HOVE BOOK GROUP: End of year review 2021

HOVE BOOK GROUP: End of year review 2021

On Thursday 9th December 2021 Hove Book Group took its customary look back over the year that was. Hamish was the only member not in attendance. Sadly he was self isolating having tested positive for C-19. Not only did he miss a most convivial evening he was also not on hand to receive the accolades for nominating our favourite HBG read of 2021

The hardest working book group in Hove

2021 in review…

Favourite read

* 1 Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (Hamish) - 15 *

2 Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (Nigel) - 6

3 Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell (Tristan) - 5

The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis (Nigel) -3

Wilding by Isabella Tree (Robin) - 3

The Zero by Jess Walter (Hamish) - 3

A Small Revolution in Germany by Philip Hensher (Keith) - 3

How to rule the world by Tibor Fischer (Keith) - 2

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (Roland) 2

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth (Nick)

Favourite music

1 Loving The Alien - Bowie playlist (Nigel) - 9 

2 Power Corruption Lies by New Order (Keith) 8

3 Keith’s Sonic Youth playlist (Keith) - 6

Promises by Floating Points (Roland) - 4

Nocturnes by Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus (Hamish) - 4

Is The Comma Important? playlist (Hamish) - 3

You are the Quarry by Morrissey (Nick) - 3

Planet Earth playlist (Robin) - 2

Cut by The Slits (Tristan) - 3

Psycho playlist (Nigel)

Favourite watch

1 Abigail’s Party dir by Mike Leigh (Tristan) - 7

1 Chinatown dir by Roman Polanski (Nick) - 7

1 If…. dir by Lindsay Anderson (Keith) - 7

Aliens dir by James Cameron (Nigel) - 5

That Obscure Object of Desire dir by Luis Buñuel (Hamish) - 3

American Psycho dir by Mary Hannon (Nigel) - 3

Brooklyn dir by John Crowley (Hamish) - 3

Blackfish dir by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Robin) - 1

Troy dir by Wolfgang Petersen (Roland) 

Deep Fakes: Can You Trust Your Eyes? - All 4 (Keith) 

Favourite theme

1 Loving The Alien (Nigel) - 9

1 1970s Britain (Tristan) - 9

2 Cancel Culture (Nick) - 8

Psycho (Nigel) - 6

Power Corruption and Lies (Keith) - 4

Rebellious Youth (Keith) - 3

How to Save the Planet (Robin) - 1

Thumbs up to America (Hamish)

Troy (Roland)

Terrorism (Hamish)

Best book you read in 2021 (could be a Book Group choice or something else)

Throw Me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness (Nigel)

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (Roland) 

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (Robin + Tristan)

One, Two, Three, Four - The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown (Nick)

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Hamish)

Memorable 2021 HBG moments

Being able to meet in person (Robin)

Disembodiment of James Bond myth (Roland)

It is a reminder that talking with subjects other than the pandemic is a very healthy thing to do (Nick)

The ongoing debate about album of the year, Floating Points. Getting back in the pub. Seeing you all in the flesh (not literally thankfully!) (Hamish)

Beach gathering, or was that last year? (Tristan)

Best thing about Book Group in 2021

An oasis of easy companionship in a busy and confusing world (Nigel)

Cognitive synchronisation between Nigel and Roland (Roland)

The participants (Robin)

Getting out of the house was good - going to the beach and the beer garden (Nick)

Best set of book choices in many a year - keep it up dudes!! (Hamish)

Just being there - a refuge in this mad covid-ridden world (Keith)

Signal group chat (Tristan)

What defined 2021 for you (news item, something personal etc.)

Covid and a return to relative normality - long may it continue (Nigel)

Acceptance of the glorious mundane (Roland)

Head in the sand nature of politicians (Robin)

Getting back out there - from seeing gigs to travelling for work again. Just not always being a head on a zoom call (Nick)

Hey What!, Water Snails, Black Country, Vaccination, Bewicks Swan, Cathedrals, New Road, Dukes at Komedia, Vurger (Hamish)

New job (Keith)

Pandemic (Tristan)

How do we make Book Group even better?

