I’m a member of a book club and we’re now in our sixth year. I think we’re quite unusual in the canon of book clubs in that we’re all male and in the main, book clubs tend to be a mix of gender or all female. We didn’t set out to be a boys book club, it’s just how it’s always been.
Our monthly meetings are held in a Leeds pub of our choice (at the moment The Cross Keys in Holbeck serves us particularly well) and in the main tend to be lively events. It’s not unusual for the bar staff to steal furtive glances as the discussion volume increases as the evening progresses and eyebrows are raised as we leave after a satisfyingly controversial evening.
We’re white middle-aged men who with the exception of one of our members, see ourselves as quite middle class. We make no apologies for this – it’s simply who we are. But we do try to compensate for this with the books that we read and the authors who write them. Women writers are well represented as are difficult, unusual or controversial subjects. We like to think that we’re no slouches – in our time we’ve read around 72 very diverse books ranging from Alan Hollinghurst to John Steinbeck and Martin Amis to Virginia Woolf.
It’s worth noting that there’s a fair degree of rigour in our Club, again something I’ve not detected in many of the other book groups. We have some ground rules that may seem draconian to the outsider, but to us they are the framework that facilitates a life-affirming evening. Here are the basics:
1. The book must be read at all costs (it’s highly unusual for someone not to have read the book. Even if it’s a 900 page Russian dirge, it has to be read)
2. At the meeting, the book has to be first scored out of ten. At the end of the discussion, this score may then be reviewed and adjusted.
3. Each member is allowed to review the book for as long as he likes without interruption and each member takes his turn, clockwise around the table.
4. After each member has reviewed the book, an open discussion takes place, with no holds barred.
5. After the book discussion, the next book is selected and actually, there are no hard and fast rules for this (and as a consequence, we’ve had the most issues here).
Book selection has always been the most controversial part of our meetings. Our process could be described as organic, random, serendipitous and perilous. Equally it could be viewed as manipulative, controlling, dispiriting and scandalous. What it’s not is dull. So much so, it’s the reason that recently one of our original founding members left the Club citing the book selection one of the main reasons.
This has prompted us to think differently about how we select our books each month and we have become quite open to new ways of doing this – for instance asking bar staff to recommend books or asking Twitter followers to let me know what they’ve read.
So for October’s book, we’d like to open up the selection to the contributors and readers of The Culture Vulture. We know you’re an interesting and well-read bunch and we’re pretty confident that by ‘crowd sourcing’ (apologies for using that phrase) our next book it will take us to another level in our narrative as a Book Club.
Here’s what we’re looking for:
1. A book that we’ve all not read before.
2. Ideally an author that we’ve not read before (although this is not set in stone).
3. A book that will stimulate and encourage debate and discussion (essential).
4. A relatively slim volume (we only have a month to read these books so a modest size works best for us slow-coach readers).
5. It has to be available in paperback.
6. Suggestions in by Wednesday 19th October.
The Culture Vulture will help select the book for us to read. Our next meeting is planned for Friday 11th November and it’s at that meeting that we’ll have an independent facilitator at our meeting, recording events on behalf of The Culture Vulture. This will be another first for us and we’re really interested in what an outsider will make of our discussion and you’ll get the chance to read about it too (we’re slightly nervous about this, just so you know).
Get those literary thinking caps on and suggest a book for us to read. It doesn’t have to be the best book you’ve ever read or the book that literally changed your life (although it could be). It can just be a book you love or one that reminds you of a place, time or person. It can be Booker prize or airport trash, we don’t mind as long as it get the juices flowing. Over to you!
I have recommended the same book to many book clubs and has always brought up huge divides in the audience. It is Geek Love by Katharine Dunn. The story of a family struggling through power struggles and expectations with a beautiful twist of them being a carney family. It moves from the emotional to the fantastical with some whimsy and sadness. Can’t recommend highly enough. (totally great if you don’t know all the members of the book club – people get really passionate about it)
Sounds interesting. We know each other pretty well but this goes into the list!
Vernon God Little – DBC Pierre
A must read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vernon-God-Little-DBC-Pierre/dp/0571216420
Unfortunately I’ve read this one so this would mean it won’t make the shortlist. Fancy suggesting another?
