Choosing The Book ( Part Deux )

8 days and counting to the next bookclub (I don’t get out much)
It’s my turn to bring the book and as usual my offering has been piled up in the back room gathering dust for some time. It’s a risky strategy. Not because there’s any danger of being gazumped. It’s rather that there’s more time for the anxiety to build - There’s nothing worse than a look of mute indifference come the reveal.

It’s occasionally advantageous though. No choice is completely independent of the previous books. This is probably particularly the case if you’re following hot on the heels of a “top 10” - There’s surely a bit of pressure to up the ante. However if it’s already in the bag you save yourself that little bit of angst.

Bad Science

Not a Book Club book, though I don't think there is any specific rule why I can't talk about other books I have read.

Anyway, as I said, not a Book Club Book, but I have just finished Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. It has taken me a while - it has been my Toliet Book, so I have read it in fits and starts. I actually manage to read quite a lot on the loo - I work from home, and am vegetarian......

Anyway, Bad Science is, at heart, a critique of how the press trivialises science, getting non-scientific writers to cover the major science stories of the day, to take as Gospel half-baked medical scare stories without investigating whether any real evidence underpins them.

Goldacre is a great writer - really entertaining, who viciously pursues the many targets of his ire, which include MMR, Gillian McKeith, complementary medicine, those who do not publish findings in reputable journals...

He writes for The Guardian, as well as badscience.net which has many loyal readers who help him to track down and mercilessly track down purveyors of pseudo-scientific bullshit.

Well worth a read.

The Most Divisive?

Here's a top 11 in order of divergence of opinion
(It's actually based on standard deviation of score which is probably a good enough proxy)

The Alchemist
Atonement
The Leopard
The Child That Books Built
The Bridegroom
Noughts & Crosses
London Fields
Moby-Dick
The Origin Of Species
Beloved
Layer Cake

All but two of the above are choices from over 4 years ago. This could suggest we're better able to judge a books reception. Alternatively we could all be playing safe. (Then again it could be neither. Thats Stats for you! )

My recollection is that the only books that provoked much argument / discussion were The Alchemist & Moby Dick (I think I conceded that "The Origin Of Species" was a selfish choice. I also put myself at a disadvantage defending "London Fields" since I hadn't finished re-reading it!)

And another thing..

To continue the theme I developed in an earlier post it does seem like the 'bad' books and the divisive ones are the ones we remember - The Alchemist and Moby Dick now have more mentions on this site than any other books. There are lots of books in the list to the left of this message that were very worthy, we all found them quite enjoyable and they achieved mid table respectability in our rankings, but we haven't mentioned them once on this blog. (And many of which I had completely forgotten about until I read the list again when this blog was set up).

Oh, go on then....

Given that things have gone a little quiet on the postings front I thought I'd ask one of those ice breaker questions:

We've got info on here about the top ten books, the bottom ten, the book with the lowest score (and why), and even Darwin gets a mention. But which books have most polarised opinion in our discussions? I seem to remember that most of the time we all pretty much rate any given book in the same ball park - but apart from Moby Dick I can't think of any that really split the vote.

Any thoughts? Maybe we need a top ten/five of most polarising books?

The Origin Of Species

I can remember an article from the late 80s in the independent by Lord Rees Mogg arguing that the Iskra Board split of 1903 lead directly to the Gulag. Chaos theory was very much in the vogue then, and leaching into the social sciences.

In a similar vein today’s anniversary (Darwin’s 200th “Birthday”) reminded me of one of those genuine historical contingencies. Contrary to popular belief Darwin was not the on-board ship’s naturalist of “The Beagle”. He was, rather, the paid guest of the ship’s captain. Capt Fitzroy, haunted by the suicide of his close cousin, precipitated by severe depression resulting from loneliness and the social isolation of rank, sought a gentleman companion to ward off a similar fate. He found Darwin. The rest is history! So a personal tragedy indirectly facilitates one of the greatest intellectual revolutions in history.

This year also marks the 150th anniversary of “The Origin Of Species” a book Stephen Jay Gould would read once a year. I chanced upon Gould about 20 years ago killing time while browsing in a bookshop. Had I not missed my tube our paths might never have crossed. So we have another “sliding doors moment” ., this one leading to the 32nd book choice – “The Origin Of Species”. Given the reception I’d guess there’s a few of our number that wish I’d not overslept!