A reliably quiet and comfortable venue (Nigel)

To solemnly swear never to never alter its ranks (Roland)

The endless quest for the right pub (Robin)

I say the same every year so won't repeat (Nick)

Make sure we do the Devil’s Dyke trip even if it’s chilly (Tristan)

Visit Lewes (Hamish)

What else do you want to say?

HBG will be 17 years old in January 2022 (Nigel)

Marvellous (Robin)

Well done all! (Nick)

Watch the film Hit The Road, an Iranian masterpiece. I love you all. And Happy Christmas! (Hamish)

Just a hearty thank you (Keith)

Nowt (Tristan)

Boy Parts (2020) by Eliza Clark

 Boy Parts (2020) by Eliza Clark

Nigel wanted to take HBG back into more unfamiliar territory. HBG is old, southern and male and so it was time to experience life for someone who is young, northern and female. An inverse HBG if you will.

*Theme - Psycho*

Irina is probably a psycho and so the theme was born.

READ: Boy Parts (2020) by Eliza Clark

Eliza Clark's debut novel is powerful and subversive and everyone was impressed. Some felt that the novel did not maintain its strong start and the last third was less satisfying. 

The hard bitten, angry and cynical Irina, a young graduate artist, photographs men she meets. During the photography sessions she wields power and control. Irina's first person narration, all in a credible, modern vernacular, gets ever more extreme and unreliable as the story unfolds.

Boy Parts most closely resembles Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho. The violence here might not be quite so full on however the exploration of sexual assault, narcissism, rage, gaslighting, emotional manipulation, eating disorders, and drug abuse is every bit as provocative and blackly comedic.

Having a female psycho subverts the predatory stereotype. Irina is a stunning, monstrous protagonist and Boy Parts is dark and disturbing. We can't wait to discover what Eliza Clark does next.

Nick 7 / Tristan 8.5 / Nigel 8 / Keith 7 / Roland 9 / Robin 8.5 / Hamish 7

LISTEN: Psycho playlist

Psycho Killer is one of the greatest songs of all time

Talking Heads are one of the greatest bands of all time

The rest are old favourites with psycho in the title - annoyingly Spotify was missing a few Nigel would have included. 

WATCH: American Psycho (2000) dir by Mary Harron

Many prominent feminists expressed outrage at the original novel

After director Mary Harron turned it into a film it became one of the most prominent works of feminist cinema of the early 2000s

The dark comedy offers a biting, satirical look at toxic masculinity

It’s a world where the other men around Bateman are so oblivious to his psychotic tendencies that he literally gets away with murder

When the film came out in 2000 Christian Bale was nowhere near as well known and his performance was a big part of establishing him as an A lister

Stand up really well

Nick - / Tristan 8 / Nigel 9 / Keith 8 / Roland 8.5 / Robin 7 / Hamish 7

HBG endorse it: 19 Oct 2021 ->

Guilt (BBC iPlayer)

Joker (2019) dir by Todd Phillips (Prime)

Stath Lets Flats (All4)

Add to Playlist (BBC Sounds)

The Trick (BBC iPlayer)

Squid Game (Netflix)

Another Round (Film)

The Flight Attendant (NowTV)

Succession - Season 3 (NowTV)

Owning a football club

Yussef Dayes live in concert

My Name (Netflix)

Fatboy Slim in concert

The Lighthouse (Netflix)

Reservation Dogs (Disney +)

A Small Revolution in Germany (2020) by Philip Hensher

Keith had torn a review of this book out of the newspaper and when he later pondered this crumpled fragment he knew it was the perfect choice for HBG and so it was that his Rebellious Youth theme was born

READ: A Small Revolution in Germany (2020) by Philip Hensher

The book’s central question seems to be…

Can you age without compromising your values and political beliefs? 

Or is it just a satire on the left? 

