New Cross-Wavelengths Reading Group News

The September meeting of the group discussed David Nicholls’ ubiquitous novel One Day.

Those who attended the session had enjoyed this very readable and entertaining novel which focuses on what initially seems a casual relationship formed between Emma and Dexter, two recently graduated students on the crest of a wave, with most of their lives yet to look forward to. Chance seems to have brought them together, perhaps for  a few hours which in the fullness of time could become a remote if precious memory. We soon become aware, through their witty dialogue and banter of the contrasting backgrounds, beliefs and aspirations of these two characters. While Emma seems cautiously realistic she is altruistic in outlook, desiring to benefit society by making a difference. Dexter seems unashamedly hedonistic looking little further than to simply enjoy immediate pleasures offered in the present moment.

Each succeeding chapter provides insight into the lives of Emma and Dexter at yearly intervals and it is this technique which enables the reader to feel familiar with them both – as one might with old friends one has known for many years. It also underlines the fact that life is continually evolving around us and that the immediacy of present day mishaps or even triumphs in most cases fades in significance. In some ways this contained a cautionary tale where we see how Dexter’s assumed persona adapted for presenting popular television would eventually be seen through by viewers and critics alike, while the slippery slope of pep pills and alcohol distorts his perception of reality, so that he fails to realize that an alluring cigarette seller in a night club is not an admiring groupie but a hard working nurse, moonlighting to supplement her income, while politely tolerating his company.

Read the Manor House Library Reading Group’s  review of One Day and that of our star blogger Helen Hilton.

There will be no meeting in October due to the work on the Deptford Lounge, but watch this space for details of the next meeting, likely to take place in Novemeber. In the meantime, the reading groups page lists other groups in the borough.

Have you read this novel? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross-Wavelengths Reading Group News

The August meeting of the group discussed Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help.

Those who attended the session had enjoyed this compelling novel which presents vividly drawn characters like Aibileen and Minny who, from page one, give voice to their experience of life in a closed community in Mississippi, where, as black maids employed during the nineteen sixties  by white families they are subject to segregation which forces them to live in poorer neighborhoods to which they return after hours of carrying out arduous menial tasks in the homes of the families who employ them.

From our own perspective it seems slightly surprising that the era in which the novel is set remains for many within living memory. It seemed evident that although the social hierarchy had become established and even workable for some of the oppressed individuals, whose loyalty was rewarded by acts of kindness from the families who appreciated their dedicated service and skills, there is also a sense that small minded or even vicious individuals are enabled to carry the inequalities and blatantly abusive aspects of the segregation to extremes. It is pleasing to see how one such character, Miss Hilly, becomes disempowered towards the end of the novel.

Although Aibileen and Minny share a similar colloquial style of phraseology to recount their day to day lives their contrasting characters and personalities are revealed in a subtle way. We sense that something of great and lasting significance will develop from their making the brave decision to candidly reveal to the world at large a published account of how they perceive the relationships between themselves and the white community.  

This has been a popular reading group choice, read the Blackheath, Forest Hill, Lewisham and Manor House reading groups’ reviews of The Help and that of Helen Hilton, one our bloggers.

September’s session will discuss David Nicholls’ novel One Day.
Tuesday 6 August 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
Wavelengths Library

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross-Wavelengths Reading Group News

The New Cross Reading Group has now relocated to Wavelengths Library. The July meeting looked at Kate Summerscale’s novel The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.

Those who attended the meeting were intrigued by this incredibly detailed consideration of the investigation, made during the 1860s into the murder of a small child which seemed to scandalize the local community where it occurred (a large country house located in a Wiltshire village) and mystify and enthrall the rest of the nation.

Much of the appeal of this work is found in the way it reveals the social hierarchy and moral values of the time, when the new breed of watchful and sharp witted detectives were regarded by many as impostors indelicately intruding into the personal lives of their betters.

Using newspaper articles, letters, police paperwork and reports of speeches made in Parliament, Kate Summerscale reconstructs the response of a society shocked by an inexplicable crime, where a helpless infant could be snatched away from what would be regarded as a secure environment. Many theories concerning the murder were put forward by a fascinated public, even Dickens decided on a motive and culprits. Summerscale recreates some of the interest of the time by carefully considering all conceivable explanations .

Apart from the murder itself it is fascinating to gain a vivid impression of how people lived in mid nineteenth century England, for instance we find that  Jonathan Whicher’s formative years were spent in Camberwell, then a village south of London, where his father made a living as a market gardener. Summerscale also succeeds in showing how far reaching are the consequences of this crime when Mr Whicher is forced into an obscure retirement having at first failed to prove the guilt of his main suspect,  while Alexander Kent, father of the victim, is unable to continue working as a factory inspector due to the hostility of society at large.

Next month’s group will look at The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
Tuesday 2 August 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
Wavelengths Library

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.

Celebrate National Reading Group Day

Share your love of reading with others on Sunday 26 June at Manor House Library.

Authors, Claire Seeber and Chrissie Gittins, will be helping Lewisham celebrate National Reading Group Day from 11am-1.30pm.

