General Chat

Please review any of the books you read from
Jump by Jilly Cooper
Her Fearful Symmetry By Audrey Neffenegger
Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell.
Q by Luther Blissett

Greaders review
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

There is more than one story in this one.
a) The story of Edie and Elspeth which we are soon given a hint contains a mystery.
b) A love and loss story of Elspeth and Robert
c)the story of Martin and his OCD and Marijke. (another love story)
d) a ghost story
e) the story of Valentina and Julia and the latter's possessiveness of her sister.
The first three and the last I could handle and more or less enjoyed. But while the ghost story was well written it was not my 'cup of tea', I found I was too sceptical and kept looking and hoping for a logical explanation.

I liked the description of Highgate cemetery but really can't say that I enjoyed the book.

Jilly Cooper Jump

Etta downtrodden, under the thumb of her children.

Why didn't she fight back/contest the will.

Characters so well drawn that Martin Romy and C I disliked immediately But Alain was more 'sympathetic'.

Sometimes JC's puns get irritating.

A lovely description

cobwebs silver with raindrops stretched from blades of bleached grass like fairies dartboards.


A little of Jilly C goes a long way

JC's strength is in character writing. She creates the most life like characters, some likeable, some not but all recognisable.

Jump is topical in that it brings in suicide bombers and Afghsnistan but, as usual with her books I feel she could say it all in a shorter novel. However, it is a good read and, for me especially, the description of The Gold Cup and Cheltenham were excellent having lived on the periphery of the excitement for 19 years.

The description of the Grand National and the horses being put down was especially poignant as I was reading it as the GN was run on 9 April and horses did die.

I see from the end notes that the village was based on Bisley, a village I have walked in and from which is why I felt it was familiar.
:-) :-) :-) :-)

I also read Friendships Bond

Greaders review Friendship's Bond by Meg Hutchinson

What a swan song and how sad that there will be no more books by Meg Hutchinson as she died in 2010.

I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. I half guessed who Alec was from an early chapter but that didn't spoil the enjoyment as the intrigue was so well written.

A story within a story with the evil Thomas Thorpe lurking in the background all the time and the prospect of a romance for Ann being foiled time and again.

Hard to believe that all MH's books were written after she was well into her sixties, but once started she made up for it. I have read and enjoyed other books by her and will certainly read more. She was an excellent weaver of stories. May she rest in peace.

Greaders review Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

This is not the first book that I have read by David Mitchell, Some time back Greaders read and enjoyed Cloud Atlas.

In this excellently written book he writes through the eyes of Jason,an adolescent boy with great skill. He uses the slang of the early eighties and the whole story is very believable, The whole is nostalgic, funny yet sad.

I know the area that the story was set in so that also was a plus for me, as well as the description of Lyme Regis a place I like very much.

I enjoyed it very much, bullying being as topical now as it was then it was good to see the victim get his own back. The appearance of the swan at the end was a nice touch as well.

One more review

Review A Prisoner of birth by Jeffrey Archer

Like him or hate him, you can't deny that Jeffrey Archer is a great story teller.

This was a great tale with unexpected twists and turns, written with authority and a certain amount of inside knowledge.

I found the intricacies of the court case interesting to follow. And, without giving the plot away Danny's machinations with Nick's inheritance were very clever.

I don't read a lot of crime but I really enjoyed this one and recommend it for a good read.

Good Lord Ann, you read loads!

"Jump'"by Jilly Cooper

I thought this was slightly more serious than many of Jilly's other books - if there can be such a thing!! Poor Etta is very much bullied by her ghastly children and seems to be having a rotten time until she finds the equally mistreated pony whom she names Mrs Wilkinson. Wilkie's rise to self-confidence follows that of Etta and, as usual, the characters are fantastically drawn.

As a long-time fan of the Jilly Cooper riding fraternity I actually shed a tear when I read of Billy's death.

I thought this was a good read but perhaps not as much fun as some of JC's earlier novels.

"Q" by Luther Blisset

Well I tried. I read the first couple of chapters but just couldn't get into this.

I chose to read this because it is set in a period of history of which I know very little. It's very "deep" and full of intrigue and, although I usually try tricky stories twice, I' m not sure I want to read any more of this.

I look forward to reading reviews from anyone who finished this.

I was on four weeks holiday Helen!!! :-) :-) :-)

I'll be back tomorrow.

Her Fearful Symmetetry
Not my usual type of reading, but a nice change until near the ending when everything became confused with identity switches, old and new. It all got too farcical for me.

Black Swan Green
This was a book of life through the eyes of a thirteen year old boy. Written very well by a man who no doubt has vivid memories of his own youth. However, as a mother of boys, I didn’t see a lot of my own sons in him and felt that this book was more suited to a man’s taste in reading. I found myself waiting for something exciting to happen and felt that it was more of a diary.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

I finally got this from the library on 30th April and started it the next day and got it finished by the 4th... I thought I would not like it as it seemed a bit like
something out of boys own annual. I wondered if boys really behaved that badly (though they seem to on these housing estates on programmes like "The Bill") and what was I doing to miss it when I was Jason's age - probably participating in some fairly hair-raising stuff of my own. I found the story quite compelling, there was a lot going on in his home life, his play life, his school life, his literary life and his stuttering life for one youngster. The Falklands War was a desolate cruel war and whilst the narrative on it was not long it stressed the ridiculousness of it and what a waste it was. One of the best paragraphs would be the letter that Tom Yew had sent home to his parents and they received it after he died when the "Coventry" was sunk. He wrote: Our Navy men thought the Falkland Islanders were a bunch of
inbred bumblers, like Benny the dimwit handyman from Crossroads on TV. They even started calling the Islanders Bennies. Soon everyone in the lower ranks was saying "Benny" this and "Benny" that. When the officers found out, an order was issued to get the men to stop using this name. The men stopped. But a day or two later, Tom was haulded over by his lieutenant, who demanded to know why the crew were referring to the locals not as "Bennies" but as "Stills." So I told the lieutenant, 'Because they're still Bennies. sir."