Or is it holding a mirror up to a more widespread disillusionment with politics and politicians? 

Or asking how far people will go in pursuit of their own ambitions? 

One former comrade appears totally ruthless in a desire for power and self advancement.

Do most of Spike’s old friends sell out for the sake of power, or have they simply grown up? 

And is the murder of Tracey/Alex significant in this regard?

Keith found a scrap of paper

So many questions to ponder? But is that what Philip Hensher intended? Or is it a failure of the novel that it is so ambiguous and we could not come up with a satisfactory answer?

Whilst no one was proclaiming this as any kind of masterpiece we all found things to enjoy, some more than others

Nick 5.5 / Tristan 7.5 / Nigel 6 / Keith 7 / Roland 7.5 / Robin 5 / Hamish 7.5

LISTEN: Keith’s Sonic Youth playlist

Everyone found plenty to enjoy in Keith’s Sonic Youth playlist. Some of us were old SY fans, others were just discovering them. Nick and Hamish felt they were our generation’s Velvet Underground. High praise

WATCH: If… (1968) directed by Lindsay Anderson

Youth versus tradition and authority. If... is an absorbing, compelling and surprising modern classic from Lindsay Anderson which skewers the English public school experience. The tradition of the public school collides with the tumult of the late 1960s. Coincidentally If…. premiered soon after the events of May 1968 in Paris. 

Roland takes aim at "If...."

Malcolm McDowell captivates in his screen debut. The rest of the cast are pretty amazing too.

Despite the film’s deserved classic status not everyone was feeling the love. Both Hamish and Roland described it as “awful”. 

The rest of us were in thrall to its genius.

Endorse it

Guilt (BBC iPlayer)

Squid Game (Netflix)

Worthing Football Club

Rival Consoles (Concert)

The Specials (Concert)

Stasiland (Book)

Four Thousand Weeks: Embrace Your Limits. Change Your Life by Oliver Burkeman (Book)

The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter

Hamish started with the music and, via the band themselves, eventually settled on these terrorism themed selections.

READ:  The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter 

The Zero is a brilliant novel about 9/11

Brian Remy is a brilliant creation and his shattered consciousness is a superb storytelling device

The moments of rejoining scenes between gaps also inspire some great blackly comedic moments. Brian’s baffled questions were interpreted as humorous, wise or merely rhetorical

In the Q&A at the back of the book Jess Walter explains how he wanted Brian Remy to be an unwilling hero, and wanted him to feel how most people felt after the attacks: confused and frightened, a helpless person with good intentions.

Nothing makes sense: torturing suspects, sleeping with his girlfriend's boss, wandering a vast warehouse for processing scraps of paper, mysterious figures handing him envelopes etc. 

In less capable hands this could easily have gone awry but Jess Walter pulls if off and, in doing so, created a mesmeric, harrowing, funny, provocative, and brilliant tour de force.

There was a lot of positivity about The Zero:

Hamish praised its prescience,
Keith the memory loss,
Robin was fascinated but also frustrated,
Tristan described the style as a brilliant storytelling device, Nigel was blown away by it,
Roland acknowledged the brilliance but also found it a struggle,
and Nick listened to an audible book with awful narration so felt unable to rate it fairly. 

Nick - / Tristan 7.5 / Nigel 9 / Keith 7 / Roland 7 / Robin 7.5 / Hamish 8

LISTEN: Nocturnes (2020) by Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus

Opening song, I Carry The Sun, is a real charmer and not what any of us was expecting given how Hamish described them, via their record company, as nutters and that they feature on Maconie’s The Freak Zone. 

The more ambient fare was also well received although Tristan found it a little deflating.

WATCH: That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) directed by Luis Buñuel

That Obscure Object of Desire tells the story of Mathieu (Fernando Rey), the frustrated, unrequited, ageing rich Lothario, and Conchita (played alternately by Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina). Conchita’s teasing behaviour ultimately results in a beating from Mathieu and it is this that convinces Conchita that Mathieu truly loves her and is a worthy partner. This after spurned him numerous times for buying her lavish gifts including houses. 

