books and book group
Be warned I think is the longest post ever, well on my blog at least!
I am sure there are loads of you who read my blog who are members of a book group in some way shape or form. I have now been in a group which is entering its fourth year, which is really quite a shock to me!
We were formed as a group of ten women who had all been on our Playgroup Committee, over a similar period of time, though not all over lapped, so we all had at least two common interests, books and our children : )
I admit that at times I have not wanted to go, through either not enjoying the book, not having read it or sometimes just not wanting to be with those people for an evening. But on the whole it has been very enjoyable, has helped to form good friendships, and the most important thing is that I have read loads of books, and especially ones I would have not normally chosen to read.
So we have read roughly 30 books now, and most have been ok, but they are not worth talking about, the only ones you want to know about are the excellent ones and the stinkers! Well we’ll start with the stinkers!
Before I start this, these are my opinions, my choices, and I do not force them on anyone! I’m quite an opinionated person, so you have to accept that before you read further!
The third book we read was ‘The Kid‘, the best way to describe this is that was a glorified magazine article aimed at the Tesco buyer of books, can also be described as a Misery novel, arghhhhhh. Just hateful, I hated it, and as our third book I was really worried how this was going to go from here.
Well for me it got worse, the next book was ‘My Sisters Keeper‘ by Jodi Picoult. Now I know this woman books are really loved, but I couldn’t stand it! It was contrived and couldn’t make up its mind what it was, multiple narrators that really were not necessary, just rubbish. One of our book group has gone on to read all the rest of her books, I think I would rather listen to Des O’Connor sing rather than suffer the same fate!!!
So I guess you would think that maybe I was a little worried about the rest of the books we would read, well yes I was, but a few books later I was saved, by one of the best books I have ever read, but more of that later!
The most recent book that was truly dire was ‘Out of the Tunnel‘ which basically stemmed from a blog of one of the survivor’s of the 7/7 attacks in London, now you should feel great empathy and sympathy for this woman, well not one in our group either could or did. So another duff book!
Well onto the excellent books, well for me so far there have been two stand out books, ‘The Time Travelers Wife‘ and ‘We need to talk about Kevin‘.
‘The Time Travelers Wife’ has been a top selling book everywhere and has also had great critical acclaim too, not always the easiest line to tread. I loved the book from the moment I started reading it, it called out to me, it was so clear in my head, I could see all the characters, Henry and Clare were so real I could almost feel them with me as I read the book. I don’t think I had ever read a book before that had such an effect on me.
Also I cried a great deal, especially the last chapter, I won’t tell you what happens, but it is so beautiful, I didn’t want it to end : ) I think we all in our group felt the same way, though I think for some reason it touched me than the others. So if you haven’t read it, do, because once you start you won’t be able to put it down!
‘We need to talk about Kevin’ well this is such a different story, opposite really. On the whole this book was not enjoyed by the majority of our group, maybe the maternal aspect came into play in that.
I really couldn’t get into it, I was really struggling, and then I hit about page 100 and I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t put it down. It suddenly was speaking to me, and I was flying through it. I don’t think you can say you love a story about a High School killing, but I loved reading it. On some levels you knew the end result, but other aspects were very much left open, and I shall not spoil anything for anyone either! A great gripping story, stick with it, it is worth it : )
Now those are my opinions, I would also like to mention Richard and Judy! I think we have read over the past 3 years at least 10 of their choices, some have been great, see above. However some have been pretty average, and not what they have been hyped up to be, so don’t believe the hype, try to dig a bit deeper.
Also if you are in a group and a friend or relative recommends a book, don’t try to take it just on that, we have had at least three books like that which have been pretty poor! So beware!
Lastly, I will have to chose a book a bit later this year as my fourth book, so far I have chosen the ‘The Shadow of the Wind’, ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’ a varied selection. So if anyone has any great ideas, please let me know! I hope my list has helped, and here is the list, and my ratings : )
Brick Lane – good
Five People you meet in Heaven – very good, and short : )
The Kid – awful, see above
My Sisters Keeper – awful, see above
About Grace – excellent, lovely writing too
The Shadow of the Wind – very good and completely gripping
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (adult edition) – a great book, but a bit close to home : )
The Time Travelers Wife – Fantastic, wonderful, etc see above
Pride and Prejudice – I didn’t finish it, look Colin Firth was it for me, I couldn’t hack the language!
The Poisonwood Bible – too heavy, just didn’t enjoy it
Lord of the Flies – good, very different reading it as an adult!