I would not have chosen this to read as I am not familiar with the author but I thought it was a very good read.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

I am not entirely sure whether I liked this book that much... I started it with great gusto and did not want to put it down. The bit that we were supposed to be so intrigued about clicked with me fairly early in the piece. I had written a long review of this book - but upon reading it back I did wonder who would understand it. You have summed it up well Ann there were too many stories going on. I did enjoy the bits about Highgate Cemetery - as I spend a bit of time in cemeteries.I think the niggle with me was the entire selfishness of Elspeth and how stupid for Valentina to spend the rest of her entirety as a bird (I wonder if the birds do know? LOL)

The book is well written and a lot of thought and research would have gone into it, but it left me feeling 'so what.' I am sorry that it was me who recommended it.

:-( :-( :-( :-(

By the way I did look at the first chapter of Q and thought don't go there - it was too blood thirsty and just not my thing and I was not impressed with the dialogue - language wise or the interaction between people that they weren't brutally killing.

I am now reading Death & Life of Charlie St Cloud - I am not entirely sure about it yet... it is also ghostly and the living and the dead and Charlie works at a Cemetery. We'll see!!

Love your avatar Perse.

Inbetween I also read Charlaine Harris novels (not the Sookie Stackhouse ones though) - they are light and a quick read. Also read Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child.. I would hate to be without a book or two to read - luckily I have stacks to keep me going whilst waiting for the recommended from the library.

Over the last few weeks I have read-
The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud.
I really liked this and wanted everything to turn out well for Charlie.
(I didn't make any notes and have now taken the book back to the library, but I recommenend it)

Friendships Bond by Meg Hutchinson,
I thought that this was good too. No surprises though as to the identity of Alec.
My only disappointment was that the accents portrayed in the book, are not, as far as I am aware, the accents of the local area. Oerhaps the author felt that thegeneral public would not understand the Black Counrty accent.
I hadn't realised that Meg Hutchinson had died R.I.P. Meg. Well done too for starting to get books published when she was in her sixties ... there is hope for us all.

Tess

My reviews continued.

Now, this is where the excuses start....

I had dropped out of the readers group for a short while. Then Ann contacted me at the end of march to see if I wanted to take part this time.

Was about to take some books back to the Library, including" Black Swan Green" so I included this in my recommendations. I hadn't made ant notes, but intended renewing it on 31st March.
Well Wednesday 31st Marcch was "one of those days" at the Library.
They wouldn't let me renew Black Swan as it had been requested my someone else!
Jump and Her Fearful Symmetry, were not on the shelves and had to be ordered.
I therefore read the Death and Life of Charlie st cloud and Friendships Bond. (See previous post)..

Review of "Black Swan Green" -
Had already read this book recently. I liked Jason's story, and yes, it does rather read like a diary.
I sympathised with Jason, was also 9as an adult) able to pick up some of the clues as to what was going on, that he missed.
Although quite light and easy to read the book dealt with issues such as prejudice, bullying, war, death, and family break down.

I would love to have the opinion of a man who was a teenager at the time to see if he related to Jason's feelings at all.
Good to be reminded of the films and music of the time.

By the way, i chose the book in the first place, because in an earlier book which we read in this group, one of the main charecters was a David Mitchell. Apparently David Mitchell won the right to have his name in a book at a charity event.
The only David Mitchell I knew of at the time was the comedian and wondered if it was him.
Now I am a little more certain that the David Mitchell hero of the book (sorry I don't remember its name) is the David Mitchell, who wrote this book.
I will look out for more books by him.

Tess

Another excuse coming up (and a double one at that).

I had suggested Q by Luther Blissett (but would not have done so if I had read it first)
I am still struggling to read it. The style does get a little easier to cope with as time goes on, as does the change of date - leaping backwards and forwards all the time, and the fact that we don't know the real names of the main protagonisrs.

I am still finding it heavy going, probably because I hae very little knowledge of the back ground of the story.

I knew that Matrin Luther had nailed his thesis to a door. and that this was a start to the reformation.
I also knew of Emporer Charles V, well to be honest, i knew that there had been an Emporr Charles V, but didn't know anything about him!

I will continue to read this book till I finish it, will also try to find out a little more about Charles V (who I think was related to Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry V111)
I think that this book shows that power in religion and politics was, (and is now) a dirty game. "Unholy Alliences" were set up in order to defeat a common enemy. No though given to how it would effect the people without power. Little has changed in the last five hundred years exceptthe tecnology used by all concerned.

Tess
I

Q by Luther Blissett
I have to agree with Helen and Perse – only read some and didn't enjoy what I did read

Jump by Jilly Cooper
It was perfect weather for a Jilly Cooper book, warm enough to sit in the garden , relax and enjoy a good 'bonk-buster'! As always, enjoyable entertainment with well crafted characters I can empathise with. Again I agree that it was slightly more serious than some of her others.

I also managed to read John Grisham's The Last Juror.
If anyone gets the chance to read it I can recommend this book. It portrayed Mississippi in the 1970s- with all its good and bad points. I felt Grisham captured the way Willie grew up during the time covered by the book really well. He seems to have described the main characters with more depth than he usually does, perhaps not the suspense and exciting finish one expects of a Grisham book, but with a gentle charm instead, especially Miss Callie.