2020: The year in review

In lieu of our usual seasonal meal and visit to a pub, what with Covid 19 making meals and pubs all but impossible for those from different households, we decided to brave the chilly, damp evening of Thursday 10th December 2020 and stroll about sustained by exercise, conversation, occasional stop offs, and various beverages.

Sadly two members did not make the one and only tolerable photo to mark the occasion (sorry Nick and Keith) but here is evidence that this really did happen.

Here’s hoping 2021 is a bit more normal and we can enjoy our more traditional end of year celebration

Part of what we do every year is a poll to vote on each other’s choices. Here are the results….

Favourite read

1. Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) by George Orwell (Robin) - 15

2. Cal (1983) by Bernard MacLaverty (Nick) - 11

3. The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus (Keith) - 4

4. A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole (Tristan) - 3

5= Rings of Saturn (1995) by WG Sebald (Nigel) - 2

5= The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark (Nick) - 2

5= Light Years (1975) by James Salter (Roland) - 2

6= The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson (Robin) - 1

6= Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) by Reni Eddo-Lodge (Tristan) - 1

7= Notes From The Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Roland) - 0

2. Favourite music

1. Astral Weeks (1968) by Van Morrison (Nick) - 7

2. Rastaman Vibration (1976) by Bob Marley and the Wailers (Robin) - 6

2. Achtung Baby (1991) by U2 (Nick) - 6

3. Made in the Manor (2016) by Kano - 5

4. What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011) by The Vaccines (Keith) - 4

5= Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go (12 inch version) (1981) by Soft Cell (Roland) - 3

5= Big Easy Spotify playlist (Tristan) - 3

5= Robin’s Ghost Playlist (Robin) - 3

6. Ambient 4: On Land(1982) by Brian Eno (Nigel) - 2

7. Gain The Axe EP (2019) by Bleep Bloop (Roland) - 0

3. Favourite watch

1. The Sting (1973) dir by George Roy Hill (Nick) - 10 

2. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) dir by Benh Zeitlin (Tristan) - 6

3= There Will Be Blood (2007) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Robin) - 5

3= Good Vibrations (2013) directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Nick) - 5

3= The Goob (2014) dir by Guy Myhill (Nigel) - 5

4. Marriage Story (2019) directed by Noah Baumbach (Roland) - 3

5= Contagion (2011) dir by Steven Soderbergh (Keith) - 2

5= Unabomber: In His Own Words - Netflix (Roland) - 2

6= The Devil’s Backbone (2001) dir by Guillermo del Toro (Robin) - 0

6= Gone Too Far (2013) Dir by Destiny Ekaragha (Tristan) - 0

4. Favourite theme

1. Contagion (Keith) - 12 

2. Northern Ireland (Nick) - 9

3= The Kingdom of the East Angles (Nigel) - 5

3= Young, British and Black (Tristan) - 5

4. Prime (Nick) - 4

5. Tainted Love (Roland) - 3

6. Ghostly Goings On (Robin) - 1

7= The Big Easy?  (Tristan) - 0

7= Marginal (Roland) - 0

5. Best book you read in 2020 (could be a Book Group choice or something else)?

Gabriel Krauze 'Who They Was'

A Little Life

Chernobyl

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe 

Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Wilding by Isabella tree

1984

6. Memorable 2020 HBG moments

Beach encounters

Meeting on beach, Return of prodigal son Hamish

Not a lot of meeting - I enjoyed our outside meetings and our quizzes. 

The varied and unusual venues - the beach, Nick's front room, Keith's garden, even Zoom worked ok.

The beach drinks meeting

Meeting in a real pub!

Summer Special and my first dip in the sea for years. Sorry it could not be at a time we could all make. 

7. Best thing about Book Group in 2020

Keeping going despite C-19

Nigel without whom it would not exist

Hamish's return

The good humoured and intelligent way that HBG simply brushed aside everything 2020 threw at it!

Carrying on despite Covid

Through thick and thin it maintains 

See above. 

