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“Let us read, and let us dance;
these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”

Thursday, 6 September 2012

WTFBC - Book 3 - The Complete Companion - Review

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WTFBC  

JOSS WHEDON  
THE COMPLETE COMPANION 
POPMATTERS


 It's always tricky reviewing a book that naturally divides itself up - short stories for example. If you get too stuck in on one section; you might not have time to get an overall view of the writing and so on.

 And the write up's always reflect that imbalance.  
Trust me. 
I speak from painful experience. 

 Thankfully, everyone else had realised the same thing so rather then discuss this huge book in one go - we decided that we were going to discuss it first as a whole and then focus on one other section in detail. Being the logical people that we are - naturally Buffy was that section. Next time - tentatively set for the 18th of September - we'll be discussing the Angel and Firefly sections. 

 To try something new - because I can't seem to get enough of that - I'm going to let our tweets do most of the talking. No matter how long I'm online; I'm constantly amazed at how easily concepts were conveyed in an conversation like the one that flowed last night. Going back over the tweets; it seems like so little was actually said. We've just gotten to know each other very well I guess!
Our conversations jumped about the place a bit, so I shall try to gather the strands coherently. I've done some minor editing - for example putting two consecutive tweets together - but only where necessary.  
 What I love about books like this is the origin story. 
In interviews & books, I love hearing about what influenced their creations.

Though we all of us enjoyed the book; we had quite a few issues and in our usual restrained way jumped right it. Given that Our Glorious Leader - THE WHEDON ONE - is still making films, comics and tv shows; the title irritated.

... it's not the complete companion, it can't be. he hasn't finished yet! 

Immediately followed by...

 he was still working on stuff while they were writing it! 

In addition; dividing the books up into tv shows; comics and films felt very simplistic. I felt that using an internal chronology or by theme would have allowed for strands without the shows to be connected in a less forced way. We felt that the book was weighted towards Buffy and Firefly with Angel and Dollhouse woefully under-represented.  

 Yes! Chronology would have been good. But I think if they'd just made it more even throughout 
I felt they could've had a lot less of the Buffy essays :) 

Because some of the essays were addressing more than one tv show so theme may have been better, such as heroes, identity, etc 

Yes! I thought it was a bit unequal. Would have thought Dollhouse would give rich pickings. Maybe not as popular yet?? 

With such an uneven distribution of material; the added advantage of dividing it up by theme would have allowed us to cover a greater range of shows/comics/films. 

 We enjoyed the 101; the interview with the Mayor...sorry Harry Groener and the essay about the lapsed fan, though we did feel that the information wasn't new. All the info and the interview had all been published previously and - geeks that we are - most of us were familiar with the concepts. 

 I loved the info about the voice over. Angel at start as Buffy is powerless but she takes it back and it's her voice at the end :) and the shadows representing how the characters have been touched by Angelus' darkness 

We didn't like when the writers were poorly informed about the topic...

 Some of the essays didn't really seem to know their subject matter either. Various comments on character progression assumed things incorrectly. If they had done their research they would have known that X character left because of the actor etc etc 

And we really didn't like it when conclusions were drawn that ran contrary to canon...

 Some of the essays seemed to be using Whedon's works to pursue their own point, rather than making a point out of Whedon's works

used as descriptions not as the point. Grrr 

I felt that about many of the essays, they just didn't seem to have a Whedon related point

Or blatantly used the show to show a particular agenda. 

 I *hate* when people use my favourite show to validate an opinion on a social issue they have. and write off everyone who differs [with them]

  the most amazing thing about the  fandom - MY fandom - is that it's totally inclusive. We'll take anyone who loves it!

My raving quickly dissipated into laughter at the response
...yeh, except for that one guy. We hate him

However there were two essay that really got us steamed. 

 I think I hated the women who hate women essay. In fact, yes I did. Packed full of bullshit 

I seem to remember swearing a lot while reading that essay 

Women who hate women - it says that women in buffy can't be friends where men are concerned then refs 2 eps 

And love for Xander was fierce. As soon as the subject of *that* essay was raised; the troops were rallied and a defence promptly mounted. 
We agreed that Xander was vital to the group dynamic - not merely for being the heart and eye of the scoobies; but that as a non supernatural; he provided the space for the me's to join in the fun. 
He truly grew up during the course of the evening. 
And of course he talked Willow down. That was just awesome. And lets not forget the Zeppo.
The essay about Xander - he peaked too soon!!!!! How about what he did in s7?? Poor Xander always gets belittled 

 I think whenever xander was mentioned throughout this section he got short shrift!

 besides spike he's the best character in buffy

 he is the heart and the eyes. Well eye. 

 if anything he's vital because he keeps a 'real' eye on on things. Not supernatural 

Exactly! Everyone else was focused on the supernatural aspect of the problem at hand. Xander represented normality, & real life.

