The Reading Group Reads
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
A HIDDEN TREASURE THIS. The Arthur of the title is more widely known by his
surname - Conan Doyle - and the events at the heart of the book actually
happened. It's written like a novel which throws the events into much
sharper relief.
Two very different people at the turn of the 20th century; the one a solicitor, child of an Indian vicar and a Scottish mother living in the Midlands (imagine that); the other, the son of a well-to-do family, trained as a doctor but becoming a successful writer. The one becomes an innocent victim in a dreadful local crime; the other is fired by the miscarriage of justice at a time when his own life is at a low point. Julian Barnes mixes intense research and vivid imagination and brings the characters, the issues and the times, very much to life. He gives an insight into the minds of men (and some women) of a different age.
He also kept us as a group a very focussed in our discussion (which I have to say, is not always so). A very good read.
Next month is Arnold Bennett's Untold Stories and we're meeting at Janet's house, 39 High St. May's book is Arundati Roy's The God of Small Things and we'll probably be back at Caroline's then.
And Also from Last Month..
The Egg And I by Betty MacDonald
FOR ME, part of the enjoyment of the Reading Group is making new friends and
acquaintances; not just the people who turn up to discuss books and drink the
odd glass of wine, but also the authors and books that I might not otherwise
have considered reading. The other side of this coin is introducing your own
'old friends and acquaintances' to the rest of the group. This can be
rather worrying, because old and new friends don't always get along. So it
was with some trepidation that I suggested we read Betty Macdonald's
"The Egg and I", as she is an old and wellloved 'friend' of
mine.
Betty MacDonald was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1908. "The Egg and
I", her first book, was published in 1945 and is a humorous
semi-autobiographical account of the hardships of her life with her first
husband as they started a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula, in the Pacific
Northwest of America. Attempts to describe humour are never successful; suffice
it to say that "The Egg and I" rapidly became a best-seller, then a
movie (in 1947) and, in the early 1950s, America's first TV comedy serial.
Betty MacDonald wrote three more books for adults, describing her family's
fight for survival in the Depression, her time as a patient in a TB clinic, and
her life with her second husband and teenage daughters on Vashon Island; none
of which sound like great topics for humour, I know, but all I can say is
"Read them" and also "Don't judge a book by its cover"
as Betty MacDonald's publisher seems to specialise in particularly awful
ones.
Finally, I'm happy to report that the majority of the Group present that night were pleased to have a made a new 'friend' and were looking forward to reading more of her books.