Cornflower Book Group - our Autumn books

   

    The Cornflower Book Group already has its September book, that is Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam (full details here), but I thought it might be helpful to plan ahead and choose something now for us to read and talk about in October and November, and I hope you'll feel well-disposed towards the books I have in mind.

    October 2013 seems the most fitting month in which to read The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate for it is set in October 1913. It's about a shooting party at Sir Randolph Nettleby's Oxfordshire estate: "opulent, adulterous, moving assuredly through the rituals of eating and slaughter, [the guests] are a dazzlingly obtuse and brilliantly decorative finale of an era." And from a review: "Threads of romance, social comment, country lore and intrigue both above and below stairs are cunningly worked together to create a brilliant tapestry ... I have seldom enjoyed a book so much."

    If anyone baulks at the £12.99 UK cover price of the paperback (and I'm sorry that it is comparatively expensive), The Book Depository is selling it for rather less, and there are cheap secondhand copies available at Abebooks. For those in the US, your edition is more reasonably priced. Libraries should have the book, too, of course, and I hope no-one has any difficulty getting hold of a copy, whatever their preferred source.

    On now to our November book which is something a bit different. A work of non-fiction, written in Japanese 1000 years ago, it is The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon. The author was a Court gentlewoman whose dates were c.966-1017; she wrote the book for her own amusement but it is "one of the greatest works of Japanese literature. A fascinating exploration of life amongst the nobility at the height of the idyllic Heian period, it describes the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion and whim dominated, and harsh reality was kept firmly at a distance. In sections ranging in size from brief reflections to longer, lyrical tales, Shōnagon moves elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society and her own flirtations and frustrations, to provide a witty, unique and deeply personal insight into a woman's life at Court in classical Japan."

    So there are our three Autumn books and their discussion dates are below; please join us in reading them.

Crusoe' Daughter - from Saturday, 28th. September

The Shooting Party - from Saturday, 26th. October

The Pillow Book - from Saturday, 23rd. November.

Comments

[Danielle]

What an excellent line up! I have all three books and am reading the Gardam now--hopefully will be able to read along with all three.

[Elizabeth Guster]

I have the first two books-they are among my favourites - and I know I will love The Pillow Book as much as I love the others! I also have The Shooting Party DVD with a wonderful performance by John Gielgud among others. Can't wait to start!

[Claire]

Good choices. I hope to read the Shooting Party with you. I expect there will a few reading themes going on next year and as we approach the centenary of the First World War it would be good to read a novel set in 1913. I'll see if the library can produce a copy for me.

[LizF]

Like Crusoe's Daughter, I already have a copy of The Shooting Party, dating back to its first appearance in paperback, although unlike the Gardam novel, I did actually read it then and very much enjoyed it as I recall! Since that was back in the 80's, I can't remember much about the story so I will enjoy revisiting it.
The Pillow Book will take me out of my reading comfort zone, but I will definitely give it a try!

[Karoline]

I'm just waiting for Crusoe's daughter to get to me. My local library service has the other two, I've reserved The Shooting party to start with

[Julia Harle]

I am very much enjoying Crusoe's Daughter. It is so easy to forget how isolated people could be in those days. I look forward to the other 2 books.

[Cornflower]

Great! Thanks, Danielle.

[Cornflower]

I saw the film recently and it was that which prompted me to re-read the book (having first read it years ago). I thought James Mason was very good in it, but really the whole cast is excellent.

[Cornflower]

I hope the library can produce a copy, Claire - I checked one or two library systems (just to get an indication of availability) and they had it.

[Cornflower]

I have the film tie-in edition of TSP from way back!
I've heard good things of The Pillow Book so I hope we'll all enjoy it.

[Cornflower]

You're quick off the mark, Karoline!

[Cornflower]

I'm greatly enjoying it, too, Julia.

[Readerlane]

Crusoe's Daughter just arrived and the Shooting Party is already here. Sounds like good reading ahead....

[Ann]

The Pillow Book has a timeless quality, perhaps because of the writer's voice. It's a long time since I first encountered it - in a creative writing course, so I will enjoy a revisit.

[Margaret @ BooksPlease]

Was The Shooting Party film shown on TV - I seem to remember watching something that sounds like this years ago?

Anyway I went to Barter Books in Alnwick this week and there was a hardback copy of the book sitting on the shelves - I bought it, of course and began reading it whilst having a cup of coffee. It's looking like a book I'm going to enjoy very much.