Sorry this is late, lost my notes, here goes ...
The beginning was slow but the second half was better. The time jumps were confusing and we found we needed to concentrate to follow. Everyone liked the characters. This was a book we wouldn't have picked ourselves but we were glad we read it.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 9/10
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 4.5/10
Slap? Authie (the gun rape guy)
Cheese: Silent dancing
Recommend? 3/5
Better as a ... board game!
Kate got to choose our next book: Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.
Our next meeting will be our Christmas meal out (organised by Lucy) on Tuesday 17th Dec.
Monday, 16 December 2013
Heft by Liz Moore
Suzie hadn't finished the book, so Kate, Jen and I discussed whether or not we thought the ending was 'bad' and came to the conclusion that it was supposed to be related to the wider concept of things not being quite what they seem (I had forgotten, for instance, that Arthur doesn't turn out to be Kel's Dad because it seemed so likely throughout the book that this would turn out to be the case). Lots of things are left unresolved, and the end happens when everyone is just about to come together - it leaves the schmaltzy bit where they actually come together out entirely. We also thought it was good he didn't win the trial at the Mets, because that would have been too easy - seemed more real this way.
Concept.
We gave the concept 5/10. The two narrators are two people you wouldn't expect to meet who turn out to be totally connected by one other person.
Plot
(not much of a plot) - just a journey? 5/10
Ending
Suzie abstained because she didn't reach the end. We thought it was good that it left loose ends, but maybe there were too many? Paths are just aligning and then the book stops - quite abrupt. 3/10
Cover
Some embossing, but no shiny. 8/10
Page Turner? 5/10
It wasn't unputdownable *shudder*
Reccommend it? 1/4
Jen was the only one who said she would recommend it, and she 'read' the audiobook, which may be why!
Who would we slap?
Arthur Opp's famous architect Dad because he was a meanie!
Ou est le fromage?
Getting scouted for the mets... pretty cheesy!
*NEW CATEGORY* (possibly?)
It would be better as a....
FILM (we can see the teenage party scenes working out well, and see ourselves laughing at / crying with the big feller)
The next book (December) is Stonemouth by Iain Banks, selected by Suzie.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
A last minute change of venue saw us (Jen, Susie, Lucy and I) at Jen's house where she treated us to yummy meringue things. With copious amounts of tea, we settled down to discuss this month's book.
A short, easy to read book which posed interesting ethical dilemmas was the general consensus. Jen was disappointed as she had read other novels by the same author and enjoyed them more. We thought this was more like a concept book, a long short story rather than a full-blown novel. We liked the different theories on what would happen if we could all live for 200 years and also how practical it would be with work and house prices etc. We felt that the story could have been expanded and made into a normal sized novel as many aspects were introduced and then not mentioned again. All in all, a very good read.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 5.5/10
Ending: 5/10
Cover: n/a
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: The daughter in law
Where's the cheese: The nursery at the end
Would we recommend this: 4/4
Overall: 7/10
We chose the next book by putting our names into a 'hat' and then the person drawn could then choose a book.
Lucy chose 'Heft' by Liz Moore which we will be reading for the October meeting.
Our next meeting will be at 8pm on Wednesday 11th September, I did volunteer to host this at my new house, but I'm on a training course in the Midlands that week, so won't be able to make it. Lucy said she would like to host, so I'll double check with her and will send an email out to confirm.
A short, easy to read book which posed interesting ethical dilemmas was the general consensus. Jen was disappointed as she had read other novels by the same author and enjoyed them more. We thought this was more like a concept book, a long short story rather than a full-blown novel. We liked the different theories on what would happen if we could all live for 200 years and also how practical it would be with work and house prices etc. We felt that the story could have been expanded and made into a normal sized novel as many aspects were introduced and then not mentioned again. All in all, a very good read.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 5.5/10
Ending: 5/10
Cover: n/a
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: The daughter in law
Where's the cheese: The nursery at the end
Would we recommend this: 4/4
Overall: 7/10
We chose the next book by putting our names into a 'hat' and then the person drawn could then choose a book.
Lucy chose 'Heft' by Liz Moore which we will be reading for the October meeting.