 Absolutely. Xanders finest hour had to be when he talked willow down from destroying the world. I always loved Xander........I related to him more than the others. He had no powers. But he was just as important to the group dynamic.


we're like the XDL - xander defence league [RESPONSE]  Lol!!! We need t shirts and badges :)

He truly 'grows up'. That essay seems to completely miss that.

I'm very glad we all love Xander :) 


Though we also agreed that the inherent message of the show was reflected respectfully and remained true to the core. 

I think one of the things I did like was that it became clearer to see Joss's themes- the language, found family + by that I mean...family that's not blood, but 'found'- framily if you like. Strong women, of course & the resilience of children. 

i summarised it as 'nobody's perfect and lives up to the roles put on us by society' :)

Ending on a high.

Loved the 'Passion' essay. 

Those were my favourites in the  section. Passions and Restless 

2 other faves were the 'Passions' essay and the 'Restless' essay :)

the restless one really spoke to me. for - as you all know - I wear the cheese. The cheese does not wear me.  


I think we have covered the Buffy section :) 

Next time we tweet; we'll be covering Angel and Firefly. If we can wait that long...

 Would I be alone in my opinion that Angel was way better than Buffy? I enjoyed the angel portions of the book more

Some Buffy moments here: Youtube


Find fellow members on twitter by searching for #WTFBC.

Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me @LeedsBookClub, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com

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WTFBC
07 - Nov - Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
06 - Oct - The Joss Whedon Companion - Comics and Films
05 - Oct - The Joss Whedon Companion - Dollhouse and Dr Horrible
04 - Sep - The Joss Whedon Companion - Angel and Firefly
03 - Sep - The Joss Whedon Companion - Buffy
02 - Jul - Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
01 - May - Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare


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Book Club - Table of Contents
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Monday, 3 September 2012

The LainiBop Challenge - Book 16 - The Marian Conspiracy - GUEST

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READ!TO GO!
16114

The LainiBop Challenge

THE MARIAN CONSPIRACY
GRAHAM PHILIPS

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* * * * * SPOILERS * * * * *
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Ah religious conspiracies. Can't get enough of them. In this installment, Graham Philips travels from Israel to Wales in an effort to find out if there is a connection between the Holy Grail and the Virgin Mary. Early on he decides that his first job should be to prove if the Virgin Mary actually existed or was she just an invention? To do this he also has to prove that Jesus existed. Using both the Bible and primary sources, he manages to discover that they did exist but also points out a lot of errors in the Bible's telling of the story. One of the main points he makes is that the four Gospels all have different accounts of the events. This is something I never noticed myself, lets face it, how many people actually sit down and compare the Gospels for fun? His point is that how accurate can they actually be if they contradict each other, however saying this, he also points out that they were probably not written at the time of Jesus, as most people like to believe but are in fact accounts of the oral history's of this time, written much much later. This would explain the differences in facts, and also discrepancies regarding the years that events occurred, including the birth of Christ. This event is usually described in the Gospels using other historical events as perspective, for example, the 15th year of X's reign, etc. Because of this, the birth of Christ varies considerably.
I enjoyed reading this book because it made me think of things in a new light. Things which I had accepted such as the Gospels being the same story in different words, which is not necessarily the case. It was a fun read, surprisingly because of this, and I liked the fact that primary sources were used to back up events described, for example there was an astronomical event at that time, which would have caused an especially bright star to appear in the skies for weeks. He also uses Jewish prophecies of the coming of the Messiah to explain why at this particular time, Jesus's birth would have been significant.
On the other hand however, I found that a lot of his "evidence" was based on mistranslations. Some, such as the word for "Virgin" in Greek being very similar to the word to describe a "young woman" could discount the popular belief of an immaculate conception were interesting, however some others especially later on in the book, seemed to be pure speculation and a lot of his theory was based on the fact that the original translators MAY have made a mistake, and if they did, they COULD have meant this instead, so lets presume they did mean this and ignore what they actually wrote. This was used to connect names in primary sources to names from the Bible, which felt in some ways to be a complete shot in the dark.
While I enjoyed reading the conspiracy theory, I found the earlier part of the book while exploring Bethlehem and Nazareth to be more plausible than his discoveries of Mary's life after the crucifixion.
But still an interesting read and would be interested in more of his works, taken with a pinch of salt of course!
SCORE       6/10
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Say Hello to @Lainibop

Her To Be Read Challenge - The Countdown Begins!


