By gracey on Wed 27th Oct 2010
In October, the Book Group met to discuss a writer rather than a particular book. Augusten Burroughs had been chosen and although he had been an alternative keynote speaker at the 2008 Melbourne Writers’ Festival, most of us had not heard of him.
Born Christopher Robison in US in 1965, he changed his name at age 18 and his first book Sellevision was published in 2000 based on his experiences in advertising. Burroughs’ other books include Running With Scissors, Magical Thinking, Dry, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas. One of these has already been made into a film with two others in the process.
Most Book Club members read Running With Scissors. A couple had read A Wolf at the Table. Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects were read by two of our group. This made for a good cross section of Burroughs’ writing. We always enjoy these evenings as it provokes lively discussion of the similarities or differences between books by the same author.
In all of these books, which he claims to be autobiographical, Burroughs paints a picture of himself as a needy child in ahighly dysfunctional family. As a pre-teenager, he is signed over by his bi-polar mother, into the guardianship of her psychiatrist. Now divorced from Burroughs’ father, this allows her to devote herself to writing poetry and indulging in lesbian relationships. Augusten then spends most of his teenage years as part of a family who live in incredible squalor.
He became the victim of an adult male
sexual predator and participated in this relationship with a twisted aim of hurting his supposed lover emotionally as often as possible over a long period of time whilst flaunting this affair in the face of his mother who actually encouraged it.
The content of all books we read is extremely confronting and the strong language may be highly offensive. Burroughs undoubtedly has some ability as a writer. Our Group was unable to relate to this humour and our mark out of ten varied from 2 to 7.
By SpringDale on Mon 27th Sep 2010
On Monday, September 5, the Book Club met at the SpringDale to discuss A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Peter and his wife, (her first name is never mentioned) have moved to Provence where they survive a series of renovation upheavals, much frustration with unreliable tradesmen who work to their own time rules, a very cold winter and many unexpected visitors. ?Except for the French, it’s rather like Drysdale’ one person commented dryly.
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By SpringDale on Wed 22nd Sep 2010
On Monday 2 August the Book Group gathered to discuss Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love. The author has written ten novels of which three have been made into films. He also won the Booker Prize in 1998 for his novel Amsterdam.
Ian McEwan is a crime/thriller writer and many critics consider him a maestro at creating suspense which integrates imagination with emotional alertness.
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By SpringDale on Fri 23rd Jul 2010
Peter Temple The Broken Shore (2005, Text Publishing)
On Monday June 7, the Book Group discussed Peter Temple’s novel The Broken Shore. Award winner Temple has an impressive record as a writer of crime/thriller novels, of which The Broken Shore is a good example. Detective Joe Cashin has been posted to the quiet coastal town in South Australia where he grew up, to recover from a near-fatal incident in town. Read more >>
By webmaster on Wed 26th May 2010
On Monday May 3, the Book Group discussed Kerry Greenwood’s novel, Heavenly Pleasures. The book is one of a series of five novels by Greenwood featuring amateur sleuth Corinna Chapman. Chapman is an inner Melbourne baker, who is almost as fond of her cats
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By webmaster on Wed 7th Apr 2010
On Monday March 1 the Book Club met to discuss Harlan Coben’s Hold Tight. Harlan Coben is a popular writer with many titles to his credit. Hold Tight is the story of several seemingly unrelated groups of people whose only common thread, where it exists at all, is the great lengths that the parents will go to for their children.
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By webmaster on Mon 1st Mar 2010
On Monday 1 February, the Book Club did something new – we discussed a type of book, rather than a specific book. We chose Biographies and, as usual, the result was a really diverse collection of books, covering composers, musicians, artists, writers politicians and sportspeople.
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