Our next meeting will be at 8pm on Wednesday 11th September, I did volunteer to host this at my new house, but I'm on a training course in the Midlands that week, so won't be able to make it. Lucy said she would like to host, so I'll double check with her and will send an email out to confirm.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Wishing on Venus by Mark Holmes
This month we welcomed back Rachel, an honorary member as she emigrated to Australia last year, who was back for a friend's wedding. Susie hosted the meeting in her new house and showed off her huge garden and shortly-to-be-demolished swimming pool. With tea (maybe a little wine) and scones at the ready we discussed this month's book. The author of this month's book approached our group via email and offered us the book for free in exchange for a review on here and on Amazon if we chose to, so here goes.
We were pretty unanimous in our opinion of the book, let me start with the good stuff... We thought the concept was great, the author had clearly thought long and hard about the intricacies of heaven and hell and had come up with some pretty good ideas. In places the plot was really good, the story flowed well and the characters were well rounded, but this was only in places.
Now for the bad stuff. Unfortunately, we thought, the book needed more work, probably just a really good editor to pick up on the poor grammar, spelling, inconsistencies and glossed over details. It was clear that some ideas hadn't been thought through properly and although they were good ideas, they just needed more work. For example, the idea that a solicitor would sign a contract (in blood!) without reading it first was a little odd, the way he decided on his chosen profession in heaven because the uniform looked good was not believable and the way the author glossed over how the pattern for his cloak was in his exact size was disappointing.
We didn't understand the significance of the magic show, or what actually happened to the magician in the end (we suspect this may be the focus of the sequel) and we also didn't get how the title of the book related to the story at all. Because of the author's ingenious (and very kind) way of approaching book groups to increase his readership, we really wanted to like this book and we argued long and hard about how best to phrase our thoughts on this blog but in the end we decided that honesty was the best policy. Sorry Mark :-(
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 3/10
Ending: 2/10
Cover: 5/10
Page turner: 5/10
Who to slap: Matt because he was a rubbish solicitor
Where's the cheese: The baby idea
Would we recommend this: 1/10
Overall: 4/10
We chose our next book from the following:
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 14th August, 8pm at Copa.
We were pretty unanimous in our opinion of the book, let me start with the good stuff... We thought the concept was great, the author had clearly thought long and hard about the intricacies of heaven and hell and had come up with some pretty good ideas. In places the plot was really good, the story flowed well and the characters were well rounded, but this was only in places.
Now for the bad stuff. Unfortunately, we thought, the book needed more work, probably just a really good editor to pick up on the poor grammar, spelling, inconsistencies and glossed over details. It was clear that some ideas hadn't been thought through properly and although they were good ideas, they just needed more work. For example, the idea that a solicitor would sign a contract (in blood!) without reading it first was a little odd, the way he decided on his chosen profession in heaven because the uniform looked good was not believable and the way the author glossed over how the pattern for his cloak was in his exact size was disappointing.
We didn't understand the significance of the magic show, or what actually happened to the magician in the end (we suspect this may be the focus of the sequel) and we also didn't get how the title of the book related to the story at all. Because of the author's ingenious (and very kind) way of approaching book groups to increase his readership, we really wanted to like this book and we argued long and hard about how best to phrase our thoughts on this blog but in the end we decided that honesty was the best policy. Sorry Mark :-(
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 3/10
Ending: 2/10
Cover: 5/10
Page turner: 5/10
Who to slap: Matt because he was a rubbish solicitor
Where's the cheese: The baby idea
Would we recommend this: 1/10
Overall: 4/10
We chose our next book from the following:
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
- The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
- The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
- Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 14th August, 8pm at Copa.
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sorry for the delay in getting this review up, life has gotten very busy at the moment :-)
We liked this book, the twists and turns kept us interested but there were flaws, big flaws. The first half of the book was rather boring, until the first twist, we thought Amy was dull but then we were supposed to think that so maybe it's not a flaw? The characters were unbelievable, they all seemed an extreme version of themselves, but then we weren't supposed to like them, so again, maybe not a flaw? We found it hard to read a book where there was no hero, no likeable character, but then that was what was challenging about this book. As you can tell, I'm torn between thinking this book was half-hearted or maybe it was written like that and it's supposed to make us think. Why do we have to like the characters, do we have to agree with the ending for it to be satisfactory? Difficult ...
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7.5/10
Ending: 4/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to slap? All of them!