Moby Dick & Dubious Book Choices

This post is only tangentially related to Moby Dick but I thought it deserved another mention anyway. It wasn't an enormously popular choice. The reason for this is alluded to in a previous post. For some, it felt like school work. It’s a mistake made and a lesson learned (if you excuse the "pun")

What I'm labouring ( shambling?) toward is this. We’ve all brought along a turkey. And the appropriate response? Hands up. Own up. Move on. Love the sinner. Hate the sin. (I could go on and on… )

A defence of unorthodox book choices? Kind of. There’s no harm in the odd curve-ball - We should all be allowed the occasional indiscretion.

In fact it’s probably necessary. An unremitting diet of masterworks would probably be like the episode “Nice Place To Visit” from The Twilight Zone. As “The Bard Of Barking”, Billy Bragg said “I like toast just as much as anyone but not for breakfast, dinner and tea”

The Alchemist again.....

I've not finished Kavalier and Clay, so I'll try not to look down while posting this....

In a weird kind of way, maybe the Alchemist wasn't such a bad choice after all (retrospective kudos to Simon) - if you include comments as well as main posts, it is now by a clear margin the most frequently mentioned book on this blog. What was it Oscar Wilde said was the only thing worse than being talked about?

I'll pop over to Amazon and see if they do a good deal on Katie Price's new book.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Reading Guide

I finished the current book club choice (mine) last night - I stayed up until extra late as I did not want to leave the last 20 or so pages unread. Without giving too much away, I am sorry that I have finished it - read into that what you will!

Anyway, a quick Google has uncovered a reading group guide at the following location: www.readinggroupguides.com. I originally reproduced the questions in this post, but realised it may spoil the book for those of us who have not yet finished (or started!).

We don't often use "reading guides" that seem to be increasingly available - we tend to play it by ear at the meetings, and you can't always predict which book will provoke the fiercest discussions. Having such a guide can often seem like school work, so ignore it if you want....

Choosing The Book

I probably take the responsibility far too seriously but given that buying the book-club book is almost an annual event it feels a little like buying a birthday present. You want it to be welcome (I’m assuming here that you actually like the other members of your book-club) If you’re keeping score you’ll also want it to be well received. The intensity of the desire will depend on how competitive (or insecure) you are. There are no universal rules. What you choose largely depends on the group itself. If yours endures then, over time, trends will crystallise.

These guidelines appear to work for us:-

NO FAVOURITES
If you choose a favourite book you are asking for trouble.
The very best outcome is group affirmation. It’s difficult to view anything less than this as anything but a sleight.

NO CLASSICS
As Chairman Mao once said “One swallow doesn’t make a summer”
Never-the-less the one occasion we chose a classic (“Moby Dick”) was for most of us one time too many.

NO CHEATING
If you’re ever tempted to choose a book you’ve already read in a bid to get a head start. Don’t. You may promise yourself that you’ll re-read it. In reality the siren song of Big Brother will seduce you and you will be caught out.

NO IRONY
Don’t attempt to fob off the book club with the latest from Katie Price with an oblique reference to post modern literary theory. It’s not funny, it’s not clever and it’s so 70’s.


Whatever the eventual choice, never be disheartened with a poor score. I’ve found that a degree of arrogance will help to offset any sleight felt. (I’ve used this to “defend” every one of my books that failed to make the top 10!)

The joy of libraries

Like most people who love books, I love libraries. However, I very rarely take books out, as when I do, I nearly always forget to take them back by the due date, and rack up fines as a consequence. On several occasions, the level of the fine has been greater than the cost of the book.

My non-borrowing may also have something to do with the fact that I want to own the book rather than just borrow it - in fact, the only books that I have borrowed recently are factual books (mainly maths / stars related) that I only wanted to dip into rather than devour.

Anyway, I was at my local library last night, and I had a look at the selection of remaindered books they had for sale. I ended up buying three:

* Batsford Chess Puzzles by Leonard Barden
* UK 2005 by National Statistics/HMSO
* Ghostworld by Daniel Clowes

All three for the total price of 50p. Bargain! I will definitely read the graphic novel (as will my son), and will dip in and out of the other 2 as the "need" arises.