Book 30 - ?
Book 29 - ?
Book 28 - Sexing the Cherries by Jeanette Winterson
Book 27 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Book 26 - Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
Book 25 - Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Book 24 - From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
Book 23 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Book 22 - Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffery Archer


Find more reviews HERE

If we've used any videos, you'll find them on the LeedsBookClub YouTube Channel - 

Visit LainiBop's playlist HERE 
Visit Fizzy Elephants HERE
The 10 Things I Hate About You playlist is HERE!
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Table of Contents - Guest Stars

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Table of Contents - Laini's Book Shelf

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Sunday, 2 September 2012

Chris Nickson's Second Interview Podcast

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Chris Nickson's 2nd Interview Podcast

Chris joined us recently to cordially invite us to his upcoming book launch (see details below!)

We chatted about his Richard Nottingham series; upcoming projects, storytelling; book launches and our enduring love for the ever changing landscape of Leeds!


02 - Chris Nickson - Interview about Come the Fear book launch!
Mobile Link - Chris Nickson 2


Book Launch! Come the Fear is officially launched!
Find details HERE

Reviews
Richard Nottingham - Book 1 - The Broken Token
Richard Nottingham - Book 2 - Cold Cruel Winter
Richard Nottingham - Book 3 - The Constant Lovers
Richard Nottingham - Book 4 - Come The Fear

Exclusive Short Stories

 Christmas Short Story - Annabelle Atkinson and Mr. Grimshaw
Richard Nottingham 03 - Sanctuary - LIMITED TIME ONLY
Richard Nottingham 02 - December
Richard Nottingham 01 - Home


Podcast Interviews
02 - Chris Nickson - Interview about Come the Fear book launch!
Mobile Link - Chris Nickson 2
01 - Chris Nickson - Interview about Richard Nottingham
Mobile Link - Chris Nickson

Contact Details
Follow Chris on Twitter - @ChrisNickson2
Visit Chris' website - HERE
Best Book of 2001 - Library Journal Award

Miscellaneous
Leeds Playlist - Coming Soon!
Sweet Tooth - Mary Nottingham's Lemon Meringue Pie


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Chris Nickson Table of Contents
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Saturday, 1 September 2012

WSwanLBC - Book 5 - Atomised - Michel Houellebecq

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White Swan LBC


Date:  Sunday 13th May 2012
Time:  6:00pm
Address: Swan Street, Leeds



Discussing: 

ATOMISED
MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ

* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * * 
@Wanadapops the Magnificent very kindly stepped up to the plate for me (wow - a sports metaphor - where did that come from?) and hosted this book club. She's produced a hilarious and thought provoking write up! Thanks very much oh wonderful one! 

THE BLURB (from GoodReads)
Half-brothers Michel and Bruno have a mother in common but little else. Michel is a molecular biologist, a thinker and idealist, a man with no erotic life to speak of and little in the way of human society. Bruno, by contrast, is a libertine, though more in theory than in practice, his endless lust being all too rarely reciprocated. Both are symptomatic members of our atomised society, where religion has given way to shallow 'new age' philosophies and love to meaningless sexual connections.

Atomised tells the stories of the two brothers, but the real subject of the novel is the dismantling of contemporary society and its assumptions, its political incorrectness, and its caustic and penetrating asides on everything from anthropology to the problem pages of girls' magazines.

********* REVIEW BY @WANDAPOPS  *************

So Avid Reader took a well earned rest from one of the four hundred book clubs she runs and went to a SF convention in London. I stepped in to gather the comments from the #WSwanLBC gang, and tried my best to pose all the questions she normally would, but in much, much more of a low brow way. And no, despite requests, I didn’t do it in an Irish accent.LBC - I'M GLAD TO HEAR IT

Atomised was Stuart’s choice. He hadn’t read it before but had heard a great deal about it. He said he wasn’t expecting people to like it, but thought it would make a good discussion.

