Art Book Group - Gustav Klimt

The Art Book Group met on a cool Thursday evening to discuss the work of Gustav Klimt, stimulated by a stunningly illustrated book by Gottfried Fliedl. The text of the book was a delight to read, but also lent itself to dipping into the different sections at random. We also enjoyed (??!?) the eager services of our guest projectionist Connor, aged 9, who wielded the slide projector button with aplomb and even offered an opinion or two on the artworks. (Sadly, Connor will be prevented from attending future meetings as his father will be available to mind him). It was particularly interesting to put the better known images by Klimt in the context of the era in which they were created - Vienna and the Secessionist movement in the late 1890s and early 1900s - a distinctive style which was quite revolutionary for the times. Marie, our resident artist, was particularly delighted to discover Klimt's lesser known but masterful drawings.

We hope that group member Maggie is having a wonderful time in France and is seeing some beautiful Monets and even some John Peter Russells during her stay, and we look forward to hearing about her discoveries of art galleries and archaelogical sites, both famous and obscure.

The next artist the group will be discovering is James Macneill Whistler, who by all accounts was a major eccentric of his time. The book we're studying is "Whistler" by Michael Howard, from the series "The history and techniques of the great masters" so there's quite a bit of analysis of how Whistler achieved his effects in specific paintings. Perhaps to prove the point that there's more to Whistler than "Whistler's Mother", this famous painting is not discussed in the book.

The next meeting of the Art Book Group is: Thursday June 15 from 7-8.30 PM at Yeppoon Library.

Debra

MONKEY GRIP by Helen Garner

In this much-discussed novel, Helen Garner charts the lives of a generation. Her characters are exploring new ways of loving and living - and nothing is harder than learning to love lightly. Nora and Javo are trapped in a desperate relationship: the harder they pull away, the tighter the monkey grip.

The next meeting of the Contemporary Australian Novel bookgroup is: Wednesday June 14 from 7 - 8.30 pm.

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

As if we haven't got enough things to do, along comes a book exhorting us not to croak until we've lived 1,000 extra lives vicariously through literature!

"This is a bold, bright and incisive guide to the books and writers that have had real impact - whether in the form of critical acclaim or as cult classics. " - so says the ABC Bookshop website. And I have to agree, it is well presented and lavishly illustrated - a work to inspire you to forget the housework, and turn your attention to the more important things in life.

If you'd like to borrow this book, it's available from your Livingstone Shire Library now - oops, sorry, it just went out, you'll have to reserve it!

- Debra

Comments on Peter Carey's "My life as a fake"

The Contemporary Australian book group met on the night of Wednesday 12th April to discuss the second book on our list, Peter Carey's "My life as a fake". As this was my first meeting with this group I was a little nervous, as I knew I would have to admit to the group that I did not understand the book and found it confusing and difficult to read. Not the most triumphant beginning for a librarian facilitating a book group!

I was soon to discover that my fellow book groupies felt the same way (well, the four who turned up!). Comments such as "not my style", "too confusing", "didn't like any of the characters" were discussed.

In order to understand the story you really needed to understand the background of the Ern O'Malley literary scandal. Two members of the group discussed their recollections of that scandal and how it related to the book. They felt that this helped their understanding of the text however, they didn't enjoy the story and felt that the story was not relevant to Australia today.

Characters were underdeveloped and boring and the readers didn't feel a connection with any of them. We thought that the main theme was about creating a lie or a monster which ends up taking on a life of its own and devouring its master. Great theme but not well represented in this book.

The group was disappointed given that this book received rave reviews, but looking forward to the next text, "Drylands" by Thea Astley. This one should be easier to read and create a little more emotion in the readers given its local setting of Central Queensland and Emu Park.

posted by: Lucy Hofmann

"Drylands" by Thea Astley

"In her flat above Drylands' newsagency Janet Deakin is writing a book for the world's last reader. Little has changed here in fifty years, except for the coming of cable TV. Loneliness is almost a religion, and still everyone knows your business.
"But the town is being outmanoeuvred by drought and begins to empty, pouring itself out like water into sand. Small minds shrink even smaller in the vastness of the land. One man is forced out by council rates and bigotry; another sells his property, risking the lot to build his dream. And all of them are shadowed by violence of some sort - these people whose only victory over the town is in leaving it."

This book has a local interest twist - some of it is set in Emu Park!

Please feel free to leave your comments on this post...



The Contemporary Australian Book Group meets Wednesday evenings from 7 - 8.30 in the Yeppoon Library. The dates for the book group are:

May 10
June 14
July 12
August 9 (Final)

"The Rainbow " by D H Lawrence

The Classics Book Group had a lively discussion with their last book, "The Great Gatsby". The next book they are tackling is "The Rainbow" by D H Lawrence.

Please feel free to leave your comments on "The Rainbow" on this post.






