Oscar & Lucinda

Some of us like to think that we were amongst the more academic elite at school, and how we scoffed at the simplicity of the cheap page-turner that was "The Time Traveler's Wife". This book, Oscar and Lucinda, brought each member of the Boheem Team back to reality: we're perhaps not actually that keen for a literary challenge after all. We liked the idea of pouring over an Australian Classic like this one more than, we have to admit, the actual act of absorbing the words on paper. Kass observed one day in the studio that she found herself getting to the end of a page and then realising she hadn't paid attention to a single detail... and ashamedly we could all relate.

Since we had been bold enough to invite St John client Ellen Gregory to our group, we felt some responsibility to at least try. Claire watched the film at 11pm the night before our book club meeting – a wonderful Aussie make, incidentally, if you'll really never read the book.

Between us we had all read enough of the book (or at least the Cliff Notes) to chat about it. Together we worked through the unusual story and its very complex and peculiar characters, and and marvelled at Peter Carey's genius as we discovered the delicate parallels he made between the fragility of Oscar's life and the glass with which he worked. We also enjoyed the historical context within which this book was set; it was nice to imagine old Sydney town in the time of horses and carts and sinking glass church/rafts. It seems like this is a book which, for anyone who is prepared to invest themselves into reading it, offers high reward. Boheem is, er, unqualified to rate this book.

Next book: The Cat in The Hat, by Dr Seuss