General Chat

Hi Ann..............tis good to be back!! Not had a computor for ages as just after we'd had it repaired my OH spilt a fish tank full of water over my laptop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got back online yesterday

Bev x

Hello folks here is my first one

The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Lewis arrives back from prison in 1957 now at the age of 19 and of course that has me wondering what he went to prison for. Time then reverts back to a much younger Lewis and follows his childhood tales which include an extremely traumatic event, which changes Lewis to a quiet, withdrawn little boy that it appears nobody really understands.

The book moves forward in time and we find out why Lewis was in prison. Lewis appears lost with himself and with the opposite sex, but is drawn to differing girls/women that may be able to fill a small part of his needs. Lewis' family and their neighbours are very much central to the story and they all seem to carry so many demons within them. Kit is a neighbouring young girl that has always been drawn to Lewis and she feels she understands him the most, but he tends to cast her aside as he feels she is not for him. The community in general takes against Lewis for various reasons and Lewis feels in some way he must fight back after hurting himself physically and mentally for so long.

Angela

And the second one,
Paying for it by Tony Black
Set in Edinburgh this is an atmospheric and gritty novel, but also full of dark humour. Gus Dury is an ex-journalist and his wife is divorcing him as the demon drink has taken a strong hold of him. His friend Col's son is found dead, but the police say that he committed suicide. Gus finds out this isn't true and Col asks him to find the killer of his son and what's with the cover-up? Gus endeavours to find the truth and along the way we meet some unsavoury characters, as well as a wolf, and see Gus facing his own demons regarding his upbringing with his cruel and harsh father.

Angela

All the books so far suggested look good. I am still reading Thanks for the Memories, but hope to finish it this weekend.

Angela

Thank you Angela. When I get home tomorrow I will put up vote thread. Meanwhile you can all be deciding as I don't think we aree t likely to get any more people join us this month.

Ann
Glos

I definately want to read the Birthing House............looks brilliant!

Bev x

Will one of you please tell me what being a member involves. I read approximately one book a week and borrow these from our local library. I read murder mysteries, some romantic novels mostly Victorian working class type, family stories, in fact some books that have been recommended on this thread, although not all are available at the library, but can be ordered.

Hi May Blossom,

In a nutshell - members each suggest 2 books, then members vote on their favourite 2 - the winning 2 books are the ones the members read - and then review.

I think you may be too late to suggests books this month, and maybe even vote for them - Ann will tell you when she gets back. But you will probably be able to read the winning books and review them.

Sue

Sue

Thank you Sue,

May Blossom we haven't done the vote yet, so you could probably sneak a couple of recommendations in as well before Ann puts the vote thread up.

We need new members to keep greaders going. Ann puts a lot of effort into this and it would be a shame to see it fold.

Michelle

I would like to recommend the following two books, not new but a good read:-

Grandmother's Footsteps by Carol Smith

The cold -blooded butchery of a mother and her daughters triggers a wave of outrage in the media. This is just the latest atrocity in a series. An elderly spinster arranging flowers in a church, her little dog dead at her side.
A schoolmaster with a party of boys. A bank manager. A yoga teacher. A social worker. Someone appears to be targetting the virtuous and clean-living.
It takes the patient persistence of cartographer William Huxley to sense a link the police have missed and slowly unravel the puzzle. But then it rapidly becomes clear that William is the next intended victim.

the other book is:-

Family Ties by Wendy Richardson

In 1991 Bronwen Carmichael is a student at Durham University. Researching aspects of WW11, she comes across her Mother Rosa's journal, written in 1954 when Rosa was thirteen and England was recovering from the war. and as Bronwen discovers, it was a dark time in Rosa's childhood too.

At the heart of the diary is the deep family secret which now fifty years later, could severly disturb the self - contained Carmichael women.. This secret has tied the family - matriarch Kate, writer Rosa, academic Bronwen, and daughter Lily, with invisible cords which now threaten to break and change the family for ever.