Claire Seeber has used her background in journalism and TV documentaries to inform her psychological crime thrillers.

Chrissie Gittins writes poetry for adults, children, radio drama and short stories.

This is a great opportunity to discover more about their latest books and discuss what they and you enjoy reading. There will be a panel discussion followed by refreshments and time to swap stories – and books – with other readers.

Signed copies of books written by the two authors will also be on sale.

To pre-book places, please contact claire.scothern@lewisham.gov.uk or telephone the library on 020 8314 7794.

Sunday 26 June 2011, 11am-1.30pm
Manor House Library

New Cross Reading Group News

Those who attended our May session had enjoyed The Distance Between Us, where it is perhaps Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to present a retrospective view of what has already occurred in the lives of her central characters, Jake and Stella, which reveals most to the reader.

Initially the narrative, almost in the style of a quality television drama, seems dispassionately to provide glimpses into their everyday lives with what may at first seem unexceptional events occurring at a simultaneous point in time.  As Jake, resident throughout his life in Hong Kong hurries to join friends there to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Stella crosses Waterloo Bridge in London to reach the studio where she is due to present a radio programme. Why will the appearance of  a person she has never met, who is walking towards her on the bridge, cause Stella to experience a disabling panic attack at around the same time that Jake and his companions are injured in an onward surge of revelers? Although they are  separated by thousands of miles it is interesting to discover, as the plot unravels, how seemingly unrelated events will bring Jake and Stella together in a remote Scottish resort.

Although some members of the group were inclined to agree that the ending was predictable, it was intriguing to see how skillfully Maggie O’Farrell brings to life the backgrounds of both Jake, whose Celtic parents met while travelling, freeing themselves from social convention, in the far East during the short time they were to remain together and that of Stella with her Italian and Scottish parentage. It seems apparent that they are both troubled individuals who are seeking to resolve conflicts of interest in their lives, Jake, having through a sense of moral obligation, married an incompatible partner whom he was led to believe was too seriously injured to survive for much longer, is left feeling disorientated and lonely within the marriage while at the same time desperately keen to delve into his paternal background which has always remained a mystery to him. Stella needs to escape from the demands made on her by her family, particularly her sister towards whom she has remained fiercely protective particularly during those so important formative years when as an innocent child she was compelled to take one decisive action which threatens to have an all too far reaching an effect.

Have you read this novel? Let us know your thoughts.

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New Cross Library Reading Group News

The April meeting of the group discussed Katherine Webb’s novel The Legacy.

This novel, which appealed to those who attended the session, has an intriguing plot linking characters spanning five generations from both sides of the Atlantic. As Erica and Beth who are sisters living in present day society, with mixed feelings take up residence in Storton Hall, a country house left to them under quite repressive terms by their aloof and recently deceased grandmother, we soon become involved in the plot which revolves around Erica’s  attempts to unravel the mysteries concerning both the distant past and an event from their own childhood – the sudden and as yet unexplained disappearance of Henry, their objectionable and outrageous cousin.

We were impressed at how deftly the author juxtaposes her accounts of events which occurred in different periods, so that Caroline, seen by Erica and Beth as a remote and almost otherworldly figure from another epoch, is vividly drawn when we meet her as a young, sensitive and idealistic woman who escapes the luxurious, yet oppressive home she shares with her overbearing guardian in New York, only to find herself in an equally forbidding environment in the American West, where vast expanses of land seem to separate each dwelling place, where sand blows into everything and her husband seems ceaselessly occupied with work. Which experiences, however tragic, cause Caroline to lose her zest for living as withdrawn and embittered she spends her succeeding years as a recluse at Storton Hall? It appears that ancient letters and photographs found by Erica at this country residence by may provide clues as dos her reunion with Dinny, a childhood friend who lives as he did in the past with a community of travellers in the grounds of Storton Hall.

We were also interested to see that Katherine Webb found encouragement from individuals she encountered on a creative writing website youwriteon.com and look forward to her next novel which has recently appeared.

Next month’s meeting will discuss Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Distance Between Us.
Tuesday 3 May 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
New Cross Library

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross Reading Group News

March’s NXRG discussed Beatrice Colin’s novel The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite.

This novel appealed to those who attended the session. It vividly depicts life in Berlin during the first decades of the twentieth century while focussing on the fortunes of Lilly who, deprived of a conventional upbringing, survives by drawing on her own inner resources and intuition. While deprived of maternal security during her formative years spent at a Catholic orphanage, Lilly’s vulnerability becomes only too apparent when her adulation for Sister Augusta cannot be reciprocated by a young woman whose role and too idealistic view of religion prevents her from expressing affection.  Misguided attitudes prevalent in society during that period are ridiculed where much needed funding for the necessities of life can only be provided by a local establishment figure if it is spent on flowers. An attempt to raise money through staging a play at the orphanage provides Lilly with an opportunity to display her natural ability to captivate her audience while acting in it. This talent comes to the fore in her adult life when her ability to convey a whole range of feelings through mere facial expression together with her alluring beauty make her ideal for the exciting new media of cinema. 

