2019- March - Rebels and Traitors, a Epic Novel of the English Civil war by Lindsey Davis

A long book, but it kept me reading. It was very detailed about the battles of the English Civil war, but didn't really tell how Cromwell came to be the Protector. It showed what a difficult task he had trying to put Britain together after the war. 

The story is the entwinement of four major characters from their upbringing through to adulthood and making their lives. There is Gideon Jukes, apprenticed to a printer, who joins the Parliamentary army and fights all over England, Orlando Lovell, a Royalist, and his plotting and scheming who somehow stays alive through it all, Juliana who marries Him and has to put up with never knowing where he is, and the tyke Kinchin Tew from Birmingham who shows the very poor side of things and is a thief, nearly a prostitute and eventually a brewer. 

After the war, with Gideon and Juliana trying to settle down together and Lovell thought dead, but still plotting against Parliament, it all comes to a head with perhaps a weak ending. But I give it a mark of 9. It could have used more maps, not so much of the country, but of London. 

2019-February - The Blood Of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani.

The Blood of flowers

At first I thought that I would not enjoy this book about a young uneducated village girl who has fallen on hard times. Once she got to the big city I was interested in the life she was forced to lead, both within the household and later when she was thrown out. I now see it as a story of emancipation brought about by having a talent and using it and building it. She had a talent for learning, drawing and carpet making and learnt quickly from her uncle. It was placed in 17th Century Iran city of Isfahan. She also enjoyed her sex after a poor start, but wasn't going to let that rule her life. The book kept me reading, despite the fictional stories that kept interrupting it.

2019 January The Oligarch's wife - Blundy, Anna

                       The Oligarch’s Wife  - Anna Blundy   

A book should draw you in. This one repulsed me. I jumped to the middle to see if it was any better, and didn't think it was.  Gave up.   PM - mark - Hard to give it a 1. 

OL comments: Was rather bored by that at the beginning, but it livened up in the

denouement. An easy read give it 6.

That was my thoughts. Others were a bit more ambivalent about it. One said that yesterday she had decided not to read any more, but did finish it and quite enjoyed it at the end. Another said that she didn't like the end.  There was a reasonable amount of discussion, mostly using the word 'contrived', such as how he got his wealth was contrived. 

Marks 7,7,6,7 and me a 0.

2018- December - The buried Giant

The Buried Giant -Ishiguru

Following the death of King Arthur, Saxons and Britons live in harmony. Along with everyone else in their village, Axl and Beatrice, an elderly Briton couple, suffer from severe selective amnesia that they call the 'mist'. Although barely able to remember, they feel sure that they once had a son, and they decide to travel to a village several days' walk away to seek him out. They stay at a Saxon village where two ogres have dragged off a boy named Edwin. A visiting Saxon warrior, Wistan, kills the ogres and rescues Edwin who is discovered to have a wound, believed to be an ogre-bite. The superstitious villagers attempt to kill the boy, but Wistan rescues him and joins Axl and Beatrice on their journey, hoping to leave Edwin at the son's village.

The group heads to a monastery to consult with Jonus, a wise monk, about a pain in Beatrice's side. They meet the elderly Sir Gawain, nephew of King Arthur, who was tasked decades ago with slaying the she-dragon Querig, but who has never succeeded. Wistan reveals that he was sent by the Saxon king to slay Querig out of concern that she would be used by Lord Brennus, king of the Britons, to kill Saxons. The travellers are treated with hospitality at the monastery, but are informed by Jonus that most of the monks are corrupt. Sir Gawain has spoken to the abbot, believing he will protect the four. Instead, the abbot informs Lord Brennus who sends soldiers to murder them. Sir Gawain realises that the monastery was originally built as a fort, and he makes use of its structure to trap and kill the soldiers. They escape.

Sir Gawain, riding on alone, recalls how, many years earlier, King Arthur had ordered the extermination of many Saxon villages. The massacre had been a betrayal of the peace-treaties brokered by Axl, who had at the time been Arthur's envoy, although he has now forgotten it. Arthur also ordered that Querig be brought to the lair where she now lives, and that a spell be cast turning her breath into an oblivion-inducing mist, causing the Saxons to forget about the massacres.

Axl and Beatrice become separated from Wistan and Edwin, and they travel on alone. They are persuaded by a girl to take a poisoned goat to Querig's lair. Sir Gawain joins them and shows the way. Travelling with Wistan, Edwin has been hearing a voice that he identifies as his lost mother, calling him to her. Wistan realises that Edwin's wound has been caused by a baby dragon and that Edwin can lead him to Querig. As they approach, Edwin becomes increasingly crazed, and has to be restrained.

