Great Apes
 A book club for the rest of us

<Best of the Web> <Puzzles> <Arts> <About Martyn> <About This Site> <Weblog>
[Travel] [Book Club] [Puzzles] [Movies] [Comedy] [Opera] [Ballet] [Theatre] [Music] [People]  

I've always enjoyed reading. But as I've gotten older, I've found myself less exposed to interesting things to read. School and University were great - I either still studing literature, or surrounded by people who were, and I constantly got interesting recommendations. But since then, I've found it harder to choose good things to read.

In 1997 and 1998, my group of friends was constantly discussing starting a book club, but never getting around to it. So for Christmas 1998, I decided to kick-start the process by buying the books for our group, and setting a date in February. The book I choose was Will Self's Great Apes. I wanted to choose a satirical book I'd never read by an author who I'd heard good things about. So I did very little research and picked this book. In the end our first meeting was delayed, but when we finally met it was very clear that Great Apes was unlike anything most of us had read before. It was interesting and stimulating, but few people really liked it, including me. Out of guilt, I paid for everyone's dinner -- luckily, we were at a cheap restaurant :)

The book was memorable enough to give a name to the club, mainly because I used it for our email alias. We also set a precedent for how we'd run things. We cycle through each club member, and they buy the books for everyone, and organise and pay for dinner for everyone. We spend about 6 to 8 weeks on each book, so it takes around 2 years to cycle through the club's 16 or so members. We've kept the membership among our friends - so mostly people who work at Microsoft and their spouses, although over time we have picked up a few non-Microsoft members, which is great for increased diversity :) I legendarily leave reading the book until the day before the book club. Sometimes this is harder work than others.

The club has worked out really great, because it's brought such a diversity of literature into all of our lives. I'm really pleased that we've managed to keep reading stuff that was new to me and to all of us by a wide variety of authors.

Here's a summary of what we've done so far. Notes for stuff before July 2002 are from memory, and so perhaps out of date

Greg took a photo a couple of years ago (2001) of our Club Dumas meeting: A few were missing (notably the Griers), but this is a good start. We'll try to take a more recent photo soon.

Back Row: Martyn Lovell (bad hair day! :) ) - Marian Ottewell - Alexandra Berlet - Phil Ottewell - Stefanie Lewis - Julienne Bollerud - Flavia Constantin - Alin Constantin
Front Row: Erleen Anderson - Emma Ottewell (intern) - David Lewis - Greg Lindhorst

