Karen Hardy wrote this review for the Sydney Morning Herald.
BTLBC will meet to discuss this book at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 25 at 6.00pm!
Happy reading!
Monday, 1 August 2016
Back to Australia with Judy Nunn
Our next novel is Judy Nunn's Spirits of the Ghan.
Karen Hardy wrote this review for the Sydney Morning Herald.
BTLBC will meet to discuss this book at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 25 at 6.00pm!
Happy reading!
Karen Hardy wrote this review for the Sydney Morning Herald.
BTLBC will meet to discuss this book at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 25 at 6.00pm!
Happy reading!
Folks not sure whether 'The Invoice' added up
BTLBCers were generally taken with the novelty of the premise of Jonas Karlsson's book but as conversation ensued, we found that we were all a bit short on the detail. Some readers were happy to go with the general flow of the novel while other readers needed more detail on the functionality of the whole World Resources Division concept. There was much discussion on how people could actually go about taking out such large loans and on what basis and how would this affect the national economy and would this affect their happiness? Would the loan bring them so much 'unhappiness' that their invoice amount would have to be decreased? Questions were asked as to whether this money was gathered in to be re-distributed to less happy people and then 'how would this be done?' and 'what would this actually achieve?' Readers wondered whether WRD was Sweden-wide or world-wide?
There was talk about what really constituted a world resource. One of our readers proposed that emotions need to be included in the world's resources and that's why 'The Invoice' calculation of 'happiness' needed to be considered.
Conversation continued as to what really constituted 'happiness' and how could it be measured? Discussion bounced about on the concept that 'happiness' could be 'universalised' ( I can't think of an appropriate word for this) and thus 'measured' because most folks considered that happiness varied according to the individual - the 'one person's happiness another's nightmare' idea thus making measurement rather random and unreliable despite Maud's assurances.
There was discussion about a possible difference between 'happiness' (possibly an outer manifestation of emotion) and 'contentment' (an inner, more private emotion). One of our readers brought in a copy of the current World Happiness Index which told us Scandinavians were the top four happiest countries in the world which might have been a catalyst for a Swedish novelist to write a novel like 'The Invoice'?
Someone noted that we never actually knew the name of the main character and we actually know more about Richard and Maud than the main character. A reader commented about Maud being a model typecast government employee and yet appearing to be available 24/7 which does not fit the '9 till 5' stereotype. This led to conversation about the way digital technology had allowed the encroachment of work into employee's personal lives 24/7 and then onto the possibility that Maud actually worked from home.
There was discussion about how the main character's experience of heartbreak from his perspective would decrease his 'happiness debt' but was considered by the WRD as a positive experience as it developed resilience which was a positive emotional resource and thus increased his debt.
One of our readers who has a great eye for detail was quite cross about the cover displaying a male with an ice-cream cone while our main character in the novel enjoyed his ice-cream in a cup! This brought about much hilarity!
In general it seems this novel certainly raised more questions rather than provide answers. As usual the novel under discussion provided much fodder for conversation which covered a range of topics which were only slightly linked. It's always wonderful to try to solve the problems of the world.
Our next book returns us to Australia. At our next meeting we will be discussing Judy Nunn's Spirits of the Ghan.
Happy reading everyone! (No matter where you are in the world!!)
There was talk about what really constituted a world resource. One of our readers proposed that emotions need to be included in the world's resources and that's why 'The Invoice' calculation of 'happiness' needed to be considered.
Conversation continued as to what really constituted 'happiness' and how could it be measured? Discussion bounced about on the concept that 'happiness' could be 'universalised' ( I can't think of an appropriate word for this) and thus 'measured' because most folks considered that happiness varied according to the individual - the 'one person's happiness another's nightmare' idea thus making measurement rather random and unreliable despite Maud's assurances.
There was discussion about a possible difference between 'happiness' (possibly an outer manifestation of emotion) and 'contentment' (an inner, more private emotion). One of our readers brought in a copy of the current World Happiness Index which told us Scandinavians were the top four happiest countries in the world which might have been a catalyst for a Swedish novelist to write a novel like 'The Invoice'?