And that it did!

‘The Elementary Particles’ - known in the UK as Atomised - is a French book which was published in 1998 and translated in 2000. The philosophical debate it raises showed it to be more classically European than English. I felt incredibly French during our discussions and probably should have smoked for full effect, but I don’t, so wine had to do.

We kicked off our chat by talking about the metaphysical ages which have changed our society, as the book discusses the effect of Christianity and the Sexual Revolution on the way we live our lives. We noted that had the book been written just a little later, and taken into account the impact of the internet, it may have been very different, or viewed very different at least.

I think the book feels older than it is, but that will be down to the way the story is told. It is narrated from the point of view of a post human species, looking back in time. This future historian casts an eye over the late 20th Century and how one of the main characters Michel changed society with his scientific and ideological breakthroughs. We are only introduced to the ‘new world’ during the book’s prologue and epilogue. If you didn’t read the prologue, the epilogue appears as quite a twist. Actually, even if you did read the prologue it probably would, as in the mean time you become brainwashed by the themes in the main part of the book – sex, death, race, ageing, family and rejection. Sounds like fun, no?

The main characters are two half brothers Michel and Bruno. They are complete opposites with extreme personalities, connected only by their fractured childhoods and have adjusted poorly to adult life. Their free-spirited ‘hippy’ mother Janine went travelling and left both sons to be brought up by their paternal Grandmother (Michel) and sent to boarding school (Bruno) as she lived a bohemian life travelling. This situation relates to Houellebecq’s own strained relationship with his mother – who fell out over this book in a very public way, even resulting in her publishing a book in response to the way she was portrayed in this book, albeit in the guise of fiction. Scandal - brilliant!

Michel is a respected scientist, thinker and incredibly cold and distant. He is described at one point as “the saddest man I have ever met”. He is almost inhuman with his emotionless state. On the flip side, Bruno - grubby, grubby Bruno - a seedy, pathetic and creative but shamed teacher, is almost inhumane with his crass and soulless pursuit of sexual gratification and total lack of empathy for others. Where Michel appears to have virtually no sex drive at all, Bruno is obsessed, but most of the time he’s sexually frustrated. It is ironic and unfortunate that Michel attracts girls he is not interested in and Bruno repels the ones he is.

The story follows them going through their lives having awkward relationships and sad experiences with death. Bruno self destructs in a very public way whereas Michel’s breakdown is on a much more private level. 

Because of their personality traits, Bruno comes across as a much more rounded character – he has been brought to life, warts and all, leaving Michel left looking entirely humourless and comparatively dead on the inside. Some of the group found Bruno to be funny and honest when dealing with taboo subject matter. His attempts at pulling at the nudist camp, his meltdown at his mother’s deathbed and his ridiculous random spouting about South America made for a few moments of light relief amongst the highly anatomical descriptions of everyone’s genitalia, and repetitive paragraphs of pretentious science and philosophy.

Yes, really. We learn early on in the book that Bruno suffered abuse at Boarding school and this along with the rejection both siblings felt as they were growing up did evoke sympathy.

I understood why they were angry against society… but it didn’t make them likeable characters in my eyes. Looking back you can see that they are portrayed as examples of what is wrong with the world, building the case for the book’s conclusion.

The nihilism appeared to wane slightly as Bruno and Michel grow older and we sense a glimpse of hope for love as they seem to settle with partners Christiane and Annabelle – the girl who Michel rejected in his youth. The hope doesn’t last for long however.

The female characters in the book were disappointingly portrayed and just as tragic at the brothers, with everyone from their Grandmothers, mother Janine, and Christiane and Annabelle ending up meeting a sad demise, with very little joy entering their lives at all.

Modern women like the ‘too beautiful’ Annabelle are criticised with wanting a romantic life instead of having realistic expectations. It felt like if the female characters were unable to fulfil the roles of sexual partner or mother, then they were of no value. Men did get some blame in the book for the way society was evolving, but it was also suggested that men are more hard done by as they get older.

The cover blurb says: “Very moving, glorious extravagantly filthy and very funny.” So it sounded like my kind of book! Oh but it wasn’t. It’s a cult and controversial novel. The story rages against the ‘emptiness of modern life’ as Houellebecq sees it. The picture he paints is bleak and I’m glad I don’t have this loveless outlook on life.

