At our meeting on Tuesday we all enjoyed our discussion about Rona Jaffe’s novel ‘The Best of Everything’. We also voted on various books chosen by you for our June read and the result was as follows;
The one we chose; ‘Grace Williams Says it loud’ by Emma Henderson
Some of you asked if I could post the other choices that we discussed they were;
The Cellist of Sarejevo by Steven Galloway, Ophelia in Pieces by Clare Jacob, Norwegian Wood by Haruk Murakami, Room by Emma Donahue, and the Little friend by Donna Tartt
Look forward to seeing you all at our July meeting on Tues 5th at 7.30pm
NB no meeting in August
Susie Troup
Archive for June, 2011
Our May read for the meeting on 7th June is a republication of a 1958 novel by American author Rona Jaffe. The title ‘The best of everything’ speaks of a New York in the 1960’s and the struggle of young working women to establish themselves in the city. Re printed first by US Penguin thanks to an episode in Mad Men where Don Draper is seen reading the original publication in bed. Now published in the UK with a cover quote by Julie Burchill; “It harks back to a saner time, when choosing progress and modernity was as straightforward as ordering dinner – ‘Two scotches with water on the side, and two steaks’.” Comparisons with Muriel Spark and ‘The Girls of Slender Means’ are inevitable and although this is not of the same literary stable it is an absorbing and entertaining read, with an eternal resonance for anyone who has struggled to make their place in the working environment of city life, regardless of the decade. So mix yourself a dry martini, get your feet up and enjoy! Copies are available at special book group discount from Cogito Books.
Our June read is your choice so please bring your suggestions to the meeting or email them in to me , or post onto this site!
Susie Troup
