Date: June
Present: None
Another meeting fail, this time for a book fail (though we never let a bad book, alone, come between us and dinner and drinks!).
Comments:
"Ugh" - Nic
"Weird" - Sabine
"Dreadful" - Jen
It seems Gill C couldn't even find words!
Showing posts with label Jane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Monday, 21 July 2014
#87 - Memories of My Melancholy Whores - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Choice: Jane) (Venue: Wahaca, Wardour Street)
Date: July 21, 2014
Present: Nic, Gill, Jane, Shubha, Jen
Jane is a GGM super-fan having devoured everything he wrote and loved this as much (almost) as everything else. Jen and I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera so were looking forward to this.
Generally, this seemed to be considered a little less accessible, a little less "fantastic" than other of his novels and it was, therefore, a little harder to cope with the unacceptable sexual relationship between child and old man. Of course, everything has to be placed in a context and the age of consent has varied over time and still varies between societies with the increasing age of consent at odds with natural fertility. But it is a complex and difficult topic, as was the subject matter of the book. Did we imagine the writing was a little less lyrical (albeit hard to make the judgment in a translation) or was it because we were battling a distaste for the subject matter?
An interesting but not entirely enjoyable novel - however we'd all read more by GGM.
Present: Nic, Gill, Jane, Shubha, Jen
Jane is a GGM super-fan having devoured everything he wrote and loved this as much (almost) as everything else. Jen and I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera so were looking forward to this.
Generally, this seemed to be considered a little less accessible, a little less "fantastic" than other of his novels and it was, therefore, a little harder to cope with the unacceptable sexual relationship between child and old man. Of course, everything has to be placed in a context and the age of consent has varied over time and still varies between societies with the increasing age of consent at odds with natural fertility. But it is a complex and difficult topic, as was the subject matter of the book. Did we imagine the writing was a little less lyrical (albeit hard to make the judgment in a translation) or was it because we were battling a distaste for the subject matter?
An interesting but not entirely enjoyable novel - however we'd all read more by GGM.
Monday, 30 September 2013
#78 - Tender is the Night - F Scott Fitzgerald (Choice: Jane)(Venue: St Moritz, Dean Street)
September 26, 2013
Present: Jane, Jen, Gill, Shubha, Mark, Nic
A great turn out - was it for the book discussion or the fondue?! As we walked into St Moritz, the smell of toasting cheese for raclette was divine. Between us we had 2x cheese fondue and 1x "Chinois", which was a broth, into which, at the end, when you could eat no more, eggs were beaten. Jane and Mark did the honours for us, the rest of us having no appetite for it.
The cheese fondue was good but I don't think any of us need another for some time. By the end, we were scraping and rolling slightly crispy melted cheese from the bottoms of the pans with the forks, unable to eat any more bread or potatoes but unable to actually stop eating. On the way out, we had all eaten so much cheese that the once so delicious waft of raclette that had made us salivate on the way in made us catch a breath and dash for the door on the way out.
So, the venue was a huge success; the book, less so. I alone defended it's delights, the air of sumptuous glamour; the fading, now lost era; the ingenious timeline that made me read on to find out what had happened in the beginning; the poignance of a life wasted, a man purchased, who allowed himself to be bought not out of greed but from decency and honour; his tragic demise, fading away, his pride eroded, his shell cast aside by the woman who had depleted him, who had made him what he was and then no longer wanted him because of what he'd become.
Others found the characters unlikable, the story dull, the narrative style unappealing. History appears to be on their side but I loved it.
Present: Jane, Jen, Gill, Shubha, Mark, Nic
A great turn out - was it for the book discussion or the fondue?! As we walked into St Moritz, the smell of toasting cheese for raclette was divine. Between us we had 2x cheese fondue and 1x "Chinois", which was a broth, into which, at the end, when you could eat no more, eggs were beaten. Jane and Mark did the honours for us, the rest of us having no appetite for it.