I just made my boyfriend read To Kill A Mockingbird as he had never read it before, I loved having someone to talk about it with and hear it from someone who had never read or discussed the book before. Another one I’m making him read is 1984 by George Orwell… he’s now convinced that the world is really like that in the book and we just don’t realise… Another book you should which is less well known is Join Me by Danny Wallace, guys tend to like this book more than women but I found it hilarious and thought provoking. If you have read all of these books let me know and I will recommend more!
To Kill a Mockingbird and 1984 have come up so many times! There’s a couple of guys in the Club who would be smiling to see them on the list…
How about…
William Boyd
Any Human Heart
I’ve been meaning to read it for ages. So it will make me read it too. It sounds epic and a challenge emotionally too. Plenty to talk about.
I would love to compare notes when I read your feedback on this website too.
Ahhh, now we’ve read Any Human heart it’s one of our favourites (at least mine anyway). I’d happily babble on about it though as I loved it!
Do you fancy suggesting another, equally brilliant, book?
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Not short (sorry) but a fascinating novel about a zealous missionary and his young family struggling to ‘bring civilisation’ to a village in Africa. Covers religion, arrogance, violence, history, identity struggles, survival – at a personal, familial, national, and continental levels. Epic. As an adise, the women I know who have read it tend to sympathise with only one of the four girls – and each a different one. Would be interested to knos how a group of men respond.
is.gd/Cwmp7u’s a wonderful, life changing book that thinks big thoughts with small words
I couldn’t get that link – could you send again please?
Straw Dogs – John Gray http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0374270937/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/178-0668354-1157113
As you’re an accidentally all-male group how about the accidentally all-female ‘Housekeeping’ by Marilynne Robinson. Fascinatingly bleak and only 217 pages.
Just finished King Crow by Michael Stewart which was recommended to me on Bradford Waterstoned – i’ll take their advice again, another good recent read has been The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
Cool – two books I’ve not heard of before. Always a good sign. In they go…
A must read and only 200 pages (if you havn’t done so already) – Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates’s disastrous and nearly fatal climb of the 6,344-metre(20,813 foot)unclimbed West Face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
The book won the 1988 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature[1] and the 1989 NCR Book Award.
The book was translated into 23 languages and achieved sales of 500,000 across all editions.
Considered to be an excellent piece of literature, Touching the Void is now being used by the UK school curriculum. Lesson plans have been designed around the Touching the Void in the hope of boosting school boys’ interest in the English language.
Touching the Void won both the NCR Award for Non-Fiction and the Boardman Tasker Award, and is regarded as a classic of mountaineering writing, with a broad, enduring appeal
Very interesting, we’ve not done many sport-related literature. I’ve seen the movie (as I suspect most of the guys have) but the book sounds great.
Without knowing your backlist it is hard to choose, but the following are books that I loved and would/have recommend/ed to my other half, brothers or father:
The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marish Pessl (nothing to do with physics)
The End of Mr Y – Scarlett Thomas
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Scapegoat, or House on the Strand – both Daphne du Maurier and both, if I remember correctly, male protagonists. Neither is a love story.
If you desperately need a short read one month, try some Jorge Luis Borges short stories. They pretty much all provoke thought, but the Library of Babel, Lottery of Babilonia, Garden of forking paths, or Tlon, uqbar, orbis tertius are particularly good (the titles may be slightly different, as I’m translating them myself here).
For an interesting project, first read Charles Dickens’ last, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and then try to work out what should have happened (don’t read the introduction to any edition, as it may give away what others think). Then, when you have discussed this, read The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl (or Drood by Dan Simmons, but it’s really hard-going). Both are takes on the original story.
For rip-roaring adventure, anything by John Buchan. A little old fashioned, but his five Hannay titles are awesome. The first is The 39 Steps and it is nothing like the film versions.
The following are probably obvious, as they were very popular when they came out:
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Enjoy!
Now then I’m sure you are all looking at that photo thinking who’s that dude in the hat? Well that would be me. As a member of this book club just wanted to thank a) Phil for the idea of asking you culture vulture types to pick our next book and b) you guys for picking it. I thought it might be useful to post up the sort of books and authors we have read so far. I could not remember all 6 years worth but off the top of my head we have done the following. (Apologies in advance for my shocking spelling!)
