Dedicated Pageturners and some Classics book club members braved the sudden change of cold weather and blustering winds to dine in Robertson Park for Slow Summer Read. Actually the wind was turning the pages for us. There was tasty morsels of picnic food including a delicious eggplant ratatouille, yummy green lentil salad, wrapped vine leaves, savoury fetta and sun dried tomato muffins and refreshments. Music by Ben McGarity was terrific but the weather managed to win out and we retired earlier than planned. But we still managed to chat about books and here are some of the suggested Holiday Reading titles:
Robber Bride Book by Margaret Attwood
“Interesting structure. Four very well drawn characters. Elegant language.”
The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
“Interesting concept, liked the way it was written, short train of thought chapters. Ended too soon and too long in the middle.”
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirosky
“Many people had talked about this, it's certainly worth reading even it the subject and author's experiences are tragic.
Books by Fred Vargas
“Mysteries written by a French female, wonderful eccentric characters and glimpses of Paris.”
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
“The book introduced me to Ursula Le Guin and I was not interested in Science fiction until now. Also interested in reading other authors mentioned plus I love Jane Austen so it was good to hear and see (watched the DVD) people talk about her books.
Hotel Albatross by Debra Adelaide
“A look at Orange from behind the scenes of The Hotel Canobolas. Some great character portraits, dramas in the hotel with staff and patrons and enjoyed reading about places near Orange Ophir, Blayney, Millthorpe and recognised a few characters too.”
Other authors included Eva Ibbotson, Lillian Bradshaw and Helen Hollick.
And the next Pageturners meeting will be on Wednesday 11 March, upstairs in Orange City Library from 5.30pm 7pm to discuss The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. This comment on the book comes from JennyReadingblog: “The title of this book is very apt. It hits you in the face with a sharp sting that seems to linger for days afterwards.” Well put.