Sir Gawain reveals that his duty was not in fact to slay Querig, but to protect her in order to maintain the mist. Wistan challenges Gawain to a duel and kills him. He proceeds to slay Querig causing Edwin's madness to depart and the mist to dissipate, restoring the people's memories. He laments that "the giant, once well buried, now stirs": his action will cause the old animosities between Saxon and Briton to return, leading to a new war.

Axl and Beatrice are finally able to recall that their son had died many years ago of the plague. They meet a ferryman who offers to row the old couple over to an island where they can be close to him in perpetuity. Normally, he says, married couples have to dwell on the island separately and always apart, but in rare cases couples whose love is deep and profound may remain together. The ferryman tells Axl and Beatrice that they qualify, but as they are about to be rowed over the waves increase and he informs them that he can carry only one person at a time. Axl is suspicious that the ferryman intends to trick them into separating forever, but Beatrice believes the man to be truthful and asks Axl to wait on the shore while she is taken over. The novel ends without resolution, as Axl reluctantly agrees.

My Review

As a fantasy (- a bit in the style of the Hobbit?) This was not a book I particularly enjoyed. I found the progress of the story very slow – although I could see that Ishiguro uses some beautiful language. And the love that Axl and Beatrice have for each other is very touching.

Although the description of the descent through the tunnel and the killing of the monster was exciting, overall I found the effect of the book on me was to engender a real feeling of melancholy so ended up leaving out a chunk after the escape from the monastery. I’m sure that the book is full of symbolism but sadly this was lost on me.

I thought the characters were well drawn, and there was a definite if slow moving storyline. The skilled use of language roused a range of emotions but I suppose I just like my reading rooted in greater reality!

On that basis I would give it 7.

Margaret: I agree with Maggie about The Buried Giant, bored me to tears in the end Give that a 5

Peter M The Buried Giant:

A tale woven around an old couple in Saxon/Briton and Arthurian times. Is it an allegory of religion? an old couple whose memory is dimmed are finding their way to their son's village and keep meeting Sir Gawain of Arthurian fame and Wistan a Saxon knight. There has been peace of a sort since the dragon Querig has been around, and Sir Gawain is supposed to protect her, while Wistan wants to slay her. If slain peoples memory will return and they will remember Saxon/Briton fights and slights and start fighting again, But the old couple will remember the way to their son, and have their memories back. Good Memories or evil ones? Mark: 6.

Margaret:

Read both books, quite enjoyed The Private Patient Give that a 7

Best Wishes, Margaret.. 

Book List for 2019

Minster Readers 2019 Book List

The dates here are not the months that we read the book, but should be thought of as the month that the library gives us the books for the following month. So we have read 'The Oligarch's Wife in February. 

January             Anna Blundy                          Oligarch’s Wife
February           Anita Amirrezvani                   Blood of Flowers
March               Lindsey Davis                         Rebels and Traitors
April                 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie    Americanah
May                  Peter May                                Coffin Road
June                 John Grisham                          Whistler
July                   Rachel Joyce                          Music Shop
August              Arundhati Roy                         Ministry of Utmost Happiness
September        Daisy Goodwin                       Victoria
October            Madeleine Thien                     Do Not Say We Have Nothing
November        Tracy Chevalier                       New Boy

December        Liz's last parting gift to us - No book for December

2018- November - The Private patient by P.D. James

The Private Patient P.D. James


My Notes:
Disappointing in that the detective never really got to grips with the crime and it was solved by a confession tape from the murderer. Quite irrational how all the elements came together - the investigative journalist at the private hospital run by a friend of someone she had run down in her reporting. Was that really enough to prompt murder, even if not intentional? And a bit of a red herring how Dalglieish managed to get involved in the first place.

Margaret:

Read both books, quite enjoyed The Private Patient Give that a 7

Best Wishes, Margaret.. 

2018- October - Forest by Rutherfurd

Edward Rutherford The Forest

This book followed Rutherford’s usual pattern of looking at a collection of local families involved in various periods of history.

There were 2 non-finishers - not a book to be read quickly, not gripping.

Some disappointment in the book was expressed by some of the Group who found it formulaic and mainly dull, but they felt that this was because the local incidents were not of great importance in national life. The descriptions of the Forest were made interesting by having local knowledge, but occasionally some implausibility made the suspension of disbelief difficult - view of the sea from Fordingbridge for example. The quality of the research seemed uneven, some episodes more firmly rooted than others, so the characters and happenings in the different vignettes were of varied interest and appeal. The charcoal burners were the most original, the trial in Bath least satisfactory, the smuggling bet incoherent, and the initial anthropomorphising of the deer annoyed some readers.

The unchanging nature of the Forest and its very specific laws and customs did come across well, and raised a lot of questions about what remains and its protection. Most people wanted to know more about one aspect or another.

Overall, however, the book was worth reading.

Marks 5,5,6,7,8,8,8