I am sure libraries will be one of the "industries" that do very well out of the current economic climate, and long may they reign.

I just wish that the fines weren's so dang expensive.

The Alchemist

I was in the Oldham branch of Waterstones on Saturday. It is only a small branch, but I would imagine it has the same special offer displays as pretty much every Waterstones up and down the country. Well, they had a selection of "Spiritual" books - I would imagine that sales of such books are positively correlated with an individual's perception of his lot during the economic crisis.

Anyway, prominent (at least in my eyes) in this display was our old friend The Alchemist. It crossed my mind to perpetrate some evil deed on these books, maybe burning them, or knocking them off the shelf, or at the very least to turn the top copy around so that nobody would be entreated to buy this drivel.

But I did nothing.... Not sure if this now makes me a part of the Coelho machine - am I responsible for the people of Oldham being subjected to this "sub-GCSE Philosophy" drivel???

The Hall Of Fame

Although we've had to endure some dross ( see "The Hall Of Shame - Bottom 10" )
We've occasionally struck gold -

1 = The Restraint Of Beasts ( 9.8)
2 = The Wind Up Bird Chronicle ( 9.5 )
3 = Arthur And George ( 9.4 )
4 = Cloud Atlas ( 9.2 )
4 = Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ( 9.2 )
6 = Great Apes ( 9.0 )
7 = Ingenious Pain ( 8.8 )
7 = No Logo ( 8.8 )
7 = The End Of Mr Y ( 8.8 )
10 = The Leopard ( 8.6 )
10 = The Human Stain ( 8.6 )
10 = Vernon God Little ( 8.6 )
10 = The New York Trilogy ( 8.6 )
10 = The Book Thief ( 8.6)

Thanks to our resident statistical whizz-kid ( not me btw ) we also have a "Top 10" utilising the trimmed mean ( i.e ignoring outliers )

1 = The Restraint Of Beasts ( 10.0)
2 = Arthur And George ( 9.7 )
3 = The Wind Up Bird Chronicle ( 9.5 )
4 = Great Apes ( 9.3 )
4 = Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ( 9.3 )
6 = Cloud Atlas ( 9.0 )
6= Ingenious Pain ( 9.0 )
6= The Leopard ( 9.0 )
6 = The End Of Mr Y ( 9.0 )
6 = No Logo ( 9.0 )
12 = The Human Stain ( 8.7 )
12 = Vernon God Little ( 8.7 )
12 = The New York Trilogy ( 8.7 )
12 = Atonement ( 8.7)
12 = London Fields ( 8.7)
12 = The Motorcycle Diaries (8.7)

The Secret of a Successful Reading Group.

This was my first reading group, and its the one I've stuck with over the years, but along the way I've flirted with plenty of other reading groups – Philosophy reading groups, Social Theory reading groups, Cultural theory groups, Poetry reading groups and even fairly bog standard general reading groups. Why do they all tend to fall by the wayside but this one continues – what's the secret?

Well obviously the quality of the company is a big factor – that goes without saying ;-)

But beyond that, what makes a successful reading group? Here's my top tips:

1. Make the meeting a bit of a special event

I can sit in my own front room and drink wine pretty much every night of the week – I don't really want to use one of my once in a blue moon nights out sitting in somebody else's front room and not even drinking wine because I have to drive home. Our meetings give me chance to come to a big city, eat in a posh restaurant and be surrounded by people who aren't married to their cousins – that all works for me on so many levels and I consider this to be a must for any civilized reading group.

2. The person who picks the book provides the book.

A stroke of genius – I could kiss whoever thought of it. In other groups I've been in somebody chooses a book but everyone has to get their own copy. Getting an e-mail that says 'we're meeting in three weeks to discuss Bernard Malamud's The Assistant' never really filled me with joy – it feels too much like preparing for a seminar. You pop down to the local library only to find that the person who chose the book has taken out the only copy, so you have to order it over the Internet. Then on the day everyone turns up with a different version or edition of the book. So when you say 'I really liked that description of Minogue on page 76', nobody else can find the page in question because they all have a different edition to you apart from the person who got a tatty old copy for 20p from the Cerebral Palsy shop with pages 70-82 missing.

