The selection of books chosen by the 2024 Page Turners Group for 2025 can be viewed on our web page and downloaded here.
The book for our session on Tuesday 4 March is Feast, by Emily O’Grady.
Meg Dillon
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We have two books for our first meeting on Tuesday 4th February at 10 am – Grace Notes by Karen Comer (Youth Fiction/In verse) – ‘Two teenagers survive the covid lockdowns in Melbourne in their own ways’ and Small Things Like These by Clair Keegan (Historical) ‘Coal vendor discovers cruel Magdalen laundry run by nuns for unmarried mothers’.
The selection of books chosen by the 2024 Page Turners Group for 2025 can be viewed on our web page and downloaded here. The book for our session on Tuesday 4 March is Feast, by Emily O’Grady. Meg Dillon The Page Turners' group reads a selection of contemporary novels, some crime fiction and a few books based on actual events. The selection for 2025 has been chosen by the 2024 Page Turners Group. You will need to obtain your own copy of the books either as eBooks, purchasing a hard copy, borrowbox or library copies if the titles are available. Here's the 2025 reading list - Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document. We have put this up before the holiday break for group members and also for any U3A member who is looking for some good holiday reads! You can also download it here: Meg Dillon
This is the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.
A short book akin to a fable about life and what you make of it. More than a self help book – it encourages readers to strive and believe in themselves. This novel by Coelho is not for all but worth a look at the early work of this novelist. December book is Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. Meg Dillon No one should buy into this semi-retirement village! It’s set in the English countryside probably not far from Midsommer. Strangely, its occupants were all ages from their thirties to almost retirement.
Alice is the newcomer with reasons to seek revenge on one particular young resident and willing to murder others to achieve her goal. We know the villain from the start, but Cooper weaves her plot around the sneaky ways Alice starts up a bookclub then uses it to hunt down her victims. The original five friends all have secrets and Alice finds these out and uses them to her advantage. A shame Inspector Barnaby couldn’t get over with his trusty sergeant Ben Jones from Midsommer. I’m sure they could have stopped her. A light read for the holidays perhaps? Next month’s book is The Alchemist by Paul Coelho Meg Dillon Lola ‘in the mirror’ has lived with many names as she and Erica, her mother, shift endlessly from place to place. She is brought up lovingly by her drug running mum who keeps them on the run till Lola turns 18, so Welfare cannot find them and take Lola away. They live in campervan in a Brisbane junkyard with other semi homeless people in old cars, but it’s a caring community of misfits and poor people who cannot settle in to ordinary lives. The Web, a community centre for homeless, helps out with meals, showers etc. Lola is a talented young artist, always drawing the places and people she knows.
After Lola’s mother dies without telling her the truth about their lives, Lola gets mixed up with the local drug dealing syndicate and delivers drugs to their customers. Things go badly wrong, she is hunted by them to kill her but escapes through a series of misadventures. The novel does have a happier ending as Lola eventually breaks free and enrols in Art School. Dalton, a former journalist, writes sympathetically about people on the fringe of society, many of whom do not have the chance to change their lives. A challenging read that most of us found a gripping story. Next Month: 'The Book Club', by C. J. Cooper Meg Dillon Our group read a variety of Virginia Woolf’s Short Stories for discussion at our August session. .
These are quite different from her novels. She ranges freely over many personal topics and emotions in the short stories, experimenting with her ‘stream of consciousness’ style, as she muses over the lives of typical people in her times between the world wars of the twentieth century. Woolf belonged to the Bloomsbury set of writers who were quite despairing at times about British society. Woolf has a generally pessimistic view of people and life in some of the stories. She herself committed suicide in her early forties. Sometimes she responds happily to the joys of the natural world and the few people who seem to construct happy lives in difficult times. Worth dipping into if you are interested in the social changes that marked the beginning of England starting to move into the modern world. Meg Dillon Winter cold meant a small group arrived for this month’s book group.
