Book 109: The Quiet American

Sunday 2 February 2025

"The Quiet American" is Graham Greene's 1955 novel about political intrigue in Vietnam, exploring Western involvement and idealism. Criticised for its portrayal of Americans, it sparked debate over imperialism and morality.

Chris will bring the shortlist and we will meet at Leigha's.

Ratings (out of 17):

Book 108: Klara and the Sun

Sunday 17 November 2024

"Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro is a thought-provoking novel about an Artificial Friend named Klara who observes human behavior. It explores themes of love, loneliness, and what it means to be human in a near-future world.

Steph brought the shortlist and we met at Tim and Wendy's.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 15

Steph 16

Monika 17

Ann 12 

James 15 

Tim 12 

Wendy 14 

Average: 14.4

book 107: Black Cake

13 October 2024

Our next book is Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson, spans sixty years in the life of one Caribbean/American family.  There's a cake, too.

Oprah made it into a TV show that is available on Disney Plus.  It featured on Obama's Summer 2022 Reading list and became a No. 2 New York Times bestseller.

We'll meet at Steph's place and Tim will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Monika: 13

Stef: 9

Wendy: 13

Leigha: 11

Chris: DNF - wasn't enjoying it 

Tim: 14

Cherie: 12

Average: 11.7

book 106: The Yiddish Policemen's Union

4 August 2024

Our next book is The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon, who also wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay which we read way back in 2009.  

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a detective story set in the present-day in an imaginary Alaskan city named Sitka that was settled by Jewish refugees during World War Two. 

We'll meet at Monika's place and Monika will bring the shortlist.

 Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 14

Steph 14

Wendy 12 and rising

Monika 14

Tim abstained (did not finish)

Average: 13.5

book 105: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Sunday 19 May 2024

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, was originally published in Japanese. Aucklanders love it.

We met at Tim & Wendy's place and Wendy brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 10

Steph 10

Monika 14

Ann 12

Nicole 10

James  10

Tim 10

Wendy 12

Average: 11.0

book 104: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Sunday 24 February 2024

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (yes, those Oxford commas are in the actual title) is by bestselling US author Gabrielle Zevin.  Set against a game-development backdrop, it is really a story about the relationship between childhood friends and adult collaborators Sam and Sadie.

We'll meet at Leigha's place and James will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Steph 17

Chris 10

Ann 14

Tim 11 

James 15

Leigha 16

Wendy 16

Average: 14.1

book 103: The Covenant of Water

Sunday 5 November 2023

The Covenant of Water is a 700+ page monster of a book by Abraham Verghese that has made its way on to Oprahs' Book Club list, complete with companion podcast.  Over-achiever Verghese is also a doctor and professor at Stanford.

We'll meet at Ann's place. Steph will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Monika 16
Ann 16
Stef 14
Leigha 15
Nic 15
Wendy 15
Tim 15
James 12

Average: 14.8

book 102: So You've Been Publicly Shamed

Sunday 23 July 2023

So You've Been Publicly Shamed, by British journalist Jon Ronson.  

Some Arazonans think this book is inappropriate for high-schoolers, so it must be good.

We'll meet at Monika's place.

Ratings (out of 17):

Nicole: 12

Tim: 12

Ann : 12 

James: 14

Steph: 13

Leigha 11

Monika: 14

Wendy: 15

Average: 12.8

book 101: The Feather Thief

Sunday 21 May 2023

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Wallace Johnson.  A weird but true story.

We'll meet at Steph's place.

Monika will bring the shortlist.

 Ratings (out of 17):

Steph 14

Nicole 14

Ann 14

Monika  14

Leigha 13

James 12

Tim 13

Average: 13.4

100 books! Our faves so far...

So there you have it, we've reached 100 books and it only took us 16 years.  Our top ten books of all time included book no. 100, scraping in at tenth position.  

