Remember you only have to read one of the books, there will be a group to discuss each on the night.
At the end of every meeting we vote for two new books to discuss for the meeting after next. It would be great if you could prepare your own suggestions to nominate on the night. This could be any kind of book e.g. novel, non-fiction, biography, but ideally it should be less than 400 pages long.
October's books. On something of a similar theme...
Herland (Charlotte Perkins Gilman): When three friends, Vandyck Jennings (the narrator), Terry Nicholson, and Jeff Margrave, set off on a scientific expedition to one of the last uncharted parts of the globe, little do they suspect what they will unearth. Hidden up high in the mountains they discover Herland; a country the size of Holland made up exclusively of around three million women; strong, intelligent, confident women. Within their rich land, the inhabitants of Herland have created their perfect society and have been able to eradicate crime, poverty, disease, and war. Forced to face their prejudices and beliefs, the three men each come to their own conclusions as they are kept in gentle captivity. But the end of the tale will bring very different destinies to all three men; and Herland risks being changed forever.
*Note - this book is available on Project Gutenberg so can be read online for free, if that is your preference.
The People in the Trees (Hanya Yanagihara): In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers," who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He scientifically proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating personal consequences.
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We will be meeting again in November, when we will be discussing Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan.
