How could one sum up Roald Dahl's book Kiss Kiss using just a couple of words, maybe macabre and brilliant would fit the bill quite perfectly, what do you think?
In each story there's a quiet zaniness that runs through them, all are crisp, surprising and smoothly written at every turn. There's a common theme in most of these stories, one of the baddies getting their comeuppance in the end using great literary and psychological foreplay at the same time.
Which of his stories will leave the most lasting memories?
Perhaps William and Mary, this is one of perversity being turned on its head. Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat was enjoyed by all, poor old Mrs Bixby, should we feel sorry for her, or not?
On another note, we didn't get the peanuts, however we did welcome two new members, Shirley and Gilberte to our group which was wonderful, thank you for joining us!
I'm posting here again for those who can't get the new Blogger blog to show on their computer.
Despite the threatening weather, most of us managed to meet up at the Hotel des Bains, unfortunately, the bar had been hijacked by a large group, thus leaving no place for us to chat. Notwithstanding this hindrance, we decided to try and find somewhere else to chat. Thankfully, we didn't have to go far, in fact the first bar we stumbled across fitted the bill perfectly, so much so, we'll be going there for now on.
First up, Anne presented the brand new ciné club that will be showing its first film, A Room with a View, Saturday 18th October, at 15hr, in the Mediathèque in Sanary. A friendly bilingual debate will follow.
The Indian Runner will be the second film to be shown on Saturday 15th November.
Now back to books and beer. Take six people (normally nine), all with different views and tastes and get them to agree in less than an hour on a reading list albeit till February, impossible you would think, well not us, we're an accommodating bunch of folks. To prove it, these books such keep you company through the dark winter months.
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl 7th November
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge 12th December (thanks Alain)
The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova 16 January 2009
The Girl with the Pearl Earing by Tracey Chevalier ? February
See you then, the more the merrier and maybe we'll have more peanuts!
Summer's over for most of us, now is time to get back to our old routines, including our monthly chat around a book and a beer. The next date is listed below, and shortly I will be able to give you the dates for the whole year that will coincide (nearly) with the dates for our brand new film club. What am I talking about?
The film club was initially Anne's idea ( or was it Jacques...), anyway, the idea is that five or six times during the year, an English language film ( classic or modern, British, American et cetera...) would be shown here in the Mediathèque in Sanary, followed by a debate (in English) about the film.
The films would always be shown on a Saturday afternoon and we already have a list of films which we're allowed to show. Further information will be posted here, watch this space!
Our Literature club would always be on a Friday and the following day the film club (a part from one exception), this keeps things nice and simple.
Now down to the nitty gritty, as we're so organized this year, wouldn't it be great to choose our five books for the season 2008/2009? For our first meeting, I know we're all going to talk about our summer reads and that should be that should be fun, but lets put our thinking caps with regards to the other books that we might all enjoy. Maybe everyone could choose a couple of books, email to me and I'll print the titles out and we'll just do a lucky dip and the first five drawn would be the ones we'd read.
NEXT CHAT: Friday 26th September 2008
Place: L'Hotel des Bains, Sanary
Time: 19hrs
To finish off our first year on a high note, we have decided to picnic on Portissol beach and discuss everything American while eating good food and enjoying good company.
Friday 4th July
Portissol Beach
18h30
Don't go tonight(Friday), otherwise you will be stood-up and you won't have interesting people to chat with.
Next Chat is Sunday, this Sunday, the 1st June.
How about changing our chat for May (Friday 30th) to Sunday 1st June? Lets have some input, please.
If anyone esle wants my book after Nicole has finished it, drop me a line.
This is the first time we have chosen a book and then decided to change it, but there has to be a first time for everything!
We aren't reading Gilead anymore as many in the group just weren't enamoured by this book so the book for June is now the book for May.
There was a choice to be made between Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai OR Absurdistan: A Novel by Gary Shteyngart. I received one vote (apart from Jacques who suggested the book) for Absurdistan and three votes (excluding myself) for Hullabaloo. If the others who haven't voted yet, want to express their preference, please do so, but quickly, before Friday, otherwise the Hullobaloo wins.
With regards to our chat, it was mentioned that because our chat is an "English" chat group, shouldn't we just speak just English. I emailed everyone in the group and the feedback I got back was this:-
Our group should remain informal
Speaking French is fine when stuck for a word, or just towards the end of the evening relaxes the atmosphere, especially after the effort made to speak just English for a couple of hours, after all, we are just there to have fun, sharing books and beers and jokes.
I'll check my mails to make sure I haven't forgotten anything and update this post accordingly.
To read without understanding is like eating without digesting.
~ Edmund Burke ~
The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~
This morning I am writing out my long list of books to buy while in the UK. I am particularly interested in ESL books for children in primary schools. I am convinced that by introducing a graded English reading scheme in French schools can only be beneficial. Firstly, research shows that reading improves all aspects of language learning, not only vocabulary and fluency, but also listening, writing and reading skills. In short, pupils who read have a better chance of mastering English than pupils who don’t read.
Maybe a after school reading class would be fun, I wonder if children would be interested? Their parents certainly would be!
Unputdownable = so interesting or suspenseful as to compel reading.
When do you last read a book that was unputdownable?
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