6 June 2012

Sssshhh...


... the boyfriend and I are lucky lucky people; lucky enough to be escaping away to the Outer Hebrides to live in a yurt for a week as of Saturday :-) Like my pre-holiday post back in March, I am feeling completely exhausted today; thoroughly in need of a break in short. I have a feeling that a lot of this may be some kind of subconscious wind down I always have the tendency to do a few days before I cast anchor....


 Last evening, minus poor Simon, who really hasn't been feeling too hot of late, the Manchester Book Club met for our third meeting to discuss Simon's book choice; The Dubious Salvation of Jack V by Jacques Strauss (a relishy review to come later on this month!) and to ponder and potentially break into sweats over the dear Alex in Leeds' thoughtful (and Russian; yes!) pick of three. We finally settled for The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov; thoroughly satiating my appetite for something meaty and Slavic.  
Although her other two books were also excellent and differed wildly from our final choice (I actually went for a Mapp and Lucia  book by E F Benson ... perhaps its all in the name...) the group pleasantly surprised me by being up for the challenge - helped along I think by the card-playing cat on the cover. Freaky. (See above.) We had a lovely mix of peeps there yesterday and had some mixed reviews on our Strauss book, which always makes life more interesting. We even welcomed another boy into the fold, hurrah! 

That said, I don't see this being a holiday book and would much rather give Bulgakov the respect he deserves by settling down seriously when I have regained some much needed energy and brainpower traipsing the shores of Scotland. Until then, enjoy your reading everyone!



4 comments:

  1. Looking forward to hearing about the yurt when you return. :)

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    1. Pictures to follow soon! ...As soon as I find my camera lead that is...

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  2. It's definitely not a holiday read! We read this for my book group last year and the leader of the group, who's Rusiian and from Moscow, said she must have read The Master and Margherita about seven times beefore she was about 25. It isn't an easy read but I thought it was fascinating and the discussion about it was really enlivened by haaving somepne who knew all the places where it was set, who Bulgarov was satirising and was able to describe the effects of a book like that when living under a repressive regime.

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    1. Seven times?! Blimey! I've started and 70 pages in I'm so glad I didn't take it to Scotland with me. However, 70 pages in my brain has finally getting in gear and I feel like I am getting something from it...not sure how much though..

      It would be good to understand the context better I must admit. And I am sadly rather naive when it comes to Russia.

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