On the last meeting of the year the group had a great meeting and celebrated the end of year with little party and of course a book discussion.
Book – Lola’s Secret
Author – Monica McInerney
Book Summary – Magic can happen in every family… Continue reading
The group discussed the FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
Group Comments
One member re-read ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ which was writeen by a German soldier after the first world war.
It is a novel based on the author’s experiences even though it is not biographical.
It is a poignant account of the horror and futility of war and remains a classic anit-war novel.
As such, it was banned by the Nazis, and the author was stripped of his German citizenship.
Our small group discussed how human history has always had groups of people who operate in an oppressive manner and want to use the media and publications as a vehicle of control.
Freedom of the press and literature is vital to an open and tolerant society.
Title:Wolf Hall
Author:Hilary Mantel
Book Summary:
‘Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,’ says Thomas More, ‘and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.’England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey’s clerk, and later his successor.Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages. From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage. Continue reading
Title:The Golden Land
Author: Di Morrissey
Book Summary
Natalie is a young Gold Coast mother with a loving husband, two small children and a happy lifestyle. While helping her mother move house, she finds a little box containing a Burmese artefact. When Natalie learns its unique history through a letter left by her great-great uncle, it ignites an interest in its country of origin and her uncle’s unfulfilled plans for this curio. Her investigations collide with her own dramatically changing circumstances and create a catalyst for a moral dilemma that challenges the core of her marriage as she finds herself immersed in two very different golden lands.
Group Comments Continue reading