The Golden Gate (1986) by Vikram Seth

On Wednesday 30th January 2019 we discussed Tristan’s "Three Takes on ‘Frisco" themed choices 

Three Takes on 'Frisco

BOOK: The Golden Gate (1986) by Vikram Seth

The Golden Gate (1986) is the first novel by poet and novelist Vikram Seth. 

The work is a novel in verse composed of 590 Onegin stanzas (sonnets written in iambic tetrameter, with the rhyme scheme following the ABABCCDDEFFEGG pattern of Eugene Onegin). 

It was inspired by Charles Johnston's translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

You may not be surprised to learn that Tristan was motivated by pretentious oneupmanship. Tristan embraced the rhythm of the 590 Onegin stanzas and found it was good.

What did the rest of Hove’s finest make of it?

Nick was surprised that he didn’t hate it. Keith didn’t want to read it but was won over. Robin didn’t know what he thought - he could have given it 10 and could have given it 0 (he gave it 0). Roland was dreading it and found it hard work. Nigel admired the achievement but struggled with the reality. 

Nick 7.5 / Tristan 6.5 / Nigel 4 / Keith 7 / Roland 4 / Robin 0 

MUSIC: Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills (1968)

Cheap Thrills is a studio album by American rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. It was their last album with Janis Joplin as lead singer. For Cheap Thrills, the band and producer John Simon incorporated recordings of crowd noise to give the impression of a live album, for which it was subsequently mistaken by listeners. Only the final song, a cover of "Ball and Chain", had been recorded live (at The Fillmore in San Francisco). Cheap Thrills reached number one on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks in 1968

HBG damned it with feint praise. Most hadn’t even listened to it, including Tristan who chose it. Big Brother and the Holding Company do lay it on a bit thick: all the po-faced histrionics, Janis Joplin’s caterwauling, and the full on guitar shredding blues solos are just too much.


FILM: Bullitt (1968) directed by Peter Yates

Bullitt is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner was based on the 1963 novel, Mute Witness, by Robert L. Fish, writing under the pseudonym Robert L. Pike. Lalo Schifrin wrote the original jazz-inspired score, arranged for brass and percussion. Robert Duvall has a small role as a cab driver who provides information to McQueen.

Tristan dismissed it as a bit rubbish but with good period detail. Keith blimmin loved it. Robin thought it was dated but OK. Roland was amused but in a bad way. Nick stated you'd have to have a heart of stone not to love this film. The second best car chase after French Connection. Nigel declared it an absolute classic that still stands up really well. The Lalo Schifrin score and the moody SF location shots are brilliant. The wide aperture shots from a distance work brilliantly, as do some of the sections filmed in reflections, it all creates quite an arty aesthetic which makes, what might otherwise be a somewhat routine police procedural, both compelling and captivating to look at. FUN TRIV…. the second month running Nigel has acquired the soundtrack music

Nick 9 / Tristan 6 / Nigel 9 / Keith 10 / Roland 4 / Robin 6

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We are currently endorsing…

The Water Knife book

The Wind Up Girl book

Weezer - Weezer (Teal album)

The Favourite film

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Widows film  

Dave Roberts

Sunderland Til I Die (Netflix)

Manchester By Sea film

Cassandra Drake by Posy Simmonds

The Wife film

Christopher Robin film

Stan and Ollie film

And with that we went back to stockpiling in readiness for no deal brexit

Never Mind (1992) by Edward St Aubyn

BOOK: Never Mind (1992) by Edward St Aubyn

On Thursday 3rd January 2019 we discussed Nick's “English Upper Class Debauchery” themed choices 

Nick explained how Never Mind (1992), winner of the Betty Trask Award, was the starting point for his “English Upper Class Debauchery” theme

Never Mind is the first in Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, recently adapted for TV for Sky Atlantic and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as aristocratic addict, Patrick.

Nick stressed how important it is to read the other four books in the series and how they are all, including Never Mind, beautifully written. To an audible exclamation of shock, Nick had no hesitation in lavishing the full 10 on St Aubyn's series opener.

One shocking episode dominates this book and everyone in the group was appalled by it. At the age of five, St Aubyn was raped by his father. This is documented in this first book. The abuse continued for three years, until the eight-year-old St Aubyn somehow persuaded his father, who was then almost 60, to stop. His mother claimed to know nothing of the abuse when he told her decades later. St Aubyn was a drug addict from the age of 16 to 28. This phase is charted in his remarkable second novel, Bad News. 

