BOOK CLUB - Galway

TristanPeter

The Cottage sounds good to me. Any other suggestions? I think a hotel would be too expensive, but I may be wrong. That's the good thing about Bar No 8; €1 coffees, €3.50 for a glass of house wine

carol123

The Cottage sounds good to me. I'm sure we can sneak in a thermos and a bottle. Very recession chic.

bethm

The cottage good for me too any where in Salthill would be ok this is my side of town but I drive so dont mind where.

Rosym

Hey guys.
I turned up to Bar no 8- at 7.30 last tuesday- but i couldnt find anyone from a book club-
Did i get the wrong place?
Thx rosym

bethm

Hi there Sorry to hear you did not get to meet up. We were there on Tuesday of last week. 8.30 is the start time not a chance of meeting anyone at 7.30. No club tonight but meeting next Tuesday keep in touch with boards because venue may change. Hope to see you next week.

Rosym

ahh- thats were i went wrong- turning up an hour early!!:eek:
Will be on time next week

TristanPeter

Does anyone know if any of the book shops in town have copies of The Shooting of an Elephant available?

carol123

I got my copy in Dubray's. Can lend it to anyone who wants it.

Ms. Ka

Is the book long as I wont get into town till Sunday to pick up a copy?
I probably should bulk buy the next few books while I'm there.

Ms. Ka

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

The Cottage in Salthill ftmfw

what does ftmfw mean? i'm not up on boards lingo

PopeBuckfastXVI

Ms. Ka wrote: »

what does ftmfw mean? i'm not up on boards lingo

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/FTMFW

carol123

Ms. Ka wrote: »

Is the book long as I wont get into town till Sunday to pick up a copy?
I probably should bulk buy the next few books while I'm there.

It's about 350 pages but will probably just pick and choose about half of them myself.

carol123

Here it is at last! Sorry bout the delay folks.

Lord of the Flies is probably William Golding’s best known work. Written in 1954 it is an allegorical novel depicting the conflicting between civilisation and barbarity, good and evil, order and chaos. It follows the attempts of a group of British schoolboys to create their own society on a after the aeroplane in which they were travelling in has been shot down. They are without adult supervision and the crash is referred to only briefly at the beginning.
The main characters are Ralph, representing civilisation and order who is popular, optimistic with a clear sense of right and wrong. Jack, his opposite is leader of the hunters, a cruel boy with a taste for power who represents the descent into savagery and chaos. Piggy, Ralph’s ally, is overweight, bespectacled, somewhat pessimistic with a more mature view of their situation, symbolising individual thought. The others see Simon as odd but he is a deep thinker with a greater sense of the common good, more a natural trait in him and less enforced by their situation. Roger is Jack’s lieutenant, with a brutal streak who delights in tormenting the younger boys. Twins Sam and Eric are viewed as one entity by the others and are allies of Ralph and Piggy.
Ralph who wins the vote for chief takes matters in hand. Jack then makes himself leader of the hunters and the divide between the groups grows from there. Priorities stated by Ralph and Piggy are to keep a fire lit for rescue and build shelter. Failure to impose the importance of such measures on the other boys, fears of the beast and increasing aggression from Jack eventually leaves the small community in shreds. Simon comes across the impaled head of the pig killed by the hunters, realising that the beast they fear is within themselves. After finding the corpse of a pilot in a tree, he goes to tell the others. Both groups are now feasting on the pig, the other boys having been lured by the promise of meat and intimidation from the hunters. In a frenzy they think Simon is the beast so attack and kill him. Ralph cannot reconcile himself to the fact that they have killed someone and he and Piggy separate from the rest. In a final attempt to assert Ralph as chef they make a final attempt to convince the now savage boys, Piggy is murdered and Ralph, pursued, flees for his life. He makes it to the shore where he meets a British naval officer who asks if he is the leader to which he replies “Yes”.
Lord if the Flies is said to have been influenced by Golding’s own experiences during WWII during which time he saw normally rational law-abiding men reduced by their circumstances to acts which they would previously have considered impossible. It makes the point that we act in the interest of the individual when the norms of society are absent.

TristanPeter: Didn't read it!

Pinkshoes: Can't give a rating. Read it a long time ago, don't remember much.

Tawny: Read it a long time ago - very well written but last American remake was v disapointing!

Hugh:7/10 Read it years ago, find it tough going but ultimately worth it. A little too accurate in examining mans nature for comfort.

Caroline:9/10 Had only seen 1960's movie but book was much better. Not as civilised as we think we are!

