LETSBuzz Book Club 21st December 2003
A story about a house bought by two sisters, one of whom is a
social worker. They take on a young artist to refurbish it. He
collects junk with which to make art - Doreen didn't finish it
because it was too boring.
Doreen
Doreen finished it. An enjoyable book by an obviously nice bloke.
The author cycles round the country, sometimes accompanied by the
BBC. He talks about the changes going on but features he
describes are probably gone now.
Doreen
Quite funny but rude and shocking: the book veers from sex and
bad language to animal rights within the same page. Dot commits
suicide, is reborn and dies again. There are funny sections on
bureaucracy in the underworld. The author is clearly passionate
about things. Recommended.
Doreen
Quite an enjoyable book but dated. It is a literary story, very
carefully written, about a woman trying to save the life of a
compulsive gambler during twenty-four hours in a hotel room. It
is detailed but not about the things that really matter to the
reader; there is a lot of description of the people and the
weather but not about what she said to him.
[Rory had also read the book and he felt the story was less
about the secret and more about the dichotomy in the character's
behaviour: compulsive behaviour versus adhering to society's
mores. The whole story is tinged with regret. Rory enjoyed the
book and found it interesting if inconsistent]
Doreen
Brilliant. Caroline borrowed this from the library and then
bought her own copy because she liked it so much. Like the
earlier Handmaid's Tale, this is a story about genetics. Caroline
didn't want to say too much for fear of giving away the plot to
others BUT there has clearly been some apocalyptic event and the
story revolves round a male character, Oryx and a female
character, Crake. After finishing the book Caroline heard that
the geneticist, Stephen Jones, had approved of the book and its
futuristic genetic content.
Caroline
True romance. A middle-aged, female, American chef is sent to
Venice to write articles for a magazine. While there, she meets a
man in a café, they fall in love and get married. Lots
about Venice and there are recipes too!
Caroline
Two sisters dragged off to North Africa by their hippy mother. A
wonderful tale of their fascinating childhood and of Morocco.
Caroline
Caroline borrowed this from Wing library and was riveted. The
book has a very dramatic start: a woman finds out that her
husband has just been killed in a car accident. The story is set
in Italy to a backdrop of corrupt Italian politics and one of the
plot lines concerns whether there was a conspiracy to kill her
husband or whether he was a terrorist killed by his own bomb. Of
course, she is now a beautiful widow so it is a romance too.
Hurray.
Caroline
This author has written fiction for teenagers and Caroline read
the books as a teenager herself. In contrast, this book is
surprisingly bleak and Hardyesque.
Caroline
Country Christmas
A Country Living compendium which Caroline borrows from the
library every Christmas. It is a useful book, full of interesting
articles to read even if you never follow them up.
Caroline
A book about Celtic/pagan festivals, fun and interesting.
Caroline
Disappointing. More an advertisement for the author.
Caroline
Winner of the Carnegie prize for teenage fiction. A heartwarming
tale in "Huckleberry Finn style". Two orphans who are taken in by
a couple who want the children to accompany them as they follow
their dreams and travel the world. An unbelievable story but a
nice one.
Caroline
This was written as a novel but Andrew suspects it is a memoir.
The story involves a child, April, whose family move from their
London pub to a village café in Kent in the 50s. There she
meets a friend at school, Ruby. The story just avoids being twee
owing to the presence of an elderly child-molester who April
thinks may be killing his wife and the possibility that Ruby is
being abused by her parents. Pretty good.
Andrew
This was described much better by Andrew than by its owner! But
having been entranced by the description so that I didn't take
sufficient notes I can't remember now what it was. Something like
the tale of an American writer (the author of the book) trying to
discover the history and outcome of a Jewish village in the
Ukraine during the Nazi occupation. The tale is told by the
writer and by a young Ukranian who is contracted to be his guide
and translator. This man speaks and writes in a hybrid English
which is both old-fashioned and "hip" (US style). Although the
main substance of the book is bleak this Ukranian character and
his blind father (who drives the car) provide plenty of humour.
Intertwined with the modern story there is the magical history of
the village from the Eighteenth Century onwards. The book takes
some effort to read but ihas its rewards.
Andrew
Very disappointing. Clumsily written, implausible, unsympathetic
characters.
Bob had also read this book and agreed with Jane's assessment.
One or two set-piece scenes read as if they might work well on
stage or on film (no surprise given the author's pedigree) but
they simply didn't work on the page. Many of the characters and
"jokes" were cliches.
Jane
Enjoyable but not for those who don't like pop music (although
some might disagree with this view).
Jane
Jean has read that Fay Weldon's husband went to see a
psychotherapist and then left her. As far as Jean can tell this
is the author's book about that experience because it features a
psychotherapist whose husband of twenty years dies and who then
discovers his lifetime of infidelity. Unfortunately, Jean didn't
care for the central character. Otherwise, OK, an easy read,
entertaining but standard Fay Weldon fare.
Jean
Non-fiction story of the author's mother's dementia. It's an
interesting read and not as distressing as might be expected
because of the humour with which it is written.
Jean
A story set in one street. It is frustrating trying to remember
who lives where in the street until you realise it doesn't
matter.
At the beginning, the reader knows that something dreadful has
happened but not what or to whom. This is a first novel and
sometimes read like one as occasionally it needed editing to
tighten up the plot. Overall, though, Jean liked it.
Jean
"A scream!" "A page turner"! Jean liked it a lot. 400 pages but
easy to read with nice short chapters. The story is set in a US
airbase in Norfolk during the Second World War and the central
characters are those wives of the airmen. The story follows their
lives after they return to America. The women are a mixed bunch:
some are the homely types of the title; others are boozers and
gossips. Jean accepts that it is probably a girls' book - it even
has recipes!
Jean
A novel (by the author of the Moumins) but Jean feels it must be
based on her life and her relationship with her grandmother. Jean
had high expectations and the book was a slight disappointment.
Still, it had some lovely moments. Each chapter is a separate
story. Most involve the little girl and her grandmother because
the girl's mother is dead and her father is a shadowy figure
seldom mentioned.
Jean
A South American family saga which is very much Gill's sort of
book. The story is told from the point of view of Aurora,
three-quarters Chilean, one-quarter Chinese and born in San
Francisco in the second half of the nineteenth century. She's a
big character in more than one sense. A number of issues are
explored, including the wars between Chile and Paraguay and
within Chile itself and the development of the Chinese community
in San Francisco in this period.
It's an easy read and Gill rates it as highly as Allende's
other books, including House Of Spirits. Recommended.
Gill
A so-so tale of nineties London with corrupt City brokers,
shallow advertising executives, shallow art academics, underworld
criminal types and old-time comedians. The author can write and
there are some funny passages but the whole thing is
unsatisfying. There are also some unbelievable generalisations
about how Londoners eat and how middle-class English nannies look
which are very irritating.
Bob
The frames have gone all
funny - click to make it good.