It has not been possible to get the paper books due to the Coronavirus lockdown so how we will get on at the next meeting remains to be seen.
I downloaded the sample kindle book. It was enough to make me want to get the rest.
Two men who grew up together in New York, one became a recovering lawyer whose wife has disappeared, the other a missing persons tracer who is very wealthy calls upon his childhood lawyer friend, at the same time as the lawyer is served with a sub-poena for a case he never saw. The rich mans daughter has disappeared and he has a letter about it. Looks like a good read.
Not often we get a good thriller for the reading group. NY raised Lawyer Eddie Flynn called on by a boyhood friend to defend him on the charge of killing his daughter. It is a long and convoluted court case with fast car chases, and people who arn't what you first thought they were. Lennies wife had a sister who was a druggie and the case against her killing her daughter years ago comes up as a side issue and then gets to be part of the case. I'll read more of his. -9 Wonderful how this Irish author and lawyer can write of American Law.
Saturday, 13 June 2020
Thursday, 28 May 2020
2020 -May - The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
It is a first novel by this author
Very
much the Hitchcock genre: person sees a murder through a window, isn’t
believed because of drinking and psychological problems and after a
spell of not believing it herself, has to prove it. I did hope it was
going to veer from this but it didn’t. Even the eventual murderer came
apparent fairly early on. I also felt the last dramatic scenes were
written very much with an upcoming film in mind - especially the
climbing onto the roof and the hand on the ankle.
Her
being a child psychologist didn’t add much for me, but I did like the
back story of her family, and also GrannyLizzie. (But when her password
is changed, who do you suspect but the youth. Especially with constant
refrain of, such a nice boy).
It
was a page turner, but not particularly original. Anna was over-soppy.
The police sloppy. David stroppy. (They should have asked him to produce
the earring. What was his motivation to keep quiet ?)
This meeting was held on Zoom video conferencing software with 6 of us 'present'. It went well.
We forgot to rate the book, but most people enjoyed it I think.
Wednesday, 15 April 2020
April 2020- Becoming by Michelle Obama / MArch- Bird Box by Malerman
Ok, so we can't meet because of Coronovirus lockdown, but if you send me your impressions I'll try and make a coherent document of it.
The Previous book 'Bird Box' by Josh Malerman was a book that no-one wanted to read after seeing the preview. We had read Room a year or so ago and thought that this would be on the same line. It was about people being cooped up, as we all are now. Here is the Amazon Review - Watch out for the Coronovirus!
Becoming: My thoughts:
It seems to me to be obviously ghost written, but it is an easy if long book. I skipped part of her upbringing, and by the time that they were esconced in the White House I had had enough. Obviously about the trials of being a partner to an untidy brilliant man who can't work to a clock. Even with those constraints it raises my esteem of Barack Obama. Mark - 6
Other thoughts from Zoom on-line meeting
- We think it is written by a ghost writer. the way it is written is not how a person trained as a lawyer would write.
- We got how she was reluctant to go to the White House
- It was informative rather than Literature (No Plot!)
- Comments about how once she was in the white house, she wasn't allowed to just go into teh kitchen and make something for herself, she had to prepare a menu all the time. Before they went to the White House they had a chef to make their meals becasue they were so busy on the campaign trail, and they took him to the White House with them.
- Comparison between Alison son-in-law and Obama!
The Previous book 'Bird Box' by Josh Malerman was a book that no-one wanted to read after seeing the preview. We had read Room a year or so ago and thought that this would be on the same line. It was about people being cooped up, as we all are now. Here is the Amazon Review - Watch out for the Coronovirus!
"Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore.
Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything."
Becoming: My thoughts:
It seems to me to be obviously ghost written, but it is an easy if long book. I skipped part of her upbringing, and by the time that they were esconced in the White House I had had enough. Obviously about the trials of being a partner to an untidy brilliant man who can't work to a clock. Even with those constraints it raises my esteem of Barack Obama. Mark - 6
Other thoughts from Zoom on-line meeting
- We think it is written by a ghost writer. the way it is written is not how a person trained as a lawyer would write.
- We got how she was reluctant to go to the White House
- It was informative rather than Literature (No Plot!)
- Comments about how once she was in the white house, she wasn't allowed to just go into teh kitchen and make something for herself, she had to prepare a menu all the time. Before they went to the White House they had a chef to make their meals becasue they were so busy on the campaign trail, and they took him to the White House with them.
