I have been in a Book Group for 12 years yet I don't think I have ever blogged about it. There are about 4 of us who have been in it almost since the beginning (I was not there at the beginning). We have lost members to bad eyesight, boredom with the books, boredom with one of the other members incessant chat, a refusal to read the books. Occasionally people have turned up once and never come again, and we had a flounce out of a long-term member.
We have a policy of reading intelligent books that take us out of our comfort zone (actually, I am very seldom taken out of my comfort zone, but I usually enjoy the books). We have a policy of having no easy books. We occasionally read non-fiction, but most of our choices on the whole are pretty safe and reliable. If I find them challenging it's sure as dammit the rest of the group will hate them. There are several former teachers in the group, a retired librarian, retired social worker, a former radiographer and my friend J who worked in the media. I am the youngest by about 7 years I think. The oldest is 93. We are all women (the founder and sole male, Barry) moved back to Lewes 11 years ago!
July/August 2016 Book
We read Sea of Poppies in 2010, but no one could remember it, except me, because I absolutely loved it and thought it was brilliant and wished to write something that clever but knew that I couldn't. Recently the third book in the trilogy came out, and I suddenly realised we hadn't read the second one yet.
It is a long book and it is, like its predecessor written from several points of view. The main character is an opium smuggler called Barry Mohdi - it is set chiefly in 1830s Canton and the main characters are Parsee, Muslim, English, French, Chinese etc. Canton was clearly a fantastic place. The story tells of the events surrounding a clampdown on Opium sales in China and the characters are becalmed in Canton, trying to sell their illicit cargoes. There is also a search for an illusory form of paeony (or was it azalea?). So many different strands, and the whole society is brought alive. Characters such as Neel are carried over from the previous book, but I had forgotten about him until halfway through.
Modhi is a deeply sympathetic character, rather like Robert Maxwell. The book is curiously relevant, because it echoes the present economic times, with merchants who are illiberally fixated on Free Trade at all costs, regardless of what this will do to the economy. The British sold the Chinese opium, because they had no other commodities the Chinese wished to buy. They did not wish to have a one-sided trade where they bought tea and silks and porcelain, and all their money went into China in return for perishable goods. Just like the Roman Empire, and just like now. The modern obsession with Free Trade in a globalised market place went echoing through the book.
My favourite aspect of the book were the camp and clever letters written by the young artist Chinnery to his friend "my fair Puggelina". Ghosht manages to transform her nickname into every imaginable silly camp foreign title and never repeat himself once. It was a delight, and it lightened the tone of what would have been some very depressing events that could have turned the whole book into a gloom-fest. Clever!
The other glory of the book was the fact that one was getting "history lite" in the most stimulating possible way. I understand far more about that period and the run up to the Opium Wars than I ever have before. A five star read if ever there was one.
We have a policy of reading intelligent books that take us out of our comfort zone (actually, I am very seldom taken out of my comfort zone, but I usually enjoy the books). We have a policy of having no easy books. We occasionally read non-fiction, but most of our choices on the whole are pretty safe and reliable. If I find them challenging it's sure as dammit the rest of the group will hate them. There are several former teachers in the group, a retired librarian, retired social worker, a former radiographer and my friend J who worked in the media. I am the youngest by about 7 years I think. The oldest is 93. We are all women (the founder and sole male, Barry) moved back to Lewes 11 years ago!
July/August 2016 Book
River of Smoke by Amitahv Ghosh
We read Sea of Poppies in 2010, but no one could remember it, except me, because I absolutely loved it and thought it was brilliant and wished to write something that clever but knew that I couldn't. Recently the third book in the trilogy came out, and I suddenly realised we hadn't read the second one yet.
It is a long book and it is, like its predecessor written from several points of view. The main character is an opium smuggler called Barry Mohdi - it is set chiefly in 1830s Canton and the main characters are Parsee, Muslim, English, French, Chinese etc. Canton was clearly a fantastic place. The story tells of the events surrounding a clampdown on Opium sales in China and the characters are becalmed in Canton, trying to sell their illicit cargoes. There is also a search for an illusory form of paeony (or was it azalea?). So many different strands, and the whole society is brought alive. Characters such as Neel are carried over from the previous book, but I had forgotten about him until halfway through.
Modhi is a deeply sympathetic character, rather like Robert Maxwell. The book is curiously relevant, because it echoes the present economic times, with merchants who are illiberally fixated on Free Trade at all costs, regardless of what this will do to the economy. The British sold the Chinese opium, because they had no other commodities the Chinese wished to buy. They did not wish to have a one-sided trade where they bought tea and silks and porcelain, and all their money went into China in return for perishable goods. Just like the Roman Empire, and just like now. The modern obsession with Free Trade in a globalised market place went echoing through the book.
My favourite aspect of the book were the camp and clever letters written by the young artist Chinnery to his friend "my fair Puggelina". Ghosht manages to transform her nickname into every imaginable silly camp foreign title and never repeat himself once. It was a delight, and it lightened the tone of what would have been some very depressing events that could have turned the whole book into a gloom-fest. Clever!
The other glory of the book was the fact that one was getting "history lite" in the most stimulating possible way. I understand far more about that period and the run up to the Opium Wars than I ever have before. A five star read if ever there was one.
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