8. What defined 2020 for you (news item, something personal etc.)?

C-19

Covid, home living 24/7

This is a trick question. The first lockdown was pretty blissful in some ways - bird song, peace. Started making bread and beer again.

Utter incompetence of the British and American governments. Be funny if it wasn't so deadly.

Coronafuckingvirus

Not the f&£)king C word ! The end of trump 

Tbc - see how the world looks on 31 December. In the meantime, I have never been so invested in a US election. Goodbye orange man. 

9. How do we make Book Group even better?

Keep making interesting and provocative choices

All summer meetings on beach

Meeting up again.

Another weekend away. Focussed endorsing - just outstanding stuff, not absolutely everything. Nick's dog attending more often. #MHBGGA

Impossible

Perfection as always 

I would settle for the usual old s**t in the Westbourne. Remember those days?

10. What else do you want to say?

I love you

Nowt

2021 we will be back to normal - but how much will our lives have changed?

Far from our finest year of books in my view (but I suppose I didn't choose any!😄). Despite your decidedly average choices, it's been an absolute pleasure to be back though. 

How do you stop your glasses steaming up with a face mask on?

Thanks you guys. At least there is something to rely on in these grim times. 

See you next year

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) by Reni Eddo-Lodge

 Theme: Theme: Young, British and Black

On 12 November 2020 we gathered to discuss Tristan’s Young, British and Black themed selections. I say gathered, we were back on Zoom as we are now in the midst of a second national lockdown. 

Reading: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Not for the first or last times we were grateful to Tristan

Would we have read this without it being chosen? The answer was probably not for most of us and yet it is really interesting. 

The first few chapters cover black history in Britain and we were amazed at how much we learnt. This stuff really should be taught in schools.

The book also explores how racism, in all its forms, especially structural, stops our societies being as meritocratic as we would like, and to understand how and why established power structures are so resistant to change, and why change will, ultimately, benefit us all. 

Other chapters explore feminism and class.

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is a book that all British people should probably read and brings the reader up to speed about all the issues surrounding race in Britain. It's illuminating and inspirational.

Nick 7.5 / Tristan 8 / Nigel 8 / Keith 7 / Roland 8 / Robin 7 / Hamish 7

Listening: Made in the Manor (2016) by Kano

Kano also stars in Top Boy which endeared us to him from the start.

Surprisingly good innit? At least that was the view of most of us. Roland was unimpressed.

Most of us were seduced by the variety, the light and shade, and the hooks

Reminded some us a bit of both Plan B and The Streets

Watching: Gone Too Far (2013) Dir by Destiny Ekaragha (Netflix)

Nick dissing the film 

We enjoyed it to varying degrees except who Nick who thought it was rubbish. Some of us also concluded it was a bit repetitive, implausible, and ridiculous. It was a good fit with the theme and we were particularly interested in the anti-African sentiment amongst some of the characters with West Indian heritage, along with themes around masculinity. It also struck us there was some fairly broad brush stereotypes. Overall, a fun film with likeable characters and universal themes of belonging and acceptance. 

Endorse It

Juliet, Naked (2018) - a film directed by Jesse Peretz (Netflix)

East West Street by Philippe Sands (Book)

Ivor Cutler by KT Tunstall (2020) (Documentary on Sky Arts)

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

The Social Dilemma (2020) US docudrama dir by Jeff Orlowski (Netflix)

Mark Steele (BBC Radio 4)

Black AF (Netflix)

White Riot (2019) (documentary about Rock Against Racism) - Directed by Rubika Shah (Sky Arts)
I Wanna Be Yours (2020) by John Cooper Clarke (Book)

Carpurnium (Amazon Prime)

Intrigue (BBC Radio Four)

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Book)

Industry (BBC iPlayer)

Birthmarked (Netflix)

A United Kingdom (BBC iPlayer)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark

Theme: Prime

On Thursday 8th October 2020 we used a hybrid Zoom/small group format to facilitate our discussion of Nick’s “Prime” themed choices and stay with the current Covid 19 rules. The selections under discussion….

