Cornflower Book Group

   

Floreant Centaureae

     The Cornflower Book Group welcomes anyone who wishes to read along with us, on a regular or occasional basis.

For Frequently Asked Questions about the Group, please click here.

    Our first title was Vita Sackville-West's 1931 novel All Passion Spent (Virago Modern Classics) You can read more about it here, and see the full discussion here.

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     Our second book is Margaret Atwood's fictional version of a true story: Alias Grace is set in 1840s Canada (for more on it look here), and for the Cornflower Critics' views click here.

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    A writer new to many of us, William Maxwell's They Came Like Swallows has won him many fans in the group. You can see the introductory post here, and read our comments here. 

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    Another American book, Edith Wharton's classic The House of Mirth, is our fourth book and our discussion can be read here.

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    Next comes a contemporary novel, Angela Young's Speaking of Love. For our impressions and opinions, have a look here. 

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    A small band of us crossed Australia with our next book, Patrick White's epic novel  Voss. Read about how we found the journey on this post

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     We went to Nazi Germany for our seventh book, Markus Zusak's bestelling The Book Thief. The introductory post is here, and our quite divided opinions here.

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     In July we discussed  Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie -  read our thoughts on the book on this post

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      Tobias Wolff's Old School impressed us; see our September post on it here.

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      In October we talked about Rudyard Kipling's short stories (Selected Stories (Penguin Modern Classics), our mixed views can be read here.

   Sue Gee's novel set in Victorian Hereford, The Mysteries of Glass, was our November book. Again, views were mixed and you can see what we thought in this post.

 Rounding out our first year was Margery Allingham's The Tiger in the Smoke. This highly atmospheric novel went down very well indeed. Read our comments here.

To begin our second year we shall have Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons which we'll be discussing on 17th. January 2009.

Comments

[adele geras]

THEY CAME LIKE SWALLOWS by William Maxwell.
pub. Harvill pbk.

This is a very very short novel...almost a novella. And a very sad one. I was reminded of it again after the death of Dina Rabinovich at a very early age from breast cancer a few weeks ago.
Dina is survived by her husband and children, one of whom is only seven. William Maxwell's mother died when he was ten, from influenza, and this influenced his whole body of work. He is a most wonderful writer in every possible way and his masterpiece is a book called TIME WILL DARKEN IT. This book is a good place to begin for anyone who's keen on getting to know this amazing writer. And one that's readily available in the USA, of course!

[Karen Beadling]

I have never been part of a book group either but am enthusiastic about this one. Not at the moment--will wait until 2008, just around the corner. Thank you.

[Lesley]

I'm a great admirer of Anita Brookner and would enjoy discussing any of her books, in particular 'Latecomers', which has always seemed to me a 'perfect' novel.

I concur with Adele Geras about William Maxwell. Wonderful!

[Mary]

Have you discovered World Book Day's new award - The Book to Talk About 2008 - which has just been announced? It aims to celebrate writing that has not yet received the recognition it deserves and there is a wonderfully inspirational title nominated called SPEAKING OF LOVE by Angela Young.

The novel promotes the power of creative writing and storytelling for giving people the freedom to live as they want to live, and not be bound by past saddness or trauma. It beautifully and emotionally reminds us of the importance of communication, and as the title suggests, saying the words 'I Love you'.

I think it would be perfect for a reading group discussion as it is quite short and I found many things to relate to in it, on a number of levels.

[Claire]

Would be happy to read any of them but if it comes to a vote I'll go for "Latecomers".

Enjoying Vita greatly.

[Peter the flautist]

I would like to propose "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakimi (translated by Phillip Gabriel) or a possibly better book by the same author "The Wind up Bird Chronicle" as possible books for the CBC to consider. I have read neither, but they have had interesting reviews and I loved his "Norwegian Wood".

Dark Puss

[Geranium Cat]

I like the sound of all three books; always happy to read Brookner, but the other two sound interesting too. But I'd also like to second Dark Puss' suggestion of Murakami, who can be complex and elusive (or so I find) but always worthwhile.

[Mary]

I just got my copy of All Passion Spent and am looking forward to reading along. For some reasons I had trouble finding a new copy (I'm in the U.S.) but Abebooks.com had lots of perfectly good used ones for $1.00! Do I have to do anything "official" to join?

[Simon]

I know for a fact that I'm getting All Passion Spent in a Secret Santa next week, so shall be a little late in joining the discussion...

Would like to second Speaking of Love, wonderful novel, though I also like the idea of classics which people might not have read, like All Passion Spent.

[Nan]

Would you want to offer a children's Christmas book?

[Possum Magic]

I received my copy of All Passion Spent from Book Depository the other day. I am thoroughly enjoying it and can't wait to discuss it!

I don't mind what we read next - I like getting new ideas for writers from other people.

[Angela Young]

If the group decides to read SPEAKING of LOVE I'd be honoured ... and delighted to answer questions about the writing of it, or anything else that occurs to people to ask about the book. I'm also genuinely interested to know what people think doesn't work.

Because SPEAKING of LOVE has been longlisted for the World Book Day / Books to Talk About award, Beautiful Books have said that they'd be happy to give ten copies of the book to the group (they're saying this to all book groups who are interested) because it isn't published in paperback until the Spring.

If SPEAKING of LOVE isn't chosen, I'd love it if we read William Maxwell's THEY CAME LIKE SWALLOWS. It sounds wonderful.

[sherry]

Speaking of Love sounds great, but perhaps not obtainable on this side of the pond.

[Angela Young]

You can buy SPEAKING of LOVE on amazon.com (as well as on amazon.co.uk), both new and new/used (and the used copies are mostly new because that's where reviewers who haven't read the books they're sent to review send them! So they're better value, too.)

I hope that helps ... .

[Nan]

Is this where the discussion will take place?

[Wanda J]

Having just finished reading _They Came Like Swallows_ I'm eager to get my hands on more of William Maxwell's work.

[Harriet]

Hooray for the House of Mirth. Great choice.

[Susan]

I just found you... What is your list of books?
Do you pick for the year or monthly. I would like to join. Tell me how it works.