The cheese fondue was good but I don't think any of us need another for some time. By the end, we were scraping and rolling slightly crispy melted cheese from the bottoms of the pans with the forks, unable to eat any more bread or potatoes but unable to actually stop eating. On the way out, we had all eaten so much cheese that the once so delicious waft of raclette that had made us salivate on the way in made us catch a breath and dash for the door on the way out.
So, the venue was a huge success; the book, less so. I alone defended it's delights, the air of sumptuous glamour; the fading, now lost era; the ingenious timeline that made me read on to find out what had happened in the beginning; the poignance of a life wasted, a man purchased, who allowed himself to be bought not out of greed but from decency and honour; his tragic demise, fading away, his pride eroded, his shell cast aside by the woman who had depleted him, who had made him what he was and then no longer wanted him because of what he'd become.
Others found the characters unlikable, the story dull, the narrative style unappealing. History appears to be on their side but I loved it.
Sunday, 31 March 2013
#72 - City of Thieves - David Benioff (Choice: Jane)(Venue: Yauatcha)
March 7, 2013
Present: Jane, Gill, Jen, Nic
A rare book group appearance by Jane, who undoubtedly travels furthest to get here - Mexico City's loss is our gain and delight.
Mark couldn't make it but sent comments: "... very much enjoyed the book and am a little bit in love with one of the characters!". It transpired that Gill, too, was in love with Kolya. Well, I didn't see that coming, any more than he saw the bullet that hit his arse! Entertaining in print, irritating as a really serious irritant in real-life, I suspect, especially if you were female.
Jane and Jen were not in love with Kolya but did love the book. I didn't, though I found it hard to express why. It had everything a compelling book should have: a transformative adventure, a hapless young hero, a more mature guide, vile villains and virtuous victims, a quest, an astonishing mix of comic, tragi-comic and downright tragic events, snippets of breath-stopping information about the siege of Leningrad that we had never known and the shocking recollection that it was a true story. Something about the style - the simplicity? - failed to engage me as much as that story would have done in other hands but it was, possibly, that same quality that set up a juxtaposition between the complexity of human nature and the simplicity of the telling that beguiled others.
The book was declared a winner, the food was delicious, the service was abysmal (well, I do love to say I told you so). Seeing Jane is priceless. For everything else, there's Mastercard and it does take a hammering at Yauatcha.
Monday, 29 October 2012
#66 - A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (Choice: Jane's)(Venue: Bincho Soho)
Date: August 2nd, 2012
Present: Jane, Shubha, Jen, Nic
"I'm back", Shubha announced prior to this meeting, meaning "get ready to drink". Sadly, Jen and I rather let the side down: after drinking two bottles of Prosecco the night before, it was more luck than judgment that we'd made it at all. Fortunately, Jane was a much better friend!
Jane changed the venue several times in the half hour before we met but this final choice was a goodie, with skewer after delicious skewer of yakitori goodness, miso soup and daikon salad, washed down with grapefruit or lemon sours, so it seemed like the evening might follow Shubha's intention. And, with the best of intentions, after dinner, we proceeded to a lovely wine bar of Shubha's choice. Sadly, despite the undoubtedly charming surrounds, the vast wine list and the delicious wine, after one glass Jen and I admitted hung-over defeat, hair-of-the-dog having failed to revive us, and gave up and walked slowly home while Jane and Shubha partied on.
Meanwhile, the book deserves a word. And, for me, that word would be "tedious". Ignatious was a monstrous character - deliberately so, undoubtedly, but too much so to enable me to care what happened to him. The other characters (at least those introduced before I gave up) were also unpleasant. Jen found parts of the book very funny. Jane enjoyed it: having a theory that there was something "North American" about it that she could identify with. Certainly, Jane "knew" (of rather than personally) people such as those depicted. The rest of us? Not so much. Maybe those people exist but I'm glad I don't know them.