The recurring backdrop of terrorist violence and bombings are never explored. 

All of us found quite a bit to enjoy and appreciate in this film, all except Robin who was fuming. Robin described this as the worst film we have ever watched and it made him really angry. He likened the scenes in the train compartment to a sketch on The Two Ronnies. Ouch. Take that Luis Buñuel. There’s our most memorable HBG moment of 2021 right there.

Endorse it

9/11: Inside the Presidents War Room (BBC iPlayer)

Deceit documentary (All4)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019) dir by Quentin Tarantino (Film - Netflix)

The Curiously Specific Book Podcast

Victorious Festival (Portsmouth)

Free Fire (2016) directed by Ben Wheatley (Film - Prime)

American Psycho at 30 (Radio about the Brett Easton Ellis book - BBC Sounds)

The Devil All the Time (2020) dir by Antonio Campos (Film - Netflix)

You Were Never Really Here (2017) dir by Lynne Ramsay (Film - Amazon Prime)

The Dead Don't Die (2019) dir by Jim Jarmusch (Film - Netflix)

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (Book)

The Art of Self-Defense (2019) dir by Riley Stearns (Film - Netflix)

Bad Trip (2021) Dir by Kitao Sakurai (Film - Netflix)

Instructions for a Heatwave (2013) by Maggie O’Farrell

*1970s Britain*

On Wednesday 21st July 2021 we met on the beach at Hove having made abandoned our plan to cycle to Devils Dyke after numbers dwindled. 

We discussed Tristan’s 1970s Britain choices

READ: Instructions for a Heatwave (2013) by Maggie O’Farrell

There was much love for this book. Most gushed about its many perceived merits. Even the naysayers enjoyed it but felt it was a tad predictable and lacking any jeopardy.

Nick 9 / Tristan 9 / Nigel 6 / Keith 8 / Roland 6 / Robin 7 / Hamish 9

LISTEN: Cut (1979) by The Slits

Most had barely listened to this seminal album. The Dennis Bovell production is what elevates it. The earlier Peel Sessions by The Slits show how transformational Dennis Bovell was. And of course The Slits blazed a trail for women everywhere. The stunning cover of I Heard It Through the Grapevine  takes the original song in a totally different direction.

WATCH: Abigail’s Party (1977) directed by Mike Leigh (DVD)

We all loved this perfect fit with the theme

Beverley is the epitome of the nightmare suburban housewife: crass, tactless, lacking self awareness and seething with a thwarted energy. 

A razor sharp deconstruction of subtle class dynamics too.

Interestingly Dennis Potter concluded that, for all its merits, it was sneering and vindictive. Which perhaps fits with Mike Leigh’s agenda? Either way it’s a masterpiece.

ENDORSE IT

Goodwood Festival of Speed

West Cork podcast + Netflix series

Stewart Lee: Unreliable narrator (BBC Sounds)

Bob Dylan: Verbatim (BBC Sounds)

NEXT TIME

Next time out we are discussing Hamish’s choices

Theme to be revealed (apparently it’s quite obvious and stems from the film)

READ:  The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter 

LISTEN: Nocturnes (2020) by Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus

WATCH: That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) directed by Luis Buñuel

Date of discussion: Thursday 9th September 2021

Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth

The hardest working book group in Hove assembled on Thursday 24th June 2021 in the modern environs of Nick’s space age kitchen for his Cancel Culture themed selections starting with…

READING: Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth

Nick is a fan of Philip Roth but confessed this was his first “early work” and it was a bit ho hum compared with his majestic late period. 

Keith and Robin continued to damn Portnoy with feint praise.

Nigel felt it was akin to being trapped in a lift with an angry, talkative, boring and unfunny Woody Allen. The monologue was meandering and whiny. What was presumably shocking and groundbreaking in 1969 has not aged well. 