Beatrice – terrible, generic and badly written
Vernon God Little – ok, I can’t say I really enjoyed it
A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian – didn’t read this one
Counselling for Toads – very interesting, made you think about your relationships within your family
Bel Canto – ok, very predictable
In Praise of Slowness – dull
The Virgin Suicides – loved it, and the atmosphere it created
We need to talk about Kevin – great book, see above
The Drowned and the Saved – a hard book to read, teenagers should though
Love and War in the Apennines – didn’t read this one
The Girls – not a great book, the interesting characters were not the ones that the book was about!
The Secret River – an interesting book
The God of Small Things – didn’t read this one
The Mists of Avalon – didn’t read this one
Moab is my Washpot – a great book, the way he describes seeing your first love is spot on!
The Island of Dr Moreau – interesting, but not that enjoyable
Birdsong – found it really hard to like the main characters, struggled with that aspect
Out of the Tunnel – dire, see above
A Clockwork Orange – a classic it may be, but not for me
Naked Lunch – as above!
A Thousand Splendid Suns – not all it’s cracked up to be, predictable but polished.
Wow, that’s it! Remember those suggestions!!!
19th April 2008 @ 10:50 am
I must agree with you about The Time Traveller’s Wife. My daughter gave it to me last Christmas and my first reaction was that it sounded like a load of rubbish BUT, once I got started, I couldn’t put it down. Will try some of the others on your list.
19th April 2008 @ 3:53 pm
I loved both your loves and hated those on your hate list that I’ve read, so we must be on a similar wavelength. My recommendations? Ian McEwan ‘On Chesil Beach’, Angela Young ‘Speaking of Love’ or Murakami ‘The Wind-up Bird Chronicle’. All excellent reads and have lots to talk about for book groups.
19th April 2008 @ 9:22 pm
I also loved the Time Traveller’s Wife and sobbed at the end, before pushing it on all my friends (oops). I’ve also tried some Jodi Picoult books because so many people have raved about them and I’ve found them formulaic and immensely put downable.
In terms of recommendations, my absolute favourite books which I always suggest to people (if they ask) are ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt, ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving and ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Suskind. I have re-read them all several times and I really love them. I’d also recommend ‘Carter beats the Devil’ by Glen David Gold and ‘The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay’ by Michael Chabon as stonking good reads.
20th April 2008 @ 6:02 am
Hi there, don’t normally comment on your blog but really enjoy reading it. I have been in a book club in Australia for about 8 years now. Lots and lots of books that I would never normally read – I just thought the Time Travellers Wife was fantastic and so was We Need to Talk About Kevin (although I must admit I squirmed alot reading this one). One that we really enjoyed was Alias Grace (not sure who the author is) and another one is April Fools Day by Bryce Courtenay. I know one of the books I definitely didn’t read was Uncle Toms Cabin!! We are just reading The Memory Stones at the moment and that was okay.
Thanks for listing your recommendations – it is great to see what other people read in their book clubs.
20th April 2008 @ 9:30 pm
Thank you for all this information. I’m going to read The Time Traveller’s Wife.
20th April 2008 @ 9:55 pm
I didn’t think it was a negative post…there’s just only say many positive things that one can say about a Jodi Picoult book, I find (and I haven’t even bought one – but from reading the backcover the subject matter always seem unnecessarily grusome and sensationalist). I think that’s the problem with bookg roups though, often you end up having to spend hours reading something that you’d never dream of buying in any other circumstance (this happened to my parents in their bookgroup when they had to read a Stephen King novel…). Love your new bag designs. x
21st April 2008 @ 11:48 am
Oh, I loved the Time traveler’s wife too. What a wonderful book! Disappointingly enough, it hasn’t been appreciated as it should’ve in Sweden, don’t know why. But I make everybody I meet read it. ; )
22nd April 2008 @ 7:45 am
I am really keen to get a book club going, just not quite making the conenctions to get it started. Have to agree with some of your observations but A thousand Splendid suns did make me cry, twice. I have to read the Kite Runner at some stage. Random Acts Of Heroic Love was another one I enjoyed and The Tendeness of Wolves
23rd April 2008 @ 3:55 pm
You missed a couple of goodies: A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian and Mists of Avalon.
I was part of a book club for about 3 yrs and almost everyone has quit including me because we all started having babies! I have a list of books that we read if you’d like a copy… some were duds but there were some goodies too!
10th May 2008 @ 9:05 pm
Hello there
Some really good books on this list. I would suggest:
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O Farrell
Sleepwalking by Julie Myerson
Things to Make and Mend by Ruth Thomas