The VW Bookclub

[butnut]

Here is is then, the VW Bookclub thread. You'll find a couple of bottles of cheap wine on the table over there, and there's a few nibbles lying about the room. So sit down, relax, and tuck into a good book.

A few vague rules for all those who want to take part:

1) We all read one book every month. It doesn't have to be exactly a month, just however long it takes. But a month seems a good amount of time to give everyone a chance to read the book.
2) At the end of the 'month' the person who chose the book will choose one of the other readers to nominate a new book. It'd be good to get a variety of books and styles and subjects involved.
3) Choose a book that's in print, in English, and not too hard to find! Books that are in paperback are probably preferable for our purses.
4) No Harry Potter.

I think that's about it. We'll work out how it works as we go. So here's June's book: 'Gould's Book of Fish' by Richard Flanagan.



Actually, as I foolishly lent this to my brother, I'm going to have to get another copy so that I can re-read it. It is a wonderfully life-enriching tale. It is capable of being both painfully funny and astonishingly sad and poignant. Beware - it is a magical work of fiction, and if you like realistic novels, this might not be for you.

Gould, the apparent narrator, was actually a convict in Tasmania in the 1820s, who painted these wonderful pictures of fish. However, that's about as much as the real Gould has in common with the one in this book. He is an liar and a storyteller, one who is much happier with a tall tale than the truth. This is much more than a story about fish and prisons and the British murdering aboriginals. It is also one about the very nature of novels themselves. (oohh!). But it's also a gripping read, and should fire up all those VW imaginations. It's certainly a book I keep thinking about, and it's about a year since I read it.

Here's a link to a load of reviews. They might have a few spoilers, so be careful

And here's a link to 36 of the actual paintings by the real Gould

[Johnny Yesno]

Can we have an orgy when we've read the book?

Nice pics BTW. I like the Nurse Shark. It makes you better when you've accidently injured yourself doing DIY with the Saw Shark.

[neuteredcats]

Ooooohhh wonderful.

I've had my eye on this book for a while. I might just have to take you up on this and get my Smiths tokens out.

[Bogey]

Um, is the chooser's decision absolutely final?
What if all, or most of us, have already read it?

Not that I'm moaning about your choice of book, Butnut, it looks ace, and not something I'd normally pick up.
I'll start today!... if I can be arsed.

[butnut]

Um, is the chooser's decision absolutely final?
What if all, or most of us, have already read it?

I suppose if most of us have read it, they'll have to change it. We'll come to that hurdle if it ever happens. Hopefully it won't crop up.

[Bogey]

Fair dos, play and enough.

[Cerys]

I haven't read it, so I suspect I'll be paying a visit to my friendly neighbourhood book shops to see if I can find a reasonably-priced copy.

It had better be good, though.  If I fork out and it's shit, I may have to rip your nipples off.

[butnut]

It had better be good, though.  If I fork out and it's shit, I may have to rip your nipples off.

Oh, I normally pay good money for that pleasure. ;-)

You should be able to find a reasonably priced paperback I'd have thought.

[Cerys]

If I'm lucky I might even be able to find a second-hand one.  We're in danger of hitting the Second Hand Book Event Horizon here in dear old drizzly Aber.

[Hornet]

Got it, just need to read it now!

[butnut]

Got it, just need to read it now!

Good work! I'd better get hold of a copy myself, so I can refresh my memory.

[Munday's Chylde]

If I infiltrate this and read the book does that mean at some point I can get everyone else to pick a pleb book and we can all sit around discussing Richard Laymond's Beast House three? That would be class, only downside would be I'd have to get through something arty first... a novel in twelve fish eh?Sounds like a custom-made-award-winner to me, what is it actually about? I read the curious incident of the dog in the night after I was repeatedly assured that it wasn't just a modern catcher in the rye journey that named checked it's principal characters mental condition rather than leaving you to do the leg work yourself ala cauldfield...er...and it wasn't, but for a moment there I almost sounded clever.

[butnut]

If I infiltrate this and read the book does that mean at some point I can get everyone else to pick a pleb book and we can all sit around discussing Richard Laymond's Beast House three? That would be class, only downside would be I'd have to get through something arty first... a novel in twelve fish eh?Sounds like a custom-made-award-winner to me, what is it actually about?

From the telegraph:

Gould's Book of Fish, the third novel from the Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan, gives us a fantasised version of Tasmania's early history as experienced by William Buelow Gould, a 19th-century convict artist whose studies of the island's wildlife now feature in prominent Australian collections...

Saved from the worst of imprisonment by his skill with a brush, Gould progresses from forgeries of English landscapes to a commission to paint a book of the local fish. He falls in love with a native girl, goes on the run, consorts with rebels and bushwhackers, and is imprisoned for murder. He has a knack for infusing his cold, fishy subjects with human characteristics and his pictures are as much comments on the venality of his fellow Europeans as they are scientific studies.

