LETSBuzz Book Club 29th September 2002
Latest US childrens' publishing sensation. Author is obviously pseudonymous and he is shrouded in mystery.
A miserable tale for children told in Victorian style. Standard kids' book opening, getting the adults out of the way. Quite entertaining and faintly worrying for the kids.
Recommended to children of about 10 or so and possibly female.
Doreen
A bit of a mess - lots of interesting stories threaded together to form a not very good novel. Some good set pieces and some gut churning sections, including a great rat-infestation story. Lots about bees.
Doreen
A similar idea to Five Boys but much better constructed, a proper novel, in other words. Blurb alludes to "joy" but in fact the book is deeply disturbing. Ruby is beaten and April is preyed upon by a paedophile - Doreen got very anxious about the two girls. Very good.
Doreen
Another very unsettling book but told in a chatty conversational style. Barnes is very good at what he does. Everyone in the book behaves very badly but it's a compelling read.
Doreen
This should have been good, though it stinks of research. The real problem with the book is that one of the main characters is supposed to have done something really bad and by page 58 you've worked out exactly what it is, though you're not supposed to have done so until page 320.
Doreen
Amazingly, this was absolutely riveting stuff and Doreen is tempted never to vote again. Author became an MP under John Major, really to satisfy a long held ambition. His wife is oft quoted as his strongest critic. Contains astonishing information about House of Commons business, revealing (or is that confirming?) the place to be just one huge public school. Stuff about 'walking wounded' votes are particularly funny, with ancient Lords being brought in by ambulance to bolster a tight majority. Very entertaining and reveals Brandreth to be a very bright fellow.
Doreen
Author writes vignettes for the Bangkok post. She lives there part of the time but hails from Quebec.
These are vaguely amusing anecdotes of life in Thailand. The Bangkok Post is an English language newspaper, read by many expats. Fairly inconsequential, not great literature but a quite enjoyable read.
Rory
Not a novel, more a short, episodic autobiography about the author's attempts to become a pop star. Very funny but probably not much interest to anyone not really interested in music.
Bob
Lent to Bob by Andrew after a previous discussion about Lost In Music, this is the autobiography of a moderately successful pop musician, though he concentrates exclusively on his pre-success years and the interminable struggle to achieve any kind of recognition. Interesting, though he's not a great writer.
Bob
Trashy novel about a working woman with two kids. Very funny and well written, even though the story is a bit unoriginal.
Bob
Quite unpleasant. The title is a translation of a grim Mahler song cycle. It's about four boys aged 11-13 who are obsessed with war. Becomes serious and nasty as it goes on and the tension and suspense is maintained right up to the end. Told entirely from the point of view of the children.
Bob
A courtroom drama set in Canada. The women characters are so well drawn that Jane was surprised to find that the author was male. A mystery story with a twist.
Jane
Generally quite grim. Includes a very good poem about Liverpool and a particularly nasty one about meat from the point of view of a vegetarian.
Jane
Supposedly psychological biography of comedian Billy Connolly by his wife. A string of anecdotes with occasional banal commentary and Jean felt that all kinds of stories were not being revealed. Jean's sister-in-law had dropped this in the bath and Jean wished it had stayed there.
Jean
Jean normally likes David Lodge but thought that this was him being too bloody clever and showing off. The whole thing didn't work for her.
Jean
About the siege of Leningrad (at the end of the Second World War), about which Jean knew nothing. A very grim tale of extreme measures needed for survival in almost unbelievably dire circumstances. Highly recommended - excellent. Caroline also mentioned and recommended this author's first book "Zennor In Darkness"
Jean
Author is a psychologist with two kids of his own and this book is about the
fun that you can have with your kids if you go with the flow.
Jean
Set in Venice, in the fog, in February 1761. Starts as a fairly light hearted tale about a reopening theatre but soon descends into an apocalyptic vision when the author pulls all the sub-plots together. It all gets quite Shakespearianly nasty towards the end.
Jean
About Omar Khayam. It made Caroline realise how ignorant she was about Persia and that period in history. Khayam wrote his verses after his life was spared by a man who was judging him. Highly recommended.
Jean
Quite enjoyable. Gill is looking for things that aren't too taxing to read at the moment so this just about fitted the bill. A book about growing old and wondering what would have happened if the character hadn't done what she did.
Gill
On the Booker prize shortlist, a long tale about life in contemporary Bombay, centred around an elderly man with a guilty past being shuffled between his children, each of whom have, in their own way, some difficulty in caring for him. There's a strong feeling of the consequences of acting dishonourably including one shocking scene where the perpetrators of a lie get their come-uppance in a devastating way. The book brings in many themes apart from this, the caste system, nationalist politics and religious fundamentalism. Recommended.
Andrew
Andrew took up the challenge of reading this fairly grim book on Bob's recommendation. Starting in contemporary France, it centres on the journeys through life of two brothers, neither of who are having a particularly good time, brought up in a loveless, itinerant family, dissatisfied with their lives and depressed by the seemingly random grim stuff that's going on around them. There's a lot of very joyless sex (though Bob disagreed with Andrew on this) and when of them does find some love it's almost immediately followed by illness and death. The ending of the book does answer some questions, like why we were being told all of this and why it's all so gloomy. Hard to recommend but not unreadable by any means.
Andrew
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.