The Outsider

2015 began with us reading “The Outsider” by Albert Camus. Depending upon the translation, it is also known as “The Stranger”.

This novel was shorter than our normal reads – I’m sure some of us were glad of that!

A summary of the novel can be found here: http://www.enotes.com/topics/stranger 

Meursault – the main character and narrator seems to lack empathy and emotion. We are introduced to him at the beginning of the novel when he attends his mother’s funeral. There is a large emphasis on his failing to cry at this event, however as we begin to learn throughout, there are a lot of “human” things that Meursalt fails to express.

The shortness of the The Outsider is representative of the fact that only the necessary facts are disclosed to the reader. It has been narrated in a very matter-of-fact tone – Meursalt is an honest man, he speaks his mind and does not conform to the typical views of society, hence the title.

Albert Camus revealed that many readers have misinterpreted the message he was trying to portray in this novel. Whilst some people excuse Meursalt’s apathy as being an illness, others have interpreted him to simply be evil. Camus remarked:

I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: ‘In our society any man who does not weep at his mother’s funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.’ I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.

 

Albert Camus

When researching society at the time of The Outsider’s publication (1942), it is apparent that after WW1, many European authors began to question life and man’s existence. Camus did not believe in God or an afterlife, and was known to have strong ideas about the fact that life was existentially pointless; nothing that man does on Earth will make a difference. The Outsider begins with death, and ends with death, as does life. Does anything we do in between change anything?

This attitude made the discussion at book group somewhat difficult! Some of us like to find hidden themes and metaphors linking to greater ideas when we discuss books, however the style of The Outsider didn’t seem to permit this! It was hard to accept that perhaps Camus meant this book to remain as it was, with no need to tear it apart and read into things that were never there.  Our automatic reactions to try and find more within this novel proves Camus right in his assumption that people are forever trying to find purpose and meaning within their lives, when maybe they just shouldn’t bother!

As one can probably imagine, the discussion at book group did not last as long as normal, providing the perfect opportunity for a catch up and to discuss any other books that people had managed to fit in over the past month :).

 

 

A Christmas Carol

Better late than never!

Christmas festivities and some serial essay writing seemed to cloud my memory, so apologies for the lateness.

December’s read was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

 

We were all in good spirits…Christmas was fast approaching and the mulled wine and cake was aplenty!

We discussed how A Christmas Carol helped to shape Christmas traditions – when it was first published in 1843, old traditions were waning, and this novella helped to send a message of joy and hope at this time of year. Interestingly, Christmas trees and the first Christmas cards began appearing in the 1840’s.

Poverty is a continuous theme throughout the novel – there are many references to the workhouses, of which Scrooge is an advocate for towards the beginning. Maintaining relevance to the era in which it was written, Scrooge’s assistant, Bob Cratchit and his family represent poverty, and later become a concern of Scrooge when he discovers the more charitable and kinder aspects of himself – only after being visited by three ghosts mind!

For anybody whom may be interested, this website contains A LOT of information about Charles Dickens, and the page about A Christmas Carol is worth a look http://charlesdickenspage.com/christmas.html

The numerous television and film adaptations formed a large part of conversations – favourites including The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, Disney’s Christmas Carol, and of course Ross Kemp’s modern day version concerning a loan shark in central London (definitely better than it sounds).

A couple of people were not a fan of the overly descriptive style, but then would it be Dickens without it?! Overall the general consensus was that it was an enjoyable read, especially a couple of weeks before Christmas, which seems but a distant memory already…

Now to begin 2015’s reading list.

For anybody who would like to read more this year, I recommend joining Goodreads and entering into the 2015 reading challenge. Personally I find it motivating but it’s also useful when looking for new authors/books to try. http://www.goodreads.com/challenges/show/3082-2015-reading-challenge

Happy New Year!

Rachael

The Catcher in the Rye

Tonight there were seven of us present at the meeting to discuss our thoughts of “The Catcher in the Rye”.

With an average rating of 5/10, it wasn’t particularly a novel that anyone would include in their favourite reading lists!

I personally was slightly shocked at this, as I found that I quite liked the story and liked the character of Holden, yet I seemed to be the only person who thought this!

Much of the discussion related to Holden’s thoughts and perceptions that he expressed relating to others (primarily adults) – often referring to them as “phony”. We queried whether this was his genuine opinion of others, or whether it was a reflection of his deteriorating mental state as it became more common as the book progressed. The general thoughts of the group were that he held this view of adults, especially when he was observing the interactions between men and women – perhaps to represent the difficulties that he was experiencing as a teenager coming to terms with adulthood. Dismissing people as being “phony” revoked the need for him to explore or contemplate this further.

Holden seeks to maintain the idea that children are innocent throughout the book, however this begs the question as to why he doesn’t seem to worry as much about his own? We established that this was just one of many contradictions that Salinger has included.

Something that cannot be ignored is the title that Salinger has chosen – taken from Robert Burns’ poem “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye”. It is of great significance that Holden gets the poem wrong, and that around the beginning of the novel, he hears a child singing this poem, which cheers him up. Holden believes the poem is about childhood innocence, even stating that he would like to be the “catcher” – until he is told by his sister Phoebe that it is not about childhood innocence at all – it is quite the contrary. Whilst potentially representing Holden’s innocence, it could also show his ignorance.

