where we live – meanwhile we’ll read the book again and recommend it to our friends.

Our next meeting will be at Warwick Books on Wednesday  24^th April.  We will be discussing “Le Grand Meaulnes” by Alain-Fournier. It is the only novel completed by this accomplished French writer who was sadly killed right at the start of the First World War in 1914.  It is available in two translations, from Penguin and from Vintage, both £8.99.  At this meeting we can discuss possible new venues for our meetings and plan ahead for the Summer.  We have already chosen “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller for our May meeting (Wednesday 22^nd May)

Seven Stories is helping their partner organisation Commonword in Manchester promote their next writing for children competition. The full set of rules is now up on a dedicated website: www.ihaveadream.org.uk

It’s a national competition, supported by Penguin/ Puffin Books and literary agency, Catherine Pellegrino & Associates.  The Prize was launched in 2012 to encourage diversity in children’s fiction and make good the lack of material that features diversity or which is by diverse writers out there on the bookshelves and publishers’ lists. The first winner was Gaylene Gould, a black writer based in West Midlands who has since got an agent for her children’s book, ‘The Sacrifice’.

Why not enter?

As we didn’t meet in December, we had read two books:  “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett and  Deborah Moggach’s  “These Foolish Things”

Most people enjoyed both books.

“State of Wonder” is based loosely on Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” .  Set in the Brazilizn rainforest, Dr Swenson, renegade female scientist is studying  the Lashki, an isolated tribe.  The women of the tribe are able to bear children up to an unusually mature age and the secret of their extended fecundity lies with the bark of a particular tree that grows in only one small part of the rain forest.   The drug company that is funding Dr Swenson‘s research become concerned when she stops sending research notes back.  They send researcher Anders Eckmann  to find her and check on the progress of her work  After a few months a brief message gets back to Minnesota informing Vogel, the drug company that Anders has died from fever. “We chose to bury him here in a manner in keeping with his Christian traditions..” is more or less the sum of Dr Swenson’s explanation of his death.  Marina Singh another researcher and close colleague of Anders Eckmann, is sent to find out exactly what has happened.

Marina has reasons for not wanting to meet Dr Swanson, but she reluctantly agrees to go to Brazil to find out the truth about the death of Anders and what is happening with the research project  .Finding Dr Swanson is very difficult, but eventually Marina tracks her down.

The denseness, beauty, harshness and impenetrability  of the Brazilian jungle are well described and lend a suitably heavy atmosphere to the book.  The moral dilemma of discovering a drug which the West would pay millions to develop but at the expense of destroying the tribe and its isolation as well as much of the jungle itself is the reason for Dr Swanson’s reluctance to communicate with the Western World.  Marina Singh’s character is well drawn as is the irascible Dr Swanson and even the late Anders Eckmann through his letters to his wife.

A beautiful book we would definitely recommend.

“These Foolish Things” is mainly set in India, in a rather decrepit hotel transformed into somewhere for some British elderly people to retire to.  No longer a burden on their families, they settle into their new life in a country where the old are respected and not considered a nuisance..

The India depicted in this book is not romanticised – it is hot, humid, bustling.  The town near to the hotel is not beautiful in any way, but industrial and grimy.  Across the road from the hotel is a call centre  where the young workers are expected to learn “British” idiomatic English.  Moggach’s humour really comes to the fore here.  She has a light touch and “These Foolish Things” may be  an easy read, but it does also make you think about the ease with which we write off our elderly.

The book has been made into a film, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”

Both book and film are to be recommended.

We have made plans for the next few months.. For the  meeting on Wednesday 20^th February we will be reading “The Hundred Year Old Man Who climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared” by Jonas Jonasson.  Our hundred year old hero, Allan Karlson, decided on his birthday that he really wasn’t going to enjoy the party organised by the bad-tempered Director of the Old People’s Home where  he lived.  So he climbed out of his (ground floor) window and set off on an adventure of his own.  The novel is full of black humour (baddies tend to die) and as the book looks back on Allan’s life, he has been in the background during many important 20^th century events.   This is one of Carolyn’s and Keith’s favourite books – a great gift idea, particularly for people of a certain age! I am sure we are all going to enjoy reading it.