Where's the cheese? The treasure hunt
And our new category.... Would we recommend this? 8/10
Overall: 7/10
We chose our next book from the following:
Our next meeting will be at Susie's house on Wed 10th July, 8pm.
We liked this book, the twists and turns kept us interested but there were flaws, big flaws. The first half of the book was rather boring, until the first twist, we thought Amy was dull but then we were supposed to think that so maybe it's not a flaw? The characters were unbelievable, they all seemed an extreme version of themselves, but then we weren't supposed to like them, so again, maybe not a flaw? We found it hard to read a book where there was no hero, no likeable character, but then that was what was challenging about this book. As you can tell, I'm torn between thinking this book was half-hearted or maybe it was written like that and it's supposed to make us think. Why do we have to like the characters, do we have to agree with the ending for it to be satisfactory? Difficult ...
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7.5/10
Ending: 4/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to slap? All of them!
Where's the cheese? The treasure hunt
And our new category.... Would we recommend this? 8/10
Overall: 7/10
We chose our next book from the following:
- Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
- The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland
- The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
- The Hive by Gill Hornby
- Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter
Our next meeting will be at Susie's house on Wed 10th July, 8pm.
Thursday, 11 April 2013
HHhH by Laurent Binet
Back at the Copa on a very rainy night we convened to discuss HHhH an unusual non-fictional account of the assassination of Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. Unusual because the author discusses how he found his evidence, how he struggled with what to include and exclude and also because of his extremely short chapters. In one sense his narrative technique drew the reader into the story, it wasn't just dry historical facts or fictitious conversations, it was funny and intriguing but did we really need it? We all found the history interesting, none of us were really aware of what happened in Prague during the Nazi occupation and the characters were well written and dramatic. Some found the short chapters irritating but I found they made me feel as if I was flying through the book (I was in a hurry to finish).
Concept: 6/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 8/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: Curda who betrayed them and also the boss who handed in the letter which lead to the massacre at Lidice
Where's the Cheese: The last chapter/page, the author went totally nuts
Overall: 6.5/10
We chose our next book from the following:
Next meeting is at Lisa's house on Wed 8th May, 8pm.
Concept: 6/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 8/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: Curda who betrayed them and also the boss who handed in the letter which lead to the massacre at Lidice
Where's the Cheese: The last chapter/page, the author went totally nuts
Overall: 6.5/10
We chose our next book from the following:
- After the Party by Lisa Jewell
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Next meeting is at Lisa's house on Wed 8th May, 8pm.
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
A book group meeting seems a good way to say goodbye to a house, Susie has sold her house and is moving to Maidenhead although we hope she still can travel back to Reading for book group :-)
We liked this book, quite a lot. Kidnappers storm the Vice-Presidents house in the middle of a party hoping to take hostage the President and have their demands for poor people of the small Latin American country (never named) and free political prisoners. Unfortunately it all goes wrong and the kidnappers end up holding a group of about 50 men (and one woman) for several months. The plot line was excellent but the real story is in the relationships between the main characters, how the rich party guests come to learn from and like their keepers and how tragedy brings people together.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: The Accompanist (lacklustre effort of dying in the name of love)
Where's the Cheese: The weird soap opera which keeps popping up
Overall: 8.5/10
We chose the next book from:
Our next meeting will be at Copa Bar on Wednesday 10th April at 8pm.
We liked this book, quite a lot. Kidnappers storm the Vice-Presidents house in the middle of a party hoping to take hostage the President and have their demands for poor people of the small Latin American country (never named) and free political prisoners. Unfortunately it all goes wrong and the kidnappers end up holding a group of about 50 men (and one woman) for several months. The plot line was excellent but the real story is in the relationships between the main characters, how the rich party guests come to learn from and like their keepers and how tragedy brings people together.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: The Accompanist (lacklustre effort of dying in the name of love)
Where's the Cheese: The weird soap opera which keeps popping up
Overall: 8.5/10
We chose the next book from:
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (I know this was proposed last time)
- The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric
- These Hidden Things by Heather Gudenkauf
- Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Our next meeting will be at Copa Bar on Wednesday 10th April at 8pm.
Friday, 15 February 2013
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Tea and cakes at Jen's seemed like a suitable way to celebrate Valentine's week and we welcomed a new member to out midst, Lucy, who leaped right in playing lucky dip with Jen's soft porn version of 'Warm Bodies' and is also a knitter like me. Welcome Lucy!