Roland - stick or twist? The eternal dilemma

Tristan quite liked elements of it and gave it an extra point for the ending punchline which made him laugh.

Hamish described it as dire before lambasting it for its many shortcomings.

Roland, ever the maverick, loved it and related to the binary dilemma of sticking with a sexually attractive partner versus someone with more cerebral charms.

Nick 5 / Tristan 6 / Nigel 3 / Keith 6 / Roland 9 / Robin 5.5 / Hamish 26

LISTENING: You Are The Quarry (2004) by Morrissey

Nick - unforgivable

Nick feels it is harder to forgive musicians for their shortcomings and dubious political views than it is writers and film makers. Roland called it a dud whilst the rest of us ranged from neutral to outright fans of the music. 

WATCHING: Chinatown (1974) directed by Roman Polanski

Some of us heralded this a noir masterpiece with a solid and charismatic Jack Nicholson performance at its core, others felt it was a tad disappointing. None could overlook the unforgivable conduct and behaviour of director Roman Polanski

HBG endorse it: 28 May 2021 - 24 June 2021

Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Afternoon tea at the post office in Glynde, Sussex

Stewart Lee - Unreliable Narrator (BBC podcast)

Discounted breakfast at Hixon Green in Lewes and Hove

Time (BBC iPlayer)

Together (BBC iPlayer)

Marlet Kayak Club on Brighton seafront

Next time out we are discussing Tristan's choices….

*1970s Britain*

READ: Instructions for a Heatwave (2013) by Maggie O’Farrell

LISTEN: Cut (1979) by The Slits

WATCH: Abigail’s Party (1977) directed by Mike Leigh (DVD)

Date of meeting: Wednesday 21st July 2021

Hamish will be unveiling the choices for Thursday 9th September 2021

The Silence of the Girls (2018) by Pat Barker

Hove’s most celebrated literary salon assembled on Thursday 27th May 2021 in the convivial surrounds of a fashionable conservatory to celebrate Roland’s Troy themed selections starting with…

READING: The Silence of the Girls (2018) by Pat Barker

Roland confessed to slight disappointment and Hamish, juices flowing given the Regeneration trilogy was also a little sniffy. 

Nigel felt it was an inspired idea to tell the story with female voices in this male dominated war. A masterstroke. We witness a whole new level of unpleasantness through the eyes of the women claimed as part of the bounty of war. These women were turned into slaves whilst having to process the trauma of their new masters having destroyed their cities, and killed their fathers, brothers and children. By viewing legends from a different perspective, Pat Barker allows us to rethink history. The Gods are there in the background however the primary focus is the cost of wars waged by men and the harsh reality of conquest and slavery.

Robin dismissed it as “a turkey” 

Nick, by contrast, dubbed it “really great” and praised Pat Barker’s brilliance at evoking the visceral horrors of war before describing this as an earthy, clever and credible novel.

Alas Keith could not keep the love going and found it passable if a little unsatisfactory

Thankfully Tristan was on hand to laud a brilliant reinterpretation. Some sections are genuinely gripping and vivid, for example a section when a plague ravages the prison camp, or some of the blood-drenched battle scenes.

Nick 8 / Tristan 10 / Nigel 7 / Keith 5 / Roland 7 / Robin 3 / Hamish 6

LISTENING: Promises (2021) by Floating Points

Most of us could barely discern much difference between Movements 1 to 5. After Movement 6 it was easier to discern some progression but by that time wewere losing the will to live. All except Nick that is, who heralded this as “the best thing HBG have ever done”. Were drugs involved? Seems likely.

Another turkey

WATCHING: Troy (2004) directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Prime / DVD)

Troy has the production values of 1954 rather than 2004. Bum numbingly long for no good reason, boring, ridiculous and dated. A load of old codswallop. Wooden horse, wooden acting. Robin again broke out the T word - it’s a turkey. 