It was a fairly easy read and about the right length - perhaps because I glazed over during the paragraphs on philosophy dispersed randomly throughout. I found it hard to warm to the characters at all, and the grimly mechanical, saggy sex scenes combined with the message that ‘society is doomed’ really brought me down. It’s full of sex, but it makes you think of it in terms of a humiliating bodily function rather than an erotic way *sad face*.

I didn’t predict the sci-fi ending - it’s one of those that makes you want to look back over the book and view it all in a new light. Except I didn’t want to look at the book any more so just went “Whaaaat? Oh” and moved on. The creation of an asexual race with cloning replacing reproduction seemed like a very sad future to me. I’d much rather the reckless free love please, if I had to make the choice. Others found the ending and promise of a brighter future quite uplifting, and thought that it showed an understanding of suicide – fitting really as everyone seemed to be doing it.

I know this book appealed to a lot of people, and I can appreciate why it did, but I couldn’t say that I ‘liked’ it. I wouldn’t tell people not to read it, but I definitely won’t be reading it again. I like the fact that it won the Prix Décembre Book Prize and the founder of this prize resigned because of this decision!



If I was to summarise it in 3 words, they would be: Pretentious, Depressing, and Misogynistic. Alternatively a ‘Load Of Wank’.


Score - 6/10

LEEDS PLAYLIST
@Wandapops was kind enough to create a playlist for this book. You'll find the detailed break down of each song at the Leeds Playlist website - HERE 


Tracklistings:

01.      Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six – Mother
02.      Cage The Elephant – Free Love
03.      George Michael – I Want Your Sex - Parts 1 & 2
04.      Grinderman – No Pussy Blues
05.      Soft Cell – Mr. Self Destruct
06.      Foreigner – Cold As Ice
07.      Digitalism – Idealistic
08.      Orbital – Philosophy By Numbers
09.      Somebody Else – The Saddest Man in the World
10.      Björk – New World


If this book were a cake...

(LBC - BACK TO WANDOPOPS)In my opinion, if this book were a cake it would perhaps be a stale scone who promised to be part of a delicious afternoon cream tea, but was actually too dry to be edible and much more use for banging against your own head when you remember all the other things you could be reading. 
Or maybe it would be a fishcake, served up to a vegetarian by their least favourite Uncle, insisting that it’s mostly potato and to stop causing a fuss.

For further details, please email me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com or tweet me @LeedsBookClub! 

The Pub can be contacted on @WhiteSwanLeeds
And feel free to let us know your thoughts using #WSwanLBC!
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WSwanLBC

17 - Jun - The Fire Gospel - Michel Faber
16 - May - The Eyre Affair - Jasper FForde
15 - Apr - The Waterproof Bible - Andrew Kaufman - GUEST
14 - Mar - The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak - GUEST
13 - Feb - Weight - Jeanette Winterson - GUEST
12 - Jan - Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

11 - Nov - Lighthouse Keeping - Jeanette Winterson
10 - Oct - Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell
09 - Sep - The Wind Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami 
08 - Aug - The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
07 - Jul - American Gods - Neil Gaiman
06 - Jun - The Travelling Hornplayer - Barbara Trapido
05 - May - Atomised - Michel Houellebecq - GUEST

I'm just full of good ideas...WSwanLBC  
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Book Club - Table of Contents

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LBC 3Reads - Book 02 - The Paris Wife

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#LBC3Reads

Date:  01st of September 2012
Time:  11am - 1pm
Address: Unit 2
Munro House,
Duke St,
Leeds LS9 8AG


Book the Second:
THE PARIS WIFE
PAULA MCLAIN
DESCRIPTION (from Amazon)
A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. 

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for. 

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Our second meeting would have appeared - to an outsider - a quieter affair. 
This was NOT the case. There were only four of us - two of our possie unable to attend our amended date - but we chatted up a storm; managed to work in some of the most interesting literary tangent topics! Before we'd even begun - we'd lined up topics for later discussion. Especially for @L1nds; there was a specific Benedict Cumberbatch link through most of them.

Rather reluctantly; we dragged ourselves back to the point of our meeting - The Paris Wife. The person who picked the book opening with an apology for the rest of us - certainly an ominous beginning!

