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

The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus

Theme: Contagion

Keith had decreed that we would be atop the zeitgeist and talking all things contagion and, with that in mind, it was straight on to the incredibly apposite...

Reading: The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus

Keith drew perceptive parallels with previous picks: Blindness, and 1984.

Keith read it twice and, second time round, he discovered gems anew. 

Keith drew perceptive parallels with
previous picks: Blindness, and 1984

Nick wryly observed that the fascist ‘plague’ that inspired the novel may have gone however many other varieties of pestilence keep this book urgently relevant, not least Covid 19. Man’s confrontation – and cohabitation – with death is vividly related

Hamish listened to this book, something he found quite challenging. Despite a slow moving plot he felt it got better as it went along. It’s a novel which works both on the literal as well as the metaphorical level.

Roland described himself as a Camus virgin eager to pop his cherry. It was a psychological as well as a physical struggle.

Nigel had read The Stranger as a teen, and liked it, but had not read any Camus since those heady days of the late 1970s. So much was eerily familiar which demonstrates how thoroughly Camus researched it, and also how plagues and pandemics follow similar patterns. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is to ponder what allegorical meaning Camus might have attached to each scene. 

Robin shocked the group by dissing the book: too much waffle, too turgid, and not enough action. 

Camus believed that a plague is not exceptional, just a more obvious manifestation of the human condition. We are always vulnerable to death and disease despite how we may feel. We can never escape our frailty. Camus was also acutely aware of the absurdity of life, and believed instead of despair it should inspire compassion, joy and gratitude. These themes are at the heart of the novel and it’s a message we do well to live by. 

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

Listening: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011) by The Vaccines

Most of the group were either neutral or hostile to The Vaccines

There were two exceptions, Tristan and Nigel. Tristan slammed their curmudgeonly nature. Nigel waxed lyrical about having seen them live five times before extolling the charms of the hook laden, sing a long catchy punky tunes aligned to witty, interesting lyrics and punch the air anthemic choruses, and a life reaffirming vibe

Watching: Contagion (2011) dir by Steven Soderbergh 

Some loved this film others were more critical

The good stuff

The sickly colour palette

The score

The lingering shots on surfaces which have been touched

The film’s stars being unsentimentally killed

Impeccably put together

Slickly done

The less good

Far too episodic to hold the interest (The only really lively narrative thread is provided by Jude Law as the conspiracy nut with a heart of greed promoting a homeopathic cure for the virus - though not sure about his performance)

Conspiracy nut Jude

Little actual drama - despite the score doing its best to keep things tense

Marion Cotillard’s kidnapped WHO official just disappearing for most of the second half of the film

Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon - a more mismatched couple it’s hard to imagine

The all star cast was a bit distracting and it might have worked better with unknowns and a more documentary style

No one gets enough time to have any real impact

Ultimately it’s completely uninvolving

Disappointing given Steven Soderbergh’s pedigree

Endorse It

Jon Ronson’s podcasts

The Last Dance - Chicago Bulls documentary on Netflix

Twin on iPlayer

Normal People on iPlayer

National Theatre plays on YouTube

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara book

Gut by Giulia Enders book

Baghdad Central DVD

Midsommar film

Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast

Better Call Saul Season Five on Netflix

A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole

Tristan’s ‘The Big Easy?’ themed choices

Celebrity Squares

Our first Zoom-enabled meeting as the UK, along with much of the rest of the world, grapples with Covid 19, and is in a state of lockdown. Remarkably successful it was too.

Tristan had chosen A Confederacy of Dunces to stimulate our minds but how would the hard bitten and cynical HBG react?

 Reading: A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole

Tristan shocked his fellow members by stating he had only read half the book. These are trying times so we cut him a bit of slack. He enjoyed what he had read so far, especially central character Ignatius J Reilly who is full of hubris and pomposity.

Nigel tried to read this book decades ago gave up after about 20 pages. Would a second attempt yield a better outcome? It was a resounding “Yes”. What a blast. Laughs aplenty. Superbly quotable. He bloody loved it

Keith appreciates a picaresque novel and so enjoyed this beaut

Robin is busier than ever and found it hard to concentrate on anything. He managed a few pages before shrugging and going back to his busy life

Roland was also too challenged to properly focus on a book he described as “particularly difficult” 

Nick was not totally convinced but could understand why so many people cite is as their favourite novel - say hello Billy Connolly

Hamish nearly bought it for his brother and was glad he hadn’t. “No story, no laughs” he opined

Ignatius J Reilly is one of the great literary creations. Indeed, A Confederacy of Dunces abounds with wonderful characters, all of whom are, in some way, sucked into the orbit of Ignatius and his lunatic behaviour

There are some wonderful comedic set pieces here however the real joy lies in the writing and the dialogue from, most especially, Ignatius who disdains many aspects of modernity and spends his life expressing outrage in the most amusing and unforgettable terms

In addition to the fabulous characters, wonderful writing and guffaw inducing dialogue, the book's setting - New Orleans - is also powerfully evoked

But not everyone agreed with that summary as the scores below aptly demonstrate

#schism #differenceofopinion #noaccountingfortaste

Top triv: A Confederacy of Dunces would never have been published if John Kennedy Toole's mother had not found a smeared carbon copy of the manuscript left in the house following Toole's 1969 suicide, at 31

Nick 7 / Tristan 7 / Nigel 10 / Keith 7 / Roland 5 / Robin 4 / Hamish 0



Listening: Tristan’s The Big Easy playlist

Tristan’s playlist was well received by the HBG

Big Frieda, Kermit Ruffins, and EyeHateGod came in for particular praise


Watching: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) dir by Benh Zeitlin 

Robin and Roland share a moment

Tristan described 'Beasts of the Southern Wild’ as weird and quirky. We all agreed the amateur cast, especially the five year old child and her father, were incredible. Roland was less convinced by what he had seen but, there was no denying, the wonderful imagination and brio on display. 