Someone noted that we never actually knew the name of the main character and we actually know more about Richard and Maud than the main character. A reader commented about Maud being a model typecast government employee and yet appearing to be available 24/7 which does not fit the '9 till 5' stereotype. This led to conversation about the way digital technology had allowed the encroachment of work into employee's personal lives 24/7 and then onto the possibility that Maud actually worked from home.
There was discussion about how the main character's experience of heartbreak from his perspective would decrease his 'happiness debt' but was considered by the WRD as a positive experience as it developed resilience which was a positive emotional resource and thus increased his debt.
One of our readers who has a great eye for detail was quite cross about the cover displaying a male with an ice-cream cone while our main character in the novel enjoyed his ice-cream in a cup! This brought about much hilarity!
In general it seems this novel certainly raised more questions rather than provide answers. As usual the novel under discussion provided much fodder for conversation which covered a range of topics which were only slightly linked. It's always wonderful to try to solve the problems of the world.
Our next book returns us to Australia. At our next meeting we will be discussing Judy Nunn's Spirits of the Ghan.
Happy reading everyone! (No matter where you are in the world!!)
Sunday, 3 July 2016
One reader's response to 'The Invoice'!
Security settings within the organisation make true blogging responses difficult. However I am able to receive responses as an email and then I am able to post that response.
Here is one reader's response that I have received. Many thanks for sharing!
On first impression I would call this tale 'Kafka-esque' and in many ways this is a 21st century take on 'The Trial' (first published in 1925); Karlsson' novella hits the same beats as Kafka's. Both stories deal with a man in his thirties being prosecuted by an unknown, remote authority for an absurdist 'crime' (in the case of Karlsson's book it's being happy without paying for it) or something unknowable at all (Kafka's The Trail). Both men are flirtatious with women who work with the totalitarian authority (Josef K with Frau Montag, and Karlsson's character with Maud). The same 'beats' of The Trial are seen in 'The Invoice'. However, the bleak ending of The Trial is rewritten for 21st century audiences in the form of Karlsson's character ...well...his final words certainly would not be 'Like a dog'.
Two questions that came up for me was what is the difference between assessment and interrogation, and a tax/fee and a punishment/consequence? I suppose in many ways little at all.
What surprises me is the central character of Karlsson's work does not question the situation - isn't the happiness we create a product that we create, as opposed to goods/services provided by a government? Shouldn't Karlsson's protagonist be patenting his form of happiness rather than paying tax on it?
However in the 'real' world we truly do 'patent' and sell happiness - in the form of commercials selling us products and the litany of 'self help' books. We need only look at the mission statements of notable companies like Coke and Pepsi that they strive to 'bottle happiness'. As per the log line on the front page 'Can you put a price on happiness? One man is about to find out'. Well, in the 21st century you can!
A theme I would have liked to explore more in Karlsson's book would be how happiness is linked with shame. This is touched on with the romance between Sunita and the protagonist. This small insight into Karlsson's main character is the highlight of the novel yet falls flat when exploring the bigger picture around secret pleasures. How many of us secretly enjoy watching Days of Our Lives? Probably more than we admit.
Overall this is a nice little read on a rainy day. 6/10.
Here is one reader's response that I have received. Many thanks for sharing!
On first impression I would call this tale 'Kafka-esque' and in many ways this is a 21st century take on 'The Trial' (first published in 1925); Karlsson' novella hits the same beats as Kafka's. Both stories deal with a man in his thirties being prosecuted by an unknown, remote authority for an absurdist 'crime' (in the case of Karlsson's book it's being happy without paying for it) or something unknowable at all (Kafka's The Trail). Both men are flirtatious with women who work with the totalitarian authority (Josef K with Frau Montag, and Karlsson's character with Maud). The same 'beats' of The Trial are seen in 'The Invoice'. However, the bleak ending of The Trial is rewritten for 21st century audiences in the form of Karlsson's character ...well...his final words certainly would not be 'Like a dog'.