Reading: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark

Listening: Achtung Baby (1991) by U2

Watching: The Sting (1973) directed by George Roy Hill

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark

Roland was, once again, the outlier, panning this novel and dismissing it with a cursory rating of 3. The previous month Roland lauded ‘Notes From The Underground' whilst the rest of the group were less than impressed.  This time out, all except Roland felt very positively about ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’.

Miss Brodie is a teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in the years between the wars. As she repeatedly tells anyone who will listen, she is in her prime. The people she confides in most are a group of girls who were once in her class and whom she singled out as her girls – the Brodie set.

Muriel Spark uses a non linear narrative, taking us back to the girls' first introduction to Miss Brodie as ten-year-olds, and then forwards to what feels like the present of the book - the late 1930s - when the girls are young adults; and then forward again, often telling us the girls' future. The time-shifting is cleverly done – the whole book sparkles with intelligence, in fact – giving layers of depth to what fundamentally is a rather slight little story of one of the many “surplus” women left single after the huge loss of young men in WW1.

In terms of style, Muriel Spark's non-sequential narrative and extensive use of prolepsis, is unusual, and yet works well as Muriel Spark repeats the same themes and phrases. The book is also very simple to read and well written. 

It was refreshing to read about such a free thinking, idiosyncratic and rebellious woman working in a deeply traditional environment in an era where great store was still placed on conduct in the bourgeois world of a girls' school in the 1930s. Miss Brodie is unconventional and daring. Instead of following the curriculum of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, she treats her pupils as adults and discusses all manner of subjects which include her admiration for the emerging fascist leaders in Italy and Germany, her personal history, and her emotional life. Miss Brodie also invites her pupils to her home, and the home of other teachers, and takes them to the theatre and other outings. 

Whilst initially appearing to have the welfare of her special students at heart, Miss Brodie's motivation appears to be to control and manipulate her pupils, and ultimately this is a disturbing portrait of a self-obsessed and psychologically disturbed teacher. This is the brilliance of the book, behind the rebellious and unorthodox teaching style which is cloaked in the benign appearance of taking special care of a small coterie of hand picked pupils, lies a monster. The revelations which emerge throughout the book would create a tabloid newspaper feeding frenzy if they came to light in the modern era. Not only does Miss Brodie appear to want to force her special pupils to fulfil a destiny she has predetermined, she also has cast each girl into a tightly defined character. Muriel Spark constantly repeats these characteristics throughout the story, almost as if, like Miss Brodie, if she repeats them often enough they will become self-fulfilling. There are also other more amusing stylistic motifs that are frequently employed by Miss Brodie, for example, "you are the crème de la crème", and "I am in my prime". These help the reader to see through the Brodie character and hint at her self-delusion. 

Whilst the book's primary focus is Miss Brodie, we find out very little about her motivation. I think it's to Muriel Spark's credit that she leaves her readers to draw their own conclusions, and yet we wondered the extent to which Muriel Spark is sympathetic to her literary creation. Ultimately that is the most puzzling thing about the book - on one level it's just a quirky story about a slightly weird teacher, on another more profound level we thought Miss Brodie is meant to mirror her fascist leader heroes. Like Hitler, Miss Brodie employs slogans, charisma and mind control to subjugate a group and attempt to force them to comply with her own twisted agenda.

This is unusual, weird and very good. It's also very short and simple to read - it's well worth a couple of hours of your time.

Nick 8.5 / Tristan 8 / Nigel 7 / Keith 7 / Roland 3 / Robin 8 / Hamish 7.5

Achtung Baby (1991) by U2

Most were impressed by U2’s Achtung Baby. Some found Bono and his messiah complex irksome.

The Sting (1973) directed by George Roy Hill

A flipping marvellous story with real heart which has hardly dated at all despite being nearly 50 years old.

