General Chat

OK, The names we have so far are: Dancing Sheila Kaz R Norah Mason Maz in the east End Paula Edgington Ruby Tuesday Kaye lala Little Jewels Sue at the seaside Ros in Redditch Lea Valley (Dee) Oleander Georgina Casserly Ann in Glos That is plenty to be starting with but anyone else is welcome. It doesn't matter if you can't read and/or comment every month but it would help us to keep going if everyone 'signed in' at the review date, so we know you are still with us.

Please add your book choices for October. Voting to be on 7th October for two books. This time as we have lost a few weeks: Read one book and review on 26th October. Read second book and review on 26th November. 26th November book choice list. 30th November vote (this will bring us back in line). you can put forward any book you have suggested before that was not chosen. Meanwhile continue to review other books on the general thread. Hope this meet with everyone's approval, if not please comment. this is a democratic club. Ann Glos

Book suggestion for October/November SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson A Young fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat off an island in the Pacific Northwest, and from this sudden mysterious beginning Guterson weaves a riveting tale about love and war and th ways men and women struggle for survival and redemption. A vivid and spellbinding novel, made unforgettable by David Guterson's mastery of detail. SHADOW IN THE WIND by Luanshya Greer A vast passionate saga ranging from the heat and dust of Africa to sixties London, the entrancing love story of Luke and Rebecca and the people black and white of Bonne Esperance proves that love is truly wonderfully colour blind. Bonne Esperance, vineyard home to Rebecca Conrad's family for generations, holds century old secrets centred on a buried key. aNN gLOS

A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse Synopsis (from Amazon) You will live to regret this!' is Clara Brown's opinion when her headstrong daughter Fifi secretly marries Dan Reynolds, a handsome but itinerant bricklayer. Dan and Fifi move to London and a seedy flat in Dale Street, Kennington, and despite initial feelings of horror at her new surroundings, Fifi finds London and the freedom from her middle-class family background exhilarating. Insatiably inquisitive, Fifi is fascinated by her new neighbours and wants to know what goes on behind all those shabby front doors. Why is Yvette, the French dressmaker, such a hermit? Why doesn't widower Frank join his daughter and grandchildren in Australia? And why doesn't the formidable and well-bred Miss Diamond move somewhere smarter? But most of all she is ghoulishly fascinated by the Muckles who live opposite in terrible squalor. She listens to their violent quarrels, watches their ill-treated and wretchedly unhappy children, and is appalled by all she sees. When Fifi tries to help the Muckles' youngest child, who has been physically abused by her father, Fifi unwittingly unleashes a chain of events which will not only bring heart ache to her and Dan, but terrible danger to all the inhabitants of Dale Street

Sketches by Boz - Charles Dickens Synopsis (by Amazon) Charles Dickens's first published book, 'Sketches by Boz' (1836) heralded an exciting new voice in English literature. This richly varied collection of observation, fancy and fiction shows the London he knew so intimately at its best and worst - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons, omnibuses and the river Thames - in honest and visionary descriptions of everyday life and people. Through pen portraits that often anticipate characters from his great novels, we see the condemned man in his prison cell, garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks and Scrooge-like bachelors, while Dickens's powers for social critique are never far from the surface, in unflinching depictions of the vast metropolis's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes. A startling mixture of humour and pathos, these Sketches reveal London as wonderful terrain for an extraordinary young writer. 'Sketches' is a remarkable achievement, and looks towards Dickens's giant novels in its profusion of characters, its glimpses of surreal modernity and its limitless fund of pathos and comic invention.

My suggestion would be:- THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by CARLOS RUIS ZAFON Synopsis by Amazon Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead. I will read just about anything though! Julie xxx

My first suggestion would be a Bill Bryson 'travel' book. Have wanted to read one for a while and not got round to it. Not sure which one would be best - maybe someone has had a recommendation from a friend? If not on the list, then perhaps someone could recommend a good one to start with and I will read it anyway! The Tenko Club by Elizabeth Noble It's essentially a story about friendship that stands the test of time, something increasingly rare nowadays. The group of women depicted meet in university where they form the Tenko Club, vowing to be there for each other whatever happens in the future. And they are. It's a wonderful book, leaving you with a warm glowing feeling inside, and also making you think about not neglecting your own special friendships with people, no matter how busy everyday life may be. And by the way, the descriptions of New England are indeed beautiful. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler 1. Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up ends Macon's insular world-and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life. 2. How does a man addicted to routine - a man who flosses his teeth before love-making - cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, dog trainer from Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon's attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone. Reviews from Amazon, Reading Group Guides and book jacket! Maz. XX ps Ann - have a look at http://www(.)readinggroupguides(.)com/index(.)asp - loads of interesting stuff there! Have added it to my faves and will have a good browse later!

