The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith

How exciting – five new members!  A warm welcome to Amy, Bridget, Louise, Mary and Rebecca, wonderful to meet all of you!  By the way, we were missing a few regulars last night and if anyone emailed to say they couldn’t come, I’m not ignoring you, it’s just that I have no email at the moment (and am feeling surprisingly bereft as a result).

And so on to the book, McCall Smith’s first in the Isabel Dalhousie mysteries.  Many members found Isabel a difficult character to like, rather smug and self-centred.  We also had some debate about her age (early forties) – some readers had thought she was much younger, and others much older.  In some ways she also seemed a person out of step with her times.  Her philosophical musings were intriguing to some and provided interesting food for thought, whereas others found them rather artificially introduced and a distraction from the story.

For some there were too many plot co-incidences, and too many things seemed simply unrealistic or inconsistent.  Overall, for many this book was rather too light and insubstantial – a description of its being like candyfloss, initially appealing but ultimately unsatisfying, seemed to sum up the view of many.  One or two members thoroughly disliked it, but it did have some fans who liked its strong sense of place, thought it had some interesting insights and descriptions, and found it a gentle and comfy read.

We moved on to wider literary talk, and Margaret told us about the storytelling session she had been to at the Star and Shadow Cinema.  They are held on the first Friday of each month – more details here www.starandshadow.org.uk and I think several of us intend to try to attend over the next few months, perhaps even as a group in May.

We also talked about audio books (our next book, The Lacuna, is available to download from North Tyneside libraries, and audible. com is another good (and more extensive) source), and whether anyone had been involved in World Book Night – a few had been in different ways.

The idea of philosophy in novels reminded two members of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery – it sounds very interesting and will probably turn up on the selection list for our Autumn books.  And Joy told us about Eleanor’s Secret, an animated French fantasy film for children that sounded wonderful for adults too.

But now we’re off to mid-twentieth century Mexico and America, for The Lacuna – see everyone next month, on 13th April.

Cathy

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