A great cast, most notably Robert Shaw, Robert Redford and Paul Newman just superb, along with all the supporting actors

Endorse It

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Paperback by Adam Higginbotham (Book)

Ramblebook by Adam Buxton (Book)

Unorthodox (Netflix)

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (Book)

Corpus Christi (Amazon Prime)

Knives Out (Film)

North by North West (Film)

Camping (Now TV)

Adaptation (Film)

Breaking Bad (TV)

Social Dilemma (Netflix)

The Point (Netflix)

Notes From The Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Reading: Notes From The Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Roland’s summer selections were based around his theme of Marginal. The book under discussion was Fyodor Dostoevsky ’s Notes From The Underground 

With the “rule of six” being introduced prematurely by The Westbourne pub in Hove we had to relocate to Hove beach. Fortunately, the evening of Thursday 10th September 2020 was most clement

Roland was very enthusiastic about Notes From The Underground although he did pause to enquire, what does it all mean? Would others in the HBG be able to answer his question, or indeed share his enthusiasm?

Hamish branded it “turgid” and lambasted it as “heavy going”

Keith, who had recently read Crime and Punishment revealed that book was much better

Nigel stated it was not his cup of tea. The first half is rambling and tedious however things pick up a bit in the second half. His overwhelming emotion on finishing was relief

Robin said he felt more pain and suffering than the bitter, socially inept, thin skinned narrator Underground Man

Tristan observed that the only good thing about the book was that it was just 120 pages, that said it felt more like 300 pages

Nick was relieved it was not just he who had found the book boring and tedious, and added that any profound or illuminating insights into the human condition passed had passed him by

Nick 2.5 / Tristan 3 / Nigel 2 / Keith 5 / Roland 7 / Robin 2 / Hamish 1

Listening: Gain The Axe EP (2019) by Bleep Bloop

At the discussion Roland tried to withdraw the music however we were having none of it. Those who had listened to it were underwhelmed or indeed hostile

Watching: Unabomber: In His Own Words (2020) (Netflix)

We all agree Roland redeemed himself with this Unabomber four part documentary which threw up many interesting issues, a lot of which feel very contemporary. Keith saw parallels with Crime and Punishment and praised the theme song by Man

Endorse It

When Bob Marley Came To Britain (2020) (BBC iPlayer)

The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (2014) (ITV player)

Who They Was (2020) by Gabriel Krauze (Book)

Fontaines DC - A Hero’s Death (2020) (LP)

Fear City (2020) (Netflix)

Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (2020) (Netflix)

The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (2020) (BBC iPlayer)

The Wolfhounds - Electric Music (2020) (LP)

Various Artists - Music from Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service (2019) (LP)

A Bit of a Stretch (2020) by Chris Atkins (Book)

Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm (2020) (BBC Player)

Once Upon a Time in Iraq (2020) (BBC iPlayer)

I May Destroy You (2020) (BBC iPlayer)

20th Century Women (dir by Mike Mills) (2016) (Film) (BBC iPlayer) 

East West Street by Philippe Sands (Book)

Conspiracy Theories (Podcast)

The Mourne Mountains (Ireland)

Edinburgh (City, Scotland)

Big Little Lies (Sky Atlantic)

Go Karting (Pastime)

Blue Anchor (Thai restaurant, Hove)

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (Netflix)

Summer special - 6 August 2020

Look Ma no books

It was all about the sea, the swimming, the sunshine, the glorious evening, top flight conversation and companionship

The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson

A bitter-sweet night for Hove Book Group, not only were we (probably) paying a last visit to Robin’s legendary House of Love before he heads off to Lewes in September, but also Portsmouth FC lost their League One play off semi final to Oxford FC on penalties causing at least two of the group to feel a tad downcast.

A clement evening in the garden accompanied our discussion about Robin’s Ghostly Goings On themed choices

Reading: The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson

Robin explained how he had enjoyed this book despite it being “a bit Scooby Doo”

It was, he opined, an atmospheric, subtle and creepy exploration of madness, acceptance, and the supernatural. 