Whilst there's a tragic back story to this novel of an author who committed suicide as a result of depression , which it is at least speculated was contributed to, if not caused by his failure to find a publisher for his book in his life time, personally, I think the agents and publishers who originally turned it down were right. However, it won him a posthumous Pulitzer in 1981 so what do I know?
Present: Jane, Shubha, Jen, Nic
"I'm back", Shubha announced prior to this meeting, meaning "get ready to drink". Sadly, Jen and I rather let the side down: after drinking two bottles of Prosecco the night before, it was more luck than judgment that we'd made it at all. Fortunately, Jane was a much better friend!
Jane changed the venue several times in the half hour before we met but this final choice was a goodie, with skewer after delicious skewer of yakitori goodness, miso soup and daikon salad, washed down with grapefruit or lemon sours, so it seemed like the evening might follow Shubha's intention. And, with the best of intentions, after dinner, we proceeded to a lovely wine bar of Shubha's choice. Sadly, despite the undoubtedly charming surrounds, the vast wine list and the delicious wine, after one glass Jen and I admitted hung-over defeat, hair-of-the-dog having failed to revive us, and gave up and walked slowly home while Jane and Shubha partied on.
Meanwhile, the book deserves a word. And, for me, that word would be "tedious". Ignatious was a monstrous character - deliberately so, undoubtedly, but too much so to enable me to care what happened to him. The other characters (at least those introduced before I gave up) were also unpleasant. Jen found parts of the book very funny. Jane enjoyed it: having a theory that there was something "North American" about it that she could identify with. Certainly, Jane "knew" (of rather than personally) people such as those depicted. The rest of us? Not so much. Maybe those people exist but I'm glad I don't know them.
Whilst there's a tragic back story to this novel of an author who committed suicide as a result of depression , which it is at least speculated was contributed to, if not caused by his failure to find a publisher for his book in his life time, personally, I think the agents and publishers who originally turned it down were right. However, it won him a posthumous Pulitzer in 1981 so what do I know?
P.S. Sept. 13 2023 from Carl: Brilliant! I loved it! Of course it was full of characters to hate but it was just so wonderfully silly. Like the policeman being forced to wear random costumes and the detectives later getting complaints about a man in a sombrero.
P.P.S Set. 13 2023 from Jen, moments before Carl's comments: Oh yeah! I remember that book, although not the evening which from the blog is not all that surprising.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
#57 - Life Before Man - Margaret Atwood (Choice: Jane's)(Venue: StockPot, Old Compton Street)
Present: Alex, Doris, Jane, Mark, Jen, Shubha, Nic
I was so excited when Jane announced this one - a real adults book, a REAL author of literary merit. May be I over-hyped it to myself. I found the characters boring, their lives boring and plodding, suffocated by indecision and delay. Perhaps that was the point, perhaps that is our lot in this world, to be forever waiting for something more or better. But the worse thing was, I couldn't care about them and I couldn't get excited about this novel, even though it was easy to read and clearly written by an accomplished author.
However, this book inspired great passion in some people: Mark and Jane LOVED this book, whilst Doris and Jen vehemently disliked some of the characters and their life decisions. I hope that they may share their feelings here.
The food was authentically 1970s. My salmon and avocado salad was a delight though and much more appetising than Jen's pate (well, that's what they said it was, we were unable to confirm).
I was so excited when Jane announced this one - a real adults book, a REAL author of literary merit. May be I over-hyped it to myself. I found the characters boring, their lives boring and plodding, suffocated by indecision and delay. Perhaps that was the point, perhaps that is our lot in this world, to be forever waiting for something more or better. But the worse thing was, I couldn't care about them and I couldn't get excited about this novel, even though it was easy to read and clearly written by an accomplished author.
However, this book inspired great passion in some people: Mark and Jane LOVED this book, whilst Doris and Jen vehemently disliked some of the characters and their life decisions. I hope that they may share their feelings here.
The food was authentically 1970s. My salmon and avocado salad was a delight though and much more appetising than Jen's pate (well, that's what they said it was, we were unable to confirm).
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Monday, 19 January 2009
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