A bit of a modern fairy tale, a dark story of two boys (one a human, one a fairy) who get swapped at birth and end up rivals. Then a third boy enters with a genie and it all goes a bit pear-shaped.
Definitely a novel of two halves, the first was quite slow, setting the stories up without them seeming to relate to each other at all. The second half was much better, lots of action but still very. very dark.
We enjoyed the mythology and the extracts from the text book telling us the history of fairies to help explain some aspects of the storyline.
We would all recommend this book and would all read this author again (useful as the sequel to this one came out in March!).
Marks out of 10:
Jen - 5
Lisa - 7
Gill - 6
Average = 6/10
Susie chose the next book, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell which we'll read for the July meeting.
Next meeting is at Susie's house and we'll be changing the date for this one as Susie can't do the usual Wednesday.
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson
We all enjoyed this book, we found the writing and characters gripped us as the storyline unfolded and we wouldn't mind seeing the film (which came out in September 2014).
There were a few loose ends. what happened with Dr Nasch's paper? It seemed all important to him but was never mentioned at the end.
How did Christine escape the fire? Why was it so easy for Mike to walk out of the hospital with Christine?
We would all recommend this book.
Marks out of 10
Lisa: 8
Kate: 8
Gill: 8
Jen: 9
Average score: 8/10
The next book was chosen by Kate and will be The Martian by Andy Weir, Susie will be hosting the May meeting.
There were a few loose ends. what happened with Dr Nasch's paper? It seemed all important to him but was never mentioned at the end.
How did Christine escape the fire? Why was it so easy for Mike to walk out of the hospital with Christine?
We would all recommend this book.
Marks out of 10
Lisa: 8
Kate: 8
Gill: 8
Jen: 9
Average score: 8/10
The next book was chosen by Kate and will be The Martian by Andy Weir, Susie will be hosting the May meeting.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
Well this is something a little different, a self-help book chosen in the New Year. It certainly provided lots of discussion.
This book talks through ways of pushing yourself, of looking at life differently, saying "Yes" and being more positive. It has some really good points, we liked the chapter on instead of thinking about multiple bad outcomes to a situation and worrying about them, just think to yourself "I can handle this, whatever happens I can handle it".
We liked the no regrets message, instead of going over mistakes and thinking about what could have been, move forwards. Every decision you have made up to now has brought you here so how can they be bad?
We also liked the life grid thingy, a way of thinking about different aspects of your life and ensuring you fill your grid. So if your relationship ends or you lose your job, you still have lots of things which make you happy, this ensures you don't rely on just one area of life to make you happy.
However, it was really cheesy and the anecdotes didn't ring true, it started to get a bit unrealistic towards the end of the book. But overall, we enjoyed it and we'd all recommend it.
Most of our categories don't fit with this type of book, so instead we each gave it a mark out of 10.
Kate - 7
Susie - 6
Jen - 6
Lisa - 5
Gill - 7
Average score: 6/10
The next book was chosen by Lisa and will be Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill, Gill will be hosting the April meeting.
This book talks through ways of pushing yourself, of looking at life differently, saying "Yes" and being more positive. It has some really good points, we liked the chapter on instead of thinking about multiple bad outcomes to a situation and worrying about them, just think to yourself "I can handle this, whatever happens I can handle it".
We liked the no regrets message, instead of going over mistakes and thinking about what could have been, move forwards. Every decision you have made up to now has brought you here so how can they be bad?
We also liked the life grid thingy, a way of thinking about different aspects of your life and ensuring you fill your grid. So if your relationship ends or you lose your job, you still have lots of things which make you happy, this ensures you don't rely on just one area of life to make you happy.
However, it was really cheesy and the anecdotes didn't ring true, it started to get a bit unrealistic towards the end of the book. But overall, we enjoyed it and we'd all recommend it.
Most of our categories don't fit with this type of book, so instead we each gave it a mark out of 10.
Kate - 7
Susie - 6
Jen - 6
Lisa - 5
Gill - 7
Average score: 6/10
The next book was chosen by Lisa and will be Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill, Gill will be hosting the April meeting.
Sunday, 1 March 2015
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
This is the story of Theo Decker, it starts when he's thirteen and we
follow him right into adulthood. It's a story of love and loss (lots of
loss), of good friends and bad decisions.
