The official home on the internet of the Darlington Book Group
Lovely Alma
Great discussion on Barbara Gowdy’s collection at the book group on Monday – and a warm welcome to Silke, our new member. I am still thinking about that ambivalent ending to the “little legs” story. I like the way book group reveals nuances you may not have spotted – shared reading is twice the pleasure.
Look forward to discussing the Gordon Burn – again, this will be a re-read for me. I remember being really intrigued first time round.
Ah what brilliant short stories these are! I am re reading and remembering how taken with them I was the first time. They are odd, granted, but they are so tender and lovely too. A good warm up for Valentine’s Day, I think. Would it be possible for you to select your favourite from the collection and tell us why? I would be very interested to know which one most appeals and if we are in agreement. Here’s an interesting quote I found about her work:
“Barbara Gowdy is the voyeur’s voyeur, telling me how she likes to prowl her neighbourhood by night, looking in windows, not hoping to see sex acts or anyone naked, but excited rather by the pictures people have on their walls, or by what they might be watching on television”. 
I’m assuming many people will have spent most of the last week at home, or at the homes of other family members. I’m hoping there has been time to read Marilynne Robinson’s wonderful book, maybe in the post-Christmas lull, always a good time for reading if you are lucky enough to have time off work. Since the pavements are lethal, never mind the roads, it’s a perfect opportunity for snuggling up and immersing yourself – which this book requires – too dense for dipping in and out of. But even if you don’t manage to finish it for Monday I hope you will come along and share thoughts about it. 
Good discussion last night on multiple narratives and how you hang on to them as a writer and as a reader. We thought Sarah Hall’s prose was beautifully written, but sometimes we lost a thread or two of the story. We also got waylaid thinking about which other novels have twins in them? And which star artists? I’ve just read What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt which is centred on artists and art historians. I loved this book because I loved the characters – but the art aspect is also a great vehicle for carrying ideas.
Everybody welcome at Simon’s next Monday for Christmas Book Group cheer – from 6.30. If you need to know the address get in touch.
Thanks to all those who shared family histories and the odd clanking skeleton (hey mine are probably the oddest) in our discussion last night – so enjoyable. Lionel Shriver definitely a hit with this group. For a writer who perhaps avoids intimacy (as do her characters) she engendered an evening of intimate sharing. Lovely.
ps random photo of Staleybridge buffet – surely the nicest railway buffet bar in the country?
Had a great time at the Lionel Shriver
event – she is an extremely cool, smart and funny lady. She was so good at reading her work and also at responding to intrusive questions about her personal life and the one about whether giving herself a man’s name helped her sales. But also at really considering some of the issues – such as inheritance, sibling rivalry, uneasy family alliances and the strange marriage of fact and fiction in a novel. There was even an impromptu bookgroup style discussion among groups in the audience which has warmed me up for the one we will have very soon. Then a nice young lady from R3 stuck a mike under my nose and asked me if there was any such thing as A Perfectly Good Family – don’t get me started….
Lionel Shriver will be talking about A Perfectly Good Family on Saturday Oct 24th at 10.30 am – it’s a free event but you need to book via the Sage – you can do it on the website.
Hope you are enjoying the book and that you can make the event – if so, see you there.
This week I have been mostly eating cupcakes. 
I’ve finished Talk of the Town and really enjoyed it, got lost in this convincingly done world of adolescent boys (yes I know there’s a girl – but one of my qs would be – is she as recognisable as the boys?) The odd thing for me, at the beginning of reading, was trying to hear JP’s voice. I have heard him read his poetry several times and when I’m reading it, he comes through loud and clear. Because this is written in prose, in dialect and is a first person narrative – I think my poor brain was trying to hear JP – and went into melt down. Not a problem if you have never heard JP read as a poet I guess.
Does the dialect work, do you think – are you reminded of Sam Marsden?
Looking forward to our discussion.
A very interesting evening with several closet crime fiction fans outed, and an increase in Kate Atkinson’s fanbase. I think we all enjoyed Case Histories in spite of the gore. And a warm welcome to new members Dawn and Rachel.
Looking forward to discussing Talk of the Town, Jacob Polley’s recent novel: I am already a big fan of his poetry.
Also we have a change to the book schedule, with the addition of Lionel Shriver’s A Perfectly Good Family. She is at an event at the Sage, Gateshead on October 23rd and it seemed too goood an opportunity to miss. Will talk about this at our next meeting.
Jacob Polley
I’ve finished the first book on our list and enjoyed it very much. I read Kate Atkinson’s first book ages ago, and haven’t been back to her work, but I’ll certainly be reading more of her now. The best kind of detective fiction. Looking forward to discussing with everybody on Sep 7th. Feel free to bring a friend along, even if they haven’t read the book on this occasion.
I’m never quite sure about this time of year – is it autumn yet? Something about the darker quality of everything – the leaves seem such a deep slightly bitter green, the evenings draw in sooner. Is my mood gloomier? Hell I’m a poet – gloom is my territory. But as Dora says – the clothes are better in autumn. Yeah perspective is all.