Bohimal Hrabel – too Loud a Solitude
Alexander Solzynetzin – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisivich
William Boyd – Any Human Heart
John Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath
Ernest Hemingway – Old Man and the Sea
Erich Maria Remarque – All quite on the Western Front
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar
Margaret Atwood – Handmaids Tale
Charles Bukowski – Post Office
Alan Hollinghurst – Line of Beauty
Charles Dickens – Christmas Carol
George Elliott – Middlemarch
Albert Camus – The Outsider
Marilyn Robinson – Home
Niall Griffiths – Kelly and Victor
Norman Mailer – The Naked and the Dead
Emile Zola – Terese Raquin
Chuck Palahniuk – Haunted
William Goldman – The Princess Bride
Laurie Lee – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
AL Kennedy –
Yvgeney Zamyatin – We
Julian Barnes – A history of the world in 10 and half chapters
Herman Hesse – Siddharta
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Salvador Plascencia – The People of Paper
David Nicholls – One Day
DH Lawrence – Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Jennifer Egan – A visit from the Goon Squad
Lionel Shriver – We need to talk about Kevin
William Gibson
Arthur C Clarke
JG Ballard
Virgina Woolf – To the Lighthouse
Vladimir Nabokoff – Lolita
Jonathan Coe – The Rotters Club
David Peace – 1974 ?
Tomasi di Lampedusa – The Leopard
Sarah Waters – Little Stranger
AM Holmes – This Book Will Save Your Life
Patrick Suskind – Perfume
Philip Larkin – Selected Poems
Ian McEwen – Saturday
Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory
Lyudmila Ulitskaya – The funeral Party
Orhan Pamuk – Snow
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love in the time of Cholera
Art Speigleman – Maus
Zora Neal Hurston – and their Eyes Were Watching God
William Faulkner
Looking forward to see what you guys can add to this.
Three recommends from me. My book club (3 men, 4 women) recently read Elizabeth’s Women by Tracy Borman. A history book really about the court of Elizabeth 1 and the way in which she used her ladies in waiting (rather than her other political advisors etc) to gather information and control what was going on in the court. I found it fascinating. The author uses loads of primary materials letters, diaries etc and it’s just a really good read.
Second choice Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. We all enjoyed this one too. Somewhat controversial as an author Hans Fallada relates the true story of a German couple living through WW2 in Berlin. A good and thought provoking read.
Final choice and one I’m lining my book group up to read is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Not very slim but totally compelling and if you get into you will fly through it.
Can I just say to my fellow book club boys that I have not bribed Katie D to put up Dostoyevsky !
I always wonder how people can subjectively score something out of 10?
What happens when you read a better book? Does the width of 10 increase or does the best book you have ever read, instantly become a nine?
If you read a better book you can still score it 10. What I think we have found is that our critical analysis has got better over time so that something I might have scored very highly 6 years ago might not score so highly now. At the end of the day it’s all subjective do you for example score on how much you enjoyed the book, how technically good it was, how historically important it was etc etc. For me it’s not what you score it but what you say when talking about it that’s important. The best fun is when you score a book 0 and then justify it (or try to).
“For me it’s not what you score it but what you say when talking about it that’s important.”
And this is the very reason why I always think numerical ratings are somewhat redundant. They tend to sit at the end of a perfectly legible, far more engaging review piece – where the writer is paid to help you make a decision on whether something is worth buying. Then the commissioning editor makes them put a number at the end of the piece.
You kind have to wonder why they bother?
I personally always find the scoring the book out of ten part of the meeting quite daunting – I always have.
Usually I go with a gut instinct that by and large is quite accurate. I’m never really sure until I’ve then reviewed the book and then we get the chance to re-score at the end to refine the score.
Greetings
Another fellow book club member joining in, and following developments with bated breath. (I am not in the photo at the top as I couldn’t make the recent overseas book club trip)(no photo to upload either – bah humbug)
Anyway – great what Phil and you guys have set up and cant wait to knuckle down into the next book.