Kate, Jen and I saw the film version of this book last weekend and to be honest it made the book look good. As usual the film missed loads out but it also changed the ending completely and the main character R seemed to have become a teenage heartthrob, yes we were confused too.
Overall we thought this book was averagely written, it was a good concept of a zombie love story and the nods to Romeo and Juliet were subtle enough to not be annoying. However the ending was very predictable and we were more interested in a prequel to show us what happened to the world to get it into that state.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 7/10
Cover: 9/10 (very minimalist, very good)
Page Turner: 5/10
Who to Slap: Zombie wife (cheating by having zombie sex, very harsh)
Where's the Cheese: quote "I dream of an exclamation mark when all I have are ellipses ..." (will get the exact quote later and amend).
Overall: 7/10 (which doesn't seem to reflect how average we thought this book was)
We chose the next book with a random draw, the suggestions were:
Our next meeting will be at Susie's house, before she sells it, on Wednesday 13th March, 8pm.
Kate, Jen and I saw the film version of this book last weekend and to be honest it made the book look good. As usual the film missed loads out but it also changed the ending completely and the main character R seemed to have become a teenage heartthrob, yes we were confused too.
Overall we thought this book was averagely written, it was a good concept of a zombie love story and the nods to Romeo and Juliet were subtle enough to not be annoying. However the ending was very predictable and we were more interested in a prequel to show us what happened to the world to get it into that state.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 7/10
Cover: 9/10 (very minimalist, very good)
Page Turner: 5/10
Who to Slap: Zombie wife (cheating by having zombie sex, very harsh)
Where's the Cheese: quote "I dream of an exclamation mark when all I have are ellipses ..." (will get the exact quote later and amend).
Overall: 7/10 (which doesn't seem to reflect how average we thought this book was)
We chose the next book with a random draw, the suggestions were:
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- The Innocents by Francesca Segal
- 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James (come on, own up, who put this in?)
- HHhH by Laurent Binet
Our next meeting will be at Susie's house, before she sells it, on Wednesday 13th March, 8pm.
Sunday, 13 January 2013
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
Christmas seems like months ago and it was great to catch up with the girls at our usual haunt, most of us had read all of this book which is very good considering December is usually a busy month for everyone. This book started of as a bit of a mystery around a disappeared professor but it turned into one of the most mind-tripping books I've ever read (in a good way)! The discussions on quantum physics and philosophical topics left most of us struggling but if you glossed over those, this book was great. It had a slow beginning but I was flying through it towards the middle and the ending came far too soon. Some of the details seemed a bit contrived, for example to add a bit of danger the ex-FBI agents appeared and started hunting the main characters, but thinking about it, why didn't they go after their bosses or other people involved in the project rather than trying to track a book down across the world? I liked the mix of love story and sci-fi but I was frustrated by the ending and after discussing it with my fellow book-worms it seems it could be taken several ways.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 7/10
Cover: 9/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: Drippy Heather
Where's the Cheese: Adam & Eve linkages
Overall: 8/10
We have changed the way we are selecting our books, instead of voting on them we are putting all suggestions in a hat (yes, we borrowed Jen's actual hat) and drew one out at random. We are hoping this means that we get to read some random books which may not have won in a vote. The suggestions were:
We also discussed our book of the year 2012, it came down to a tie between 'How to be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran and 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovich, it went down to a final vote and 'Rivers of London' won!
Our next meeting will be at Jen's house on Wednesday 13th February, 8pm.
Concept: 9/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 7/10
Cover: 9/10
Page Turner: 8/10
Who to Slap: Drippy Heather
Where's the Cheese: Adam & Eve linkages
Overall: 8/10
We have changed the way we are selecting our books, instead of voting on them we are putting all suggestions in a hat (yes, we borrowed Jen's actual hat) and drew one out at random. We are hoping this means that we get to read some random books which may not have won in a vote. The suggestions were:
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- A Dark Encounter by Roland Vernon
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
- Prophecy by SJ Parris
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
We also discussed our book of the year 2012, it came down to a tie between 'How to be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran and 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovich, it went down to a final vote and 'Rivers of London' won!
Our next meeting will be at Jen's house on Wednesday 13th February, 8pm.
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