Lovely party – thanks everybody for your contributions – here are some of the books we talked about – but there were lots more. I’m planning to read the Kate Atkinson Dora suggested, and maybe a few more of Ben’s graphic novel choices. Plus I have the Ishiguro on the go. Hope you all enjoy the summer, the books and perhaps another glass of prosecco – and look forward to seeing you all again later in the year.
I’ve really enjoyed the books and the company. 
I’ve got far too many books on the go at the moment – and a feeling that each one is being read by a different personality, which is disconcerting. One of me is reading david Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas: this one shows what a master of the multiple personality disorder can produce. Such a range of voices – and as the blurb saysm, six separate “nested” stories. Extremely clever and satsifying, and quite a chunky book so it would take you through a week or two of beach reading. I’m also reading a book by Barbara Kingsolver called Pigs in heaven which I’m rather enjoying. Hadn’t come across this author before, so if you have and could recommend others, I’d be happy to hear. Plus some poetry, a self-help manual and the Dummy’s Guide to Spreadsheets. Then there’s the knitting books ..
See you all soon
I read in a review that Ali Smith’s stream of consciousness writing style was an updated VW. I’m not sure she quite achieves this but then I’m a very big VW fan. In fact I’m not sure how convinced I was by the characters in this book or even particulalrly moved by their plight. Am I just hard to please?
Looking forward to discussing later on this evening.
- a bit different. Well not set in Middlesbrough anyway! Thanks everybody for the fanrastic discussion on Monday night – I thought it was a really stimulating session. I am still trying to think of any other novels set in the Boro but apart from R Milward’s Apples I can’t think of any.
Next book will NOT be Mari Hannah because of publication dates – instead we will read “Hotel World” by Ali Smith.
I’ve read other work by AS but not this so looking forward to it and to seeing you all in June.
Just to reiterate that the book order has changed – we’ll be reading the Richard Milward book in May now and the Mari Hannah in June – due to publication date difficulties.
Hope this is OK with everybody and you can get hold of Richard’s book without too much effort – look forward to discussing with you.
A great discussion last night about “That They May Face The Rising Sun”. This was the quote I was looking for about happiness (Ruttledge is thinking this of course):
“He felt this must be happiness. As soon as the thought came to him he fought it back, blaming the whiskey. The very idea was as dangerous as presumptive speech. Happiness could not be sought or worried into being, or even fully grasped. It should be allowed its own slow pace so that it passes unnoticed if it ever comes at all.”
This seems to be the heart of the book for me and maybe the reason why I enjoyed it so much – learning to take the text at a slower pace than I normally read and letting the flow of words take me over.
Thanks for all the brilliant discussions we’ve had so far this year and looking forward to many more – beginning with a book called The Editor by Mari Hannah on May 11th. Hope this date OK for everybody – I think the one before is a bank holiday.
I am really enjoying this book – but it isn’t a quick read! The prose is so perfect and the characters he creates are wonderful. The sly, slow humour but also the tragedy of some of these lives, so understated. Sometimes, I just stop and read a piece out loud to myself. I’ve never been to this part of Ireland and this book has the effect of making you really want to go there, but also feeling a slight sense of claustrophobia and panic about it. Perhaps this is the connection to last month’s book – beauty and ugliness together.
I hope you are enjoying it and wanted to say that don’t worry if you don’t get it finished – I think it will be just great to take a couple of pages and do some deconstruction work.
Thanks for a lovely evening at the Arts Centre last night – had an excellent time discovering various members’ acquaintance with the Yorkshire dialect via Kent, Bristol and Glasgow! Fascinating stuff. I think this was one of the books that we were all in agreement about – a winner, and a writer to look out for in the future.
Hope we all enjoy John McGahern’s That They May Face The Rising Sun – which turns out to be the last work of fiction by this author before his death in 2006. It won prizes and he is an excellent writer so I have high hopes.
Look forward to seeing you all in April.
God’s Own Country turned out to be quite a quick read once I’d mastered the dialect. See if you can remember what these words mean:
aflunters
blatherskite
chunter
crozzle
doylem
gleg
glishy
bluthermerment
fettle
flowtered
hubbleshoo
mafted
powfagged
trunklements
Answers at the Arts Centre tonight!
Just back from a week in deepest Shropshire staying at The Hurst Arvon Centre with a lot of lovely young poets. I thought I might get some time to read my book – but I didn’t! So hope the rest of you are doing better and I’ll get my head down this week I promise. Have started and am finding my way into the dialect and the narrator’s voice and already intrigued. Rural Shropshire looked lovely all A E Housman and rolling hills – but I’m sure there’s plenty of room for peculiar goings on there too. The kids at Craven Arms station with their stacked up cans of cider, the burnt out car steaming on the track as I drove up to the house .. hmmm. Then there’s the wild life. But it doesn’t look like Emmerdale – the landscape up here has a touch of bleakness that when I’m away I miss. I’m interested in the descriptive bits in God’s Own Country too.
Anybody get to see Slumdog the Movie yet? Have spoken to one bookgroup member who thought the film was great but took liberties with the text.
Looking forward to seeing you all Monday after next.