Anna Funder’s Wifedom explores the exploitive relationship between the writer George Orwell [Animal Farm and 1884] and his wife Eileen. Although not credited with any influence on her husband’s novels, Funder argues that Eileen was instrumental in assisting him to edit and publish his works. In return he abused and neglected her, facts that his previous biographers have ignored. Helen Garner sat through every day of the trial of Robert Farquharson for murdering his three children by driving their car into a dam. This House of Grief allows readers to decide for themselves if the jury was correct in convicting him. This sensational trial attracted wide community interest in 2005. Both books were well researched novels about real events. Both are worth a read. Meg Dillon This month’s book Reykjavik was co-authored by Katrin Jacobsdottir, the Icelandic Prime Minister, who enjoys reading crime novels, and Ragnar Jonasson, an internationally successful crime novelist. The plot revolves around the mysterious disappearance in August 1956 of a fifteen-year old girl, Lara, who was working over summer for a couple living on Videy, a small island just off the coast of Reykjavik. The novel is a light read, enjoyable enough, but not commendable.
The plot has interest, as it is structured into two main time periods involving investigations into Lara’s disappearance by three different individuals. Unfortunately, the novel does not fulfil its potential. The group agreed that the book is not a good example of the crime genre in a number of aspects. It is slow in pace, bereft of tension and poorly written. This may be due to its co-authorship, and it may also have lost some meaning through the translation process from Icelandic to English. Nevertheless, it remains very humdrum, with characters that are not fully developed, some unexplained or unexplored incidents and a disappointing climax. At next month’s meeting on July 2nd, we will be discussing two non-fiction books by renowned authors: A House of Grief by Helen Garner and Wifedom by Anna Funder. Barbara Rogers, on behalf of Meg Dillon Enright explores the lives of three generations of Irish women, all in thrall to bad men or to temporary relationships that lead nowhere. Phil, the grandfather was a famous poet whose wife tolerated his many affairs, because of his fame. His daughter Carmel is obsessed with him and can’t let him go. Why did he treat her mother so badly? - the terrible arguments? his selfishness? and his indifference to his daughter? She is unable to trust men and quickly decides to remain single after having her daughter, Nell. Nell rebels against her mother’s suffocating control and spends her twenties in a series of one night stands with men whose names she rarely remembers. Is Irish life this bad for women? Or only for some? Eventually Nell meets a New Zealand man while travelling there. He appears to be responsible and affectionate, and they both travel back to Ireland intending to start a permanent life together. It’s difficult to know whom this book is aimed at. Young women who have to navigate the treacherous territory of modern relationships? Enright appears to suggest that good relationships are possible if both partners are willing to respect each other and make compromises. Decide for yourself if this book is for you. June: Reykjavik, co-authored by R Jonasson and Katrin Jakkobsdottir A young girl disappears in 1956. A social history snapshot of Iceland later when a journalist investigates the case. Dark secrets have consequences. Meg Dillon
Two books feature in this post-session review of April's 'Mystery Month' themed session.
Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman The first of a series by Osman about some feisty oldies in a luxury retirement home [wish we had some places like this one!!!] With traditional witty British humour, Osman introduces us to the four unlikely characters who team up weekly to discuss and solve cold cases: Elizabeth - the leader and a former secret service agent; Ron – a former radical union leader; Joyce a nurse and Ibrahim a former pychiatrist. A real murder occurs when the shifty owner of the establishment is stabbed in his nearby home. He is planning to enlarge the number of retirement villas on surrounding land and also destroy the nuns’ cemetery located in a peaceful part of the retirement village, which was a former convent repurposed for luxury retirement units. When a second murder occurs and an additional skeleton is found in one of the nun’s graves, the list of suspects grows. The resourceful foursome befuddle and assist the two detectives assigned to the case. Without this help it’s unlikely the police would have unravelled the surprising perpetrators or their motives for killing. A good holiday read. Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry Barry is an Irish writer with other books to his credit, mostly exploring some of the tragic themes of his country including the potato famine, the Irish Civil War and the influence of the Catholic Church on politics and the population. Old God’s Time looks at the life of retired policeman, Tom Kettle, who is induced to return to service to help solve the mystery of the murder of a catholic priest, allegedly by his curate: both priests had abused children and police wanted to close this cold case. Kettle has also had a sad life, his wife and two children dying, and a neighbour seeking help from him over her abusive husband. He seems confused and aimless but agrees to assist his former colleagues. This book explores tragedy and resilience while treating the reader to sensitive descriptions of the Irish countryside and insights into Kettle’s reimagining of his past. A tough read that may appeal to those with a taste for Irish prose and an interest in social issues. Coming up in May - 'The Wren' by Anne Enright. Meg Dillon convenor Set in rural Colorado, Read lovingly records details of this area with passion and lyricism: an old family farm; the dam built that flooded their valley; the high hills behind and lastly the new farm seeded with the peach trees brought from the old homestead.