We enjoyed the story, lots happened but it was far too long. The ending was very rambly, it could of ended at least 100 pages sooner. We felt some events were glossed over, for example Theo getting engaged to Kitsey, how did that happen?
We decided to change our scoring, each person will give a mark out of 10 and the average is the book's score.
Characters - We liked Boris, such an optimist.
Who to slap? - Most of the characters.
Concept - Good
Plot - Too long but well written.
Ending - Too drawn out, could have ended when Boris returned in Amsterdam.
Add a twist - Make the book 300 pages shorter and give the painting back at the beginning (however this would lose the point of the book).
Page Turner - No.
Where's the cheese? - No cheese, far too serious for cheese.
Would we recommend? - No
Better as a ... shorter book (sense the theme yet?)
Average score: 6/10
The next book was chosen by Jen and it's Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson and we'll be reading that for the April meeting. Lisa is hosting the next meeting.
We enjoyed the story, lots happened but it was far too long. The ending was very rambly, it could of ended at least 100 pages sooner. We felt some events were glossed over, for example Theo getting engaged to Kitsey, how did that happen?
We decided to change our scoring, each person will give a mark out of 10 and the average is the book's score.
Characters - We liked Boris, such an optimist.
Who to slap? - Most of the characters.
Concept - Good
Plot - Too long but well written.
Ending - Too drawn out, could have ended when Boris returned in Amsterdam.
Add a twist - Make the book 300 pages shorter and give the painting back at the beginning (however this would lose the point of the book).
Page Turner - No.
Where's the cheese? - No cheese, far too serious for cheese.
Would we recommend? - No
Better as a ... shorter book (sense the theme yet?)
Average score: 6/10
The next book was chosen by Jen and it's Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson and we'll be reading that for the April meeting. Lisa is hosting the next meeting.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
We read this for the January meeting, so this post is very very late.
Set in 1666, the Black Death hits a tiny Derbyshire village and the people who live there decide to isolate themselves to save nearby towns and villages. This is the story of Anna Frith, of how a village watches half their population die, their loved ones and neighbours and of how desperate times show the best and worst of people.
This was an easy read, just the right length and it was an interesting story (based on true events, but the characters are fictitious). However we didn't think it invokes the terror of living through the plague, seeing your neighbours die and wonder if you'll be next. It wasn't written emotively and left us a little cold.
We didn't like the ending, thinking it was a little far fetched but we did like the vocabulary of the time used in the book. Overall we enjoyed the story but found it rather middling.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 8.5/10
Ending: 5/10
Add a twist: Untwist the rectors character at the end.
Page Turner: Yes
Who would we slap: Anna's Dad.
Where's the cheese: Baby Eleanor.
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... TV drama
Total: 8/10
The next book was chosen by Gill and will be Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers which we'll be reading for the March meeting. Kate is hosting the February meeting.
Set in 1666, the Black Death hits a tiny Derbyshire village and the people who live there decide to isolate themselves to save nearby towns and villages. This is the story of Anna Frith, of how a village watches half their population die, their loved ones and neighbours and of how desperate times show the best and worst of people.
This was an easy read, just the right length and it was an interesting story (based on true events, but the characters are fictitious). However we didn't think it invokes the terror of living through the plague, seeing your neighbours die and wonder if you'll be next. It wasn't written emotively and left us a little cold.
We didn't like the ending, thinking it was a little far fetched but we did like the vocabulary of the time used in the book. Overall we enjoyed the story but found it rather middling.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 8.5/10
Ending: 5/10
Add a twist: Untwist the rectors character at the end.
Page Turner: Yes
Who would we slap: Anna's Dad.
Where's the cheese: Baby Eleanor.
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... TV drama
Total: 8/10
The next book was chosen by Gill and will be Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers which we'll be reading for the March meeting. Kate is hosting the February meeting.
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Wonder by RJ Palacio
This was a lovely book which could be read by adults and children alike. It tells the story of 10 year-old August Pullman's first year at school, he had been home schooled due to the fact that he was born with a facial disfigurement.
This book made us think about what it would be like to be physically disabled or disfigured, having to deal with people staring and talking about you all the time. It also deals with bullying which thought was good, but some of the characters were a bit unrealistic.
We liked August's sister and her boyfriend and liked when the narrator changed to give a slightly different viewpoint.
