The Great Gatsby
BreathMore than once since then I've wondered whether the life-threatening high jinks that Loonie and I and Sando and Eva got up to in the years of my adolescence were anything more than a rebellion against the monotony of drawing breath.
Breath is a story about the wildness of youth - the lust for excitement and terror, the determination to be extraordinary, the wounds that heal and those that don't - and about learning to live with its passing.
In his first novel for seven years, Tim Winton has achieved a new level of mastery. Breath confirms him as one of the world's finest storytellers, a writer of novels that are at the same time simple and profound, relentlessly gripping and deeply moving.
What we discussed about the book:
And then we were sidetracked into:
In other news:
Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu. And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
And then we were side-tracked into:
In other news:
Ratings:
Ratings range: 4 to 9
Ratings average: 7.66
Next Book: Breath by Tim Winton (Chosen by CH)
The GargoyleThe narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.
A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.
Already an international literary sensation, The Gargoyle is an Inferno for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible.
And in other news...
Ratings:
Ratings average: 7.85
Ratings range: 4 to 9
Next book: Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (LC's choice)
Emmett Brown is as dark as Heathcliff, and as unpredictable. Sometimes he's an inspiration, but not often. He's a man of booze and obsessions: one of them is his 'System', an attempt to bend the laws of probability. But when the lottery numbers and horses fail him, so do love and reason, and he becomes an ogre to his wife and children.
For the innocents - Louisa, Rob, Peter, Daniel and Jessie - the bonds formed hiding in hedges at the end of the street, waiting for the maelstroms to pass, are complex and unbreakable. Over the years, the consequences of Emmett's rages shape both their spirits and psyches, but as he lies dying they discover that love - however imperfect - is the best defence against pain. The Book of Emmett is a novel about hope and love and surviving.
At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event. In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye onto that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century. The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires.What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse. In its clear-eyed and forensic dissection of the ever-growing middle class and its aspirations and fears, The Slap is also a poignant, provocative novel about the nature of loyalty and happiness, compromise and truth.
The Slap 
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
(Chosen by T-Rex)
T-Rex chose this book because it attracted her attention when it won the Man Booker Prize in 2008, and she then watched it sitting in the bestseller lists for weeks.
Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai) in 1974 . He grew up in Mangalore and studied at Canara High School, then at St. Aloysius High School. After emigrating to Sydney, Australia, with his family, he studied at James Ruse Agricultural High School. He studied English literature at Columbia College, Columbia University in New York, and also studied at Magdalen College, Oxford
Adiga began his journalistic career as a financial journalist, interning at the Financial Times. He was subsequently hired by TIME, where he remained a South Asia correspondent for three years before going freelance. During his freelance period, he wrote The White Tiger. He currently lives in Mumbai, India.
The White Tiger is his debut novel and won the 2008 Booker Prize. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai.
(general biographical detail from Wikipedia)
What the publisher says about the book:
Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen.
Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.
Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.
Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.
Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation -- and a startling, provocative debut.
And then we were sidetracked into:
And in other news we discussed:
Ratings:
Ratings range: 8 to 9
Ratings average: 8.45
Next book: The Slap by Christos Tsoilkas (chosen by Domestic Goddess)
May book: The White Tiger 
Over 50 of the world's greatest speeches, the stories behind them and biographies of each speaker, including: Elizabeth I; Charles I; Oliver Cromwell; George Washington; Napolean; Emmeline Pankhurst; Marie Curie; Mahatma Gandhi; Stalin; Winston Churchill; Charles de Gaulle; John F Kennedy; Martin Luther King; Mother Teresa; Nelson Mandela; and many others from throughout history whose words have motivated, given hope to and sometimes terrified those who heard them.
Inspiring and thought-provoking, Speeches that Changed the World provides a unique perspective on the major turning points in history.
What we discussed about the book:When Hanna Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript that has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war−torn Sarajevo‚ she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.
A renowned book conservator‚ she must now make her way to Bosnia to start work on restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah −− a Jewish prayer book −− to discover its secrets and piece together the story of its miraculous survival. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hanna′s orderly life‚ including her encounter with Ozren Karamen‚ the young librarian who risked his life to save the book.As meticulously researched as all of Brooks′ previous work‚ People of the Book is a gripping and moving novel about war‚ art‚ love and survival.
A famous writer is commissioned to contribute to a book of essays called Strong opinions when he meets a young woman who lives in his apartment tower. He asks
her to become his...
... ... ... ... ...
In the laundry room of her apartment block a young woman makes the acquaintance of an ageing writer. She agrees to type up his opinions, although she is aware that what he really desires...
... ... ... ... ...
The young woman's boyfriend starts to spy on his neighbour and hatches a jealous plot to...J. M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year is about loneliness, friendship and the possibility of love. It takes the reader from Australian democracy to Guantanamo Bay, from the meaning of dishonour to the creative truth of dreams. Enthralling, unexpected and deeply moving, this may be the most original work of fiction to appear this year.**
And in other news:
Ratings:
Ratings range: 6 to 9
Ratings average: 7.55
(one DNF was a midrange score)
Next book: The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
This extraordinary, magical novel is the story of Clare and Henry who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. His disappearances are spontaneous and his experiences are alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's passionate love for each other with grace and humour. Their struggle to lead normal lives in the face of a force they can neither prevent nor control is intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.What we discussed about the book:
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food. Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists – all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by "nutrients," and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Michael Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives and our palates and enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy.
And in other news:
On a very sad note:
We discussed the funeral arrangements for our dear friend and previous administrator and minute secretary - S. She was loved by many and will be so greatly missed. Our love and thoughts go to her husband, her daughter and their families.