All of us acclaimed this book. Some of us had read further into the series. Nigel has read the entire series and he stated it is only as a cumulative experience that these Patrick Melrose novels really work. Treat the five short Patrick Melrose novels as one long book and you will enjoy a reading experience to rival Anthony Powell's magnificent A Dance To The Music Of Time - the highest praise Nigel could give. That said, he was least impressed by this book, the series opener, which was reflected in his rating (out of ten)...

Nick 10 / Tristan 9 / Nigel 7 / Keith 8 / Roland 9 / Robin 8.5 

MUSIC: Roxy Music - Avalon (1982)

Nick soundtracked his “English Upper Class Debauchery” themed choices with the languid sound of Bryan Ferry and his Roxy Music at their commercial peak

Avalon is the eighth and final studio album by Roxy Music. Released in May 1982, it was recorded in 1981–82 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of the band's later work. 

Somewhat surprisingly most dismissed it as a bit boring - the two big hit singles notwithstanding. Nigel, ever the contrarian, came to it feeling much the same way but, having listened to it extensively, was a complete convert to its charms, heralding the blend of experimentation with the smoother stylings. 

It was much the same story with...

FILM: High-Rise (2015) directed by Ben Wheatley

High-Rise is a 2015 British dystopian drama directed by Ben Wheatley, starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, and Elisabeth Moss. It was produced by Jeremy Thomas through his production company Recorded Picture Company. Its screenplay was written by Amy Jump and based on the 1975 novel High-Rise by British writer J. G. Ballard. 

Roland enjoys a quiet night in watching High-Rise

The film is set in a luxury tower block during the 1970s. Featuring a wealth of modern conveniences, the building allows its residents to become gradually uninterested in the outside world. The infrastructure begins to fail and tensions between residents become apparent, and the building soon descends into chaos.

Most were bored and underwhelmed. Nigel heralded it a cinematic masterclass.

ENDORSE IT

We are currently endorsing...

Banksy exhibition in Madrid
Roma (Netflix)
The Death of Stalin (Film)
Sunderland Til I Die (Netflix)
Click and Collect (iPlayer)
Paddington 2 (Film)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix)
i360 (Brighton tourist attraction)
1927: The Animals & Children Took To The Streets (Show at The Old Market, Hove)
That Peter Crouch Podcast

2018: End of year review

2018: End of year review

The hardest working book group in Hove take a well earned break and take stock of 2018

We met at Planet India in Hove on Thursday 6 December 2018 to eat delicious curry, chat shit, and unveil the best of the year.

We agreed to review the scoring process and the methodology for next year after Tristan had established that the best book was, in fact, not the best book at all.

A travesty and a sham, he yelled, whilst gesticulating wildly with a chapati in his hand. 

For now though this will have to do

Our favourite books we discussed in 2018

1/ The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje - 15

2/ The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood - 12
3/ Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile (2017) by Adelle Stripe - 7
5=/ Wake In Fright (1961) by Kenneth Cook - 6
5=/ Submission (2015) by Michel Houellebecq - 6
6/ Nightmare in Berlin (1947) by Hans Fallada - 5
8=/ Under Major Domo Minor (2015) by Patrick deWitt - 3
8=/ The Lesser Bohemians (2016) by Eimear McBride - 3
9/ Waterland (1983) by Graham Swift - 2

10/ The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie - 0


2. Our favourite musical selections we discussed in 2018

1=/ Thatcher’s Britain playlist - 16
1=/ Max Richter - Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works (2017) - 16

3. Dog Man Star (1994) by Suede - 11
4. Robin’s Summertime playlist - 5
5. Billy Bragg and Wilco ‘Mermaid Avenue’ (1998) - 3
6. I, Gemini (2016) by Let’s Eat Grandma - 1
7. A Certain Ratio 'I’d Like To See You Again' - 1
8. “All That Glitters…” playlist - 2

10=/ The Birthday Party - The Bad Seed EP (1983) - 0
10=/ Max Cooper - One Hundred Billion Sparks (2018) - 0


3. Our favourite film/DVDs we discussed in 2018

1/ Wake In Fright (1971) directed by Ted Kotcheff - 16

2/ Blade Runner 2049 (2017) dir by Denis Villeneuve - 10
4=/ The Arbor (2010) dir by Clio Barnard - 9
4=/ Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (2014) dir by Guillaume Nicloux - 9
6/ Heavenly Creatures (1994) directed by Peter Jackson - 5
7/ The Levelling directed by Hope Dickson Leach (2018) - 4
8/ Shutter Island (1994) directed by Martin Scorsese - 1

