Bookclub meeting on March 20th with The 100-year-old who climbed out of the window and disappeared

Bookclub meeting stay interesting and entertaining with our marvelous group and now 2 new members, Sue & Viviane. 

March bookclub meeting is on Thursday, 20th, 2014 and the book chosen is

The 100-year-old who climbed out of the window and disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson

On his hundredth birthday, just as the celebrations are about to begin out in the lounge in the old people’s home, Allan Karlsson hastily decides that he wants nothing to do with the party. He climbs through his window and disappears – and soon he has turned the whole nation on its head. He does have some experience in these matters. He has previously done the same thing with the world.
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Momento Mori by Muriel Spark on our February bookclub meeting was enjoyed by most people apart from its rather morbid subject. Written with humour, sometimes black, the perfectly structured novel manages to lighten the subject. Muriel Spark became well known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but Momento Mori was thought to be her finest book. This was also made into a film in 1992, directed by Jack Clayton and the cast included Michael Hordern as Godfrey Colston, Maggie Smith as Mabel Pettigrew and Thora Hird as Jean Taylor. Each ‘old’ character in the book exerted influences on those around them and showed the remarkable power of the human spirit.

outlook:

From Cathie's suggestions for April, 17th 2014 was chosen (hot + buns please!)

Jon McGregor - If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things




'This novel owes as much to poetry as it does to prose. Its opening, an invocation of the life of the city, is strongly reminiscent of Auden's Night Mail in its hypnotic portrait of industrialised society...An assured debut' Erica Wagner, The Times. On a street in a town in the North of England, ordinary people are going through the motions of their everyday existence - street cricket, barbecues, painting windows...A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his name. An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop. But then a terrible event shatters the quiet of the early summer evening. That this remarkable and horrific event is only poignant to those who saw it, not even meriting a mention on the local news, means that those who witness it will be altered for ever. Jon McGregor's first novel brilliantly evokes the histories and lives of the people in the street to build up an unforgettable human panorama. Breathtakingly original, humane and moving, IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS is an astonishing debut. 'The work of a burning new talent ...Jon MacGregor writes like a lyrical angel' Daily Mail



For May 15th we have voted for a book by an English author who is living near Auch in the Gers.
Her name is Amanda Hodgkinson and she would like to come and meet us and talk to us about her writing etc. 

She does write in La Depeche every Sunday; short, sometimes amusing observations of life of an ex pat in France.

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson




In her powerful debut, Hodgkinson takes on the tale of a family desperately trying to put itself back together after WWII. Silvana and Janusz have only been married a few months when the war forces them apart. Silvana and their infant son, Aurek, leave Poland and disappear into the forests of Eastern Europe, where they bear witness to German atrocities. Meanwhile Janusz, the sole survivor of his slaughtered military unit, flees to France. There, he takes up with a local girl and, though he loves her, awaits the war's end so that he can go in search of his wife and son. He eventually finds them in a refugee camp and they travel to England together, where they attempt to put the past behind them. But the secrets they carry pull at the threads of their fragile peace. 
Hodgkinson alternates viewpoints to relay the story of three desperate characters, skillfully toggling between the war and its aftermath with wonderfully descriptive prose that pulls the reader into a sweeping tale of survival and redemption.

Amanda Hodgkinson has just released Spilt Milk:

1913. Unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live an impoverished existence in a tiny cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk. Their life is quiet and predictable, until a sudden flood throws up a strange fish on their doorstep and a travelling man who will change them forever.

1939. Eighteen year old Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London. When she realises she is pregnant she turns to her mother Nellie, who asks her sister to arrange an adoption for Birdie's new born daughter. But as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape the Marsh sisters' shadowy past - and her own troubling obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them...

Bookclub members of course are welcome to read the 2d novel of Amanda. 

We are looking forward to have a lively discussion with the author. 

Reviews on bookclub meetings in the past please see our LLC bookclub blogpage with more information.