Archive | Book Club

Wise children by Angela Carter is largely told as a long set reminiscences by Dora Chance – looking back over a career in music hall with her twin sister Nora (one of many sets of twins) and tempestuous family relationships. They are the illegitimate daughters of Melchior Hazard, a leading Shakespearian actor who refuses to […]

‘The Allegations’ engendered mixed feelings – it was funny, and the writing was good, and certainly for the first half it was a good read  but then it started to drag. It contrasts the fortunes of two men – friends and academics – who are both faced with allegations. Tom is accused of bullying and […]

I think all of us felt this was not a book we would have chosen to read (it was a little grim in places!), but we all ‘enjoyed’ it. ‘The Last of Us’ is set in the Western Isles in a dystopian future where the majority of the population has been wiped out by an […]

Apologies to fans of Nadine Dorries but we were united in feeling that ‘Shadows in heaven’ had not left us with an inclination to read more of her books. It was an easy read (although the huge cast of characters did lead to some confusion initially), however the characters lacked depth and there was an […]

The history of bees is an interesting and ambitious book that generated a lot of discussion ranging from family relationships and the expectations parents put on their children to the current decline of the bee population and the environmental challenge the world is facing – climate change and plastic pollution. Back to the book itself […]

  Jane Harper’s debut novel was enjoyed by all – generally regarded as a real page turner – a quick read. Luke Hadler, his wife and child are found brutally murdered, and the assumption in the town is murder/suicide. Aaron Falk, a policeman has returned to the town he was driven from many years previously […]

Towling’s tale of an aristocrat, Count Alexander Rostov, sentenced to indefinite house arrest in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow after the Revolution was generally enjoyed. It is a beautifully written  charming , whimsical fairytale of a story but some of us found the lack of realism given the backdrop of  Russia under Stalin and Khrushchev […]

Whilst some found Adam Kay’s brand of humour ‘laugh out loud’ it was not for all – one or two felt uncomfortable with some of the patient stories in ‘This is going to hurt’ – perhaps some shouldn’t have been shared. However we recognised that such ‘gallows’ humour helps folk to cope with the emotional […]

A Christmas Carol produced a lively and surprising amount of discussion given how well known the story is. We have all been exposed to film adaptations and these had influenced our images of the tale but there were still some elements that came as a surprise – Scrooge visiting coal miners and fishermen for example. […]

The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel Meminger – a girl who is fostered by Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the fictional town of Molching on the outskirts of Munich during the war. The family are living in straitened circumstances not least because Hans is reluctant to join the Nazi Party and is seen […]

Soul Music was definitely lighter than our recent reads, but turned out not to be everybody’s taste, common finding with humour. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series are well loved but as an introduction it was probably not the best choice. It is the sixteenth in the series and so if you have read the books in […]

We all enjoyed ‘The Invention of Wings’ by Sue Monk Kidd. Set between Charleston, South Carolina and Philadelphia in the early 19th century it is a fictionalised account of the early life of Sarah Grimke, an abolitionist, writer, and member of the women’s suffrage movement. The book is told through two voices – Sarah herself […]