The book ends with, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”. When I was researching discussion topics, this ending seemed poignant. People seemed undecided as to whether this was meant to be interpreted in a positive or negative light.

The Catcher in the Rye certainly provided the group with many discussion points – there were more than I have included but I thought I would highlight just a few! Unfortunately, this was not loved by many, only averaging 5/10, and the general consensus was that it is an overrated novel. Despite this, people are still glad that they have read it (and in many cases, re-read it since they were a child!).

We also picked out the books that we will be reading for the next few months. I have updated the section on this page which details the books that we will be reading for the next six months.

See you all on 25/11/2014 to discuss “Nights at the Circus”.

Rachael 🙂

Choices, Choices, Choices…

Next Tuesday will see the first book club social.

I hope everyone is enjoying The Catcher in the Rye, and if you haven’t been able to start it yet then do not fear, it isn’t too long!

As you may remember, I requested that people pick a couple of books each for when it is their turn to pick the book for a particular month.

Some of you may find it easy to provide a choice of books for everyone to vote for; but if anyone is like me they may struggle/spend vast amounts of time researching numerous books before making a final decision!

A while ago I discovered the Goodreads app, which is great! As well as including people’s book reviews, it also provides you with endless reading lists, and is definitely worth a look: https://www.goodreads.com/list.

Good luck searching, and I look forward to seeing you all!

If anyone is unable to attend the social, but would like to send me their choices, please do so via commenting on this post or messaging me some other way before Tuesday 🙂

Thanks

Rachael

And….we’re off!

Last night saw the first book club meeting, and what a success it was!

There were ten of us altogether (including our lovely host who kept our drinks topped up and provided us with the most delicious cake).

After initial introductions, we began discussing how we would like future meetings to be held and whether we think there should be any particular rules outlined. This is what we decided:

• There will be no page limit to the books we choose – it would be a shame to exclude some brilliant books simply because they are a little on the long side.
• Any genre and any format is welcome – many people have joined the club to expand their reading; pushing beyond those normal comfort zones may mean you discover a whole new genre that you wouldn’t have tried before.
• The person who chose the book that we have read that month will prepare discussion points to bring with them to the meeting.
• Future meetings will be on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 7-9, and there will be an optional social meeting on the second Tuesday of each month – this gives people the opportunity to get involved with the current month’s read if they were unable to make the previous meeting; get to know each other better; discuss how they are getting on with the book so far, and enjoy more cake!!

 

This week in the book world it is Banned Book Week:

 Celebrating the freedom to read

This is happening primarily in America but I decided to adopt this theme to decide upon our first read.

I did some research around the subject of banned books and was surprised to discover how often books are being challenged due to their content, even in the modern day. The reasons for being challenged range from there being sexist content, to conflicting religious views. Interestingly, The Wizard of Oz was challenged in one state in America for it’s “ungodly influence” and, “depicting women in strong leadership roles”…oh dear!

I discovered that many of my favourite books have either been challenged or banned at some point, and provided a choice between two books to be this month’s read.

My first choice was “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, which was banned in Georgia for sex, violence and profanity. It follows Truman investigating the murders of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959 – the murderers, (Hickock and Smith) were put on death row for five years, and the book was published after their execution. Unfortunately, this book was not selected, but I most certainly recommend it if anybody has time this month to read another book, and I would love to hear other people’s views on it.

My second choice was “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger. There are still frequent challenges about this novel, and it has been banned in various states in America on numerous occasions due to the content being anti-white, pre-marital sex, alcohol abuse, and profanity. The book gained even more notoriety in 1981 when Mark Chapman produced The Catcher in the Rye from his pocket after shooting John Lennon.

This book was selected by the group to be our first read – many have already read the book (some way back at school) and wanted to re-read it to see if their thoughts differed.

 

The book club ran till about quarter to nine, which was great, especially since we did not have a book to discuss. There was plenty of conversation, including Harry Potter conspiracy theories (yes, really) and people’s favourite books and authors. I have no concerns that there will be awkward silences in future meetings as we all appear to love talking!!

I have requested that people think of two or three books that they would like to select for when it is their turn to choose a book. For those that will be attending the social (Tuesday 14th October, 7pm at Wagon’s), please try and have your selection ready for then, and those that are unable, either contact me separately or comment on this post if you are able to do so.

Thank you for reading, and it was lovely chatting to you all last night! If anybody knows anyone that couldn’t make it last night but would like to join, please bring them along to the social, or the next main meeting – new people are always welcome.

Rachael 🙂

It’s almost time!

Here I am, making the final preparations before next week’s first book club meeting at Wagon’s.

Hopefully my blogging skills will increase somewhat before then and I will figure out how I can include everything that I want to on here!

My aim is for this blog to become a fountain of knowledge for all things book club; past and upcoming reads will be here, our reviews/thoughts on the current month’s read, as well as a general round-up of meeting discussions (if relevant – of course!).

Until then….