Breeda:9/10 Well written. Content a bit hard to take at times. It's a bok that is worth reading.

TristanPeter

Hi All,

I called into The Cottage this evening. I was talking to the assistant manager and he said that hosting the BookClub there shouldn't be a problem at all. He even said that we can use a small, separate room for the club, which they normally only open for functions. It's really nice (and there are no music speakers in there either ), so I think it is definitely well worth trying out for a while and see how it goes.

I'm looking forward to giving it a try so I hope to see plenty of the BookClub members there

bethm

Cottage sounds good free parking too, so are we meeting there next week. Will be good to go home without ears ringing.

Ms. Ka

For the non-natives where is the Cottage exactly?

carol123

It's in Lower Salthill, on the right hand side if you're coming from the Crescent. That make sense?

PopeBuckfastXVI

Directions from Eyre Square

coconut5

Hi all, The Cottage sounds good to me, haven't managed to find the Orwell book but I'll come along tomorrow anyway.

I also must do the write-up for 'Animal Farm', I'll do that tomorrow.

TristanPeter

See you all there at around 8:30. New members welcome as usual.

PopeBuckfastXVI

I'll be going straight from work in Mervue, so if anyone wants a lift from there or town let me know...

TristanPeter

Hello Everyone,

Just a short account of our first BookClub meeting in our new venue, The Cottage Bar in Salthill where we discussed (well, we were supposed to discuss) Shooting an Elephant and Other Short Essays by George Orwell.

Well firstly, everyone who attended seemed to be very pleased with the venue. The management let us have a room all to ourselves, and it was really nice and quiet, which is just what we needed. The staff were all very friendly and obliging. They also have Erdinger on draft too

The discussion of the book itself wasn't the best because I don't think anyone actually finished it. I know some of the group read a few of the essays but I think there was a problem in sourcing copies of it in general. It is also quite long and so some members chose to pick a s few of the stories rather than trying to finish the whole thing. As Pope Buckfast pointed out; it's the kind of book that one could keep coming back to here and there and take little snippets out of it. I can't imagine that Orwell ever intended it to be read in one run. As far as I know, he didn't write the collection of stories in that manner. Some of the titles sound very interesting though; such as: A Hanging; Down and Out in Paris and London; Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler; You and the Atom Bomb; Decline of the English Murder and of course, not forgetting, Shooting an Elephant.

So, it's definitely a book I intend to go back too. If any of the stories are even close to Animal Farm in quality, then it will be well worth my while!

The meeting was attended by:

Pope Buckfast: "Read a couple of the stories; will probably finish it."
Breeda: "Love the venue; 10/10."
Miss Ka: "Didn't get to read it unfortunately."
Damien Good: "Yeah, great venue, the guys look after us!"
Carol123
Donnacha and,
Myself.

p.s. Thanks to the staff of The Cottage for letting us use the room.

askew

Hi,
Book club in the cottage seems like a good way to spend an evening. Could someone post up next meeting details and chosen book please, assuming its open to new members.

carol123

askew wrote: »

Hi,
Book club in the cottage seems like a good way to spend an evening. Could someone post up next meeting details and chosen book please, assuming its open to new members.

Next meeting is May 5th in the Cottage again. Chosen book is 'I'm Not Scared' by Niccolo Ammaniti. C ya there!

TristanPeter

Hello Everyone,

Juat a reminder that BookClub will be meeting this evening around 8:00/8:30 in The Cottage Bar, Salthill. We will be discussing I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti.

Hope to see you there and as always, new members are more than welcome

PopeBuckfastXVI

Hi Guys,

Won't be able to make it tonight I'm afraid. I haven't gotten very far with the book anyway, but from what I hear it's brilliant, so looking forward to it.

katiethescot

Hi, I am fairly new to Galway and am thinking about joining this book club but wouldn't be able to make it tonight, when is the next meeting and what book would it be on? thanks!

bethm

katiethescot wrote: »

Hi, I am fairly new to Galway and am thinking about joining this book club but wouldn't be able to make it tonight, when is the next meeting and what book would it be on? thanks!

Hi there next meeting Tues 19th May 8.30 Cottage bar Salthill. Book for next meeting The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

hope to see you there

TristanPeter

Apologies for not making it to the BookClub last night. I was hoping to, but I had an exam this morning (and another this evening) and I realised that I had too much to study. I hate exams :mad:

Ms. Ka

Hope the exam went well IT was a small turn out but we did discuss the book which got postive reviews.
Its my turn to nominate a book again so its going to be American Pyscho by Bret Easton Ellis.