LETSBuzz Book Club 3rd June 2001
Gill had found this a distressing read. Unlike Caroline who had previously reviewed the book she did not think that Janet Frame had a particularly happy childhood. The family was constantly on the move which led to she being an outsider and unable to integrate. The saddest part of the book was the ending when she is going off to do teacher training. A profession to which Gill felt that she was totally unsuited given her inability to conect with people.
Gill
This was a non fiction work by an out-of work actress and her experiences of a variety of alternative therapies and workshops. Each chapter is about a different therapy including ‘insight seminars’. Gill found this an easy read and funny in parts but suspected that the hidden agenda was Isabel’s quest for a man rather than spiritual enlightenment but did not want to say too much for fear of giving away the plot.
A good holiday read.
Gill
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on CD-Rom
Rory had bought the CD of the book ‘for old times’ sake after the sudden death of the author, Douglas Adams. Rory had been surprised about how much of it he remembered. He had restricted himself to one episode a night.
Extremely funny and highly recommended
Rory
Rory had borrowed another book about Marco Polo from his neighbour Fred. This was a commentary on MP and his travels rather than a translation of his works. It was a sympathetic portrait which revealed MP as intelligent, good at languages and self effacing.
Rory
Gavin had not enjoyed this book. The first sixty pages were a trial and the book would not have passed the sixty page test. The author used multiple type-faces and fractured narratives so it was the stuff of a lot of creative writing workshops. It was an exercise in cleverness without any point to it.
Not recommended.
Gavin
This was the book of the comic strip which had appeared in the Guardian. Gavin had thoroughly enjoyed it and had found it very funny. It operated at quite a sophisticated level for a cartoon. The drawings were good especially the fact that Gemma changes shape as the book progresses. It helped to have read Madame Bovery to get all the puns.
Gavin
This was classic Ben Elton. A comedy peopled with characters who worked for the BBC. Very funny in places but in others lapsed into stereo-types of fashionable London. Although the subject (infertility and its treatment) was serious the writing style precluded any depth or analysis.
Recommended as an airplane read.
Gavin
This was the second novel by this author. Andrew had enjoyed his first novel, ‘The Restraint of Beasts’ and the second was similar. This was straight forward story telling - no frills, no fancy characterisations, no ornamentation - just like bread and butter.
Andrew had really enjoyed it. It was the story of a guy going on a camping holiday in the Lake District and how he ends up staying there. The ending was a bit disappointing. Andrew thought that Magnus Mills has not yet got his endings worked out. However, it had great characters including someone who wears a cardboard crown throughout. It was a plain and simple tale with a air of mystery and great dialogue.
Highly recommended.
Andrew
This book had previously been reviewed by Doreen. It was the work of a travel journalist and his progress around Ireland having a drink in every bar called ‘McCarthy’s’. It was also an attempt by the author to try and discover why he feels so at home in Ireland. It had some funny bits.
Andrew
This novel had been short-listed for the 2001 Orange Prize. The bookclub had been invited to take part in a Radio 4 style bookclub and meet the author at Dunstable library on 20th June.
Andrew had found the first chapter off putting but found it made much more sense once he had read the whole book. The book is narrated by five different women all linked by the hotel. Andrew had read it quickly but it was a challenging rather than an easy read. Andrew found it rather an unhappy book - only the dead character seems to have a happy existence. Everyone else is low, unhappy or disatisfied in some way. Andrew noted the lack of male characters and felt a bit excluded.
Andrew
Doreen had read this book in two sittings and thoroughly enjoyed it. She found it a touching story. The first chapter had been unsettling rather than difficult. Doreen thought the idea of a ghost revisiting its corpse spooky. The five female voices were all different and all interesting. Unlike Adrew Doreen did not find them depressing as she thought they would all come out alright in the end. Doreen was particularly struck by the reference to Tess of the D‘Ubervilles and the fact that in all our lives there is one day a year which is the ‘anniversary’ of our death unbekownst to us.
A hopeful book - highly recommended.
Doreen
This is a novelisation of the lives of two real people Fred and Edie. It includes letters written by Edie but at the end of the book the author reveals that the letters are fiction. This left Doreen distrustful of the author. It was a grim story - Fred murdered Edie’s husband and they were both hanged. Doreen disliked the uneasy mixture of fact and made up elements. She found it rather a distasteful novel.
Doreen
An ideal reference book for the parents of small children. Caroline had read this more than any other childcare book as it dealt with children in a holistic way rather than in terms of developmental milestones. One of the tips Caroline had picked up from the book was how to teach a young child to put his or her coat on. Caroline provided a demonstation of how this was done.
Caroline
Based on the BBC2 series. A good book - well written although one did feel a bit spoonfed. Provided lots of information about the Romans in Britain, not just the roads, but aquaducts, central heating etc. Most of the Romans‘ ideas and innovations were in fact purloined from the Greeks. David saw the Romans as the marketing men backed by a rather large army. They were in the UK for 400 years and left behind them a native prosperous merchant class as well as all their ideas.
David
Carolyn enjoyed this author. There were similarities between the central male Englishman in this book and the one in Remains of the Day. The main character had a total lack of self awareness. His parents had disappeared during his childhood in Singapore. He grows up to become a detective partly because at the back of his mind is the idea that one day he will go back and find his parents. Carolyn wasn’t sure that she had grasped all the finer nuances of the book but that hadn’t stopped her enjoying it.
Recommended.
Carolyn
This was typical Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) territory in which nasty things happen but it is not a straight forward murder mystery. In this novel murder is incidental and it focuses on a female electrician recovering from a death. It had excellent descriptions of London and the usual feeling of threat and menace. The reader knows that someone else is going to die but not who, when or why so gets carried along and involved in the story.
Carolyn
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.