Here they are, in descending order by average score: 

20/1/2013 Gone Girl 15.7

21/2/2010 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 15.3

22/4/2012 Lolita  15.3

24/5/2009 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 15.1

16/1/2022 A Gentleman in Moscow 15.1

28/6/2009 The Book Thief 15.0

7/5/2017 The Gentleman 15.0

12/9/2021 Do Not Say We Have Nothing 14.8

31/5/2015 Daughter of Fortune 14.7

26/3/2023 Lessons in Chemistry 14.6

book one hundred: Lessons in Chemistry

Sunday 26 March 2023

The story of Elizabeth Zott, scientist, dog-owner and TV cook.Coming soon to Apple TV+!

We'll meet at Tim and Wendy's place.  Ann will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Nicole: 16

James:  13

Wendy: 16

Tim: 16

Monika: 16

Leigha: 13

Ann: 14

Steph: 13

Average: 14.6

book ninety-nine: Sisters In Resistance

15 January 2023

Our ninety-ninth book is Sisters In Resistance by Tilar J. Mazzeo, billed as "the extraordinary true story of how three women - a fascist's daughter, a German spy, and an American socialite - raced against Hitler's SS to get key evidence into the hands of the Allies."

Hear an ABC Radio interview with the author here.

We met at Leigha's place. Tim brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Ann 8 below par

Leigha  11 learnt a lot but felt like a  school assignment 

Steph 9 

Wendy

Tim 

Nicole 11 as per Leigha 

Average: 11.0

Book Blurbs decoded

Shamelessly stolen from some random facebook page. 

book ninety-eight: The Lincoln Highway

Sunday 16 October 2022

The Lincoln Highway is by Amor Towes, who wrote bookclub favourite A Gentleman In Moscow (average score: 15.1).  This one is set in a different time and place.  Will it be as popular? 

We met at Tim & Wendy's place.

Wendy brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 15 

James15

Anne 15

Tim 15

Wendy 13 

Average: 14.6

book ninety-seven: American Dirt

Sunday 7 August 2022

American Dirt is a controversial 2020 novel by American author Jeanine Cummins, about the ordeal of a Acapulco bookshop-owner forced to leave behind her life and escape as an immigrant to US with her son.

We met at Ann's place and Maree brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 15

Maree 15

Ann 12

Wendy 13

Tim 

Steph 14

Average: 13.8

book ninety-six: 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt

Sunday 22 May 2022

'The Secret History', a bestseller debut novel by Donna Tartt. You'll have to read the book because there is no movie.

We'll meet at James and Mari's place and Maree will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):
Steph 14

James 11

Leigha 14

Ann 13

Tim 12

Average: 12.8

book ninety-five: The Prague Cemetery

Sunday 27 March 2022

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco has been called a sort of highbrow Dan Brown.  No word on how either Umberto or Dan feels about that.

Steph kindly hosted; Leigha brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha - 7 - Like trudging through a university assignment
Stephanie - 5 - So over it by page 100
James - 12 - Was hoping for something more like Eco's other novels. Respect but not love it.
Ann - 10 - Thought provoking, but didn't like it

Average: 8.5

book ninety-four: A Gentleman in Moscow

Sunday 16 January 2022

A Gentleman in Moscow, the worldwide bestseller by American novelist Amor Towles.  Apparently, it is "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Eloise" meets all the Bond villains.

We met at Leigha's place.

James contributed the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Tim 16

Wendy 15

Leigha 16

Steph  14

Maree 16

Monika 15

Ann 14

Average: 15.1

book: ninety-three: The Labyrinth

Sunday 28 November 2021

From Anne's shortlist comes the winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award by Tasmanian and one-time alleged senator-defamer Amanda Lohrey.

We'll meet at Tim and Wendy's place.

Maree will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Monika 12

Ann 12

Leigha 13

Stef 12

Tim 9

James 12

Maree 12

Average: 11.7

book ninety-two: No Time Like the Future

Sunday 24 October 2021

Selected from Tim's shortlist, Michael J Fox's (aka Alex P Keaton and Marty McFly) third book gives us a glimpse of his recent life, still living with Parkinson's disease but now with the added complication of a spinal tumour, the surgery to treat it and the aftermath from that.

We met at Maree's place.  

