Book Reviews

All these reviews are by member John Cornelius

 

Au Revoir Liverpool

Maureen Lee

Despite its tacky cover illustration which suggests a menopausal pulp romance, I found this a surprisingly good read. It concerns a woman with a rather convoluted family situation who finds herself in occupied Paris in the early days of WWII and addresses the plight of a woman who searches for happiness after a disastrous first marriage only to gain a reputation for fecklessness and promiscuity.

 

A Fairytale of New York

J P Donleavy

Ludicrously funny, razor-sharp wordplay combines with mad sexual antics and situations. one of Donleavy's best novels ever, describing the trials and tribulations of New York's most incompetent funeral director's assistant. (The hero happens to be named Cornelius Christian - no relation!)

 

A Question of Upbringing

Anthony Powell

This is the first volume of Powell's monumental Proustian epic novel. Enjoyable, accessible and readable in a very narrowly focused, almost microscopic way. Allow yourself plenty of time with no distractions.

 

What Zoos Can Do

Anthony Sheridan

Very much a personal taste issue: as a lifelong lover of zoos I found this survey of Europe's finest zoological gardens fascinating and it made me want to visit them all, to see such rarities as manatees and walruses which you are not likely to encounter in the UK.

Meeting Report: 23rd July 2012

It was time to submit Competition entries again on Monday 23 July, and on this occasion our task had been to write a story all in dialogue, with no narrative or description. Sixteen brave Group members had risen to the difficult challenge, and brought their stories to a packed meeting.

Time constraints meant that entries could only be read out in part, meaning we only got tantalising glimpses of each other’s stories. We were left with many cliff-hangers – literally, in one case, as the action took place on the very edge of Beachy Head.  But what happened on the bus to St Leonard’s?  What about the gorgeous red-head from the pub and Big Dave’s new convertible?  We didn’t like the sound of that murderous bogus doctor. Whatever were those children doing carrying a ping-pong table through a field in the middle of the night? 

It was agreed that we would make all the stories available so we could read the endings. The entries now go to a guest judge, and we will hear the results later in August.

We were pleased to learn that the latest ‘Strandline’, our biennial anthology of members’ work, is on target for the publication deadline.  It will be available early in the autumn, and promises to be an excellent read.

The Group meets fortnightly at the White Rock Hotel. If you are interested in joining (there is currently a waiting list), or in finding out more about our activities, please contact the Membership Secretary, Amanda Giles, on 01424 442707 or e-mail membership.hwg@gmail.com.

Write-up by Steph Gaunt

Report of meeting: 9 July 2012

We were treated to an inspiring evening on Monday 11 June – a Lifewriting workshop with Andrea Samuelson. A former Secretary of  Hastings Writers’ Group, Andrea now teaches Creative Writing at Bexhill College.

    Andrea started by defining Lifewriting for us. It covers autobiography, biography, memoirs, travel writing, journals and diaries – true stories of people’s lives. We explored why people engage in Lifewriting – it may be a desire for confession, the wish to inspire others, or commonly, a form of self-help or therapy – to explore and analyse life situations we may have found troubling. We also discussed a number of complex and interesting issues including the fallibility of memory, and how this can give rise to very different accounts of a situation, the nature of ‘truth’, and the ethics around revealing personal details of our own and others’ lives.

    We then tackled a practical task – a ‘free-writing’ exercise about our sense of smell, then each produced a short written piece about one particular smell that seemed particularly significant to us. Given the range of highly individual personalities in the Group, our efforts ranged widely from a poem about cow dung to a dramatic story about expensive after-shave!

    We all very much enjoyed our session with Andrea, and were grateful to her for sharing her time and expertise with us.

 The Group meets fortnightly at the White Rock Hotel. If you are interested in joining (there is currently a waiting list), or in finding out more about our activities, please contact the Membership Secretary, Amanda Giles, on 01424 442707 or e-mail membership.hwg@gmail.com. You can also visit our website at www.hastingswriters.co.uk.

Report by Steph Gaunt