Archived News

21st June 2010: Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

Described by the New York Times as an original and remarkable genius™, Kazuo Ishiguro is the author of six novels, including Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day.

Now in Nocturnes, a sublime story cycle, he explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the ˜hush-hush floor of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning.

Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life's romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.

(Proposed by Steve)

Posted on 20/05/2010

17th May 2010: The Immoralist by Andre Gide

Michel knows nothing about love when he marries the gentle Marceline out of duty to his father. They travel to Tunisia for their honeymoon, where Michel becomes very ill. During his recovery, he meets a young Arab boy, whose radiant health and beauty captivate him. This is an awakening for him both sexually and morally and, in seeking to live according to his own desires, Michel discovers a new freedom. But, as he also finds, freedom can be a burden.

(Proposed by Russell)

Posted on 22/04/2010

18th January 2010: The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

The culminating achievement of Eliot's poetic career. The four parts: "Burnt Norton","East Coker", "The Dry Salvages" and "Little Gidding" present a rigorous meditation upon those spiritual, philosophical and personal themes that preoccupied the author.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Jim.

Posted on 22/12/2009

21st December 2009: The Collector by John Fowles

Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies and takes photographs. He is obsessed with a beautiful stranger, the art student Miranda. When he wins the pools he buys a remote Sussex house and calmly abducts Miranda, believing she will grow to love him in time. Alone and desperate, Miranda must struggle to overcome her own prejudices and contempt if she is to understand her captor, and so gain her freedom.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Claire.

Posted on 20/11/2009

16th November 2009: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Widely regarded as one of the finest examples of the post-war Russian literary genre.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Russell.

Posted on 20/10/2009

19th October 2009: The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing

As the world falls apart outside, the narrator watches over Emily, a young child brought into her care by a stranger. Emily is also guarded by Hugo, half cat and half dog, the bizarre and lovable beast whose presence dominates the tale.

Presenting the book for discussion will be John.

Posted on 24/09/2009

15th October 2009 - 1pm The Bluecoat Centre: Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry

This month LIPs is holding a special discussion event in conjunction with The Bluecoat centre in Liverpool. LIPs with take part in the the celebration of the writer Malcolm Lowry (1909 - 57), and we will be in the hub holding a discussion on 'Under the Volcano' at 1pm on the 15th October at The Bluecoat. In addition to LIPs the festival features a special centenary exhibition and a programme of performances and events.

It is the Day of the Dead. The fiesta in full swing. In the shadow of Popocatepeti ragged children beg coins to buy skulls made of chocolate...and the ugly pariah dogs roam the streets. Geoffrey Firmin, HM ex-consul, is drowning himself in liquor and Mescal, while his ex-wife and half brother look on powerless to help him. As the day wears on, it becomes apparent that Geoffrey must die. It is his only escape from a world he cannot understand. Under the Volcano is one of the century's great undisputed masterpieces.

See the Bluecoat website for further details of the festival.

Posted on 27/09/2009

21st September 2009: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and works on Wall Street; he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to a head-on collision with America's greatest dream - and its worst nightmare - "American Psycho" is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Mike.

Posted on 23/08/2009

17th August 2009: Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

One of the greatest masterpieces of Russian literature, Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, published in 1842, is at one level a comic satire on the failings of bureaucracy and serfdom. The real meaning of the story, however, concerns the moral and spiritual ailments of a society which replaces the worship of God with the worship of gold. Chichikov, the story's leading character, conducts a paper trade in dead souls i.e., serfs who still remain on the register although they have died. Gogol's achievement is to turn this macabre activity and the gloomy underworld in which it takes place into occasions for biting comedy.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Russell.

Posted on 28/07/2009

20th July 2009: The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

"The New York Trilogy" is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that exploit the elements of standard detective fiction and achieve a new genre that is all the more gripping for its starkness. In each story the search for clues leads to remarkable coincidences in the universe as the simple act of trailing a man ultimately becomes a startling investigation of what it means to be human. Auster's book is modern fiction at its finest: bold, arresting and unputdownable.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Jim.

Posted on 24/06/2009

15th June 2009: Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene

With Sancho Panza, a deposed Communist mayor, his faithful Rocinate, an antiquated motorcar, Monsignor Quixote roams through modern-day Spain in a brilliant picaresque fable. Like Cervantes' classic, Monsignor Quixote offers enduring insights into our life and times.

Presenting the book for discussion will be Kevin.

Posted on 18/05/2009

18th May 2009: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Misérables is a novel on an epic scale. Presenting the book for discussion will be Steve.

Posted on 28/04/2009

20th April 2009: Othello by William Shakespeare

A popular soldier and newly married man, Othello seems to be in an enviable position. And yet, when his supposed friend sows doubts in his mind about his wife's fidelity, he is gradually consumed by suspicion. In this powerful tragedy, innocence is corrupted and trust is eroded as every relationship is drawn into a tangled web of jealousies. Presenting the book for discussion will be Kathy.

Posted on 20/03/2009

16th March 2009: Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Our Country's Good is the story of convicts and Royal Marines sent to Australia in the late 1780s as part of the first penal colony there. It follows Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark's attempts to put on a production of George Farquhar's restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer with a cast of male and female convicts. The play shows the class system in the convict camp and discusses themes such as sexuality, punishment, the Georgian judicial system, and the idea that art can act as an ennobling force. Presenting the book for discussion will be Claire.

Posted on 18/02/2009

16th February 2009 - Bring along some poetry to discuss! 6 - 8pm

The February meeting of LIPs will encourage people to bring along some poetry to discuss in the group. It can be from your favourite poet or simply a poem that resonates with you. If you can't find any suitable poetry to bring then fear not, just bring yourself along to the discussion anyway and enjoy.

Posted on 28/01/2009

19th January 2009 - Ulysses: Episode 12 'Cyclops' 6 - 8pm

Ulysses, one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, has had a profound influence on modern fiction. In a series of episodes covering the course of a single day, 16 June 1904, the novel traces the movements of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus through the streets of Dublin. Each episode has its own literary style, and the epic journey of Odysseus is only one of many correspondencies that add layers of meaning to the text.
Presenting this challenging piece will be Russell.

The full text can be read online at the Project Gutenberg Website

Posted on 06/01/09