Princess Cyd (2017) directed by Stephen Cone - 0
A Company of Wolves (1984) directed by Neil Jordan - 0
Howards End dir by James Ivory (1992) - 0

4. Our favourite unifying themes of 2018

1/ It’s Grim Up North (aka Thatcher’s Britain) (aka Andrea Dunbar) - 15

2/ Descent Into Hell (aka Aussie Noir) - 13
3/ Dystopian Futures - 8
4/ Rural Idylls - 6
5/ Twisted Fairytales - 4
6/ Michel Houellebecq/Max Richter - 3

9=/ A Slice of Old English Sponge - 0
9=/ Criminality and Art / All that Glitters - 0
9=/ Awakenings - 0

5. Best book you read this year

Nigel - Restoration (+ sequel Merivel) by Rose Tremain
Roland - Waterland by Graham Swift
Robin - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Nick - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Keith - Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Tristan - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr


6. What defined 2018 for you

Nigel - No one event or happening (except maybe World Cup 2018) but, the ongoing self harming of Brexit aside, it’s been a really lovely year which I feel privileged to have enjoyed

Roland - Mellowing into older age

Robin - David Byrne gig, Bundesliga match, Holly's exam results, anti-trump march

Nick - Brexit

Keith - ‘I was looking for a job and then I found a job...’

Tristan - Fucking fucking Brexit shitstorm


7. Best thing about Book Group in 2018

Nigel - We’ve upped our game - some really great choices with no real stinkers and even the ones I didn’t necessarily enjoy I was glad to have read/listened/watched PLUS it’s a lovely group and Roland’s fitted right in

Roland - Savouring splendid artistic works I would never otherwise sample + Celebrating our musical differences. Some like droning indie/rock others like melodic jazz and never the twain shall meet!

Robin - Mid summer book club at Devil's Dyke

Nick - A good all round selection this year - good unifying themes

Keith - Continued excellence in our cultural exchanges. My life is richer for it.

Tristan - The "you can choose the venue" innovation. Although not many people have taken up the option.


8. How we make Book Group even better

Nigel - No need to gild the lily aka don’t fuck with perfection

Roland - Maybe some carefully curated/chosen new blood?

Robin - An extra week to read the book - no surprise there!

Keith - Bring back Hamish

Tristan - Don't include the ratings per-person per-month in the poll. That way people are not influenced by their previous ratings, and you can reveal the comparison when you announce the poll to show the difference between votes-in-the-moment and end-of-year.


9. What else..

Nigel - Keep on keeping on
Robin - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!
Keith - TBA
Tristan - Keep up the great organising and documenting


OPTIONAL EXTRAS

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Nigel - Confidence Man - Confident Music for Confident People (another brilliant year with so many super duper songs and albums)

SONGS OF THE YEAR
Nigel - Confidence Man - Catch My Breath / Portugal. The Man - So Young / The Vaccines - I Can’t Quit

GIGS OF THE YEAR
Nigel - Idles at The Concorde / John Cooper Clarke at The Dome
Nick - Sons of Kemet
Tristan - Baloji

CULTURAL HAPPENINGS OF THE YEAR (best of the rest - books, TV, films, festivals etc)

Nigel - Better Call Saul (TV) / End of the Road 2018 (Festival) / World Cup 2018 (Football) / Irvine Welsh - Dead Men’s Trousers (Book)

Nick - Widows (Film)

Tristan - Screening of La Haine, with live soundtrack by Asian Dub Foundation

Waterland (1983) by Graham Swift

On Thursday 15th November 2018 we met to discuss Roland's choices

BOOK: Waterland (1983) by Graham Swift

Murder, incest, guilt, insanity, Ale and Eels. Hard to imagine not loving a book with themes like that eh? Or is it?

Roland had chosen Waterland as part of his Rural Idylls theme

Roland was, to use the modern parlance, blown away.

Graham Swift's Fenland of the mind spans more than 200 years in the lives of its haunted narrator and his forebears. Just as Tom Crick, the passionate teacher, tried to inspire his pupils, so Roland, eyes gleaming, tried to persuade the Hove Book Group of its merits. It’s a fantastic book that is imbued with the atmosphere of its surroundings. It does for the Fens what Hardy does for Wessex, or Daphne Du Maurier does for Cornwall. Come lose yourself among the eels and reeds of eastern England, exalted Roland.