Ratings:
Ratings range: 6.5 to 8.5
Ratings average: 7.43
Next book: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Thank you to Domestic Goddess for compiling these minutes!
Minutes September Book: Water for Elephants A great, glorious, big-hearted novel set in a travelling circus touring the back blocks of America during the great depression of the early 1930s. It's a story of love and hate, trains and circuses, dwarves and fat ladies, horses and elephants - or, to be specific, one elephant, Rosie, star of the Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth . . .
August book: The Mitford Girls What we discussed about the book:THE MITFORD GIRLS tells the true story behind the gaiety and frivolity of the six Mitford daughters - and the facts are as sensational as any novel: Nancy, whose right social existence masked an obsessional doomed love which soured her success; Pam, a countrywoman married to one of the best brains in Europe; Diana, an iconic beauty, who was already married when at 22 she fell in love with Oswald Moseley, the leader of the British fascists; Unity, who romantically in love with Hitler, became a member of his inner circle before shooting herself in the temple when WWII was declared; Jessica, the family rebel, who declared herself a communist in the schoolroom and the youngest sister, Debo, who became the Duchess of Devonshire.This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary family, containing much new material, based on exclusive access to Mitford archives.
Then we were sidetracked into:
Ratings:
Initial ratings range: 7.5 to 8.5
Initial ratings average: 8.0
Post-discussion ratings: no change
Next book: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Love in the Time of CholeraWhat we discussed about the book:In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
And in other news, we discussed:
Ratings:
Initial rating range: we forgot to do initial ratings!
Initial rating average: n/a
Post-discussion range: 5.5 to 8.0
Post-discussion average: 6.57
Next book: The Mitford Girls by Mary S. Lovell (T-Rex’s choice)
The Boy in the Striped PyjamasA story of innocence existing within the most terrible evil, this is the fictional tale of two young boys caught up in events entirely beyond their control.What we discussed about the book:
Berlin 1942
When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
Ratings:
Initial rating range: 5.5 to 10.0
Initial rating average: 8.06
Post-discussion range: 5.5 to 10.0
Post-discussion average: 7.93
Next book: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies painting obsessively in her attic studio in Penzance, her saintly husband and adult children have more than the usual mess to clear up. She leaves behind an extraordinary and acclaimed body of work – but she also leaves a legacy of secrets and emotional damage it will take months to unravel.
A wondrous, monstrous creature, she exerts a power that outlives her. To her children she is both curse and blessing, though they all in one way or another reap her whirlwind, inheriting her waywardness, her power of loving – and her demons… Only their father's Quaker gifts of stillness and resilience give them any chance of withstanding her destructive influence and the suspicion that they came a poor second to the creation of her art.The reader becomes a detective, piecing together the clues of a life – as artist, lover, mother, wife and patient – which takes them from contemporary Penzance to 1960s Toronto to St Ives in the 1970s. What emerges is a story of enduring love, and of a family which weathers tragedy, mental illness and the intolerable strain of living with genius.
Patrick Gale's latest novel shines with intelligence, humour and tenderness.
The Secret RiverIn the early nineteenth century William Thornhill is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. He arrives with his wife Sal and their children in a harsh land he cannot understand.
Eight years later, Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury as a free man to claim a hundred acres. Aboriginal people already live on that river and Thornhill will soon have to make the most difficult decision of his life.
Inspired by research into her own family history, Kate Grenville's The Secret River is a tour de force, a powerful and groundbreaking story about life on the frontier.
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
What is the What
by Dave Eggers
(chosen by CH)
CH chose this book on a recommendation from another bookclub which had given it a really high rating. She was told it was an "important book" with a really significant story which needs to be told. This appealed to CH, as she felt that the issue of the Sudan is difficult to understand and engage with, and the personal story provides a bridge into it.
Dave Eggers was born in 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts and attended the University of Illinois. He is married to writer, Vendela Vida and they live in San Francisco with their daughter, born in 2005.
Eggers began writing as a Salon.com editor. His first book was a memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000). It is about the author's struggle to raise his younger brother following the sudden deaths of their parents.
In 2002, Eggers published his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity. What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is his second novel and it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
Eggers is a founder of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house and currently teaches writing in San Francisco at a nonprofit tutoring centre and writing school for children that he co-founded with Vendela Vida in 2002. They have expanded the program by using volunteers to operate similar centres in Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(General biographical details from here)
Separated from his family, Valentino Achak Deng becomes a refugee in war-ravaged southern Sudan. His travels bring him in contact with enemy soldiers, with liberation rebels, with hyenas and lions, with disease and starvation, and with deadly murahaleen (militias on horseback)—the same sort who currently terrorize Darfur. Based closely on actual experiences, What Is the What is heartrending and astonishing, filled with adventure, suspense, tragedy, and, finally, triumph.
What we discussed about the book:
Then we were sidetracked into:
And in other news, we discussed:
Ratings
Initial rating average: 7.08
Initial rating range: 5 to 9
End of discussion rating average: 7.25
End of discussion rating range: 6 to 9
Next book: The Secret River by Kate Grenville (Elster's choice)
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
What we discussed about the book:
Then we were sidetracked into:
And in other news, we discussed:
Ratings
We introduced a new system where books are rated straight up at the start of the discussion and then again at the end.
Initial rating
Average: 9.0
Range: 7.5 to 10
End of discussion rating
Average: 9.0
Range: 7.5 to 10
Next book: What is the What by Dave Eggers (CH’s choice)