For our March meeting on Wednesday 20^th March, we are reading “Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern.  Set in the late 19^th century, when magic was still alive, two magicians vie for supremacy.  Their competition with each other has been going on for years and this looks to be their final contest.  The daughter of one of the magicians does not even realise she is competing until she meets her protagonist, an orphan named Marco.  They each provide acts for the mysterious “Night Circus” or “Cirque du Reves” which travels the world.  An intriguing book, it will be interesting to see what the group makes of it.

Our meeting in April will be on Wednesday 24^th.  We have chosen “Le Grand Meaulnes” by Alain-Fournier.  This French classic was published in 1912 and sadly the author was killed in action in 1914.  This was his only novel.

January meeting

The weather was dreadful but many members managed to brave the cold and snow to meet up as usual at the Virgin and Castle pub on the High Street in Kenilworth.

The choice of books for January was Life of Pi by Yann Martel and The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin.

Life of Pi was selected to coincide with the film, which was then showing at Warwick Arts Centre and in Leamington. Many of the group had been to see the film and nearly everyone had chosen to read, or re-read, this book. We had a lively conversation, focussing for a while on a quote at the beginning saying this is a story ‘that will make you believe in God’. Author/editor notes point to two chapters (21 and 22) as being ‘the core of the novel’, so we looked at those quite closely. In addition, we talked about the humour in the book and how this contrasted with some of the grimmer descriptions.

We all agreed this was a great book to read and also to discuss. Nearly everyone said they would heartily recommend it to a friend.

The Janissary Tree is a thriller/detective novel set in Istanbul in the 1830s. It features Yashim, who is a eunuch working for both the Sultan and the newly formed army and has to solve some terrible crimes.

Some members of the book club felt this a difficult book to ‘get into’, because of the amount of detail setting the scene. After the beginning, though, the story was fast-paced and full of action. One member likened the story to the CJ Sansom (Matthew Shardlake) books, and another to The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), because of all the running around the city that takes place.

Overall, opinions were divided: some of the group loved The Janissary Tree and would recommend it; others were less enamoured. I’d say if you are a fan of historical murder mysteries, it would be worth giving this book a try. Bear in mind, though, there are a few shocking and violent descriptions. This is the first title in a series featuring Yashim.

The next meeting is on 26th February and the books are Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Everyone is welcome to come along – we are a friendly group and happy to see new faces. We meet at 7.30pm in the snug at the Virgin and Castle pub.

Kenilworth Book Group

This month’s choice was The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor. These were both interesting books to discuss and there were very different opinions on each.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was considered to be brilliant, mesmerising, lyrical, one of the best books ever; alternatively it dull, depressing and difficult to get into. What we all agreed on was that it was a book to read when you had a bit of time and space. It is a book about details and the slow unveiling of a story and, if you try to rush through it, you miss the point of reading it. Obviously, I don’t want to give away the ending; it is enough to say that it led the group into an interesting and quite philosophical conversation.

In terms of recommendation, I’d say if you like a considered and thought-provoking book that puts emphasis on rhythmic language, this could be a great book for you. For me, the ending was brilliantly startling and made sense of everything preceding. I will definitely be recommending If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things to friends, and especially to other book-group readers.

The Song of Achilles is another good book for discussion. It is a version of the life of Achilles, from a boy to the Trojan Wars, pre-Trojan Horse, told from the viewpoint of Patroclus, who is his friend and soul mate. Modern storytelling and myth combined, this is a love story where two men try to remain true to each other as they face the destiny of one, who is both warrior and almost-God and whose fate has already been declared.

Again, opinions in the group were divided. Some members couldn’t even finish it and others loved it with a passion. It won the Orange Prize and has been much praised by the critics. The writing is beautiful and deft – everyone agreed on this – and it felt easy to read. If you like myths and retellings (or can suspend reality enough to cope with centaurs and the like), you could well enjoy The Song of Achilles. I couldn’t put it down.

Victoria Lee

Kenilworth Books Book Club

Meets at the Virgin and Castle Pub, High Street, Kenilworth,

4th Tuesday of every month 7.30 p.m. till about 9.30 p.m.

22nd Jan:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

26th Feb:    Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

26th Mar: Pure by Andrew Miller

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

We are an informal and friendly group. Do come along and join us! Ring Victoria Lee on 0790 8899250, Kenilworth Books on 01926 855784 or see www.warwickbooks.net

for more information.