Two questions that came up for me was what is the difference between assessment and interrogation, and a tax/fee and a punishment/consequence? I suppose in many ways little at all.
What surprises me is the central character of Karlsson's work does not question the situation - isn't the happiness we create a product that we create, as opposed to goods/services provided by a government? Shouldn't Karlsson's protagonist be patenting his form of happiness rather than paying tax on it?
However in the 'real' world we truly do 'patent' and sell happiness - in the form of commercials selling us products and the litany of 'self help' books. We need only look at the mission statements of notable companies like Coke and Pepsi that they strive to 'bottle happiness'. As per the log line on the front page 'Can you put a price on happiness? One man is about to find out'. Well, in the 21st century you can!
A theme I would have liked to explore more in Karlsson's book would be how happiness is linked with shame. This is touched on with the romance between Sunita and the protagonist. This small insight into Karlsson's main character is the highlight of the novel yet falls flat when exploring the bigger picture around secret pleasures. How many of us secretly enjoy watching Days of Our Lives? Probably more than we admit.
Overall this is a nice little read on a rainy day. 6/10.
Thursday, 30 June 2016
How would your invoice add up?
This month's read is an easy read which poses some uneasy questions. The writer is a young Swedish actor cum author who challenges us to question the value of happiness.
Kirkus Review had this to say about The Invoice while Arifa Akbar wrote this about the book on the Independent website.
Looking forward to hearing what our readers think of this tiny offering about a big question.
Happy reading!
Most considered 'The Runaways' off to a slow start
Most of our readers agreed that Sunjeev Sahota's novel, which was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2015 was a worthy read once one had persisted through the slow start. Most of our readers understood that with such a cast of characters that are spread so widely, there was the need to introduce them all to start gathering them in.
Some of our readers considered the characters one-dimensional while others found it difficult to empathise with them despite their difficult situations. One book clubber while being unable to relate to the actual characters found the story as a whole very engaging. Some of our readers had either travelled through the Punjab and Bihar or lived close by, so were able to relate to the background and context of some of the characters.
There was discussion about how little we really knew of the variety of Indian customs and beliefs. While folks were accustomed to men wearing turbans they were surprised when the female character Narinder was dressed in a turban.
There was much discussion about the caste system and the way that this hierarchy, while associated with Hinduism, wasn't an integral aspect of this religion as such but rather a social construct of convenience which is now very entrenched. Readers mentioned the way Mahatma Gandhi, while supporting the customs and traditions of multicultural India, tried to break down the caste system but was unsuccessful. Some folk were surprised about how zealously this system has been transported with migration.
There was talk of the degree of corruption required to migrate and how topical it was with these allegations currently being made about Indian migration to Australia. There was also discussion about how often it was other Indian migrants who were making the life of 'our' Indian migrants so miserable. There was chat about the concept that when survival was at stake the niceties of values such as loyalty, equity and fairness were values that were too luxurious to be indulged in.
One of our BTLBCers was very disappointed in the ending and considered it just too tidy while most other folk were relieved that all of the characters' endured ordeals finally resulted in a life that was more comfortable than what they would have had in India. There was discussion about what it might be like to consider migration to another country as the best possibility of succeeding in life, especially when working and living conditions that are described in the book have to be endured to attain their goal. Our readers spoke about how one family member would be supported by the whole family and the way this indebtedness then provided a conduit for more family members to migrate later.
One of our readers was most concerned about the Narinder character and there was much chat about the confusion which came about when the traditional roles of women collided with the modern roles of women.
Overall this novel evoked much discussion which ranged over a variety of topics. One of our readers was very disappointed in the novel and another considered it a 'B' version of Aravind Adiga's Man Booker Prize 2008 winning The White Tiger but the rest of the group were generally pleased to have read it and found it an enlightening, engaging read.
Our next read is a small Swedish novel, The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson which offers a change of pace and topic. No doubt we will have yet another interesting book club discussion at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 28 July.