Some were less convinced by the books merit’s. All agreed it was undeniably an impressive and ambitious novel which ruminates upon the relentless tide of change and humanity’s subsequent shifting fortunes. It’s also firmly rooted in the watery world of the East Anglian Fens, the rich and fertile flood plains, in which its inhabitants are forever locked in an ongoing battle with water, and which can never be comprehensively won by either side and yet for all the book’s watery pleasures some were unable to stay immersed. Its charms never truly grabbed some: the non linear structure, multiple narratives, and contrasting styles, were just too jarring. Clever, ambitious and diverse, but for some it was a book we admired more than enjoyed. As dull as the River Ouse? Well, for some, perhaps yes….

Tristan 8/10 - Nick 6/10 - Keith 9/10 - Roland 10/10 - Nigel 6/10 - Robin 7/10

MUSIC: Max Cooper - One Hundred Billion Sparks (2018)

Roland recommends headphones and mind altering substances to truly appreciate One Hundred Billion Sparks. Hove Book Group, being a straight edge outfit, eschew chemical shortcuts when it comes to musical appreciation.

According to Max, every track on the LP is a score to a visual story stemming from this system of one hundred billion sparking neurones, which create us. Few picked that up from listening to it however it is all very pleasant. There’s a lot of this electronica knocking about. At one time some of us were quite taken with it. Four Tet and their ilk. We're slightly less enamoured of it now, having swung back towards hooks and lyrics and groove but, yeah, most were happy to have it playing whilst we went about our business.

Nick dubbed it “a poor man’s Boards of Canada” - take that Max

FILM: The Levelling (2017) directed by Hope Dickson Leach

Somerset, England. Trainee veterinarian Clover Catto returns to the farm where she grew up after hearing news that her brother Harry has died in what appears to be a suicide. Finding the family home in a state of horrendous disrepair following the 2014 floods that devastated the area, Clover is forced to confront her father Aubrey about the farm, the livestock and, crucially, the details surrounding Harry's death. Clover's discoveries send her on an emotional journey of reckoning with her family, her childhood and herself.

Most in the group concluded we’d far rather watch something like this than a blockbuster, or an action type film. Meditative, low-key, English, unusual, interesting context, enigmatic.

That said, not ideal content for a non meat eater

ENDORSE IT

They Shall Not Grow Old (Film)

Cider With Rose by Laurie Lee (Book)

Sons of Kemet (Jazz group)

Widows (Film)

Baloji (Pop group)

Killing Eve (TV show)

David Byrne (Live)

Go Go Penguin (Pop group)

Golem (BBC TV programme)

Oliver Burkeman podcast

Wake In Fright (1961) by Kenneth Cook

On Thursday 11th October 2018 we met to discuss Nigel’s “Descent Into Hell” (aka “Aussie Noir”) theme

BOOK: Wake In Fright (1961) by Kenneth Cook



Wake In Fright was praised to the hilt by everyone

A mere 174 pages it packs a mighty punch. Written in 1961, it powerfully relates John Grant's descent into hell, here also known as outback town Bundanyabba ("the Yabba"). The people of the Yabba feel compelled to subsume any outsiders into their world. The ghastly hospitality of the local yokels provide the guileless fish-out-of-water John Grant with the worst days of his short life and from which he is powerless to escape.

'Wake In Fright' delivers a vivid sense of place - the heat, the light, the dust, the savagery, and the scale - are all powerfully rendered.

In the same way that once seen David Lynch's 'Blue Velvet' is never forgotten, so it with 'Wake In Fright'. There are some extraordinary scenes - truly horrific and nightmarish despite the banal and all too plausible set up. The outback is shown in all its weirdness - stark, hallucinogenic and brutal. 

Tristan 7/10 - Nick 7/10 - Keith 8/10 - Roland 9/10 - Nigel 10/10 - Robin 7/10



FILM: Wake In Fright (1971) 

The film adapation was also a bit hit with the denizens of HBG. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and is a very powerful and faithful rendition of the book. Some parts of the plot are condensed but the essence remains. 

The kangaroo hunt is especially powerful and even more disturbing when depicted on the screen. The darkness of the trip is given even more violence in the film version with the hard drinking macho camaraderie and the disturbing homoerotic undertow writ large.

Apparently, upon release, the Australian critics were appalled as it paints such a horrifying portrait of life in the isolation of the Outback. Once seen never forgotten. The Australian outback seems to be unwelcoming at best, but it has surely never been depicted as grimmer, darker and more violent than in this depiction.

A classic film - every bit as good as the source material.

