Book Discussions / Chats

Book Discussion Introduction - Still Waters, Camilla Noli

Karen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:00:32 +1000

After finishing Still Waters by Camilla Noli (I'll post a full review asap but Andrea's review is already available), there are some Reading Group questions included at the back of the book. We thought we'd put them up here to see if anybody else has read the book / wants to contribute.

From the book:

Still Waters is a provoking, unconventional novel daring to explore one of society's last great taboos - the idea that there are some women who are quite simply neither naturally maternal nor nurturing. Below are some questions which could be used as starting points for your reading group's discussion of some of the topical issues raised by Still Waters.

My Ned Kelly book reading challenge

sunniefromoz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:39:35 +1000

I'm currently trying to read as many of the books long-listed for the 2008 Ned Kelly Awards as I can.
I've bought a few and the State Library of Tasmania is coming to the party with quite a few others.
To date I've read
Best first novel nominees:

VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE - Leah Giarratano
MAELSTROM - Michael MacConnell
THE LOW ROAD - Chris Womersley
FRANTIC - Katherine Howell

Best novel nominees
SUCKED IN - Shane Maloney
AMONGST THE DEAD - Robert Gott
SKIN AND BONE - Kathryn Fox
FAN MAIL - P.D. Martin
EL DORADO - Dorothy Porter

Best true crime:
UNDERBELLY: THE GANGLAND WAR - John Silvester, Andrew Rule
LIVES OF CRIME- Gary Tippett & Ian Munro

and I have waiting iin the wings:

Gospel - Sydney Bauer
Mr Sin: (The Abe Saffron Dossier) - Tony Reeves
Bye, Bye Baby - Lauren Crow
Fatal Flaw - Roger Maynard
Killing Jodie - Janet Fife Yeomans
Golden Serpent - Mark Abernathy
Blood Sunset - Jarad Henry
Red Centre, Dark Heart - Evan McHugh
The Tattooed Man - Alex Palmer
Harum Scarum - Felicity Young
Bondi Badlands - Greg Callaghan

There are three nominees I haven't been able to find (Broken Swallow, Green Velvet Shoes, Iraqi Icicle.) If anyone knows where I can get my hands on copies of these books, I'd be most grateful.

Question Four - Responsibility

Karen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:26:54 +1000

Do you think the hospital should or could have been more vigilant in picking up and addressing the narrator's ambivalence towards Cassie at the time of her birth? Do you think this would have made any difference to her subsequent actions?

What is your experience of, and views on, the post-natal care provided by hospitals and child-health clinics?
What is your experience of, and views on, the support provided in our society to families in general?

Question One - Narrator

Karen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:16:04 +1000

The narrator of Still Waters remains unnamed throughout the novel. Why do you think the author has chosen to do this? Do you think it is a successful device and if so, how and why?

Question Three - Failure to Bond?

Karen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:20:25 +1000

The narrator provides the reader with a graphic description of the birth of her first child and its aftermath, where she had trouble bonding with the baby. In your opinion do you think this failure to bond can be seen as explaining any of her subsequent actions? Do you believe that the narrator's behaviour could be attributable to post-partum depression? Why or why not?

Question Two - Convention Breaking

Karen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:18:37 +1000

Still Waters breaks from convention in the fact that its narrator is not an immediately warm or likeable woman. At any stage during the reading of Still Waters did you find yourself feeling sympathetic towards its narrator? If so, when did you lose sympathy for her? Did your sympathy return at any point?

Readings and Sisters in Crime presnt Ritual Murder - a conversation with Mo Hayder

daisyjac — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:55:49 +1000

Start: 21/05/2008 - 6:00pm

End: 21/05/2008 - 9:00pm

Timezone:

British author Mo Hayder talks to Dr Sue Turnbull about her hard-hitting crime novels.
Only Melbourne appearance of the internationally bestselling author

Mo Hayder’s debut novel, Birdman, became an overnight sensation when it was published in 2000, was an international bestseller. Her second novel, The Treatment, won the 2002 W. H. Smith Thumping Good Read award. Her third novel, Tokyo, won the Elle magazine crime fiction prize, the SNCF Prix Polar, and was nominated for three Crime Writers’ Association dagger awards. Pig Island, her 4th best-seller (2006) was also nominated for a CWA dagger. Her fifth book, Ritual, is out May 2008: “With a plot that twists like a knife, this terrifying opening novel in the Walking Man series will both shock and enthral critics, fans and newcomers alike.”
More info: http://www.mohayder.net/welcome.html

Recent reviews: “Mo has a profound ability to shock and surprise her readers, and Pig Island surpasses anything she has written before. She's the bravest writer I know". Karin Slaughter
"Hayder's writing is, as ever, briskly paced and fluid. The sense of place is assured (and) the twist in the tail, as it were, comes like a hammer blow right at the end, clever and unexpected." The Times

Dr Sue Turnbull is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at La Trobe University and a national co-convenor of Sisters in Crime. She is the crime columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and has written extensively on crime on both the page and screen.

6 for 6.30pm Wednesday May 21, 2008
Readings Hawthorn, 701 Glenferrie Road
Free, but bookings essential: 9819 1917.
Info: Ring Carmel Shute on 0412 569 356 or go to: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/

Review - Sensitive New Age Spy, Geoff McGeachin

Karen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:49:49 +1100

Maybe it's just me, but every now again I come across a fictional character that I'd like to meet.

Maybe.

Depends on how game I'm feeling I guess, but I think Alby might be one of those characters.

Of course, never for breakfast, and preferably somewhere there is a large, thick brick wall between us and the great unwashed. But still, he is the sort of blokeⁱ that you wouldn't mind having a glass of wine with and oh, I don't know, explore why somebody always seems to want to kill him.

SENSITIVE NEW AGE SPY is the second Alby Murdoch book. This book is more assured, and does a particularly good line in slinging off - at everything.

Can Alby save the free world from the people who are supposed to save the free world? You'll have to read the book to find out! (Link below to the full review).

Sitewide Chat Room

Karen — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:04:01 +1000

We've moved the chatroom over to this page as it does tend to slow up the listing pages. Please feel free to join in on any onging chats or start one off if there are other users online. If you've got questions and nobody is around at the time - then you're very welcome to use the forums.

If the chatroom hasn't opened "fully" - ie you've just got a greyed out bar - click once on the little square on the right hand side.

Speaking of Frost

Karen — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:18:11 +1100

The R.D. Wingfield version of Frost that is (not the cold white stuff on the ground), I recently started to "flick read" HARD FROST for an upcoming discussion one of my two favourite online reading groups - 4MA (4_Mystery_Addicts).

This was to have been a quick re-read, reminding myself of the main plot points so I could join in the book discussion and have something vaguely meaningful to contribute. But I didn't plan on reading the entire book again. Funny how the best laid plans etc, because I found myself thoroughly drawn in and I re-read the book from scratch. Sure I could remember the main plot points, but the book is just so addictive, the characters so vivid and the story involving enough that it didn't really matter that I sought of knew what was coming - the story itself was enough.

R.D. Wingfield didn't write many of these books alas, although there is one due to be published posthumously. The TV Series is very good, with David Jason playing a slightly softer, slightly less abrasive version of the Frost character that Wingfield wrote, but if you haven't seen the Series on TV or read any of these books, then I can highly recommend that you give them a go.