The ending was lovely, very inspiring. Altogether an easy, enjoyable read.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 6/10
Add a twist? Not really applicable, it wasn't a twisty kind of story
Page Turner: No (although this wasn't a bad thing, it was a gentle story instead of gripping)
Who to slap? Julian's Mum
Where's the cheese? The convenient ending
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... Disney TV film
Total: 7.5/10
Susie will be choosing the book after next. From now on we will take turns in choosing a book to make sure every one gets a go.
Jen is hosting in January.
This book made us think about what it would be like to be physically disabled or disfigured, having to deal with people staring and talking about you all the time. It also deals with bullying which thought was good, but some of the characters were a bit unrealistic.
We liked August's sister and her boyfriend and liked when the narrator changed to give a slightly different viewpoint.
The ending was lovely, very inspiring. Altogether an easy, enjoyable read.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 6/10
Add a twist? Not really applicable, it wasn't a twisty kind of story
Page Turner: No (although this wasn't a bad thing, it was a gentle story instead of gripping)
Who to slap? Julian's Mum
Where's the cheese? The convenient ending
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... Disney TV film
Total: 7.5/10
Susie will be choosing the book after next. From now on we will take turns in choosing a book to make sure every one gets a go.
Jen is hosting in January.
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
We reviewed this in November, so this is very late but I'll try and remember what we spoke about.
This book is bonkers, semi fantasy set in Finland where we assume most people believe in fairies and elves. There was so much going on in this book that we didn't know where to start.
There was the odd Laura White who was collecting children and then disappeared, was that relevant to the story? Probably only because it enabled Ella to go about asking questions and finding out what happened to the 11th member.
We liked the idea of books getting viruses and re-writing themselves, that could be a whole book in itself. We didn't like the rather random sex scenes, three quite disturbing images of rape, grossly fat people and doing it with other people in the room.
A highly amusing if somewhat confusing story.
Concept: 7/10
Plot: 5/10
Ending: 5/10
Add a twist: Take all the twists out and start again!
Page Turner? Yes
Who to slap: Laura White
Where's the cheese? Squashing sex scene
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... fairy story
Total: 7/10
Our next book will be Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
This book is bonkers, semi fantasy set in Finland where we assume most people believe in fairies and elves. There was so much going on in this book that we didn't know where to start.
There was the odd Laura White who was collecting children and then disappeared, was that relevant to the story? Probably only because it enabled Ella to go about asking questions and finding out what happened to the 11th member.
We liked the idea of books getting viruses and re-writing themselves, that could be a whole book in itself. We didn't like the rather random sex scenes, three quite disturbing images of rape, grossly fat people and doing it with other people in the room.
A highly amusing if somewhat confusing story.
Concept: 7/10
Plot: 5/10
Ending: 5/10
Add a twist: Take all the twists out and start again!
Page Turner? Yes
Who to slap: Laura White
Where's the cheese? Squashing sex scene
Would we recommend? 10/10
Better as a ... fairy story
Total: 7/10
Our next book will be Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
On a cold, dark night, we huddled in Lisa's front room to discuss this book. Is it just me or has someone flicked a switch and turned summer off? I was enjoying that. Anyways ...
This book is really short! We were divided on how much we enjoyed the weird fantasy style of this book and how it gets totally bizarre towards the end. It was just like dipping into a child's imagination, lots of action but no substance. We thought the characters, although interesting, were a bit one-dimensional.
The climatic magic part was a bit of a let down, the grandmother basically told the nasty things to go home because she says so.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 5/10
Page Turner - 10/10
Who to slap? The lodger for killing the cat
Where's the cheese? Naked nanny
Would we recommend? 0/10
Better as a ... cartoon
Add a twist - Proper magic at the end
Total: 6/10
Our next book will be 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio which we'll be reading for our December meeting. Next meeting is at Gill's house and Kate will host in December.
This book is really short! We were divided on how much we enjoyed the weird fantasy style of this book and how it gets totally bizarre towards the end. It was just like dipping into a child's imagination, lots of action but no substance. We thought the characters, although interesting, were a bit one-dimensional.
The climatic magic part was a bit of a let down, the grandmother basically told the nasty things to go home because she says so.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 5/10
Page Turner - 10/10
Who to slap? The lodger for killing the cat
Where's the cheese? Naked nanny
Would we recommend? 0/10
Better as a ... cartoon
Add a twist - Proper magic at the end
Total: 6/10
Our next book will be 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio which we'll be reading for our December meeting. Next meeting is at Gill's house and Kate will host in December.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
We had a long discussion at this month's book group meeting, late into the night, unfortunately that discussion was not about this book. We didn't like this one and here's why ...
