Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Luis Zafon 13th April

On what must have been the smallest gathering on record for book club, the four of us not knocked out by airline schedules or sickness gathered on a suitably cold and rainy night to discuss Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luis Zafon, a romantic page turning romp/thriller set in post Spanish civil war Barcelona.  Naomi, Julia (this was her 2nd read of it) and Sarah loved the narrative voice, high drama, nostalgic descriptions of Barcelona in all seasons, and the Dickensian characters/caricatures who made up the cast.  Georgie loathed it for it's clumsy language, I-want-to-be-a-film plot, and absurd characterisations.

Happy in dissent (how boring agreement would have been!) we argued our way through fish pie and apple crumble, and raised a toast to absent friends....see you all next time.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - January 31st

It's the end of the summer holidays - thank goodness we have book club to provide a silver lining! On Monday 31 January, the hottest night of summer so far, we gathered in Olivia's backyard for a discussion of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Over salads and riesling, we waited for the cool change and had a great discussion about each of the interlinked narratives of this novel.  Some of us were frustrated by the episodic nature of this novel and others enjoyed the inter-related stories written in different times, places and voices.  Julia wondered whether each tale, taken individually, was a bit derivative, Olivia enjoyed the scale and ambition of this book.  We discussed the book's examination of progression, the concept of "civilization" and the exploitation of power.  A thought-provoking read.  Attending book club were: Olivia, Julia, Jen, Naomi R, Naomi J, Kerri and Sarah.