Celebrations at the Toohey's

> Hi girls,
> My sister Robyn, Lizzy, Jen and I enjoying a champagne. Jen bought Lizzy a yellow dinosaur cos it looks like a kangaroo from a distance. Our new family theme song is now "From a Distance".
> Aren't we crazy?

Fifth Element - our little nook!

Hi Ladies, this is the little nook I have reserved for our next Bookclub.
The address is Little Stanley St, far southern end.
Hope you are all enjoying the Alex Miller read. Oh and the Miles Franklin Award read looks great. Looking forward to talking about it.

Breakfast meeting on 22 July 2012

Hi Girls,

I mentioned at our last Bookclub meeting that "Fifth Element" might be a possible meeting place for our July 22nd catchup.  I checked it out again this morning and it has a great little nook that would be good for our purposes.  It serves brekky and coffees.  Staff are friendly and ambience good.  It is located on Little Stanley St at the far southern end.  It is the first business as you enter Little Stanley St from the southern end (end closest to Somerville).

Lets meet at 8 - 8:30am parking should be ok right outside Fifth Element should not be a problem.  This is not to say, we have to have a breakfast meeting if that was not agreed upon.

Happy reading.

Cheryl

Restoring the integrity of the Family Name

James Mayne contributed tirelessly to the community, a philanthropist and an honorable sincere man. Ruthie we missed you on tour!

The grave of Patrick Mayne

Hidden in a little pocket of Milton is the grave of the father of the Mayne Inheritance...

In Memory of Mary - St Stephen's Cathedral

On Tour - the Mayne Inheritance Brisbane

Cheryl & I are enjoying an afternoon around Brisbane visiting the highlights of the story of the Mayne family. The beautiful stained glass windows of St Stephen's Cathedral!

June Book: A Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller

Thanks Cheryl for this book. Winner of the 2003 Miles Franklin Award, this is going to be a great read!! It is a timely thematic read as we celebrate reconciliation and remember the voice, victory and courage of Mabo.
Paul Genoni writes,
"It seems inevitable that Miller would eventually turn his attention, and the joint search for self and place, to the Australian inland. In his new novel, Journey to the Stone Country, Miller deals with the journey away from the coastal fringe. It is a theme that has rarely been out of favour since Patrick White's Voss, and cannot now be tackled without addressing the issue of Aboriginal disinheritance. In this, Miller conforms to expectations."
Readings.com.au web page captivates you to want to get the book and start reading....

"With the consummate artistry of a novelist working at the height of his powers, Miller convinces us that the stone country is not only a remote and exotic location in North Queensland, but is also an unvisited place within each of us. Journey to the Stone Country confirms Miller's reputation as one of Australia's most intelligent and uncompromising writers."

'A terrific tale of love and redemption that captivates from the first line.' - Nicholas Shakespeare, author of The Dancer Upstairs.

Is "the Dice Man" Our Most Despised Read Yet....

Well, we had a very lively discussion over breakfast yesterday. I didn't take notes so I apologise in advance if my summary isn't quite upto scratch. Feel free to add more by posting comments. Oh, I should say in advance -- Bec we all do have faith in your literary choices, although we might seek a second opinion on your future cult classic recommendations! I can safely say, collectively we are unlikely to recommend this one to other bookclubs. Although I do need to say, this negative recommendation is based on our full acceptance and unashamed feminist analysis and critique of The book.

Now some reflections.... We had lengthy discussion about the themes explored in this book. The idea of living your life by the die, giving over free will to the randomness of the die to paradoxically provide a freedom from the constraints and habituated societal norms of society-is this achieved by dice theory.... Our view is No how can there be randomness and existential freedom, when the thrower of the dice sets the parameters of choice. While Luke R might want us to believe that dice living allows for deconstruction of the humanised self to a purer state of the Id. That is exactly what the author explores, an insatiable Id persona which grows in hedonistic, narcissistic stature as the story unfolds. There is no deconstruction of the personality as a process of self exploration, there is the anti effect and that is the pathway toward fuller self expression of a narcissistic, anti-social emotionally disconnected individual. Luke's dice therapy just gives him an excuse for self preoccupation, self indulgence and masochistic expression. The intensity of the sex storylines left one wondering about the meaningful purpose of them. In the end we were left feeling the author had a penchant for objectifying women, negros, and homosexuals, and for what purpose... The self gratification and satisfaction of the male character's most primal animalistic urges.
We wondered if the cult like fascination with this book was due to the social and cultural timing of it's release. The 70's was a progression of the sexual revolution of the late 60's. The allure of the dice theory as a way of spicing up and testing one's conservative ways, we can understand is likely appealing for some groups of individuals. But really... All in all it is just a big grown up's game of truth, dare, double dare! Unfinished adolescent business... And an excuse for bad behavior!!!
In a nutshell, controversial issues, over sexualised story, irritating unlikeable protagonist, and totally a nihilistic rant which not exclusively yet quite centrally and repeatedly objectifies and devalues women, and reduces men to the most primitive of levels.
Hmm not much more to add, except I did read this Bloggers review which was probably as close to our experience as I could find on the review lists. Search this site http://hannahdoublebarrel.wordpress.com/

I enjoyed the discussions yesterday, even though I did not enjoy the book - however, getting back to work after the nice morning tea, I remembered that there is a book exchange in the CSIRO library. Guess what - I exchanged "The Dice man" with "Small Island" written by Andrea Levy, one of the books Cheryl talked about! Winner!