We found the first half of this book dragged, the characters were confusing and we didn't really care about them or the storyline. The second half was better but not much. We liked Phoebe when she worked for the spa and we liked Gary when he had the breakdown, after that we kind of lost interest.
It was quite a depressing book, the picture painted of Shanghai was that it was full of con men, it made you lose faith in humanity a little. We found the way all the characters finally crossed paths a little contrived and not really needed in all cases.
That's pretty much it. We then had a little experiment, instead of our usual scoring system we each gave the book an overall mark out of 10 and then saw if that matched what our scoring system found.
The average overall score was 5.5/10
Concept: 7/10
Plot: 3/10
Ending: 2.5/10
Cover - we've decided to scrap this category as it seems to affect our scores and not in the way we'd like. Sorry Rachel.
Page Turner: 0/10
Who to slap? Everyone
Where's the cheese? The self-help extracts.
Would we recommend? 0/5
Better as a ... fortune cookie (money doesn't equal happiness)
Add a twist: Justin and Yinghui get together.
Total: 3/10
Our next book will be 'The Rabbit Back Literature Society' by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen which we'll read for our November meeting.. Next meeting is at Lisa's.
We found the first half of this book dragged, the characters were confusing and we didn't really care about them or the storyline. The second half was better but not much. We liked Phoebe when she worked for the spa and we liked Gary when he had the breakdown, after that we kind of lost interest.
It was quite a depressing book, the picture painted of Shanghai was that it was full of con men, it made you lose faith in humanity a little. We found the way all the characters finally crossed paths a little contrived and not really needed in all cases.
That's pretty much it. We then had a little experiment, instead of our usual scoring system we each gave the book an overall mark out of 10 and then saw if that matched what our scoring system found.
The average overall score was 5.5/10
Concept: 7/10
Plot: 3/10
Ending: 2.5/10
Cover - we've decided to scrap this category as it seems to affect our scores and not in the way we'd like. Sorry Rachel.
Page Turner: 0/10
Who to slap? Everyone
Where's the cheese? The self-help extracts.
Would we recommend? 0/5
Better as a ... fortune cookie (money doesn't equal happiness)
Add a twist: Justin and Yinghui get together.
Total: 3/10
Our next book will be 'The Rabbit Back Literature Society' by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen which we'll read for our November meeting.. Next meeting is at Lisa's.
Sunday, 7 September 2014
The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey
ATTENTION: SPOILER ALERT
If you have not read this book please don't read the review below, it contains massive spoilers. Be content with the knowledge that we rated this book as 7/10 (my personal opinion is that it's brilliant), so please read it and then come back to read this review.
Have they gone?
Phew.
I think we all enjoyed this book, some more than others. It starts off all benign and weird and then just erupts into a massive zombie battle. We loved the fast paced action, the characters were good and Melanie was the perfect character to help us discover the world as she discovers it.
We had a good old debate about the ethics of Dr Caldwell and her approach to scientific discovery. Was she being over-ambitious or truly working for the good of mankind?
There were a few niggling points:
- What was the point of the junkers? Were they only there to cause the base breach and then provide a threat? They seemed a bit random.
- The issue with Beacon was never answered, had it degenerated into a 'Lord of the Flies' environment?
- We thought the sex scenes were unrealistic and unnecessary unless they resulted in a pregnancy, but that would interfere with the ending.
We all liked the ending, the progression of the infection was very logical and was the only way forwards long-term. We had another good discussion about how mutation and evolution sometimes goes backwards to go forwards.
Concept: 6/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 8/10
Cover: 6/10
Page Turner: 9/10
Who to slap? Dr Caldwell
Where's the cheese? Sex scenes
Would we recommend? 2/4
Better as a ... film
Add a twist: Pregnant by Parks
Total: 7/10
Our next book will be 'The Ocean At The End Of The Lane' by Neil Gaiman which we'll be reading for the October meeting. Next meeting is at Kate's.
Monday, 14 July 2014
The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland
Cake anyone? Yes, we met at Jen's cake shop and she made us lovely food! It was soooo nice. Thank you Jen for hosting us in such style.