While we could most of us conceive of why this book was so popular - none of us had found the experience of reading it to be a pleasure. More than one of us noted that if this hadn't been a book club choice; we'd have discarded it after the first few pages. 

Personally; I found the blurb on the book to be very misleading. The cover image is great - evocative and empowering. It suggests a successful woman in the 40's or 50's who had embraced life and the chic environment of sweet Paris. The back of the book promised epic romance and betrayal in a fabulous local. Instead; we found our protagonist to be a dull character who watched the roaring 20's (so why not pick an image from that time period?) from the sidelines - but one who never fully engaged with it. 

One member was not a fan of Ernest Hemmingway and found it off putting that he was one of the primary characters. Having read his books - albeit a few years ago - we agreed that the character didn't seem to have his voice. He seemed flatter than his famed full of life persona. And this account doesn't seem to chime with his books from the same time frame. 

Perhaps we all would have fared better if the book was strictly fictional - rather than based on actual people. It bothered some of us that throughout the book Hadley was portrayed as such a 'good' wholesome person. She rarely complained; never grumbled and seemed so passive within her own life. She had been invalided and seemed to bear it with good grace. Her fathers suicide had troubled her but did not damage her in any visible way. Her parents and her sister were in very unhappy marriages. Despite that; she never considered the realities of her own situation should her marriage also turn sour and jumped at the chance of marrying Ernest. 
She is also dull - never demonstrated so clearly as in her letter writing from the first section of the book. Clearly the author had access to many wonderful letters between Ernest and Hadley. We'd have preferred to read them than this sideline view. 

In a less than charitable moment, we discussed the fact that they were living off her money in Paris and wondered whether her purse - rather than her person - had been the charm in attracting him. In the end; our better selves prevailed and we agreed that there had been a real affection between the two of them. 

We wandered off course for a bit and discussed Hadley as an archetype - wondering at the appeal of this type of super-innocent docile character. In the end; we decided that while she would appeal to particular types of readers - we didn't happen to be them!

Another book clubber was quite upset to find that it was a Virago book; leading us to wonder whether this was one of those 'clever' reads - where you're meant to feel like you are peeking behind the curtain. After all; there were numerous references to the literary elite of the time frame. However; while we were able to recognise particular conversations from their original settings (for example the Fitzgerald's and The Great Gatsby); we found them to be very prosaic representations of them - going from beautiful to mundane. 
This led us to wonder about the perspective of the book. After all; Hadley was adjasent to the great thinkers - at no point was she ever considered one of them. By herself especially. Because she's so modest *eye roll*. So, when in the house of Gertrude Steiner; Hadley is off in the corner and the great minds are all off elsewhere. That for us was interesting. Not her (trying to be charitable here) smaller world view. 


Moving onto the relationships within the books we were particularly unimpressed with Hadley's acceptance of Pauline as her new best friend; especially once it had become clear to the reader - if not the primary protagonist - that Ernest was once again being unfaithful. Though we did speculate that in the post-war era; perhaps men were able to get away with more than now. There were so few of them...so many women... We wandered off on this for an enjoyable interlude.

Looking at Ernest and Hadley - they seemed to the reader to be doomed from the start. In the end; we thought that Hadley behaved nobly when she facilitated the seperation and subsequent divorce. But she just stepped aside! Just let him go...never actually trying to save their marriage. Grrr. 

We bounced around for a little while longer - looking at the interest people have in reclaiming women from this time period; at how Hadley must have been more in real life then she was in this as there seems to be some interest in her; and how wed quite link to read some of the books that were referenced - before moving on to other book series that we loved. 

 SCORE - 4/10
YouTube - Parade's End
No good reason - just because we chatted about it. Honestly.
Next Read - 
THE CITY AND THE PILLAR
GORE VIDAL


Find fellow members on twitter by searching for #LBC3Reads.

Follow @Cafe164 for details on the deliciousables!

Let me know your thoughts by either tweeting me @LeedsBookClub, commenting below or emailing me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com




LBC3reads

07 - Jan - The Wapshot Chronicle - John Cheever
06 - ??? - Their eyes were watching God
05 - ??? - Mason and Dixon
04 - ??? - O Pioneer
03 - Jan - The City and the Pillar - Gore Vidal
02 - Aug - The Paris Wife - Paula McLain
01 - May - The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle

An Idea Is Born - It's Book Club Jim, Just Not As We Know It
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Book Club - Table of Contents


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