We meet, have a meal, discuss the current book, but all the while there is a bag under the table full of bright shiny copies of The New Book. At the end of the evening we get the big reveal - they are ritually handed out, face down, by the person who chose the book – it's a mystery solved and a nice new present all rolled into one. So you get several free meals and nice free books, and once a year its your turn and the credit card gets a bit of a hammering – but it's so much better than the usual reading group thing (and in the long run it is no more expensive than having to buy your own copy of the book and pay your own way at dozens of meetings over the year).

3. It's supposed to be fun

I spend all day stroking my chin and pretending to know the difference between Ethnomethodology and Symbolic Interactionism – I don't want to do it in my leisure time too. It's important to remember that reading groups are really an excuse for middle class people to meet up for a curry and a few beers on a regular basis behind a thin facade of self improvement, but don't take it too seriously.

The Hall of Shame - Bottom 10

As I said, we have now reviewed 70 books in our group. We started to assign scores out of 10 a few years ago, and then applied scores retrospectively to the whole list. Ian has produced some fantastic spreadsheets to analyse all of the information, and from this I can reveal that the current bottom 10 are as follows:

70: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (2.6 out of 10)
69: My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell (4.6 out of 10)
68: Noughts & Crosses by Ian Rankin (5 out of 10)
67: The Strategy Of Deception by Paul Virilio (5.4 out of 10)
66: Mr X by Peter Straub (5.8 out of 10)
65: Beloved by Toni Morrison (5.8 out of 10)
=64: This is Your Life by John O'Farrell (6 out of 10)
=65: Layer Cake by J.J Connolly (6 out of 10)
=66: I'm Not The Only One by George Galloway (6 out of 10)
=67: Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (6 out of 10)

The Alchemist is comfortably at the bottom, and my personal score awarded for this was zero out of 10, and it was lucky to get even that. I am mystified why it has sold mega millions around the globe. Anyway, I'll say no more and will reserve my bile for a future post about this abomination.

Some may find the inclusion of Beloved in the Hall of Shame, with Toni Morrison being such a revered author. I found the book okay, but the consensus was that it was a pile of cack - I paraphrase.

Any thoughts about the list, let us know!

Dissolution

Every bookclub meeting has more or less the same format - Drink, Starter, Main Course, Discussion - Woe betide anyone who ignores protocol! ( You'll gather from this that I am the most anally retentive member of the group. I also alphabetise books & CDs).

The discussions are generally spirited defences of the choice and fairly even-tempered. Of course there have been a few more "vigorous" debates over the years , notably over "Moby Dick" and "The Origin Of Species". (More about these in a later post.)

In comparison the discussion for "Dissolution" was muted. Once we got past the inevitable comparison to "The Name Of The Rose" we were pretty much spent. I think this is because it's not a book you can feel any passion for (?) Sometimes this happens and the bookclub meeting becomes less about books and more about keeping in touch ( and that's no bad thing.)

Our 70th Meeting

A couple of weeks ago, we met up to discuss our seventieth book - Dissolution by CJ Sansom.

We met in Manchester at Mr Thomas's Chop House on Cross St, followed by an excellent meal in a posh pizzeria (can't remember the name) - thankfully Simon was paying!

I QUITE enjoyed the book, though only gave it a 6 out of 10. It is set during the time of Henry VIIIth, and is centred around a monastery that Thomas Cromwell is intent on dissolving (is that the correct term?) where a brutal murder has taken place.

It is apparently the first in a series of Shardlake books - one of Cromwell's commissioners. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it being adapted for the small screens at some time, but I will not be rushing to read the sequel.

Kavalier & Clay

Well, it was my turn to choose the book this time. I was originally going to get a popular science book (The Tiger That Isn't by Blastland or Dilnot, or maybe The Code Book by Simon Singh. I would have bought the excellent Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, but suspected others may have read it), but in the end I went for "Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon.

It is set during World War 2, and is about 2 cousins who work in the newly emerging world of comic books. So far (up to page 260) I am enjoying it a lot - though in our book group we aren't really supposed to reveal what we think about a book until we meet up to discuss it.

The way our group works is that one person buys a copy of the chosen book for all 5 members, and then when we meet up 6 weeks later, he also buys the meal. On subsequent meets (when it is not your turn to buy either book or meal), it feels like you are getting a free meal and a free book. Of course, I know it is prepaid.....