Most people were a bit blah about this book. It's very long and the first few chapters didn't grab us, however it got better as we went on. We got quite annoyed at the falcon trivia at the start of each chapter, we felt it was a bit contrived, trying to link the story to the title. OK, Isabela was on a quest to find some falcons but the book was about much more than that. We felt the title was a bit misleading and we could have done with some more falcons (just not more trivia).
That's it! I must admit we did spend several hours catching up with each other and having a bit of a gossip which mean the book talk was a little short.
Concept: 4/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 2/10 - very frustrating ending, what happened to them? Finish the story!
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 5/10
Who to slap? Isabela's mother
Where's the cheese? How everyone fell in love with Isabela
Would we recommend? 1/5
Better as a ... graphic novel
Add a twist: Eydis turned into a falcon!
Total: 4/10 (however we felt this was a much better book than 'Season to Taste')
Our next book will be 'Five Star Billionaire' by Tash Aw and the August meeting will be at Susie's house. Kate will host the September meeting.
Most people were a bit blah about this book. It's very long and the first few chapters didn't grab us, however it got better as we went on. We got quite annoyed at the falcon trivia at the start of each chapter, we felt it was a bit contrived, trying to link the story to the title. OK, Isabela was on a quest to find some falcons but the book was about much more than that. We felt the title was a bit misleading and we could have done with some more falcons (just not more trivia).
That's it! I must admit we did spend several hours catching up with each other and having a bit of a gossip which mean the book talk was a little short.
Concept: 4/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 2/10 - very frustrating ending, what happened to them? Finish the story!
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 5/10
Who to slap? Isabela's mother
Where's the cheese? How everyone fell in love with Isabela
Would we recommend? 1/5
Better as a ... graphic novel
Add a twist: Eydis turned into a falcon!
Total: 4/10 (however we felt this was a much better book than 'Season to Taste')
Our next book will be 'Five Star Billionaire' by Tash Aw and the August meeting will be at Susie's house. Kate will host the September meeting.
Friday, 13 June 2014
Season to Taste by Natalie Young
Our last meeting at Kate's old house (hopefully), we were served bucks fizz and chocolatey things, I approve of both of these things.
I'm afraid we didn't enjoy this one, it had redeeming features which I will go into later but the big minus was the content of the story. Trying to make killing and eating your husband amusing and readable must be difficult and I admire Natalie for attempting it, but sorry, it didn't do it for us.
We were slightly confused about why Lizzie killed her husband, the book goes into years of snide comments and belittling but there didn't seem to be a trigger - or we missed it if there was. And why did she feel the need to eat him? Why not burn him or cook the whole lots, blitz it into soup and then pour it away? Apart from the killing, cooking and eating, not much else happened. The side plot of Lizzie finding a younger man (well, that didn't go well) or moving to Scotland didn't really pan out.
On to the positives! We did enjoy the thought that must have gone into how to dismember, store, cook and eat a whole human including organs, brains and willy. Susie called it a 'thought experiment' which I thought summed it up nicely. I imagine this book could be a theoretical conversation in pub, getting more and more extreme as the pints are downed (the people discussing this in a pub are so obviously men, hence the pints).
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 2/10
Ending: 2/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 6/10
Who would we slap? Lizzie for being weak and generally a bit dull
Where's the cheese? No cheese, just meat
Would we recommend? 0/4 (a resounding NO)
Better as a ... documentary (with no real killing obviously)
Add a twist: Either her husband is having an affair and isn't really dead (she's making it all up) or Lizzie should kill her toy-boy in making after telling him the truth.
Total: 4/10
Our next book will be 'The Girl With All The Gifts' by M R Carey and the July meeting will be at Jen's new cake shop!
I'm afraid we didn't enjoy this one, it had redeeming features which I will go into later but the big minus was the content of the story. Trying to make killing and eating your husband amusing and readable must be difficult and I admire Natalie for attempting it, but sorry, it didn't do it for us.
We were slightly confused about why Lizzie killed her husband, the book goes into years of snide comments and belittling but there didn't seem to be a trigger - or we missed it if there was. And why did she feel the need to eat him? Why not burn him or cook the whole lots, blitz it into soup and then pour it away? Apart from the killing, cooking and eating, not much else happened. The side plot of Lizzie finding a younger man (well, that didn't go well) or moving to Scotland didn't really pan out.
