LETSBuzz Book Club 4th May 2003

Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh

A "screwball comedy". Not bad enough to dump. It's about a pest control officer who gets mistaken for a hitman. His name is Bob Dylan. You can see the jokes coming a mile off. A mad plot all over the place. Not recommended.
Andrew

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Andrew enjoyed this but asked himself why this was a classic. It's well written. The universality of its theme carries it through. The other pieces in the book are "nice"; "A Christmas Morning" was very evocative.
Andrew

Corpsing by Toby Litt

This is a murder story set amongst the chattering classes of Soho. It's very pacy at the beginning but it jumps the rails about a third of the way through. It's too long and the plot gets too complicated. Recommended if you want to keep up with the current literary trends.

Bob said it was terrific at the beginning but he felt lukewarm by the end.
Andrew

31 Songs by Nick Hornby

The songs written about are a jumping off point for essays. They are not the 31 songs most important to him. The style is typical Hornby, very conversational. This bloke is the sort to starts arguments in pubs and then walks away. A very easy read. The best writing about music makes you want to hear it. Hornby does this sometimes but other times he makes a very bad job of it.
Andrew

Owning Up by George Melly

This is the first volume of his autobiography. It covers his growing up and starting to become a jazz singer. It is very much of its time (the 60s). It must have been pretty shocking at the time. It is very atmospheric, redolent of the period. It was very funny. Andrew may read the other volumes.
Andrew

Are You Dave Gorman by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace

This book starts with an argument by two flatmates in pub, following a remark that there must be loads of people called Dave Gorman, so they decide to go and find them. They end up travelling the world and give up after they've found 54. This was very funny and so good natured, a real contrast to " Corpsing".
Andrew

Barcelona Plates by Alexei Sayle

These are short stories and are very similar to those in a previous collection Andrew had read. They are quite brutal and occasionally funny. The characters are extremely engaging. The author sometimes just stops the story as if he gets fed up with it. He writes as if he's the reader and he's trying to surprise himself with the ending. There are enough well constructed stories to keep you reading.
Andrew

Postcards by Annie Proulx

Gill enjoyed this. Although the names are silly they didn't really annoy her because Americans do have silly names. The story begins with a farm in the 1940s. One of the sons leaves and becomes an itinerant worker and sends postcards home. He does all sorts of jobs and as Gill (and a number of the rest of the group) had seen a TV programme about the author and her research methods she could imagine how much time she'd spent on this book researching all the characters' different occupations. Gill couldn't read the postcards themselves, they were too difficult to make out. Rory (our resident philatelist) remarked that all the stamps were the same and none of them had been cancelled).
Gill

Masque by Lindsay Clarke

Rubbish. It's about three women on a beach having a conversation about men. It's written by a man. It didn't make sense.
Caroline

I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

This is about a mother of 2 who has a nanny. The mother is a fund manager and she's trying to do it all. Caroline didn't take to the character so only the humour kept her going. It's only when she ends up in Yorkshire with the inlaws that Caroline started to sympathise. It all wraps up in a terrific rush at the end.
Caroline

The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester

This was thoroughly enjoyed. The main character is repulsive. The end could be seen coming a long way off. Caroline was disappointed that the "hero" did not get his come-uppance.
Caroline

Apricots in the Nile by Colette Rossant

This is book with recipes and is the story of an Egyptian childhood. The author is brought up by her grandparents when her father dies and her mother is unable to cope. It appears to be an idyllic childhood, but is really rather sad as it's clear she has been abandoned by her mother. There is no self-analysis; 40 years after the event, she has not looked at herself.
Caroline

City of the Mind by Penelope Lively

This is about London. There are scenes from the Blitz and scenes from Thatcher's Britain with no relationship between the two. There are quite interesting conversations between the modern day architect and an entrepreneur.
Caroline

When Jays Fly to Barbmo by Margaret Balderson

This is teenage fiction which Caroline read when a teenager. It's set in Norway in winter during WWII. It's the story of a young girl who lives with her father and aunt. There is a mystery about her late mother (a Lapp). Caroline enjoyed it, but thought it might just be nostalgia.
Caroline

The Mistress Class by Michèle Roberts

There are fictional letters from Charlotte Brontë to a professor in Belgium and a modern story. Caroline enjoyed the Brontë bits; it made her look at the author in a new light. She lost patience with the modern part. Not one of the author's best.
Caroline

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

This is about a home birth that goes horribly wrong. She could hardly bear to turn the page then she just could not put it down. The book is written from the midwife's daughter's point of view and it was spot on.
Caroline

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Caroline read this despite feeling very ill. She loved it and is saving up for the next 2 books.
Caroline

Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski

The book is set during WWII. A man has to leave his wife and son in Paris. Later he is told that his wife is dead and his baby missing. The man tries to find his son and winds up in convent with a child who may or may not be his son. Caroline defied anyone to read the last page without tears.
Caroline

Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson

Not as good as the TV series. This was a cookbook too far. Caroline wasn't inspired by any of the recipes.
Caroline

Maurice and his Amazing Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Unashamedly a children's book. A take on the pied piper story where the rats are the heroes. The rats have acquired consciousness and have the abili ty to talk. It's a well-written page-turner with a nice denouement.
Rory

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safranfoer

A New York Jew goes back to Russia to find out what happened to his family during the War. It starts off badly,the narrator sounds like a rap artist, but he is Ukrainian and thinks this is how Americans speak. The next chapter jumps back to 1791 and is written in magic realism style. It does however all come together. It is very funny, also harrowing. Recommended but you must get past the first couple of chapters.
Bob

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

This has been translated into loads of languages and is an international best seller and Jane is blowed if she knows why. It's simplistic. The hero is told he must follow his dreams and he finds riches. Jane expected him to discover that gold is not all, but he doesn't. The female characters are very sketchy.
Jane

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Very, very good. It was wonderful to the end where it petered out.
Jane

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

This was good, but Jane didn't like it at first. She thought it was all set up but it turned out quite differently. It's a simple story. The characters are well drawn except the youngest daughter who is too good to be true. Gill disagreed saying the character was believable and Andrew thought it was meant as a deliberate contrast between the daughters.

Caroline recommended the book.
Jane