It has correctly been pointed out to me that allowing us to vote for our own book choice could cause a hung ballot. I have therefore deleted that from my posting at the beginning of this thread. Sorry to confuse you. Ann Glos

Taken from Reading group guides web site as suggested by Maz. Thanks for that Maz. Nancy Pearl: I think the most important factor in choosing a good book for a discussion is to find one that is character-driven, that has an ambiguous ending, or both. You want a book that doesn't have everything tied up neatly, in which the author doesn't tell you everything, so that each reader can reach his or her own conclusions about a character's motivation or behavior. One way to enliven discussion is to begin with a question about the title of the book you're discussing. In the case of some books, this is the only question you'll need --- for example, for the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, a natural first question is 'What was the lesson learned, and who learned it?' For Ward Just's A Dangerous Friend, the best way to begin a discussion is to ask, 'Who is the dangerous friend of the title?' Another way to enliven the discussion is to have everyone come to the meeting with one question they want to discuss. Don't begin with the question, 'Who liked this book?' It's sure to polarize members and you'll often never get past that question. End with it instead. Ann glos

Pushing this up - we need more suggestions for book titles to vote on from those who said they were interestedplease. Ann Glos

Following the prompt by Maz, I would like to suggest: 1. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. How an American views some of the more eccentric British situations. Bryson travels round Britain making observations on our behaviour. Very funny book. 2. Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell. Living in a decaying house in Notting Hill, Mix Cellini is obsessed with 10 Rilllington Place, where the notorious John Christie committed a series of foul murders.He is also infatuated with a beautiful model who lives nearby. Mix's landlady lives her life through her library of books. Both landlady and lodger inhabit weird worlds of their own. But when reality intrudes into Mix's life, a long pent up violence explodes. 'Rendell's eerie capacity to comprehend disturbed criminal minds continues to astonish' The Times. (from the back cover of the book.) Paula

Thank you Paula :-)) Maz. XX

Please can those who were interested put their thinking caps on and come up with a title suggestion that they would like/have always wanted to read. Ann Glos

Thank you Georgina, are you also interested in joining in with the reading/book club? ann Glos

Ros Yes I think our library is a bit dear. Still it is cheaper than buying the book if you don't want to keep it. Ann Glos

Georgina I have added your name to the list at the top. Ann Glos

Hi Anne Sorry for delay have been racking me brains (which gets more difficult evry day!!) What about- Bad Blood by Lorna Sage 'In one of the most extraordinary memoirs of recent years, Lorna Sage brings alive her girlhood in post-war provincial britain. From memories of her family and the wounds they inflict upon one another, she tells a tale of thwarted love, failed religion and the salvation she found in books' The Sunday times said 'a totally unexpected book... rackety, painful, sometimes menacing and mad. Out of it all she has made something devastatingly funny.... A memorable account of breaking the rules and breaking out.' Sorry if its already been done! Kaz

A WALK IN THE WOODS - BILL BRYSON Taken from back of book - At the age of forty-four, in the company of his friend Stephen Katz, Bill Bryson set off to hike through the vast tangled woods which have been frightening sensible people for three hundred years. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing ticks, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarmingly of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Entertaining and often illuminating - Sunday Telegraph THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR - JEAN M AUEL Taken from back of book - Its heroine Ayla, a courageous and indomitable young woman whose story begins when she is a five-year-old orphan adopted by the Clan, a group of Neanderthal. Ayla inpires first surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan. She is cared for by its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb. But she makes an implacable enemy of the group's future leader. Broud does all he can to destroy her, but Ayla is a survivor. Both of these books should be really easy to get hold of in your local library or a cheap book shop. A major bestseller ... a remarkable work of imagination - Daily Express Beautiful, exciting, imaginative - New York Times Meticulously researched and fascinating ... it is a work of the purest imagination - Guardian Kaye x

Thank you Kaz and Kaye, a fabulous response from everyone. we are going to have such a hard choice when we vote tomorrow. Ann Glos

Can I be really greedy and sneak another one in please! It came into my hands at work today and I thought it sounded really interesting. We shelve it in the 'classics' section - so if we have a separate Classics month, can we add it to the list for that if it is not chosen this month. Oh by the way, we charge £1 in London for reserving a book - so Ann, you are not so badly off after all !! The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins A fabulous yellow diamond becomes the dangerous inheritance of beautiful young heiress Rachel Verinder. Outside her Yorkshire country house watch the Hindu priests who have waited for centuries to reclaim their ancient talisman, looted from the holy city of Somnauth. When the Moonstone disappears from Rachel's bedroom the case looks simple, but ... no-one is what they seem, and nothing can be taken for granted. Witnesses, suspects and detectives take up the story in turn. The bemused butler, the love-stricken housemaid, the enigmatic detective .., the drug-addicted scientist, each speculate on the mystery ... a cat's cradle of suspense with a surprise ending which can still take the breath away. 'the first and greatest of English detective novels' Maz. XX