On to the positives! We did enjoy the thought that must have gone into how to dismember, store, cook and eat a whole human including organs, brains and willy. Susie called it a 'thought experiment' which I thought summed it up nicely. I imagine this book could be a theoretical conversation in pub, getting more and more extreme as the pints are downed (the people discussing this in a pub are so obviously men, hence the pints).
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 2/10
Ending: 2/10
Cover: 5/10
Page Turner: 6/10
Who would we slap? Lizzie for being weak and generally a bit dull
Where's the cheese? No cheese, just meat
Would we recommend? 0/4 (a resounding NO)
Better as a ... documentary (with no real killing obviously)
Add a twist: Either her husband is having an affair and isn't really dead (she's making it all up) or Lizzie should kill her toy-boy in making after telling him the truth.
Total: 4/10
Our next book will be 'The Girl With All The Gifts' by M R Carey and the July meeting will be at Jen's new cake shop!
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
It was light when we got to Lisa's so we could actually see her garden and everything! I like it when it starts getting lighter in the evenings. Anyways, back to the review ...
We all really enjoyed this book, it's set on a small island in-between America and Canada which has a surprising number of Japanese immigrants (it does tell you why in the book but I forget). The story starts when a local is found dead and a Japanese-American is accused, the trial calls lots of different witnesses and you find out their own story when they take the stand. The book flicks between present day (1954) and before the 2nd world war. It's a real, did he/didn't he book filled with stereotypes and prejudices.
We liked the characters, the story, how it was told but the ending was a bit disappointing (I forget why, this'll teach me to wait 2 weeks before writing the blog post).
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 6/10
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 7/10
Who would we slap? Ishmael and Carl's Mum
Where's the cheese: Sex scenes, did we really need to know all that shower business?
Would we recommend? 4/4
Better as a ... film
Add a twist: Spoiler!!!! Someone else murdered him.
Total: 8/10
Our next book will be 'The Falcons of Fire and Ice' by Karen Maitland and the June meeting will be at Kate's house (we won't ask which one).
We all really enjoyed this book, it's set on a small island in-between America and Canada which has a surprising number of Japanese immigrants (it does tell you why in the book but I forget). The story starts when a local is found dead and a Japanese-American is accused, the trial calls lots of different witnesses and you find out their own story when they take the stand. The book flicks between present day (1954) and before the 2nd world war. It's a real, did he/didn't he book filled with stereotypes and prejudices.
We liked the characters, the story, how it was told but the ending was a bit disappointing (I forget why, this'll teach me to wait 2 weeks before writing the blog post).
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 6/10
Cover: 7/10
Page Turner: 7/10
Who would we slap? Ishmael and Carl's Mum
Where's the cheese: Sex scenes, did we really need to know all that shower business?
Would we recommend? 4/4
Better as a ... film
Add a twist: Spoiler!!!! Someone else murdered him.
Total: 8/10
Our next book will be 'The Falcons of Fire and Ice' by Karen Maitland and the June meeting will be at Kate's house (we won't ask which one).
Sunday, 13 April 2014
Half Bad by Sally Green + 5 Year Book Awards
This meeting marks our 5 year anniversary so as well as discussing our usual monthly book was also spent some time giving book awards. Anyway, back to the book.
We all enjoyed this book, some more than others. Although the half bad, half good thing has been done before in fantasy novels, we felt the story was dealt with well and was ideal for younger audiences. It was an easy read and we all wanted to know what happened next, so it was a quick read too. We knew that this book was aimed at Young Adults and this might explain why some of the characters were a bit two-dimensional (e.g. the sister Jessica). I was annoyed at the ending, it ended quite abruptly and didn't conclude much but everyone else liked it and felt it was fine for the first novel in a series.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 6/10
Cover: 9/10
Page Turner: 9/10
Who would we slap: Jessica
Where's the cheese: Gabriel fancying Nathan
Would we recommend: 5/5
Better as a: film
New category, where we come up with a twist that wasn't in the book:
Lets add a twist: Annalise is Jessica in disguise.
Total: 8/10
Our next book will be 'Season to Taste' by Natalie Young. Our next meeting will be at Lisa's house and the June meeting will be at Kate's.
The Book Awards
We all nominated a book for each category, there was no overall winner.
