Our reading group met last night to consider A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Muntaj made us a delicious supper of string hoppers and chicken curry and brinjal and a coconut gravy called sothy. (Thank goodness we don't theme the food to go with the book as some reading groups apparently do: we'd have been eating boil-in-the-bag food!)
Sham led the session, telling us all she had uncovered about Marina Lewycka (I think she took her material from this interview on Three Monkeys). Then the discussion was thrown to the floor. The verdict? Most had really enjoyed the book and found parts of it hilarious. (Myself among them.) The rivalry between the sisters, the difficulties of dealing with elderly parents ... we could all identify with these. We were impressed by the way Lewycka is able to explore serious issues (immigration, aging, abuse) in a book that was so entertaining.
Our little group continues to thrive. We don't get everyone at every meeting but generally 10-12 people turn up which is just about right. (Our numbers swelled to 17 when we did The da Vinci Code and really that felt too many.) We're in our sixth year now, which is some achievement. We did think that we were the longest running reading group in Malaysia, until I discovered that the group Glenda belongs to has been going for 30 years!!!
We've lost Krishna though. Our one and only bloke has changed jobs and has to work nights now. We did have a brief "Oh now he isn't here we can say what we like about him" moment. but our hearts weren't in it, and we missed his wit and wisdom. Sandra, one of our founder members is moving to be with her husband in Langkawi and we'll miss her presence very much indeed. But we have some great new members ...
1 comment:
Now that you mention it, "boil-in-the-bag" food is completely alien to this culture :)
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