See, it's just a simple adventure story.

[Munday's Chylde]

No rape? No monkeymen hybrids with teeth in their enormous penises (or is the plural penii?) Ah well... Ok I'm game, I'll get a copy and join in. I have a problem reading more than one book at once though (does anyone else have that? I know a lot of people can read different genres at once, I cant) so I'll have to finish my current one first.

[thomasina]

If you read more than one book at a time, its better if they do come from different genres, otherwise they get mushed.  I went through a biography phase once and made the mistake of reading Bob Geldof's straight after Gerry Conlon's.

[Pilf]

Ooh, I like this idea. I'll join in - I'll try and find that this week and give it a go. I wonder if the library will have it... probably not.

[butnut]

Ooh, I like this idea. I'll join in - I'll try and find that this week and give it a go. I wonder if the library will have it... probably not.

I'd have thought any decent sized library should have it. It's won a few prizes and things.

[Kawaii Five-O]

Bah, just checked the university library catalogue and it's not there.
I'll check the normal library this week, I hope they do have it as I don't remember ever seeing it in my local Waterstone's (and I spend quite a lot of time bumming around in there).
:fingers crossed:

[butnut]

BUMPBUMPBUMPBUMPBUMPBUMPBUM

It's over halfway through the month, and I was just wondering if anyone had started this, or indeed, got hold of a copy. And if not, I want letters from your parents with your excuses.

[Bogey]

Well here's one for the "synchronicity" thread: I was actually wondering who'd be the first to bump this thread whilst having a wee just now, and lo & behold etc.

I've got it, and am about a quarter of the way through.

Opinions to be formed and submitted later.

[Cerys]

Dear MR butnut,

Please excuse Cerys for not having done her homework.  She is congenitally lazy; something of which I have tried to cure her for many years, unsuccessfully.  She is also incredibly short of funds - not that this is any excuse.

Signed, Cerys's mum.

[butnut]

That's Mr. Butnut to you ;-)

No worries - there's lots of time left to get through this book! Good to see that there's some people out there giving it a go.

[Schlippy]

Do we have the whole month to read it before we all spoil it for each other? My copy just turned up from Amazon today, except it was a CD of the soundtrack to the film 'Jawbreaker' instead of Gould's Book of Fish.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Waterstones I go.

[Bogey]

I'll probably take mine to glastonbury I think.

Yes, that's right, I said I'm taking a book to Glastonbury.

Gimme your best shot, I can take it. I'm hard.

[falafel]

It's alright. I'm taking Ulysses.

[pre-emptive edit: no, I'm not sure how I'll fit him in my rucksack...]

[butnut]

Do we have the whole month to read it before we all spoil it for each other? My copy just turned up from Amazon today, except it was a CD of the soundtrack to the film 'Jawbreaker' instead of Gould's Book of Fish.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Waterstones I go.

There's no strict time limit really. I think the month is more of a guideline. I'm going to my library tomorrow and see if it's there, as I feel I'd better reread this, since I've got all you fuckers on it now.

[Tom Rad]

Just got the book today, I've only got to read it now... looks nice, though, with all the colour pictures of fishes on the inside covers and everything. Except that as I was looking at the pictures inside the back cover, I noticed the "Afterword" on the last page of the book and I have now inadvertently discovered something about the fate of the protagonist that I may or may not have wanted to know before reading the book. I hope that won't spoil my enjoyment of the thing...

[butnut]

Just got the book today, I've only got to read it now... looks nice, though, with all the colour pictures of fishes on the inside covers and everything. Except that as I was looking at the pictures inside the back cover, I noticed the "Afterword" on the last page of the book and I have now inadvertently discovered something about the fate of the protagonist that I may or may not have wanted to know before reading the book. I hope that won't spoil my enjoyment of the thing...

I did exactly the same and still really enjoyed it. It shouldn't spoil anything!

There's a possibilty that the afterword might be a red herring anyway...

EDIT - and that reminds me. I am now going to go to the library and see if they have it. Honest.

[sore bottom mum]

Cheers butnut.... the book was one of the most enjoyable I've read.... and I'm glad that I didn't read the afterword before, not that it ruined the story, but up until that point I hadn't worked out what the afterword revealed.

Its actually difficult writing anything constructive about the book that won't spoil it for others.... I'll wait until the months up, or whatever!

On that point, how is this going to work, are we going to wait until everyone whose said they're reading it has read it?

[butnut]

That's a good question. Could the people who are actually going to read this in the next week(s) let me know. Then once everyone's read it, we can start chatting.  It doesn't have to be by the end of the month exactly, but we should set some kind of deadline (2 weeks time maybe?) so that we can actually discuss this!

So far, I think:

Tom Rad
Bogey
Schlippy
Hornet
Cerys(???)
Mundays(!!??)

Apologies if I've missed anyone out - let me know.

Glad you enjoyed it, SBM!