Best Book:
Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Room by Emma Donohue
Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Best Character:
Peter Grant - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Stuart Gilmore - Stonemouth by Iain Banks
Major Pettigrew - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Most Like To Live In:
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Worst Book:
Empire by Jeremy Paxman
Wishing on Venus by Mark Holmes
The Shack by Wm Paul Young
Most Slap-able Character:
God - The Shack by Wm Paul Young
Everyone - The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
Sonya - Tideline by Penny Hancock
Gem - After The Party by Lisa Jewell
Thomas (all of them) - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
We all enjoyed this book, some more than others. Although the half bad, half good thing has been done before in fantasy novels, we felt the story was dealt with well and was ideal for younger audiences. It was an easy read and we all wanted to know what happened next, so it was a quick read too. We knew that this book was aimed at Young Adults and this might explain why some of the characters were a bit two-dimensional (e.g. the sister Jessica). I was annoyed at the ending, it ended quite abruptly and didn't conclude much but everyone else liked it and felt it was fine for the first novel in a series.
Concept: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 6/10
Cover: 9/10
Page Turner: 9/10
Who would we slap: Jessica
Where's the cheese: Gabriel fancying Nathan
Would we recommend: 5/5
Better as a: film
New category, where we come up with a twist that wasn't in the book:
Lets add a twist: Annalise is Jessica in disguise.
Total: 8/10
Our next book will be 'Season to Taste' by Natalie Young. Our next meeting will be at Lisa's house and the June meeting will be at Kate's.
The Book Awards
We all nominated a book for each category, there was no overall winner.
Best Book:
Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Room by Emma Donohue
Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Best Character:
Peter Grant - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Stuart Gilmore - Stonemouth by Iain Banks
Major Pettigrew - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Most Like To Live In:
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Worst Book:
Empire by Jeremy Paxman
Wishing on Venus by Mark Holmes
The Shack by Wm Paul Young
Most Slap-able Character:
God - The Shack by Wm Paul Young
Everyone - The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
Sonya - Tideline by Penny Hancock
Gem - After The Party by Lisa Jewell
Thomas (all of them) - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Thursday, 13 March 2014
After The Party by Lisa Jewell
We read another book by Lisa Jewell back in August 2009, so we thought it was about time we tried another one of hers.
This book is definitely chick-lit, it deals with the trials and tribulations of a 30-something couple who have been together for nearly a decade, have two children but aren't married. The story follows both sides of the relationship which is wobbly to say the least. It was an easy read and it was definitely a page turner but it was quite annoying at the same time.
I really wanted to knock their heads together and just get them to talk to each other, it's not hard and would have saved them a lot of dithering. We didn't really like any of the characters, I wonder if the author made them deliberately unlikeable; Ralph was an annoying flighty artist, who had to continually 'find himself', Jem was quite shallow and we hated her for being 'too thin' for her wedding dress (like that ever happens), Jem's sister was too perfect, Joel was just weird, Joel's grown-up son was unbelievable (as in we didn't believe that a 25 year old would fancy a 38 year old who has just given birth), do I need to continue?
We really didn't like the ending, very contrite and it could have been so much better. Our suggestion is that Joel murders Ralph in the end, that would make the novel very dark and quite likeable.
Concept: 4/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 1/10
Cover: 2/10
Page Turner: 9/10
Slap? Everyone except Jessica
Cheese: Ralph's painting which magically made everything alright
Recommend? 4/5
Better as a ... murder mystery
Total: 5/10
Lisa chose our next book, 'Snow Falling on Cedars' by David Guterson which we'll be reading for May.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 9th April at my house.
This book is definitely chick-lit, it deals with the trials and tribulations of a 30-something couple who have been together for nearly a decade, have two children but aren't married. The story follows both sides of the relationship which is wobbly to say the least. It was an easy read and it was definitely a page turner but it was quite annoying at the same time.
I really wanted to knock their heads together and just get them to talk to each other, it's not hard and would have saved them a lot of dithering. We didn't really like any of the characters, I wonder if the author made them deliberately unlikeable; Ralph was an annoying flighty artist, who had to continually 'find himself', Jem was quite shallow and we hated her for being 'too thin' for her wedding dress (like that ever happens), Jem's sister was too perfect, Joel was just weird, Joel's grown-up son was unbelievable (as in we didn't believe that a 25 year old would fancy a 38 year old who has just given birth), do I need to continue?
We really didn't like the ending, very contrite and it could have been so much better. Our suggestion is that Joel murders Ralph in the end, that would make the novel very dark and quite likeable.
