Jennifer Byrne eat your heart out. Every month or so a group of women get together on a Wednesday in my little town for a scintillating discussion of a book and/or film. Last meeting it was Tim Winton’s masterful Cloudstreet. Next meeting is All quiet on the western front AND the new Indiana Jones.

Opinions were varied on Cloudstreet. At least two of us had read it previously (including myself). I remember the first time I started it about four years ago I couldn’t put it down, mesmerised by the language in which Winton painted the stories of the two families. This time I was less rapt but still keen to get to the end. What had stuck in my mind was the wife in the tent in the backyard – and second time round I still found this a striking image that he threaded through the story. We were unsure how skilfully he wove in the supernatural elements – and whether this in fact was necessary or added anything to the overall effect. But we all agreed his descriptions of Perth were both idiosyncratic and amazingly evocative. For me it’s a book about a time and an era – as much as it is about the individual characters.

As well our lively discussion what’s also good about this bookclub is that quite often there’s also cake.