HBG endorse it: 23 April 2021 - 27 May 2021

Nomadland (film)

Motherland (BBC iPlayer)

This Time With Alan Partridge (BBC iPlayer)

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Steuart (Book/audiobook)

Halston (Netflix)

Next time out we are discussing Nick's choices….

*Cancel Culture*

READ: Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth

LISTEN: You Are The Quarry (2004) by Morrissey

WATCH: Chinatown (1974) directed by Roland Polanski (DVD)

Date of meeting: Thursday 24th June 2021

Tristan will be unveiling the choices for 22nd July 2021

Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm (2018) by Isabel Tree

On 22 April 2021 we met in a Hove conservatory to discuss Robin’s How To Save The Planet themed choices

READ: Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm (2018) by Isabel Tree

LISTEN: Planet Earth playlist 

WATCH: Blackfish (2013) directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Netflix)

READ: Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm (2018) by Isabel Tree

Robin declared this was fabulous and to varying degrees we all agreed with one outlier. Yep, Nick labelled this “pedestrian” with insufficient sex between Isabella and Charlie. Strange but true.

Wilding (2018) is Isabella Tree's account of how the Knepp estate in West Sussex changed from being a farm to a more natural environment. It's wonderful. Inspiring, informative and passionate. We learnt so much about how nature, left to its own devices, can transform an estate laid bare after decades of intensive agriculture into a rich, diverse ecosystem.

Isabella and her husband Charlie Burrell have also introduced Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle, red deer and Tamworth pigs which are allowed to roam free on their aristocratic estate. The animals live out in the open all year round and give birth unassisted by humans. Numerous plants, including many rare ones, have returned together with trees, insects, bats and many other organisms. As the herbicides and pesticides of the farm disappear the habitats are regaining some equilibrium. Most surprising is the increase in the variety and abundance of birds including nightingales and turtle doves whose dwindling numbers have made them endangered. 

Needless to say it has not all been plain sailing and Isabella details a plethora of issues. These include the response of their neighbours, the limited thinking and attitudes of some conservationists, the difficultly in getting funding, and the behaviour of some visitors to the estate. Nevertheless what ultimately emerges is a compelling and reasoned argument in favour of incentivising more landowners to give some of their land back to nature. 

Nick 6 / Tristan 8 / Nigel 9 / Keith 9 / Roland 9 / Robin 10 / Hamish 8

LISTENED: Planet Earth playlist 

An interesting and eclectic collection most of which were familiar to the group. Some tunes just seemed to refer to the planet whilst others had an explicitly environmental or ecological subtext. The artist earth was included because or their name. The lyrics of Radiohead’s Idioteque were ambiguous. Possibly about nuclear war? Likewise UB40’s The Earth Dies Screaming. Is that about war? Or what?

Anyway, we all found plenty to enjoy. Favourites included Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, and Louie Armstrong. Marvin Gaye in particular is a gem and his What’s Going On album would also have made a good choice for this theme.

WATCHED: Blackfish (2013) directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Netflix)

Hard-hitting, grim and depressing. We found it hard to dwell on humanity’s treatment of animals as we find it so awful and so completely unnecessary

We hope one day there will be no zoos, circuses with animals, wet markets, dairy farming, meat farming, fishing, as it’s now beyond question that animals have complex emotional lives and deserve the same respect as humans. 

HBG endorse it: 19 March 2021 - 22 April 2021

Molly’s Game (Netflix)

Line of Duty (BBC iPlayer)

1234 by Craig Brown (Book/audiobook)

Seaspiracy (Netflix)

Walk around deserted Shermanbury Place nr Henfield, West Sussex

Obama & Springsteen podcast

The Seek app

Promising Young Women (Sky)

Come As You Are (Sky)

Blinded By The Light (Prime)

Next time out we are discussing Roland's choices….

*Troy*

READ: The Silence of the Girls (2018) by Pat Barker

LISTEN: Promises (2021) by Floating Points

WATCH: Troy (2004) directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Prime / DVD)

Date of meeting: Thursday 27th May 2021

Nick will be unveiling the choices for Thursday 24th June 2021