MUSIC: The Birthday Party - The Bad Seed EP (1983)

Nigel had identified two key tracks - Sonny’s Burning + Deep In The Woods - which epitomise the “Descent Into Hell” (aka “Aussie Noir”) theme

Curiously the music was less celebrated than the other two choices. Nigel was steadfast in his love of these key tracks which capture the moment when Nick Cave metamorphosed from Birthday Party to solo artist. Still, not everyone can enjoy Nigel’s impeccable taste. 

Nigel - impeccable taste

ENDORSE IT

American Animals (film)

Lincoln in the Bardo (book)

Mystery Road (BBC TV series)

Factfulness (book)

Molotov Jukebox (Pop group)

Reported Misgiving (TV)

Money Heist (Netflix)

Journeyman (film)

Snow Country (book)

And so ended another wonderful evening of cultural discourse and bonhomie

The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje

On Thursday 6th September 2018 we discussed Robin’s selections …

BOOK: The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje

MUSIC: Robin’s “Summertime” playlist 

FILM: Shutter Island (1994) directed by Martin Scorsese

Robin - loved the book

Robin loved the book. Keith less so. Nick thought it was amazing. Tristan, likewise, was most impressed, Nigel found it a bit of chore, whilst acknowledging its cleverness, and Roland labelled it a snooze fest 

The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje
Tristan 9/10 - Nick 10/10 - Keith 6/10 - Roland 5/10 - Nigel 6/10 - Robin 9/10

The music was a Summer playlist compiled by DJ Robin. All found it most enjoyable despite a few  bizarre inclusions.

Sadly Robin was not able to provide a DVD for the group to watch so not everyone had seen it. Robin (from memory) was gripped, Tristan deemed it ham fisted.

And finally here's what we're endorsing...

Idles (Punk group)

End of the Road Festival 2018

Wanderlust (BBC TV)

Venice - the place

Nick Harkaway 'Noon" (book)

Christopher Isherwood - Mr Norris Changes Trains (book)

Hamilton (musical)

Coasteering (kamikaze activity done on Cornish cliffs)

Sexy Beast (film)

Thomas More (historical figure)

See you next time

Nightmare in Berlin (1947) by Hans Fallada

BOOK: Nightmare in Berlin (1947) by Hans Fallada

HBG gathered on a balmy summer night in the agreeable pub garden at the Westbourne to discuss Keith’s Criminality and Art themed selections. Could we enjoy the work of artists who have done bad shit?

First up was Hans Fallada, best known for the runaway success of Alone in Berlin recently republished, and whose 'Nightmare in Berlin’ is the story of a married couple contending with a devastated postwar Germany.

Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel Alone in Berlin was the hit book of summer 2010, selling 300,000 copies and making a bestseller of an author who had been largely forgotten. In 2018 the late German author’s Nightmare in Berlin, an autobiographical novel beginning on the day the war ends, was published in English for the first time.

Keith, ever diligent, read it twice. This is writing as therapy, he announced, before lavishing a murderous 7/10

The rest of HBG were generally positive, albeit with some misgivings. It has an immediacy and is full of great details, however is also a tad repetitive and meandering. Overall though the consensus was it’s worth a read but it’s no ‘Alone in Berlin’, which many HBGers resolved to read at the earliest opportunity.

Keith tries to forgive Hans Fallada's murderous childhood

Tristan 6/10
Keith 7/10
Robin 6/10
Roland 6/10
Nigel 8/10
Nick 6.5/10

FILM: Heavenly Creatures (1994) directed by Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson’s 1994 feature film features a pair of murderous school girls. It is based on a true story. New Zealand was unsurprisingly stunned in 1952 by a brutal murder carried out by two girls, ages 15 and 16, who crushed the skull of one of their mothers with a rock. 

To varying degrees we loved it

MUSIC: Keith’s “All That Glitters…” playlist 

Keith went through the rap sheet of all the miscreants on his playlist and used this as a springboard to debate the extent to which their work is separate from their crimes.

So what’s on it?

Gary Glitter - I’m the leader
Phil Spector - To Know Him
Sex Pistols - Something Else
Babyshambles - Pentonville
Ian Brown - My Star
Jonathan King - Everybody’s Gone To The Moon
Wham! - Bad Boys
2Pace - Me Against The World
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire

Jerry Lee...Keeping it in the family

ENDORSE IT

Dr Chatterjee’s Feel Better Live More podcast

Defiant Ones (Dr Dre/Jimmy Iovine doc) - Netflix

Paddington 2 - film

Death of Stalin - film

Wild Wild Country - Netflix

Nick Cave live in Pisa

Black Panther - film

New Dark Age - book