Ann brought the shortlist for the next book.

Ratings (out of 17):

Ann 8

Jim 10

Tim 12

Nicole 13

Wendy 13

Monika 8

Steph 12

Maree 13

Leigha (in absentia) read it but did not score

Average: 11.1

book ninety-one: Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Sunday 12 September 2021

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.

 

We met at Steph's place.

Ratings (out of 17):

Ann - 15 - would have given more but it was complex and info not always tied together well 

Maree - 15 - it matched the epic- ness of China and its size and history. Beautifully written. 

Steph - 15. Leaving space for a 16 or 17 in the future ! Comprehension of

Chinese history. 

Leigha - 14. Really enjoyed it. Struggled with first 30% when identifying all characters but once that sorted, I really enjoyed it. 

James - 15 - really lovely. Great flow of characters and story. 

Average: 14.8 

book ninety: The Dictionary of Lost Words

Sunday 25 July 2021

We'll meet at Leigha's place.

 Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 14

Jim 12

Ann 14 

Steph 14

Mari 11

Average: 12.3

book eighty-nine: Flyaway

Sunday 16 May 2022

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings. 

We met at Tim and Wendy's place. 

 Ratings (out of 17):

book eighty-eight: This is Going to Hurt

28 March 2021

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, a nonfiction book by the British comedy writer Adam Kay.

We met at Monika's place. 

Ratings (out of 17):

TIm: 14 

Wendy: 14 

Monika: 14 

Leigha: 13

Jim: 10

Average: 13

book eighty-seven: The Master and Margarita

Sunday 31 January 2021

Apparently the favourite book of most Russians, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov features the Devil, which I think is a first for this book club.  Bonus points if any book-clubber reads it in the original Russian.

We'll meet at Jim and Mari's place and Monika will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

book eighty-six: The Woman in the Window

Sunday 8 November 2020

The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn, the pseudonym of Dan Mallory.  Mr Mallory tells fibs, apparently.  The movie adaptation is reportedly coming to Netflix soon.

We met at Leigha's place.  James brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 14

Nicole 15

James abstain

W 14

Tim 14

Monika 13

Average: 14

book eighty-five: Boy Swallows Universe

Sunday 13 September 2020 

Much to Jim's and Cherie's chagrin, from Damian's shortlist comes the debut novel from Brisbane's favourite journo, Trent Dalton.  His publisher reckons it has heart of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both of which we rated highly, so let's see...
We'll met via Zoom and Tim brought the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Leigha 14

Monika 12 

Nic 13 

Maree 15

James 13 

Wendy 13 

Tim 16

Average: 13.7

book eighty-four: The Natural Way of Things

Sunday 26 July 2020

The Natural Way of Things, by Charlotte Wood.  Touted as ‘Handmaid’s Tale for the 21st Century’.  Follows the story of a group of young women being held captive in the Australian desert.

Chosen from Leigha's shortlist comprising the University of Canberra's five most recent Books of the Year (this one was Book of the Year for 2019).

We'll meet at Nicole's place, or somewhere nearby, depending on the virus.  Damien will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):

Cherie: 15 really liked it (but she gave the road 17 so she has form for this). Very atmospheric.

Damo: 15 works more as allegory and polemic text than novel.

James: 14 does not mind that the wider world was not built out (did not complete)

Nicole: 11 the unresolved story threads were unsatisfying

Leigha: 13 bit of an Atwood ripoff (but it predates the TV deal. Liked the Australian nature of it. At the end, wanting something more

Tim: 9 (did not complete)

Wendy: 14 aspects of the ending were great, but still some unresolved dissatisfaction

Average: 13.0

book eighty-three: Wild

31 May 2020 | by Zoom

Wild by Cheryl Strayed. New York Times Bestseller.  Movie with Reese Witherspoon.

Listen to ABC Radio’s Conversation with the author. 

Leigha will bring the shortlist.

Ratings (out of 17):
Nicole: 15
Cherie: 16
Damien: 16
Jim: 11
Leigha: 11
Wendy: 13
Tim: 12
Average: 13.4