A Night To Remember

Everyone in the book group finished this book, mostly because it's a very small book.

We all felt that it gave a much more realistic feel for what happened on that night, more so than the more recent Hollywood movie. Maybe because it was very realistic we also felt that it was a little dry in parts (no pun intended) with long lists of names along with a small amount of background information. It could be that because this book was written very soon after the accident that people knew the famous names mentioned in this book that meant nothing to us now. This we felt was interesting because at the time these people were like the movie stars of today, with their every move watched by millions. The lack of personality to these people in the book made us feel somewhat detached from them even though at the same time we were reading about some of the tragic demise. We thought that the lists of extremely rish people were meant to give us an impression of just how amazingly luxurious this boat was, but we felt that we wanted to know some more about those on the lower decks.

We discussed the differences between the super rich on board the Titanic compared to the rich of today and felt that those on board the Titanic were really in a completely different league. They had private trains meet them at the dockside, and not only that they seemed to think that they were different to those with less money. These days we think that people don't tend to like to show off their wealth to such an extent, it seems slightly vulgar these days when there are people with nothing. In those days the super rich seemed to be separated much more from those with nothing, we felt that maybe the days of the Titanic were probably the death throes of this kind of lifestyle. The rich seemed to think they could build anything and do anything as long as they threw enough money at it, but they were being proven wrong with things like the Titanic and other similar disasters. We wondered whether having such rigid social hierarchy was a good a or a bad thing. We thought that it maybe created a feeling of responsibility to others, and a kind of structure in which you knew what was expected of you.

It was obvious in the book that the poor were overlooked both for being rescued, and even being mentioned at all in the book. There were very few names of those on the lower decks within the pages of this book compared to the actual amount of them on the ship and also compared to the amount of rich names being thrown about.

Somehow, although we all knew the ending we all wanted it to be different in the book, we weren't sure why this was. We all felt that there were some sadly poignant moments with small babies and children dying in the water, juxtaposed against the humour of the baker who survived by seeming to drink his own body weight in alcohol prior to stepping off the ship.

We also discussed the old saying "women and children first" we wondered where this came from and when it was first used, and also is it still in use today. We also wondered whether it is used all over the world or whether it was something that only really happened during the pre-titanic era amongst the ultra-politeness of the time. It would appear, given the amount of second class men who died, that they really did stick to this. Although the first class men appeared to allow women and children first to a certain extent and then their inherant feeling of intitlement may have taken over as a higher percentage of them survived than the female steerage passengers. We all wondered how we would react, we all felt that we would put our chilren into the life boats first but after that we wouldn't really know what to do. When the fight or flight reaction takes over you have no control over yourself and we felt that people should not be called cowards just because of a hormonal reaction.

Looking back on the tragedy it's easy to see where all the errors were for example, why did they turn off all the radios at night, why did they use such inferior bolts, how did they not know what flares meant etc. To be honest given the amount of errors and the complete lack of life-saving equipment on board it is actually surprising that they saved as many people as they did. We felt that those at sea did learn from these mistakes and new measures were put in place to ensure that these errors were unlikely to happen again. We felt that the biggest error may have been human arrogance that nothing bad could happen to such an amazing ship.

Overall we gave this book 7 out of 10.

Titanic Background Information

Hello everyone,

I hope you've all been enjoying this months book, i thought i would send out some information about the Titanic since there is so much around at the moment.

Here is the BBC website commemorating the Titanic:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/17488357

Across the pond there are commemorations too:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Photos-of-the-Titanic-from-101-Years-Ago-202521581.html?c=y&page=1&navigation=thumb#IMAGES

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Full-Steam-Ahead-Our-Roundup-of-All-Things-Titanic.html

I hope this all makes it a little more real, more so than the movie.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Almost everyone in the book club finished the book this month, and for those that hadn't it wasn't for want of enjoying the book it was just a time consideration. One member of the book club was on their second read of this book and still enjoyed it, they had also read some of the later books as well. Everyone felt that the book was very enjoyable and easy to read with just the odd moment when we felt that the language being used was just a little to modern.

We discussed how the notion of childhood and family has changed a great deal over the centuries, with children now being treated a great deal more with kid-gloves than in the time of the Boleyns. Children then were used far more as items to gain wealth and status, more so than today. Daughters seemed to be sold into marriages that would benefit their family, in fact this was the only thing they had to do other than produce male offspring. It all felt rather harsh compared to today, however, we thought we still hope our children make good marriages today but love comes into it a little more. We were also quite shocked at the young age that Mary was given to her first husband and also to the King, she was a great deal younger than we felt comfortable with in todays society.

The historical accuracy of the book was also discussed as it appears at first glance to be very good, however, with a little extra knowledge we discovered that a lot of literary licence has been taken with various aspects. This could be partly due to the lack of accurate historical records, and partly to make the story flow a little more easily, either way you do get a lot of historical accuracy but take some elements with a pinch of salt. We felt that the book was a very romaticised and slightly lengthy version of events, although the end of the book seemed to be rushed through in comparison.

The discussions of King Henry centred around his being very spoilt and childish, this could come from him being a second child, or just because he surrounded himself with sycophants. He seemed to remove those who didn't bow to his demands pretty quickly, even changing the laws and religions of the time so he could get his way. Once he had removed the power of the Pope and the Cardinal we felt that felt that he was now god within England and he could do whatever he wanted and still be able to justify it to himself and his people. He also seemed to very much enjoy the thrill of the chase both with women and with his hunting addiction. We felt that towards the end of the book he was feeling his age and it scared him, especially as he was still unable to conceive a son. This need for a son seemed to completely take over his world.