Victoria as a teenager with difficult family responsibilities, meets Will accidentally and after a very brief teenage romance, becomes pregnant. Will is chased out of town as he has Indian blood and Victoria runs away to hide in the hills and have her baby. She leaves her baby secretly with a family having a picnic and, hoping for the best, returns home. Over the years she remains the only one managing the farm but returns each year to the place she left her baby, noticing at last that someone has placed a stone on the spot next to those she has left. Always alone with few friends she shifts to a new location when her family farm is requisitioned for a reservoir. With peach tree stock planted she establishes herself and unexpectedly discovers the whereabouts of her son, now a young man. She has endured as the river has. A novel about resilience and fortitude set in the 1950s when racism and shunning were some of the less attractive features of rural America. A nice read with a relatively happy ending. Meg Dillon . April is ‘Mystery Month’ at Page Turners. The books are fairly short and members are encouraged to read two of them for our meeting on April 2nd at 10 am. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate and solve murders. Go as a River by Shelley Read - A woman meets a stranger at a crossroads, walks with him and arrives at a decision that changes her life forever. Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry - A retired policeman is pulled into his past when two former colleagues have questions about a decades old case.
Meg Dillon Those who like historical novels will find something to like in "The Bookbinder of Jericho" by Pip Williams.
Set in 1914 just at the start of World War One, it traces the struggles of Peggy and her intellectually different twin sister, both of whom work at the Oxford University Press. Restricted by her lack of education and opportunities, Peggy meets middle class young women who volunteer for war work assisting injured soldiers hospitalised in Oxford. While conscious of her working class background, she becomes increasingly determined to get into Oxford University, despite women of her class being usually excluded. Two Belgian refugees become her friends, Lotte and Bastiaan- a badly injured soldier who later asks Peggy to marry him. She chooses education instead and becomes a supporter of increased political rights for working class women. While class issues, exclusion and political activism form part of the novel, a heart warming story of personal discovery for Peggy carries the novel along. Next months novel will be Go as a River by Shelly Read. Meg Dillon The selection of contemporary novels, some crime fiction and a few books based on actual events chosen by the 2023 Page Turners Group for the first half of 2024 can be downloaded here.
The book for our first meeting on Tuesday 6th February is The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams. When refugees from Belgium arrive in 1914 it sends ripples through the lives of twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. A story about knowledge and access to it. Meg Dillon River of Dreams by Anita Heiss is an interesting novel about the flooding of the Murrumbidgee River in the 1860s. A settler family who loses two brothers and a mother in the flood moves to Wagga to reestablish their farm. The story is told from the point of view of Aboriginal families who work for the family in both places, both in the house and on the farm. They are unappreciated by the settlers but very much heroes within their own tribal group. They perform heroic rescues during the flood and are skilled, hard working and loyal to their own tribal members.
December we will be reading Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. Meg Dillon Set in the steamy subtropics of a Sydney summer, three peoples’ lives suddenly intertwine when Marita, a collector of stories, meets Stephen, a disillusioned public servant at a cookery class. Camille, Marita’s young daughter, does not know if she wants Stephen to intrude into their lives. This gentle novel traces the growth of these three people as they learn to trust and live with each other. A heartwarming read for your summer holidays.
