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“At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.”
- Alberto Manguel
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Halloween is at the end of the month and we have dedicated this newsletter to all things spooky. Our feature article delves into the enduring popularity of gothic literature and recommends some not to be missed titles. Our book review covers two brilliant gothic mysteries we came across in our reading for next year’s booklist. Lastly, our giveaways for this month are two unputdownable crime/thriller novels.
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As of 7 October 2019, Book Groups now operates out of our new warehouse at Yooralla. We thank all our members for their patience during the transition period. Dialogues are being sent out in book boxes in October with a Book Groups survey, which we encourage all our members to fill in and return to us. We are always looking at ways
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to improve our program and member feedback is invaluable.
Recent award news includes the announcement of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments and Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other as the first joint winners of the 2019 Man Booker Prize. The shortlist was announced for the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards and the longlist for the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prize. We also have the shortlist for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, with Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist [B2291] nominated for non-fiction. We’re seeing this book pop up on many shortlists and won’t be surprised if it’s one of our most popular new titles in 2020.
And don’t forget, you can stay up to date with what we’re reading at @caebookgroups on Instagram.
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Gothic Reads for Halloween
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Barwon Heads 1 recently celebrated thirty years of being part of CAE Book Groups. Secretary Sue Findlay shares with us a brief history of the group.
We were a group of young mums balancing babies and work, who all shared a love of reading. The book club was born and thirty years later, the passion is still there!
I was the inaugural Secretary and we currently have ten original members. The first book we read was The Ice is Singing by Jane Rogers.
The photo is of our celebratory dinner after an afternoon literary walk in Melbourne. The Bookmark Bunting hanging in the photo is a collection of bookmarks various members of the group have sourced over the years while travelling. We all love receiving them. How it started or by whom has long been forgotten but at last count, there were thirty-nine.
Our time together has been a mix of vibrant discussions, slight disagreements and lots of laughs. The book group has given us all a common focus and we hope we may have many more years of great friendship, cheeses, champagne, cups of tea, cake and (it goes without saying!) good books.
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Things in Jars by Jess Kidd and The Familiars by Stacey Halls
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So many amazing titles fall into our lap as we churn through a list of about 150 books every year in our mission to choose new titles for our booklist.
Book Groups has read some amazing gothic fiction this year, the standouts being Things in Jars by Jess Kid and The Familiars by Stacey Halls.
Jess Kidd has built a career on darkly comic, weird and wonderful stories told in beautiful lyrical prose
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that deftly weave the supernatural into the grit of everyday life. Things in Jars is no exception: a terrific Victorian detective story oozing with gothic touches that introduces us to Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age. Bridie’s last job didn’t go so well and she is a little down and out, but her enthusiasm is renewed when a new case falls into her lap. A little girl, Christabel Berwick, has been kidnapped. As Bridie investigates, she becomes immersed in a world of obsessive anatomists, crooked surgeons and grotesque swindlers who will do anything for a chance to get their hands on this extraordinary child who has secrets of her own
This is a book where ‘anomalies are in fashion, curiosities are the thing, and fortunes are won and lost in the name of entertainment’. We found it to be a page-turning, (literal) ripper of a read, full of whimsy and bizarre dealings, and a delicious combination of magic realism and mystery. There is plenty for Book Clubs to discuss - life in Victorian-era times, poverty and class, child abuse, morality, accountability, grief and loss. The language is playful, the characters are larger-than-life, and the storytelling is of the finest quality.
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The Familiars by Stacey Halls was another read with the gothic running through its veins. We are immersed in the world of Fleetwood, a seventeen-year-old girl who has married into a wealthy family, to a man she genuinely loves, but she is unsuccessful in her attempts to carry a child. With Fleetwood’s future and her place in society jeopardised by this, she turns to the help of a local wise-woman and becomes caught up in the 17th Century Lancashire witch trials.
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Halls uses Fleetwood’s story as a starting point to examine the brutal way women were treated by a patriarchal society dictated by their fears of magic and the supernatural. Fear of the unknown was used as a way to villainise, dominate and control women who did not fit into the mould constructed for them by men. In addition, The Familiars is a gorgeously written story, full of engaging plots, a vibrant main character in Fleetwood, and a tonne of gorgeous gothic scene-setting (think empty, echoing estates and wild chases through the forest). A compelling examination of society and a celebration of the gothic in literature.
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Land of the Living by Georgina Harding
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A profound masterpiece on war, loss and survival, rendered in prose of rhythmic precision, subtlety and exceptional sensitivity by Orange Prize listed author Georgina Harding.
Charlie's experiences at the Battle of Kohima and the months he spent lost in the remote jungles of Assam during the Second World War are now history. Home and settled on a farm in Norfolk and newly married to Claire, he is one of the lucky survivors. Starting a family and working the land seem the best things a man can be doing.
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But a chasm exists between them. Memories flood Charlie's mind; at night, on rain-slicked roads and misty mornings in the fields, the past can feel more real than the present. What should be said and what left unsaid? Is it possible to find connection and forge a new life in the wake of unfathomable horror?
Courtesy of Bloomsbury
Anyone is welcome to enter! Simply email us at competition@cae.edu.au and tell us which book is the scariest you’ve ever read. Use the name of the book as the subject. Include your name and postal address. Entries close Wednesday, 30 October 2019. Winners will be notified.
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Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes
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Human Remains is a deeply disturbing and powerful psychological thriller that will have you checking the locks on your doors and windows.
How well do you know your neighbour? How well do they know you? Would they notice if you lived or died? When Annabel discovers her neighbour’s decomposing body in the house next door, she is appalled to think that no one, including herself, noticed. She is
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compelled to investigate, and finds such cases are frighteningly common in her hometown.
As Annabel is drawn deeper into the mystery, she comes face to face with her own demons and her own mortality. Would anyone notice if she just disappeared?
Courtesy of Text Publishing
Anyone is welcome to enter! Simply email us at competition@cae.edu.au and tell us which book is the scariest you’ve ever read. Use the name of the book as the subject. Include your name and postal address. Entries close Wednesday, 30 October 2019. Winners will be notified.
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Travel Photography
1 session
Saturday, 10am-4pm, 2 November
$140/$133 (conc)
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Novel Writing
5 sessions
Tuesday, 6pm-9pm, 12 November – 10 December
$380/$361 (conc)
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English Romantic Literature: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Keats & the Shelleys
5 Sessions
Thursday, 11:30am-1pm, 14 November – 12 December
$189/$180 (conc)
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