GROUP CONVENOR – Christine Wright
We meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 1.00 pm in the Assembly Room at St Austell Arts Centre. If you enjoy reading and discussing the book you have read, come along and join us.
NB This group is now at capacity. Please contact the Group Convenor via the below form if you would like to be added to a waiting list.
Below are details of our recently read books.
July 2024 The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
This book tells the story of an American librarian, Fiona who is looking for some meaning to her life. She travels to Africa to help start a travelling library where she visits remote communities where people are illiterate and they live in difficult circumstances without schools or roads or many other things we take for granted.
The books are delivered via camel and collected the following month and, due to their scarcity, a fine is levied if a book is not returned and the library ceases to go to that location. A book is not returned and the impact of this uncovers the personalities of many of the characters and their individual and inter-connecting lives and digs deeper into the culture showing some similarities with all cultures – who holds the power, how it is maintained etc.
This was a book which was universally enjoyed by members of the group as an example of the issues when different cultures collide and attitudes and traditions differ widely. It is an excellent example of the West’s assumptions that their own culture is superior – this book makes the reader think more carefully about those assumptions as well as realising that change cannot be achieved without understanding the consequences.
The book is also a love story which emphasises the impossibility of reconciling the differences without enormous sacrifice. The ending is not what the reader might have expected but is, nonetheless, inevitable.
Some comments from our members:
“Masha Hamilton gives us a fascinating insight into a culture with which we are not familiar. Her characters are well portrayed. But I got somewhat irritated when the plot was so drawn out. I was dubious how the plot was going to end but the final outcome changed my irritation into admiration for the story.
The imposing of a culture onto another is an eternal problem and I thought the story illustrated this succinctly. Masha gave us a vivid portrayal of nomadic life. The book left many unanswered questions which I for one could not answer. In my opinion, a book well worth reading.”
“Another very interesting and thought provoking book. My main thoughts whilst reading were about the British colonial legacy and imposition of our language and culture and all societies seemingly needing to read and write and transact in the English western way. Yes, beautiful imagery and characterisation of humans in a different world. I travelled there 30 years back, wish I had had the insight of this book then.”
“There are eight main characters and several minor ones in this book. They all interlink and grow in depth as the story goes along describing their vulnerabilities and strengths. The book raised ethical issues without expressing an opinion either way – whether or not the western world should “interfere” in other countries’ lifestyles, the nomadic way of life and (to our minds) the primitive nature of patriarchy, (eg. female circumcision, lack of education, literacy and hygiene).
It is a story about morals, love, honour and physical attraction. It finished suddenly and with an unexpected ending.
The book was well-written with good descriptive prose and some humour. I particularly liked that the librarian thought the camel was his mother re-incarnated and was going to get his own back!”
June 2024 Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot
This was an interesting book and the group’s first graphic novel. It was written as a biography of Lucia Joyce – James Joyce’s daughter – alongside an autobiography of the author Mary M. Talbot in collaboration with her husband, Bryan Talbot, a well-known comics artist and illustrator. The book won the 2012 Costa biography award.
Mary’s father, James Atherton, was Joyce’s biographer and the book compares and contrasts the relationship each woman had with their father although Lucia’s is set in the early 20 th century (1907 to 1982) and Mary’s in the 1950s onward.
The story switches from Lucia’s life to Mary’s – clearly identifiable by the different colour scheme of the graphics for each one.
It is the story of how bad parenting can have a devastating effect on children – in particular those of daughters – and reflects the attitudes to women prevalent at the times. Both daughters had very difficult relationships with their fathers who both had violent tempers and thwarted their daughter’s ambitions – successfully in the case of Lucia less so in Mary’s.
Lucia’s story is sad and ends in tragedy due to her parents’ attitude to her wish to have a
career as a dancer and Mary has her own issues with her parents but the changes
happening in the 60s and 70s enabled her to eventually follow her dream of becoming an
author. The two lives are cleverly juxtaposed throughout.
The most interesting part of the group’s discussion was the fact that almost everyone read it twice although there was one member who was not keen on the graphic novel genre.
Some comments below:
“I skipped through the book initially as I didn’t think it would have any substance but then I read it more thoroughly.” The graphics added to the story in a way that words alone wouldn’t have done. The pictures elicited their own emotion from me. I liked the way the author combined her life story with that of Lucia Joyce. The authors’ story alone would not have had the poignancy that the 2 stories had running along together. This book isn’t something I would have chosen to read myself but I enjoyed it and would consider a graphic novel again.“
“I skipped through the book initially as I didn’t think it would have any substance but then I read it more thoroughly.” The graphics added to the story in a way that words alone wouldn’t have done. The pictures elicited their own emotion from me. I liked the way the author combined her life story with that of Lucia Joyce. The authors’ story alone would not have had the poignancy that the 2 stories had running along together. This book isn’t something I would have chosen to read myself but I enjoyed it and would consider a graphic novel again. “
“I read the book quickly thinking not much of it, then read it again more attentively and quite enjoyed it. Although the illustrations aren’t lovely, they are quite powerful and express feelings and opinions clearly, which for some readers might be more appealing, like comics used to be for me when I was younger.”
“I read the book quickly thinking not much of it, then read it again more attentively and quite enjoyed it. Although the illustrations aren’t lovely, they are quite powerful and express feelings and opinions clearly, which for some readers might be more appealing, like comics used to be for me when I was younger.”
“For me the “ Graphic Novel “ has been a new worthwhile experience .
I found myself reliving the excitement I had as a child reading comics – a pleasure denied (since the age of 9 being considered then a distraction from proper learning). The immediacy of the clever illustrations created an instant emotional engagement that only takes hold more slowly with the written word. Direct thoughts in bubbles leave no doubt as to whose thinking what!
An altogether unusual way of running two lines of a related story at the same time.
I found the writings of Joyce very difficult to understand way back but I have remained curious as to what he was all about. I remember the Tom Stoppard fantasy play Travesties with Joyce and Lenin debating the meaning of life whist in Vienna and another visual image Lucia de Lammermoor, the Walter Scott novel and Donizetti opera of an emotional woman’s lament of life’s frustrations”
“I was very disappointed by this book. I remember studying “Portrait of the Artist as a Young man” at school as well as Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses but I have no actual memory of what they were about – only that I found them difficult reading”
We can all relate to that last comment – Joyce’s novels were never easy!!
Previous Reviews can be seen HERE
We are happy for you to come to a Coffee Morning or one main Monthly Meeting and to attend one individual group (with the exception of groups that require pre-booking and ticket purchases) before deciding whether to join St Austell u3a.
Please always contact the Group Convenor to ensure the session is going ahead.