It was generally agreed that the account of Lilly’s successful period as a film star was short in comparison to the leisurely and detailed narration of her childhood. Great suspense is created towards the close of the novel with an unexpected twist when a malicious trick is played on Lilly by a disgruntled Goebbels whose attempt to involve her film career in the Nazi party is thwarted. Just as she has faded from this film we find that following her own meteoric rise to fame she returns to obscurity.  

The April meeting of the group will discuss The Legacy by Katherine Webb.
Tuesday 5 April 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
New Cross library

Read the Manor House Reading Group’s verdict on The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite.

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross Reading Group News

The February meeting discussed Penelope Lively’s novel Family Album.

The novel held the interest of those who attended as it seems to effectively present, through the recollections of various members of a family, a realistic impression of life as it really happens, a series of events, reflecting the dynamics of family life, which although unremarkable in themselves are nevertheless of great significance to the individuals concerned.

Characters, including Alison, who refuses to relinquish her idyllic vision of motherhood and her disengaged and aloof husband, Charles are vividly portrayed. Allersmead, an Edwardian home of ample proportions, provides an apt setting for the story to unfold, which, as it is too large to adequately heat or maintain, seems a metaphor for the fragile quality of family life. Although there is some indication of a sinister occurrence affecting the children as they play their cellar games, while separated from the adults, nothing untoward, apart from play influenced by the benign creative powers of children,  seems to happen. In fact most of the six children enjoy success in their chosen careers as adults.

To the reader a sense of the novel encompassing a long period of time is conveyed while intrigue is provided by the length of Ingrid’s stay with the family which, untypical of au pairs, becomes permanent. It is interesting to see how Allersmead, although being used by Alison and Ingrid to hold cookery classes where their culinary expertise is emulated by eager participants, becomes outmoded in contrast to the other homes occupied by their more affluent neighbours. We are left with the universal truth that children reach maturity and go their separate ways while the older generation become lonelier.   

Next month’s book is Colin Beatrice’s novel The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite.
Tuesday 1 March 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
New Cross library
Have you read this novel? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross Reading Group News

Those who attended the January session (we were pleased to welcome two new members) had enjoyed reading the warm and entertaining novel We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka. 

The novel, as the metaphor of its title suggests, tells how characters from varying backgrounds become linked together. This becomes apparent when Georgina Sinclair describes her chance encounter with Naomi Shapiro, a slightly eccentric and outspoken person, who eagerly retrieves some vinyl recordings of mainstream Russian composers which Georgina had recently discarded into a skip, during a period of temporary separation from her pious husband, Rip.

As Georgina befriends Naomi, it seems clear that her new, unpredictable acquaintance is a canny survivor who, having escaped Nazi Germany many years ago, now remains blissfully unaware of her own vulnerability to wily estate agents liaising with opportunistic social workers who seem intent on stealing her independence as they attempt to remove her from the vast but dilapidated home she lives in. There she appears oblivious to her messy surroundings while holding court with Georgina as various people become involved in her affairs. These include Mr Ali, whose place of origin, to Naomi’s surprise, was Palestine (not Pakistan) and he is able to provide his own perspective on the issues concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Although the novel reflects weighty issues, it contains much humour, including the comical effect of Mr Ali’s attempts to repair Naomi’s home when his own expertise is thwarted by the ineptitude of his nephew and friend of a similar age who are unable to put into effect his intentions without endangering life and limb. As the story reaches its conclusion it is interesting to see who will eventually benefit from Naomi’s estate.

Next month’s group will discuss Family Album by Penelope Lively.
Tuesday 1 February 2011, 6.30pm-7.30pm
New Cross library

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.

New Cross Library Reading Group News

The NXLRG’s December meeting discussed Sarah Waters’ novel The Little Stranger.

Those who attended the meeting were favourably impressed by this intriguing novel which interestingly reflects a period of changing social values when a huge country house in 1940s Warwickshire falls into decay, while occupied by the few remaining members of a land rich and cash poor family, who desperately try to restore it to its former glory. Their secluded and old fashioned way of life is narrated by Dr Farraday, a recently qualified physician, who is pleased to have an opportunity to return to their home, which had fascinated him, when many years previously, he was led into it by his mother who had worked in it as a paid servant.

It becomes apparent that the vast building has a life of its own with inexplicable occurrences which suggest either ghostly activity or what Dr Farraday prefers to explain more logically as unfounded impressions formed on already fanciful or even traumatised minds (Roderick, whose onerous task is to maintain this unaffordable mansion, has already suffered injury during the recent Battle of Britain conflict). Some found the eerie accounts of supernatural happenings to be unnerving.

It was interesting to see how the novel reflected the emergence of the NHS and how Betty, who appears mostly as an old fashioned maidservant, emerges in the closing chapter transformed into one whose apparel and demeanour reflected the optimism of post war Britain as she walks around the new estate containing smaller but safer homes.

Next month’s chosen book: Marina Lewycka’s We Are All Made of Glue
Tuesday 11 January 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
New Cross library

Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.