Some of our readers considered the characters one-dimensional while others found it difficult to empathise with them despite their difficult situations. One book clubber while being unable to relate to the actual characters found the story as a whole very engaging. Some of our readers had either travelled through the Punjab and Bihar or lived close by, so were able to relate to the background and context of some of the characters.
There was discussion about how little we really knew of the variety of Indian customs and beliefs. While folks were accustomed to men wearing turbans they were surprised when the female character Narinder was dressed in a turban.
There was much discussion about the caste system and the way that this hierarchy, while associated with Hinduism, wasn't an integral aspect of this religion as such but rather a social construct of convenience which is now very entrenched. Readers mentioned the way Mahatma Gandhi, while supporting the customs and traditions of multicultural India, tried to break down the caste system but was unsuccessful. Some folk were surprised about how zealously this system has been transported with migration.
There was talk of the degree of corruption required to migrate and how topical it was with these allegations currently being made about Indian migration to Australia. There was also discussion about how often it was other Indian migrants who were making the life of 'our' Indian migrants so miserable. There was chat about the concept that when survival was at stake the niceties of values such as loyalty, equity and fairness were values that were too luxurious to be indulged in.
One of our BTLBCers was very disappointed in the ending and considered it just too tidy while most other folk were relieved that all of the characters' endured ordeals finally resulted in a life that was more comfortable than what they would have had in India. There was discussion about what it might be like to consider migration to another country as the best possibility of succeeding in life, especially when working and living conditions that are described in the book have to be endured to attain their goal. Our readers spoke about how one family member would be supported by the whole family and the way this indebtedness then provided a conduit for more family members to migrate later.
One of our readers was most concerned about the Narinder character and there was much chat about the confusion which came about when the traditional roles of women collided with the modern roles of women.
Overall this novel evoked much discussion which ranged over a variety of topics. One of our readers was very disappointed in the novel and another considered it a 'B' version of Aravind Adiga's Man Booker Prize 2008 winning The White Tiger but the rest of the group were generally pleased to have read it and found it an enlightening, engaging read.
Our next read is a small Swedish novel, The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson which offers a change of pace and topic. No doubt we will have yet another interesting book club discussion at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 28 July.
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Some reviews for "The Runaways"
This month's read The Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize and is the non-sentimental tale of life in Great Britain for Indian migrants fleeing home with a dream of a future.
Lucy Daniel from The Telegraph had this to say about Sahota's novel while Patricia Wall from The New York Times wrote this review.
Looking forward to hearing our BTLBCers' reviews on Thursday 30 June 2016 at 6.00pm at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library!
Happy reading!
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
'The World According to Anna' fails to impress BTLBC
One of Jostein Gaarder's previous books Sophie's World captured the imagination of readers world-wide. Unfortunately this offering failed to captivate our BTLBCers.
One of our regulars was quite adamant that this novel was written for a Young Adult audience and therefore deemed it quite irrelevant for her particular vintage. There was a shared notion among our readers that this could be the case but we could find no evidence in the book itself to support this claim. There was discussion about the hard-nosed style turning off YA readers anyway.
Some of our readers felt that the tone was too 'preachy' and thus it lost them as a sympathetic audience. Others considered the genre too muddled for its own good. They did not see the value of the detailed statistics thrown up in the book at regular intervals. Some supported the viewpoint that the author could have either written a novel with an environmental message or flavour, or written a non-fiction book that could utilise the wad of statistics in a more significant way. They spoke of other novels that they had read that endeavoured to convey the possible implications of climate change in a more subtle way and therefore had made a greater impact on them.
One of our readers regarded the climate change message as background noise and concentrated on the ruby ring as the important link in the story. From her perspective, the novel was well-constructed as the story began with the grandmother receiving the ruby wonderful ring from her middle eastern lover and then as the story progresses, the ring eventually passes to her descendant Nova who falls in love with the Arab boy with the camels who were travelling through Norway due to the increasing desertification of Europe thus, from this reader's perspective, closing the ring neatly. This reader enjoyed the way the colour red was splashed throughout the book.