Just a quick mention on some formats/types of book we have (for various reasons) stayed away from:
biographies, autobiographies, factual accounts of an event or sequence of events
I throw it out there for debate….is it time to reconsider?
Good luck with the suggestions…great work so far
Phil,
My husband suggests these:
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Winds of War by Herman Wouk
and ANYTHING by James Lee Burke (he has read all of his books)
If the hubs isn’t sleeping, eating, etc., he is reading…
know where you are coming from Chris. Personally I like the scoring at our club as it just provides an initial kick off point. I love sitting in the pub with my first beer trying to bring my thoughts together before announcing what I’m going to score the book (I don’t have a conscious score in my head before I get to the pub). There is often a nice moment when we go round and announce the scores. When you get a range you know it’s going to be a good night.
Have you read any George du Maurier yet? If not, _Trilby_ would be a great autumn read. Classic Victorian thriller that introduced the word ‘svengali’ with its evil mesmerist Svengali. Hugely popular in its time (and still hugely readable), but not read that often anymore.
Think Dracula + A Picture of Dorian Gray with a bit of Henry James thrown in for good measure.
Hello phil, ian et al
I agree what a great idea to ask us, the general public, what you should read next. Knowing all the members of this book club, and the somewhat kamikaze approach taken to vetoing books in the past I think this plebeian nomination process will add a very interesting twist. I hope you are going to tell us the winner and book club date in good enough time that we can all read along with you and contribute perhaps via twitter to the live book club debate that night?
Without hesitation I put forward anything at all by Murakami with a leaning towards Kafka on the Shore as first choice. A book which divides people completely, it either makes your heart sing, or makes you scoff and give up at page 10.
Good luck and look forward to buying myself a copy of whatever wins to read along with you!
Not thought of lots of people also reading whatever we read – interesting
I recommend Marge Piercy’s ‘Woman on the Edge of Time’. It’s an innovative science fiction novel which was recommended to me by my husband who rated it very highly (and he read a very great deal of scifi).
I’d also suggest Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ – a portrait of a distopian future.
Both of these novels are sometimes seen as women’s / feminist works but both would give a group of men a lot to discuss! Enjoy!!
Just noticed ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was recommended by Ian too. I think I’d incline more to ‘Woman on the Edge of Time’ or perhaps ‘Body of Glass ‘ (also Marge Piercy).
My husband recommends Eric Newby’s Love & War in the Apennines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_and_War_in_the_Apennines
In many ways it’s a travel book, but it’s very touching. Make’s you realise it’s about a vanished way of life. It may even surprise you about Italy
It would appeal to men!
For my part I recommend Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree…
Of the books I’ve read in the last year or so, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov stands out as utterly brilliant and completely crackers in equal measures.
I found it unreadable…
…it isn’t an easy read, not at all, but it’s worth persevering with. The Pilate chapters in particular are beautifully written.
Hey Phil, Ian and co… ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down’ by Anne Fadiman is fantastic if you are interested in people and how different cultures interact. It’s fascinating, sad and gave me some new perspective on the presumptions we make everyday without realising. Read it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spirit-Catches-You-Fall-Down/dp/0374525641
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has put up a nomination and shown some interest in what we do.
BIG thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to make their suggestions!
It’s been really, really interesting – I’ll let you all know what book we end up reading…
Ok, the book we’re going for this month is Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada.
It was really difficult picking a book out of the amazingly diverse list of titles put forward and we’re hatching a thought around these forming our reading list for the coming months. Watch this space!
Great book! I am part of another all male book group in Cambridge, and Alone in Berlin would certainly rate as one of our best.
Did you enjoy it?
We normally meet in each others’ homes, and have solved the dilemma of ‘which to read next’ by taking turns! The person whose home we meet in picks a shortlist, and we all review and vote from that. It seems to work well, as you get a good range of books, some you would never have chosen yourself.
We did enjoy it, yes. It scored very highly on the night with a couple of us increasing our scores after an engaging and enlightening discussion. On of the better books we’ve read this year, for sure.
I like the sound of taking turns – it sounds very straight forward! I might even suggest we trial this approach in 2012. Thanks for the comment.