Shirley Jackson cleverly allows readers to draw their own conclusions as the notorious Hill House starts to affect its visitors

Roland enjoyed Dr. Montague, a scholar looking to research a haunting; his playful assistant Theodora; Luke, the heir to Hill House; and the more fragile and damaged Eleanor however felt a promising start gave way to boredom.

Tristan felt it was boring and full of caricatures. 

Nigel appreciated the growing sense of unease, and how it was slightly leavened by Mrs Dudley the housekeeper, whose pedantic insistence on a strict timetable is very funny, and latterly by Mrs. Montague, wife of the doctor, and her friend Arthur, who are hilarious and believe they are attuned to spiritual vibrations but both lack even the most basic levels of self awareness. 

Nick welcomed the humorous interludes but felt the book collapsed midway

Keith "felt dated"

Keith felt it was dated but ambitious

Hamish felt the humour did little to reduce the growing sense of dread and foreboding, or the impact of a fittingly memorable conclusion. 

The Haunting of Hill House is a brilliantly told old school ghost story where the fear and apprehension primarily reside within the mind. 

Nick 1.5 / Tristan 3 / Nigel 8 / Keith 4 / Roland 2 / Robin 7 / Hamish 6


Listening: Robin’s Ghost Playlist 

R Dean Taylor is a total classic - always gets us out on the floor
Quality maintained with The Specials - always evokes the 80s inner city riots
We’d never given Mumford & Sons floor space having been negatively influenced by the fact that so many people hate them coz they’re privileged - alright we supposed but we couldn’t escape our conditioning




Ghosts by Japan - always been a favourite. Still sounds magnificent. Strange, other worldly vibe and David Sylvain’s vocals are perfect
Ghostpoet is wonderful. Another nice selection
Bruce Springsteen is another artist we’ve never really enjoyed, the odd song aside, The Ghost of Tom Joad is, objectively, fine but still couldn’t get enthused
Ghosts by The Jam is great - but then The Jam are always wonderful.
Ghost Riders in the Sky by Johnny Cash is another firm favourite
Laura Marling is someone we feel we should like more. We do like her but cannot feel passionate about her. Her “Ghosts” is alright. Nick had a ticket to go see her before this infernal lockdown commenced.
Radiohead’s Give Up The Ghost was a new song for many. Rather lovely innit?
Birdy was v pleasant if a bit anodyne - there’s a lot of this stuff around 
Nick Cave’s Ghosteen is too polite and mannered. We like to hear the Bad Seeds rock out
Placebo and Sleeping with Ghosts is a good closer. Another new one to many of us, and a goodie


Watching: The Devil’s Backbone (2001) dir by Guillermo del Toro

A splendid film. The cast are excellent.

Orphanages are inherently scary and creepy. Santi aka "the one who sighs" was well done

The Spanish Civil War on the margins of the story was powerful and convincing

Nick reliving Pompey penalty miss

The orphans were supposed to represent the Republicans 

Subtitles were terrible though - v American (eg chickenshit, faggot etc)

The baddie was proper bad - and we loved the way the gold was ultimately his undoing as he was reunited with Santi in a watery grave

Nick 8 / Tristan 7 / Nigel 8 / Keith 4 / Roland 6 / Robin 8 / Hamish DNF

Endorse It

I May Destroy You (BBC iPlayer)

Beck (musical artist - see Guardian best tracks list)

The Eddy (Netflix)

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) film (Netflix)

Khruangbin (LP)

Graham Swift - We Are Here Now (Book)

Succession (Sky TV)

Seek (Plant and insect app)

The Rings of Saturn (1995) by WG Sebald

On 11 June 2020 the denizens of the Hove Book Group assembled in Keith’s award winning garden for a socially distanced gathering in line with the new lockdown regulations. We discussed Nigel’s themed choices. The theme was The Kingdom of the East Angles

Nigel reminded everyone that The Kingdom of the East Angles was, in the 6th century, a small independent kingdom of Angles, comprising mainly modern day Norfolk and Suffolk, which was established after the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. 

