Book Club - 27/02/13

Another Book club been and gone, next months will be our year anniversary! Great turn out last night and we met at a pub called 'The Odd Shoe' which for some reason I had never heard of/noticed even tho I stand outside it waiting for the bus most days!! But it was alot better in there than the last few places so we'll stick with that next time too.

So this time we were discussing 'The Hunger Games' and it seemed to have a pretty positive review overall.  Some people went a bit mad and read all three books in the series (myself included), I think everyone agreed it was very easy to read and quite gripping so it didn't take long to whizz through!  Although we were technically only discussing the first book I have to say that I found the second and third books a little disappointing.  They were still good but really her first book was excellent to the point where it could have just stopped there really and kept us guessing!  I also had a bit of a different experience reading it to the others as I had seen the film already, which I loved, but it also meant I knew what was going to happen and I pictured all of the characters as they were in the film which is not really the best way to read a book. But there was so much more detail and depth in the book, as there always tends to be, that I did find it really enjoyable to read.

We talked about teenagers and whether we thought her personality and character traits were realistic for someone of Katniss's age and situation.  We thought she was quite a likeable character, headstrong and gutsy who has had to grow up way faster than she should have, becoming the mother figure in her family and providing for her sister and her mum.  The characters were interesting and had alot of questions hanging over them about their pasts (some of which may well be answered in the next two books, I can't possibly say!) but Haymitch was mentioned as a favourite character as he is quite a mysterious one and everyone wants to know how he won the Hunger Games in the past.  I really liked the stylist character Cinna (not just because Lenny Kravitz plays him the film) but although he doesn't feature alot he was a really important character in the book and becomes an important person in Katniss's life.  

Alot of it is quite far fetched (but then it is young adult and science fiction) but the way its written seems to let you forgive that.  There are alot of questions asked about the fact that if this is the 74th Hunger Games why has none of this happened in the past, has no one rebelled in 74 years?  How did the people in the Capital come to be the ones who lived there and were spared and why does everyone dress in crazy clothing? But the main thing for me is that from the moment I started reading it, it gripped me and made me want to keep turning the pages.  I wanted to know what happened next and I cared about the people in the book.  Marks out of 5 ranged all the way from 2 to 4 so it was a bit of a mixed bag but I think it was good to read something in a completely different style to those we've read so far!

Right this time we decided to choose the next book by voting and the book that came up trumps was 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker.

     'Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is a tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation.  Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie, and is trapped into an ugly marriage.  But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny.  Gradually Celie discovered the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves'

I am quite excited to read this, I think it is going to be a major tear jerker though.  There is also a film adaptation from the 1980's which I am hoping to get a hold of a copy so once we have read it those who want to can come to a dvd night at mine and cry with me!

Go get your copy and get reading :)

Next Book Club:

Date: 3rd April 2013
Time: 7.30pm
Location: The Odd Shoe (Park Street, Croydon)

Ape Drawings

I am loving drawing again, but for some reason all I want to draw are Apes! These are all pencil drawings. I toyed with the idea of adding colour (especially on the leaves of the top one) but I decided against tampering with them.

Grandad 18/07/1931 - 05/02/2013

My Grandad loved to make things and he was very clever with his hands.  He had so much patience he could sit for hours and make beautiful models out of matchsticks.  My brother and I were lucky enough to own our own sweet shop.  We had a proper counter with a parasol shade over the top. There were scales to weigh the sweets, a till and an old fashioned telephone.  Not forgetting the sweet jars and even some Golden Virginia tobacco. The sweet shop was made by my grandad and he was one of our regular customers.  I think the tobacco may have been his idea too.

At Christmas we always spent lots of time with Nanny and Grandad.  When we were little Grandad made us a big snowman, a huge cardboard tube covered in cotton wool, so we could dig our hands in and pull out surprises like a lucky dip.  I can still remember the excitement of seeing the snowman by the tree.  Robert and I used to get up early and open our stockings, we knew we could go downstairs when we heard Grandad chopping the tea, so we would tiptoe down and show him what we had got before everyone woke up.  Then he would make his famous fry up, before falling asleep in the chair with his paper hat falling over his eyes.  Later we would all watch Only Fools and Horses or James Bond.

Grandad could always find ways to entertain us, making paper aeroplanes, playing I Spy and cards.  Playing Trumps was just an excuse to make rude noises and everyone always wanted to be the dealer in pontoon.  52 card pick up was Grandad’s favourite so he could have a rest while we ran around picking up all the cards that had flown around the garden.

 

When Nanny and Grandad moved to Worthing it was always exciting to come and stay at the seaside.  Grandad would take us to the pier and the lido to go on the fruit machines with a big bag of pennies; we’d eat ice cream sandwiches and if we were lucky find some treasure on the beach.  In the summer holidays my cousin Jenny and I would go and stay for a week, and Grandad would take us out all day, swimming, bowling and paddling in the sea.  Then we would come back exhausted to find nanny cooking something tasty.

He was very mischievous and always getting in trouble with Nanny, pulling funny faces, burning holes in his new shirts while smoking his tobacco.  He could always make me smile.

Everyone I know who has met my Grandad has commented on what a magnificent man he was.  Such a genuine loving family man and I could not have wished for a better Grandad.  I have so many precious memories that I will never forget.  I will forever remember him in my heart.

Cuddly Friends

They all had names and characters.  Sometimes they even wore my clothes, although some were a bit big for them and others a little snug.  They were good friends of mine and they'd often sit in a row or in a circle talking amongst themselves.  At night they went back on their shelves around the bed to keep watch over me while I slept.  There were so many of them that not all of them could come down during the day, but those didn't were glad of the extra sleep.