	Book	Author	Organiser	Date	Venue	New People	Notes	My rating on the book [Discussions almost always good]
1	Great Apes	Will Self	Martyn Lovell	March 1999	Wood'ys		Lots of discussion, some antipathy to the book :)	5 Interesting, but self-indulgent
2	The Sparrow	Mary Doria Russell	Stacey Doerr	?	Wood'ys		Great discussion about religion	9 Great
3	She's Come Undone	Wally Lamb	Jay Krell	?	Pro Club		Our first Oprah book club book, recommended by one of Jay's sisters I believe. Once we had done a few Oprah books, they came to seem a little sameish. It didn't doesn't seem like she tried to stretch her audience or provide diversity.	6 Very predictable, unsatisfying
4	In Cold Blood	Truman Capote	David Lewis	?	Pro Club		Our first (and only so far, though this is not deliberate) non-fiction.	5 Found the writing style annoying
5	Memoirs of a Geisha	Arthur Golden	Erleen Anderson	2000?	Erleen's Place		First time I was missing (I was on a trip)	Skipped it :)
6	Harry Potter	JK Rowling	Helen Meyers	?	Wood'ys		Good discussion despite the simple subject. Especially interesting thoughts on censorship	8 Super book
7	Kim	Rudjard Kipling	Mike Grier	?	Wood'ys		Interesting discussion about colonialism, I think.	4 Didn't like this at all.
8	The Magus	John Fowles	Phil Ottewell	?	The Ottewell's		This marked the start of our gradual departure from Wood'ys, which actually closed in 2002. They had a very convenient room, but their menu was pretty static and I think we gradually wanted more variety.	10 My favourite book of all so far
9	The Man In The High Castle	Philip K Dick	Alin Constantin	?	Wood'ys		We got to book 9 before doing any science fiction, which I consider an achievement for a bunch of people many of whom work at Microsoft. We have done a little more SciFi since then, but we've remained broad.	8 Liked this a lot
10	Club Dumas	Arturo Perez Reverte	Greg Lindhorst	?	Greg's Place		Greg's living room provides an excellent venue for discussion.	9 Loved this book
11	The Doomsday Book	Connie Willis	Alexandra Berlet	?2001	Erleen's Place		Alex bought the book club a journal, which was an excellent idea. We have more detailed notes from this point on.	8 Great book
12	The Poisonwood Bible	Barbara Kingsolver	Julie Bollerud	?	The Ottewell's		Julie did excellent African food to match the theme of the novel	6 Couldn't empathise with the characters
13	Emma	Jane Austen	Martyn Lovell	?	Figaro Bistro		This was our 1st Anniversary (everyone had chosen once). We went to a nicer restaurant and celebrated, and back to my place afterwards to watch the video	10 My favourite book of all time
14	Wicked	Gregory Maguire	David Lewis	?	Greg's Place		There was much controversy about what the point of Wicked was, and how it relates to the movie. Spirited discussion.	7 Interesting and provocative, but why?
15	Bee Season	Myla Goldberg	Anne Grier	2nd February 2002	Wood'ys		In this context, a Bee is a spelling test (bee).	7 Interesting but early finish
16	Catch 22	Joseph Heller	Jay Krell	?			Amazingly we didn't have anyone at the discussion who liked the book. First time this has happened.	3 Didn't like this the first time I read it; hated it on re-read
17	Mr Midshipman Hornblower	C.S. Forester	Mike Grier	4th May 2002	The Grier's		We watched the A&E miniseries after the discussion. They had really butchered the context, but it was still a good show.	7 Interesting, captivating, simple.
18	A Prayer for Owen Meany		Erleen Anderson	22nd June 2002	Martyn's Place		Nice to watch Simon Birch afterwards, although the movie somewhat subverts the themes of the novel.	5 Ack. Didn't like this. Odd and unlikable characters
19	Veronika Decides to Die	Paulo Coelho	Alin Constantin	10th August 2002	Mazatlan (formerly Wood'ys)	Joan	Great discussion. Fascinating book which we all liked.	9 Great book, interesting, uplifting
20	Shackleton	Alfred Lansing	Alexandra Berlet	5th October 2002	Mazatlan	None	I was away in Vancouver - My mother and cousin were in town.	Skipped it :)
21	The Hours	Michael Cunningham	Greg Lindhorst	11th January 2003	Greg's Place	Sarah Rogerson	Very interesting and wide ranging discussion raising fascinating and challenging issues of self, sexuality, identity. One of our best discussions.	8 Liked the book a lot; an unusual read.
22	Generation X	Douglas Coupland	Julie Bollerud	8th March 2003	Greg's Place	Dale Rogerson	Great discussion, getting into whether slackers are ethical or unethical.	5 Didn't love this book. Not sufficiently compelling
23	Road To Perdition	Max Allan Collins & Richard Rayner	David Lewis	26th April 2003	Greg's Place		Fascinating discussion of the ethics of the soldier/killer and the place of the graphical novel in the literary canon.	6 Interesting but not compelling.
24	Birdsong	Sebastian Faulks	Phil Ottewell		Phil & Marian's		Great discussion of the horrors of war	7 Depressing and interesting
25	The Secret Life of Bees		Anne Grier		Anne & Mike's		Good short discussion of civil rights and characterisation	5 Good but not compelling
26	Atonement	Ian McEwan	Sarah Stanley	13th September 2003	Dale & Sarah's		Great discussion of the complex unresolved nature of the book	9 Loved this book
	The Autumn of the Patriarch	Gabriel Garcia Marquez	Alin Constantin	Sat Jan 17th 2004
	Galatea 2.2	Richard Powers	Martyn Lovell	Sun 6th June 2004	Martyn's
	The Davinci Code	Dan Brown	Jay Krell	Sat 31 July 2004	Matt's Grill	Stan Lippman?
	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	Greg Lindhorst	Sat 18th September 2004	Greg's Place
	The Fury	Salman Rushdie	Flavia Constantin	Sat 4th December 2004	Flavia & Alin's Place
	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night	Mark Haddon	David Lewis	Sat 26th March 2005	?
	Devil in the White City	Erik Larson	Phil Ottewell	Sat 4th June 2005	Phil's Place
	City of Falling Angels	John Berendt		Sat 12th November 2005	Matt's
	Ordinary Heroes	Scott Turow	Jay Krell	Sat 7th January 2006	Mazatlan	Zoe?
	Still Life with Woodpecker	Tom Robbins	Julie Bollerud	Sat 18th February	?
	Shadow of the Wind	Carlos Ruiz Zafon	Marian Ottewell	Sat 22nd April
	Cloud Atlas	David Mitchell	Zoe Barsness	Saturday 17th June
	A Long Way Down	Nick Hornby	Martyn Lovell	Saturday 19th August	Louie's Cuisine of China	Chris Burrows, Kieran Snyder, Ryan Sturgell, Simone Sturgell
	Cockeyed	Ryan Knighton	Flavia Constantin	Saturday October 7th	Alin & Flavia's
	The Sixth Lamentation	Willaim Broderick	Sarah Stanley	Saturday November 18th	Sarah's parents
	Hairstyles of the Damned		David Lewis	Saturday Jan 13th 2007
			Elizabeth Berman

© Copyright 2001-2003 Martyn Lovell. All Rights Reserved.