Hove Book Group - 2012 End Of Year Review

On the evening of 12 December 2012 Hove Book Group celebrated another wonderful year of bonhomie and cultural discourse with a meal at Leonardo restaurant.

The hardest working book group in Hove kick back for a well deserved celebration and a review of all things 2012.

In amongst the back slapping, red wine and Peroni, was the HBG review of 2012....

This is what we read this year:

• "Room" by Emma Donoghue
• "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce
• "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You" by Leo Tolstoy
• "The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories" by Leo Tolstoy
• "Snowdrops" by AD Miller
• "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton
• "Blindness" by José Saramago
• "Sum" by David Eagleman
• "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle
• "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
• "Remainder" by Tom McCarthy

We commissioned Gallup to run a rigorous poll, and once the golden envelope was opened, our special guest Ian Lavender revealed that - collectively - our most loved book of 2012 was "Blindness" by José Saramago. Congratulations to José Saramago (who sadly could not be present to receive the accolade).  The full results were:

1. Blindness
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3. Hangover Square
4. Room
5. Sum
6. Remainder
7. Planet of the Apes
8. Ivan Ilyich
9. Snowdrops
10. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Our favourite film was:

• "The Guard"

Our favourite music was :

• Simple Minds "Early Gold", and nigeyb's imagined soundtrack to Hangover Square

Favourite book group moments included the debate about "Room" which almost resulted in a fight; Robin's scathing dismissal of Seven Samurai; Robin choosing to read and review a different book; this blog; and, most recently, Pannier-gate (see below).

We also enjoyed a more general review of 2012 that variously embraced the following landmark public and personal events:

• Pannier-gate - the mystery of who dumped their copy of "Remainder" into Robin's pannier was solved
• The Olympics - very enjoyable
• The extent to which Operation Yewtree is just a police officer throwing darts at a 1978 Look In annual
• Keith's memorable rant about the royal family
• The End Of The Road festival
• This blog
• Jimmy Savile (boo)
• The lack of a public uprising against the Government
• New schools
• The Three Peaks - and the possibility of a 24 hour walk on the Downs

And so ends another year of Hove Book Group camaraderie.  

Merry Xmas and a happy new year.