Other readers found the book easy to read but felt it left no impression on them. They could not connect to the characters and were so uninvolved with the book that once it was read, it vanished from their mental radar. There was much laughter as one of our BTLBCers told us of her decision not to bother reading the book based on her discovering it had such a consistent run of single stars on 'The Goodreading' website. She figured that if this was the opinion of such a variety of readers, it was not worth her effort to read a book that there was a pretty good chance that she would not enjoy! She was happy to agree with their ratings even without reading the book!
There was the notion put forward that Nova was unnecessarily harsh on her grandmother and that Nova could not miss all of the extinct animals as one cannot miss what one has never experienced. There was the idea proposed that as we did not live with dinosaurs we cannot in reality comment on missing them and that Nova was really in a similar situation. Some of our readers would like to experience the green booths and thought hard trying to envisage how this would really work and what it would look like.
Overall, our members were disappointed with this offering from Jostein Gaarder and there was discussion about maybe the message being lost in the translation or whether the story itself referenced a Norwegian or Scandinavian tale that we Australian readers were unaware of and thus missed its significance. Most of our readers scored this novel at below five out of ten. It was unusual to have such general disenchantment with a book.
Our next book club book takes us to London with the story of the Indian migrants' experience of England. The Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, set in contemporary times, was short-listed for the 2015 Mann Booker prize.
We meet on Thursday 30 June at 6.00pm at the Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room to exuberantly share our experiences of this modern novel.
Happy reading!
One of our regulars was quite adamant that this novel was written for a Young Adult audience and therefore deemed it quite irrelevant for her particular vintage. There was a shared notion among our readers that this could be the case but we could find no evidence in the book itself to support this claim. There was discussion about the hard-nosed style turning off YA readers anyway.
Some of our readers felt that the tone was too 'preachy' and thus it lost them as a sympathetic audience. Others considered the genre too muddled for its own good. They did not see the value of the detailed statistics thrown up in the book at regular intervals. Some supported the viewpoint that the author could have either written a novel with an environmental message or flavour, or written a non-fiction book that could utilise the wad of statistics in a more significant way. They spoke of other novels that they had read that endeavoured to convey the possible implications of climate change in a more subtle way and therefore had made a greater impact on them.
One of our readers regarded the climate change message as background noise and concentrated on the ruby ring as the important link in the story. From her perspective, the novel was well-constructed as the story began with the grandmother receiving the ruby wonderful ring from her middle eastern lover and then as the story progresses, the ring eventually passes to her descendant Nova who falls in love with the Arab boy with the camels who were travelling through Norway due to the increasing desertification of Europe thus, from this reader's perspective, closing the ring neatly. This reader enjoyed the way the colour red was splashed throughout the book.
Other readers found the book easy to read but felt it left no impression on them. They could not connect to the characters and were so uninvolved with the book that once it was read, it vanished from their mental radar. There was much laughter as one of our BTLBCers told us of her decision not to bother reading the book based on her discovering it had such a consistent run of single stars on 'The Goodreading' website. She figured that if this was the opinion of such a variety of readers, it was not worth her effort to read a book that there was a pretty good chance that she would not enjoy! She was happy to agree with their ratings even without reading the book!
There was the notion put forward that Nova was unnecessarily harsh on her grandmother and that Nova could not miss all of the extinct animals as one cannot miss what one has never experienced. There was the idea proposed that as we did not live with dinosaurs we cannot in reality comment on missing them and that Nova was really in a similar situation. Some of our readers would like to experience the green booths and thought hard trying to envisage how this would really work and what it would look like.
Overall, our members were disappointed with this offering from Jostein Gaarder and there was discussion about maybe the message being lost in the translation or whether the story itself referenced a Norwegian or Scandinavian tale that we Australian readers were unaware of and thus missed its significance. Most of our readers scored this novel at below five out of ten. It was unusual to have such general disenchantment with a book.
Our next book club book takes us to London with the story of the Indian migrants' experience of England. The Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, set in contemporary times, was short-listed for the 2015 Mann Booker prize.
We meet on Thursday 30 June at 6.00pm at the Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room to exuberantly share our experiences of this modern novel.
Happy reading!
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