The book’s location inspired the theme.

READ: The Rings of Saturn (1995) by WG Sebald 

Nigel finished it a couple of weeks before the gathering and it had really stuck in his mind - the more he thought about it the better it got. Having quickly abandoned his expectations about what a book should be about, and simply surrendered to Sebald’s journey, he felt richly rewarded. The book’s dreamlike quality suggests it was a subconscious state that informed the writing. Did he even do the walk? Does it matter?

Nick was in awe of Sebald's learning as he wove so much interesting and disparate material into this book. Tristan felt there was far more to The Rings of Saturn than the English landscape. It also takes in the Holocaust, slavery, the decline of herring catches, the destruction of English elms, the lives of silkworms. Hamish liked the photos and the tangents. Robin found it discombobulating. Roland knows the area well, and felt he’d come home and felt so good

Nick 8 / Tristan 5 / Nigel 10 / Keith 9 / Roland 7 / Robin 6.5 / Hamish 7.5

LISTEN: Ambient 4: On Land (1982) by Brian ENO

We all agreed that Brian Eno is one of the good guys with one of the most impressive CVs we can imagine

He invented Ambient music of which this is an example

We’re all  huge fans of this stuff and love nothing more than soundscapes, drones, found sounds etc. All except Tristan who, to an audible gasp from the collective, confessed he hadn’t listened. Tch

That Suffolk inspired some of these pieces meant it was an obvious choice - especially given that one of the pieces is inspired by a visit to Dunwich beach in the early 1960s

The beauty and latent romanticism make On Land a timeless ambient release. The mournful, brooding, haunting quality is the perfect accompaniment to the book, and even, to an extent, the film  

WATCH: The Goob (2014) directed by Guy Myhill

We like independent films, We like British films, We like social realism, and We like films about marginalised communities, and so The Goob ticked all our boxes

Plus there was a bit of Shane Meadows and a bit of Ken Loach - more boxes ticked

The performances were uniformly superb…

Gene Womack is a classic bad man, villain character - an opportunistic and very insecure bully who has to constantly prove himself and assert his dominance. His inability to escape his self constructed hard man image is perfectly captured when he tries to dance at the party the pickers throw. The very essence of toxic masculinity. 

Goob, played by amateur actor Liam Walpole, perfectly captures the awkwardness and insecurity of the school leaver. Likewise his Mum, convinces as the needy, unconfident victim. 

Goob’s insular world is challenged by two outsiders; camp, fun loving Elliot (Oliver Kennedy) who enrages Womack with his frivolity, and summer worker Eva (Marama Corlett) who comes to town to work on the beet farm. 

Both give the impressionable Goob a glimpse of a world outside his own, outside Norfolk, if only he can break free, both mentally and physically

The Goob has a powerful sense of place, which I was hoping for, and evoked the emptiness and, in this instance, the crappiness of life in East Anglia for those will little money and limited opportunities. 

The cinematography is superb. The light, the wide open, desolate spaces are made for cinema 

The soundtrack was great. The Donna Summer I Feel Love dance scene worth the price of admission on its own

The Stock Car racing scene added to the sense of bleakness and futility 

Overall a great example of the powerful light cinema can shine on marginalised lives, it leaves the viewer with plenty to ponder, and - ultimately - a sense of hope that Goob has escaped to a better life

ENDORSE IT

The Last Dance (Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls) documentary on Netflix

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (Film on DVD)

More Or Less BBC Podcast

Patrick Melrose TV adaptation

Kermode and Mayo on BBC4

Life on Mars on BBC iPlayer

Home Coming (Amazon Prime)

Julieta (iPlayer)

Vast of Night (Amazon Prime)

Trumbo (iPlayer)

The 13th (Netflix)

Freakzone (BBC Sounds/Podcast/BBC 6 Radio show)

Dev.D (Netflix)

River Cuckmere in Littlington

Coal Shed food delivery in Brighton