We discussed the two queens, and felt that Katharine was far more royal and regal with regard her behaviour compared to Anne. Anne we felt was a bit of a power-hungry chav only wanting the King as something to acquire and once she had him then she realised what she had achieved was possibly not in her best interests. Interestingly she really did sign her own death warrant by making Henry feel he could do whatever he wanted with regards "annulling" his various marriages.

Given all this we might chose to read another book in this series but wouldn't read them in close succession. Overall we gave this book 7.5 out of 10.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Questions

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all enjoying the book. Here are some questions for you to have a look at before Thursday.

- Why does Philippa Gregory choose Mary to narrate the story? Keeping in mind the relationship between the observer and those observed, is Mary a good, trustworthy, narrator? As Mary ages, how is her loss of innocence reflected in her telling of the story?

- How do you feel about the idea that a woman had to be married before she could bed the king? What do you think about the king changing the laws to suit his needs? When Anne states that "Nothing will ever be the same for any woman in this country again," examine why she could believe she would be exempt from the same treatment. In other words, why didn't she realize that "when she overthrew a queen that thereafter all queens would be unsteady"? Do you think the family realized this but persevered anyway?

- In King Henry's court, homosexuality was a crime. Why do you think George essentially flaunted his preference? What do you make of the intimate kiss between George and Anne that Mary witnessed? What is the impetus behind George and Anne's relationship? Discuss whether or not you believe that George slept with Anne so that she might have a son, and why.

- After Anne is arrested, Mary pleads for her by saying, "We did nothing more than that was ordered. We only ever did as we were commanded. Is she to die for being an obedient daughter?". What is your reaction to these arguments? Did Henry have no choice but to sentence her to death?

Questions from LitLovers

Crooked Letter Crooked Letter

The book group didn't seem to enjoy this book very much, this isn't to say it was a bad book, it just wasn't as enjoyable as we'd anticipated. We felt that some elements of the book were confusing, such as the title. It sounded very cryptic and we were waiting to find out the meaning behind it only to discover that it just related to how kids are taught to spell Mississippi, not that cryptic at all really.

We weren't all that happy with the book being called a thriller as we didn't really feel it fitted into this genre at all, there was nothing thrilling about it. To be honest we weren't even sure if it fitted into a mystery either, it just really told a story about two men who had fallen out for whatever reason. We felt that the author was trying to write a very literary thriller but somehow managed to fail on both counts.

Most of the book club felt that this book was very hard to get through with only a minority saying that they felt it was beautifully written and enjoyable. Most of the book group felt that it was difficult to keep a handle on who was who within the book as none of them seemed to really stand out as distinct personalities. It was felt that a lot of the things that happened in the book were rather random with little or no explanation as to why people reacted or acted in certain ways.Having read about some of the characters through the book we felt that the way that Silas acted was not within his character, it seemed very odd when everything was revealed at the end.

Overall we gave this book 4 out of 10.

Crooked Letter Crooked Letter - Questions

Hello everyone!

Here are some questions for you to think about for Thursday 28th February:

- Describe the boys Larry and Silas were, and the men they became. What drew Larry and Silas together as children? What separated them? How did you feel about both characters?

- After Silas, Larry considered Wallace Stringfellow to be his friend. What was the bond between Larry and Wallace? What attracted one to the other? Were they really friends? What is a friend?

- Larry felt he was to blame for Wallace's tragic choices. Do you think he was responsible at all? What about Silas? How much responsibility do we carry for others? For family? Friends? Strangers? How much responsibility does the community bear for Wallace's actions?

- How does Larry react when Silas tells him the truth about their childhood? Can true friends overcome betrayal? How? Do you think they will be part of each other's lives going forward?

I hope you're all enjoying the book, and looking forward to the meeting next week.

Questions from GoodReads

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

On the whole most of the book group really enjoyed this book, we wouldn't say that it was high literary fiction but it was very enjoyable and gave you something to think about. Interestingly this was the second read for one person who very much enjoyed it the first time but found it a little boring on the second read.

We were all amazed there wasn't much more in the book about the War, it all seemed to be very glossed over, but maybe this was because we were meant to be focusing on the characters involved rather than the historical background. It may also have been because of the age of the protaganists, they were both quite young and they were both focused on experiencing their first taste of love.

Thr group felt that this book was very interesting as many didn't realise how the Japanese population in America were treated during the Second World War. It's not something that is often discussed either in books or during our education about this time period. We compared their treatment to the treatment of Jews, and other nationalities in the European countries during this time. We then went on to discuss how we felt about our own nationalities as we all live in Wales but not all of us are Welsh either by birth or stepping back further into our pasts. We also spoke about how this is becoming more confusing for people as they are now second or even third generation living within the UK or even other countries, who do they feel their loyalties lie with?

 Some of the group found that the story took a while to get going which didn't help their experience. But we all felt that the jumps between the past and the present day (for the novel) were done well without too much confusion. Some of thr group didn't enjoy the short chapters especially as some of them were within the same time with little difference in what was happening, we felt that this would have felt better with just a break within the chapter rather than a completely new chapter.

We discussed why we felt that the two yound people were so deeply in love despite being so young. We wondered whether it was the War going on around them that heightened their feelings, or maybe it was the fact that it was slightly forbidden on the part of the Chinese family. We also wondered whether that was why Henry still held such a strong torch for Keiko even during the present day. It did at times feel as though Henry was a bit obssessed with Keiko to the point of the reader becoming slightly uncomfortable.

The one thing that confused us all was that we felt that the people within the story always acted much older than they really are. It felt as though Henry was an old gentleman in the more recent sections of the book when he really wasn't that old at all.

Overall we gave this book 7 out of 10.