The Classics Book Group meets on a Tuesday morning in Room A of the Community Development Centre (next to Yeppoon Library) from 10 am ot 11.30 am and are scheduled for the following dates:


May 9
June 13
July 11
August 8 (Final)

News from the "Art Book Group"

The Art Book group is a small but intrepid group of 4 ladies. We all agreed our first book was a bit daunting - it was "The New York School" by Dore Ashton. It included discussion a lot of modern artists including Jackson Pollock. Despite the fact that none of us actually enjoyed the book much, the slides provided by the Council of Adult Ed. (who supplies the books for this group) were very stimulating for discussion, especially around the meaning and value of modern art.

The next book is a bit more readable and has lots of colour illustrations. It's "The Art of John Peter Russell" by Ann Galbally. John Peter Russell was an Australian artist who,as a student, moved in artistic circles in Europe in the late 1800s. He kept up a running correspondence with his friend Tom Roberts for many years. He was thought highly of by such contemporary painters as Vincent van Gogh. He moved with his family to the French Island of "Belle Ile" where he lived for twenty years - sadly, he never quite reached the potential that his early years seemed to promise. But his paintings do feature in a number of Australian and European collections and are typical of the time, and are pleasant enough.

Posted by: Debra Burn

"My Life as a Fake" by Peter Carey

Here's a posting from a member of the "Australian Contemporary book group:

Re My life as a fake - I tried a different tack this time - leave it for a fortnight after reading the book and let it synthesise.I was reminded of the line about"those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad".Chubb annoyed thegods with his fake, and they destroyed him by using his "fake" to drag him down via a "mad" life to a violent death.The "mad" life is the life that took him from suburban Australia to the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia, and to a life where nothingwas as it seemed.I am used to Thrillersd with tighter plots - Connolly, temple and Burks - but this was a readable book with two twists - the death of Chub and the enlightemnment of the Sarah as to the mysterious events in her family's past.

Thanks for that insightful commentary.

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

This is a report from the "Classics" book group by group member Mary Bevis:

Several of our group had read this work many years ago, and found that our feelings about the story were quite different this time. Members agreed that they found the actual story unpleasant and the characters generally disagreeable, but most said they were pleased they had read it.

The ‘darkness’ in the title could be related not only to the unpleasant actions of the story, but to the impenetrable jungle of the African continent, the darkness of the human souls (black & white), the absence of civilization in the story’s setting (the narrator offers the thought that we behave in a civilized way only when we are protected and controlled by the laws of our society), and the fact that the story is told at night. It is interesting to note that although the location of the action is quite obviously the Belgian colony in Africa, there is no mention of place names or country anywhere in the narration.

We discussed the claim that Conrad was racist in his writing: or was he simply reflecting the attitude of his time? Some of the references to the black people appears racist to us, but the narrator was equally critical of the whites: he calls them (with sarcasm) pilgrims, that imbecile crowd on the deck, and sordid buccaneers. See especially the adjacent paragraphs on page 157 where narrator, Marlow, is sickened by the abandoned and dying black people and is then confronted by the ‘peacock’ white man.

Some group members found the language very difficult and verbose, but I enjoyed many passages with quite insightful descriptions: one example from the river trip: The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly, as if hovering in the air high above our heads, till the first break of day. Whether it meant war, peace, or prayer we could not tell. There were other passages that sounded wonderful but the meaning was impossible to pin down. Have a look at p.138: In the immutability of their surroundings ... Perhaps this was because English was Conrad’s third language.

There was discussion about the roles of women in the story: his aunt who is treated rather as a figure of fun, the striking and strong-willed black woman at Kurtz’ camp, and the rather weak and foolish woman who was Kurtz’ ‘intended’. None are well-drawn characters.

The parallels with the Conrad’s other semi-biographical story, “Outpost of Progress”, were noted.

Several members rated the story 5 out of 5 while others gave it only 2, reflecting the range of personal responses.

The next book this group is tackling is a little more light hearted, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The next meeting of the "Classics:" book group is Tuesday Aprl 11 at 10 am.

Here's the "Contemporary Australian Novel" group meeting for the first time last night (3 members absent). Even before reading the book, lively discussion was had! The first book this group will be tackling is Alex Miller's "Journey to the Stone Country". If you want to make a comment about the book, or anything else, leave a comment on this post!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for Livingstone Shire Book Groups. We have three book groups that have started up this week, "The Classics" group which meets on Tuesday mornings and is being convened by Carol Moore, the "Contemporary Australian Novels" group which meets on Wednesday evenings with Kristin Hannaford, and the "Art Book" group, which meets on Tuesday evenings, under my care.

We hope that book group members use this blog to communicate their opinions, feelings, joy, disappointment, ennui, anything about the books they're reading with the book group, or indeed, any other book they might like to share thoughts about. Library staff will endeavour to bring members news about the groups, interesting web sites and other books that they think may be of interest to members.

It is said that in the blog world there are lurkers, linkers and thinkers ... we welcome all of these approaches, but don't be shy, post your comments for the greater enjoyment of all - anonymously, if you must!

Debra Burn
Librarian