Concept: 4/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 1/10
Cover: 2/10
Page Turner: 9/10
Slap? Everyone except Jessica
Cheese: Ralph's painting which magically made everything alright
Recommend? 4/5
Better as a ... murder mystery
Total: 5/10
Lisa chose our next book, 'Snow Falling on Cedars' by David Guterson which we'll be reading for May.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 9th April at my house.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Last Orders by Graham Swift
An exciting meeting at Susie's newly renovated house (it's gorgeous), it's a shame the book didn't excite us more.
This book won the booker prize in 1996 so personally I was expecting grand things. It's quite a quiet book, small and understated. It tells a simple story of a group of friends, one of whom dies, it goes into their past and then skips to the present. There is no great twist, no earth-shattering ending, just more and more reveals about these people.
We found it quite hard to distinguish between the characters at first, all are introduced at the same time and most are old men with families so it took a while for us to learn their names and remember what we know about them already.
Concept: 4
Plot: 3
Page Turner: 3
Ending: 3
Cover: 5
Who to slap? The author or Vince
Would we recommend? 0/5
Better as ... ashes
Total: 3/10
I got to choose our next book (again!) hope it will be better than this one. It's 'Half Bad' by Sally Green (available on kindle and paperback from 3rd March).
Our next meeting will be at Jen's house on Wed 12th March.
This book won the booker prize in 1996 so personally I was expecting grand things. It's quite a quiet book, small and understated. It tells a simple story of a group of friends, one of whom dies, it goes into their past and then skips to the present. There is no great twist, no earth-shattering ending, just more and more reveals about these people.
We found it quite hard to distinguish between the characters at first, all are introduced at the same time and most are old men with families so it took a while for us to learn their names and remember what we know about them already.
Concept: 4
Plot: 3
Page Turner: 3
Ending: 3
Cover: 5
Who to slap? The author or Vince
Would we recommend? 0/5
Better as ... ashes
Total: 3/10
I got to choose our next book (again!) hope it will be better than this one. It's 'Half Bad' by Sally Green (available on kindle and paperback from 3rd March).
Our next meeting will be at Jen's house on Wed 12th March.
Thursday, 9 January 2014
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
I shall start this post by saying that only 1 out of 4 of us finished this book (and we think she cheated by listening to it on audio book :-)), so that speaks volumes.
A few of us had read some of Bryson's other books so his writing style isn't totally to blame on why we just didn't like this book. It was mostly to do with the reminiscing about America in the 1950s, something we couldn't relate to at all and the fact that not much happens, but what should we have expected from an auto-biography? It's a list of anecdotes, some of which are amusing, some of which I think you had to be there (or alive in 1950s America) to appreciate. It just didn't do it for us.
Concept: 5 (an auto-biography is an OK concept)
Plot: n/a (we don't think this is applicable to biographies)
Ending: 2
Cover: 4
Page Turner: 2 (see my above comment on how many of us finished it)
Who to slap? Bill Bryson (of course)
Where's the cheese? The thunderbolt kid, the link between the name and Bryson is tenuous at best.
Would we recommend? 0/4
Better as a ... TV documentary about 1950s America.
Total: 3/10
Our next two books will be:
For February: Last Orders by Graham Swift
For March: After the Party by Lisa Jewell
A few of us had read some of Bryson's other books so his writing style isn't totally to blame on why we just didn't like this book. It was mostly to do with the reminiscing about America in the 1950s, something we couldn't relate to at all and the fact that not much happens, but what should we have expected from an auto-biography? It's a list of anecdotes, some of which are amusing, some of which I think you had to be there (or alive in 1950s America) to appreciate. It just didn't do it for us.
Concept: 5 (an auto-biography is an OK concept)
Plot: n/a (we don't think this is applicable to biographies)
Ending: 2
Cover: 4
Page Turner: 2 (see my above comment on how many of us finished it)
Who to slap? Bill Bryson (of course)
Where's the cheese? The thunderbolt kid, the link between the name and Bryson is tenuous at best.
Would we recommend? 0/4
Better as a ... TV documentary about 1950s America.
Total: 3/10
Our next two books will be:
For February: Last Orders by Graham Swift
For March: After the Party by Lisa Jewell
Monday, 16 December 2013
Citadel by Kate Mosse
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.
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.
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.
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