The group has also been working to select the novels for 2024. The November meeting should finalise this and the list will be available in the November issue of the U3A newsletter. Some good holiday reading there. November's book is River of Dreams by Anita Heiss. Meg Dillon September’s book ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ by Bonnie Garmus, was enjoyed by the class. Set in California in the 1960’s, the thought-provoking main character, a scientist, became a chef on television and, with her chemistry background, encouraged women to pursue their goals. “A tale of female disempowerment in the 50s and 60s gets a culinary tweak in this sweet revenge comedy” (The Guardian 19 April 2022).
October’s book, ‘Camille’s Bread’ by Andrea Lohrey, is set in a ‘Sydney steamy summer in a terrace house where mother’s new partner tries to win over young daughter Camille’. Bev Lee with Pat Treleaven (Meg is in Dublin! Recently published in 2022, this novel was well received, especially in America. It details the life stories of two generations of the family of a Caribbean matriarch, her Chinese husband, and their children Benny and Boyd. The idyllic Caribbean lifestyle of the mother is destroyed when she is a young girl who runs away when her dissolute father forces her to marry a local criminal. She changes her name and flees to London, fearing retribution from her husband’s family as he had been poisoned at their wedding. Here she studies nursing and assumes the name of her best friend who was killed in a road accident, still fearing her former husband’s family. Eventually she meets by accident the young man she had wanted to marry and eventually they forge a life together in America. The novel moves between this narrative and the lives of her two children, her son successful and her daughter, a confused and wayward girl who has lost contact with her mother. The frequent name changes of some characters and the short chapters jumping from the earlier to the later generation creates some confusion. The novel is held together by the trope of the ‘black cake”, a rich fruit cake made with loads of rum. This very cake remained a family favourite even though a version of it was used to poison the husband at the first wedding. One of our number followed the recipe in the book and made a delicious version of it with loads of Captain Morgan’s Old Jamaican Rum which we all enjoyed with a coffee. It will be my favourite recipe for Christmas Cake from now on!
A lightish read with some interesting insights into Caribbean culture. Next session - Tuesday 5 September: 'Lessons in Chemistry', by Bonnie Garmus. California, 1960s. A scientist and single mum becomes a TV star. Meg Dillon Brooks cleverly juxtaposes two narratives: a story about an American slave boy - Jarret and; museum workers in our times researching the history of ‘Lexington’ – one of the great American race horses trained by Jarret.
Jarret’s father, a freed slave, trained race horses at the stables of some of the very rich slave owners. He passed on his skills onto Jarret who then endured both good and bad masters until he gained his freedom by escaping to Canada during the American Civil War. Brooks explores the resilience needed by slaves to survive the cruel work expectations and punishments they received under this blighted labour system. In the 2000s Theo, a black PhD student, picks up an old painting of a horse from a dumpster and shows it to Jess, an Australian working at the Smithsonian Museum in Maryland. She reconstructs animal skeletons for display and between them they discover it’s a portrait painted of Lexington with Jarret, his groom, beside him. As well, Lexington’s forgotten skeleton is discovered in one of the museum's storerooms. Brooks sensitively explores the world of slavery in the American south in the 1850s, keeping readers in suspense about Jarret’s eventual fate. She also presents a fascinating picture of the research undertaken to discover the identity of the horse, the picture’s painter and the eventual restoration of Lexington’s skeleton for display in the museum with a full history of its origins. A good read that holds your attention even if you are not interested in horse racing or a history of slavery. Next months book is: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, a family saga of a Caribbean matriarch’s journey through life. Meg Dillon A fair example of a popular bodice ripper novel. Dora, a high class Serbian ‘escort’ is persuaded to take one last job in France where she is assaulted in many ways by some of the strange guests at this house party.