A perfect accompaniment to the book and the music



Endorse it 

The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (BBC iPlayer)
Murder 24/7 (BBC iPlayer)
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (Book)
Booksmart (Film on Amazon Prime)

Tim Burgess - online album party - see Twitter for more info

Late Junctions (BBC Radio 3)

Unclassified (BBC Radio 3)

Ozark (Netflix series)

Joker (Film)

Aubrey Beardsley doc by Mark Gattis on iPlayer

Jon Hopkins live at Brighton Dome

The Place Beyond the Pines (film on iPlayer)

Birdman (film)

Chris Packham (podcast)

Next time

Keith has decreed that we will be discussing….

Theme: Pandemics? The Plague? Coronavirus?

Reading: The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus
Listening: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011) by The Vaccines
Watching: Contagion (2011) dir by Steven Soderbergh 

Cal (1983) by Bernard MacLaverty

On Wednesday 4 March 2020 we discussed Nick’s Northern Ireland themed selections:

Reading: Cal (1983) by Bernard MacLaverty

Nick is fascinated by Northern Ireland and has family connections there

“It’s a really odd place”

Nick is also interested in the Troubles and had heard good things about Bernard MacLaverty and judged Cal an unsentimental and powerful novel

Roland likened it to Kes in terms of its bleak portrait of a community, this time a young Catholic man who lives with his father in a Protestant area, and on the fringes of the IRA after participating in political violence. Roland also praised the erotic content. “More sex please”  he demanded

Hamish (yes Hamish, back for one night only, or maybe more?) felt Cal built nicely and liked Marcella

Keith observed that Cal’s attempts to distance himself from the IRA seemed nigh on impossible. 

Robin thought it was fan-blimmin-tastic. Cal performs the remarkable feat of describing both a doomed love affair, and the impossibility of living, with no chance of redemption. 

Nigel concluded that Cal is a short and powerful novel but its abrupt ending left him wanting more. He heartily recommended Anna Burns' Milkman which makes even more of similar material. 

Tristan described Cal as a bleak novel with a flicker of lyricism running through it. A bit like the sun shining through the shattered windows of a ruined church.

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

Listening: Astral Weeks (1968) by Van Morrison

Nick finally broke through with Astral Weeks on the third listen

Sadly memories of this part of the discussion are a little hazy and so what follows may be somewhat inaccurate

Nigel loved its jazzy, folky, melancholy, stream of consciousness, oblique vibe - it’s about everything and nothing. Unique and magical. You breathe in, you breathe out, you breathe in, you breathe out…

Roland felt Astral Weeks plus Moondance are Van's masterpiece. Whilst not as accessible as Moondance, AW introduced Van's more mystic, jazzy/trippy side. 

Robin prefers Moondance

Robin prefers the Moondance-type LPs (Into The Music, Tupelo Honey, Wavelength …)

Hamish is more of an Astral Weeks type (Veedon Fleece, Common One, No Guru ...).

Some prefer AW types others the Moondancey vibe. Blessed are those who love both.

Astral Weeks is a timeless masterpiece which doesn’t seem to relate to anything which came before and not much that came later (though John Martyn and a few others took their cues from it). A weird mix of great songs and improvisation. Recorded really quickly, with top session players and all the better for that speed. It made Van’s reputation and despite a stellar career he never again recaptured the magic of this record.

Watching: Good Vibrations (2013) directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn

We all dug Good Vibrations. A warm hearted movie about Terri Hooley, Belfast's chaotic godfather of punk. In the 70s, Hooley defied the tribalism of the Troubles by opening a record shop in the middle of the city, quixotically called Good Vibrations. This tiny store became the indie record label that put out the Undertones' Teenage Kicks. It was also the base from which Hooley could cultivate his entrepreneurial genius. Richard Dormer is great as Hooley, and the moment when he is first converted to punk - in the middle of a pogoing crowd – is a joy. Jodie Whittaker, Karl Johnson and Ruth McCabe all offer splendid support as Terri's long-suffering wife, dad and mum.

Endorse It

Derry Girls (TV)
Parasite (Film)
Uncut Gems (Film)
Attura Morph panier rucksack (Bag)
Brompton bike bag (Bag)
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Book)
London Calling (Exhibition about The Clash)
Murder 24/7 (Documentary)


Next time

Next time out Tristan has decreed that we will be discussing….

Theme: The Big Easy?

Reading: A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole*

Listening: Spotify playlist still under development
Watching: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) dir by Benh Zeitlin 

*A book which would never have been published if John Kennedy Toole's mother had not found a smeared carbon copy of the manuscript left in the house following Toole's 1969 suicide, at 31.