ME4 Readers

November 27 – The girl who played with fire

me4readers — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:14:08 +0000

November’s tie in film and book group will be the second in the Millennium Trilogy – The girl who played with fire.

3pm at The Deaf Cat, 27 November. The film is on at The Other Cinema on 18 November.

The killer inside me – Page to screen book group

me4readers — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:09:46 +0000

Stanley Kubrick is quoted on the cover of The killer inside me saying it’s ’Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered’. Members of ME4 Readers and The Other Cinema saw the film and read the book at our book group at The Deaf Cat on 2 Oct.

We generally preferred the book to the film – the film was rather heavy handed and dwelled slightly too long on the ultra-violent moments, which seem more like fantasy in the novel. There were some very strong reactions to the film, we decided it had lost a lot in the translation from book to screen – though the performances are good, that the characters lack depth, in particular the protagonist Lou, played by Casey Affleck in the film. In the book his character at least has motives for what he does – not to excuse it - whereas in the film a lot of the back story is cut and makes it a rather confusing plot.

The next film-book Page to Screen group will be on 27 Nov – when we will be talking about The Girl who played with fire. You can see the film on 18 Nov at The Other Cinema.

Join the ME4 Readers Group on Facebook.

The luminous life of Lilly-Aphrodite

me4readers — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:49:50 +0000

This novel by Beatrice Colin is June’s book. It’s a story about the life of an orphan growing up in Germany at the turn of the century. Not to give too much away, but for those who like the history of film, this is a book I think you will like. It is beautifully written.

3pm, the Deaf Cat, 26 June.

Girls and boys with dragon tattoos

me4readers — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:45:10 +0000

Thanks to all of you who came to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo reading group in May. We had about 10 people and discussed the film and the book, and how they related and if they related. Amongst other things, we decided that we would prefer to see George Clooney (rather than Brad) in the role of Blomkvist and that Angelina is probably skinny enough to play Lisbeth!!

The girl with the dragon tattoo – film reviews

me4readers — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:01:53 +0000

The girl with the dragon tattoo was shown last Thursday at The Other Cinema. I really enjoyed it – though it was different in quite a few aspects to the book. For those of you who haven’t seen it, but would like to get an idea of what the film was like, here are some links. We will be discussing the book and how it relates to the film on 22 May, 3pm at The Deaf Cat.

The Guardian’s review

The Observer’s review

Metro

Generation A questions

me4readers — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:50:50 +0000

For those who didn’t make it to the Generation A discussion – here are some questions to enhance your reading pleasure:

1) Whose point of view did you enjoy most? Did their stories merge together by the end?

2) What did you see as the ultimate role of the characters being stung by bees? Did they save the world? Did they put an end to Solon?

3) Is this a possible future? Is it already here?

4) Whose campfire story did you most enjoy?

5) Do you believe a word Serge said, and that his evil aim was what Louise claimed?

6) Did this book make you want to read more?

Generation A – 24 April

me4readers — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:21:03 +0000

This Saturday we will be discussing Generation A by Douglas Coupland.

His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and Generation X. He has published novels, a collection of short stories, non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television.

A specific feature of Coupland’s novels is their synthesis of postmodern religion, Web 2.0 technology, human sexuality, and pop culture.

3pm at The Deaf Cat, 83 Rochester High St (opposite the cathedral).

Books confirmed now to August.

me4readers — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:53:39 +0000

Forthcoming books are:

April: Generation A
May: The girl with the dragon tattoo
June: The luminous life of Lily Aphrodite
July: The most beautiful woman in town and other stories
August: Oryx and Crake

For dates and more info on the books please see the Reading list page.

22 May – film and book adaptation – The girl with the dragon tattoo

me4readers — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:23:17 +0000

In May, ME4 Readers will be linking up with The Other Cinema – to watch and discuss the film adaptation of ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’.

6 May – The other cinema is showing ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’, then 22 May – we will discuss the novel the film is based on. How do they compare? Can a film ever be as good as the book? And who will play Lisbeth Salander in the inevitable Hollywood remake?

Plays by women are March’s reading, (27 March).

me4readers — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:53:06 +0000

In order to support 17percent – the new organisation to support and promote female playwrights which is launching in March – http://17percent.co.uk/index.php – this month, we will be discussing 3 plays by female playwrights.

More info on the plays can be found on Wikipedia:

Top Girls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Girls

4:48 Psychosis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Kane

Gone too far!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bola_Agbaje

Some of the things you might like to think about in relation to the plays are:

Is reading a play as satisfactory as seeing it? How does the experience differ?

In both Top Girls and 4: 48 Psychosis – what does the structure add or take away from the play?

All three of the playwrights have had lots of things written about them. In particular in Sarah Kane’s case – does knowing her history of mental illness add to your understanding of the play?

Would you want to see any of these plays?