It was with considerable surprise that we discovered Parkes has written 22 books, one assumes all of this ilk, and is feted on British TV and radio programs, even gaining an award for literature in the King’s Honors List last year. A real melodrama of a book that cannot be taken too seriously. July 4th: 'Horse' by Geraldine Brooks. Two historians reconstruct the stories about the most famous USA racehorse. A dark comedy. Meg Dillon An historical novel about life on the Palmer Goldfields in Queensland and in the rough small nearby towns. Told from the point of view of Chinese brother and sister Lai and Ying, Rowoe documents their lives of backbreaking work, starvation, and discrimination. They eventually leave the gold fields to try and find work in May Town. Here they become part of a Chinese underclass that merges with outcast Whites including sex worker Sophie and her servant Meriem. While some Chinese help their fellows by employing them and assisting them, others tempt them into gambling and opium abuse. Brother Lai falls into despair, loses the money he saved and commits suicide. This grim tableau is lightened by Ling’s ability to find work with a Chinese shopkeeper and her friendship with Meriem, an Anglo girl who has been rejected by her family because she had a child while unmarried. Described as a “post colonial” novel, it marks the emergence of stories from marginalized groups in Australia who describe the dominant Anglo culture as discriminatory. It gives a different view of how we see ourselves. June 6th - 'One Last Secret', Adele Parkes. Meg Dillon From the State Library of Victoria... Misogynist? post traumatic stress disordered? introverted? selfish? a fantasist? insensitive to others’ griefs? All these labels could fit the Narrator [unnamed] as he slipped from the reality of the death of his newborn baby into his own world of angry sorrow. Although always a misfit wherever he was, this incident catapulted him into excessive introspection as he obsessively explored as many tragedies as he could locate on the internet . He speculated about these incidents, inventing feelings and explanations for the participants’ tragedies that mirrored his own distorted views.
Was it the author’s intention to explore what grief can mean to a man when men are supposed to be strong and unemotional about tragedies? Or was this a picture of a person deranged by grief, who needed psycho-therapy to re-enter the real or solid world? Our group was divided about these issues which resulted in a very lively discussion. It’s a tough read for anyone thinking of tackling this book. Half of our group did not finish the book. Our May book is Stone Sky, Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe. Meg Dillon, Convenor. Our March read 'Demon Copperhead', a lively and long book in the Kingsolver style. Lots of characters, lots of situations held together by the complex story of a young boy from the Appalachians who grew up in a trailer park with his alcoholic and drug addicted mother. Demon takes on the problems of all who he encounters during his progress to young adulthood. He feels guilty when so many of his friends, mentors and a girl friend are unable to be helped despite his best efforts and sometimes to his own detriment. There is a happier ending though when Demon breaks free from his own addiction to painkillers and uses his art skills to finally get a job and a direction in life and starts to put his own needs before those who have used him.
Worth a read if you are a Kingsolver fan. She often explores the underbelly of American life and those people whom the governments have failed to help in education, healthcare and opportunities. April 4th: 'Edge of the Solid World', by Daniel Davis Wood."Two acts of tragedy contrasted: one in the Alps, the other in Sydney". Meg Dillon Our February book was the Zookeepers War by the Australian writer Stephen Conte; an ultra-realistic book about living in Berlin during the bombing raids by the Allies during WW2.
The Zookeeper, Axel and his Australian wife Vera, work with allocated slave laborers to feed the surviving animals in the ruins of the Berlin Zoo. While Axel is fixated on his responsibilities to the animals, he neglects the safety of his wife and her friend Flavia, an anti-Nazi actress whose many lovers offer her protection in the increasingly battered city. Conte provides well researched descriptions of the privations of citizens who are reduced to living in cellars and the ruins of their apartments, all the time scrounging for food. No-one can be trusted as many people report anti-Nazi sympathisers to the Gestapo. Both Axel and Flavia refuse to leave Berlin in time before Russian soldiers liberate the city, even though they have forged travel documents that would have permitted them to go. A dramatic and violent ending brings the book to its close. March: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. Meg Dillon |
About 'Page Turners'The Page Turners group reads a selection of contemporary novels, some crime fiction and a few books based on actual events. Convenor and contact detailsMeg Dillon
5762 6558 Meeting times1st Tuesday
10 am to 12 noon Dillon's Home* *Please note - Page Turners is limited to 10 - 12 members due to constraints on where we meet.
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Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District.
Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria
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