- Comparison between Alison son-in-law and Obama!
Friday, 13 March 2020
2020 February Trancription by Kate Atkinson
Minster Readers – February 2020 Transcription - Kate Atkinson
(Extract from the Guardian review, Sept 2018)
Transcription explores the lies and inventions that make up a life, particularly during a time of war when all prior certainties – including identity – have been upended. Juliet Armstrong has more than her share of such lies. Recruited to the Secret Service at the beginning of the war, she has learned to shift between various names and personae. “And then there was Juliet Armstrong, of course, who some days seemed like the most fictitious of them all, despite being the ‘real’ Juliet. But then what constituted real? Wasn’t everything, even this life itself, just a game of deception?” The inventions she inhabits are created for her by others, mostly her male handlers at MI5, all of whom appear to be living fiendishly complex double or triple lives themselves. In the aftermath of war, trying to locate the source of an anonymous threat, Juliet finds the multiple deceptions she has practised, and had practised upon her, accumulate to create a creeping paranoia in which “things are seldom what they seem’.
In 1940, Juliet is employed by MI5 to transcribe recordings of meetings in a bugged flat between a group of fascist sympathisers and a man named Godfrey Toby, whom the fifth columnists believe is a Gestapo agent but is actually a British spy monitoring his informers. Toby (who is based on a historical character) is a shadowy figure whose fate becomes entangled with Juliet’s through unexpected tragedy.
The second strand of the narrative, set in 1950, begins when Juliet – now working for the BBC – encounters Toby again, and his reappearance seems to trigger a series of reckonings for the lies she told during the war, and is possibly still telling.
This idea of consequences, and of every choice exacting a price later, runs through Transcription. Juliet’s inner commentary channels a British stoical humour, finding the absurd in the tragic even as she upbraids herself for being too “flippant”.
The main story is sandwiched between two short sections set in 1981, as Juliet lies dying she thinks back over her life. The year is significant; a royal wedding is imminent, and with it a new groundswell of patriotism: “... a sacrificial virgin was being prepared somewhere up the road, to satisfy the need for pomp and circumstance. Union Jacks draped everywhere.”
The question of sacrifice in the name of patriotism is one every character has to face, even as they must also define – then as now – what “England” and its values mean to them.
Minster Readers’ comments
We found this a complicated book to follow, set as it was in 3 different periods of time. It was difficult to keep track of the different men and their secret roles. It was also tricky to fathom which of them Juliet actually worked for. Although believable as a character, she too was a complex character: naïve, husband hunter or idealistic patriot? By the end of the book we wondered how reliable a narrator she had been throughout the story: she certainly by her own admission made up some of the transcriptions. She had, however, played her part in breaking up a group of Nazi sympathisers even at the cost of lives – one of them innocent.
Opinions varied on whether it was a complete page- turner or totally unmemorable. We agreed that there were some very amusing parts – especially in Juliet’s asides.
Scores : Average – 6 Range: 4-8
(Extract from the Guardian review, Sept 2018)
Transcription explores the lies and inventions that make up a life, particularly during a time of war when all prior certainties – including identity – have been upended. Juliet Armstrong has more than her share of such lies. Recruited to the Secret Service at the beginning of the war, she has learned to shift between various names and personae. “And then there was Juliet Armstrong, of course, who some days seemed like the most fictitious of them all, despite being the ‘real’ Juliet. But then what constituted real? Wasn’t everything, even this life itself, just a game of deception?” The inventions she inhabits are created for her by others, mostly her male handlers at MI5, all of whom appear to be living fiendishly complex double or triple lives themselves. In the aftermath of war, trying to locate the source of an anonymous threat, Juliet finds the multiple deceptions she has practised, and had practised upon her, accumulate to create a creeping paranoia in which “things are seldom what they seem’.
In 1940, Juliet is employed by MI5 to transcribe recordings of meetings in a bugged flat between a group of fascist sympathisers and a man named Godfrey Toby, whom the fifth columnists believe is a Gestapo agent but is actually a British spy monitoring his informers. Toby (who is based on a historical character) is a shadowy figure whose fate becomes entangled with Juliet’s through unexpected tragedy.
The second strand of the narrative, set in 1950, begins when Juliet – now working for the BBC – encounters Toby again, and his reappearance seems to trigger a series of reckonings for the lies she told during the war, and is possibly still telling.
This idea of consequences, and of every choice exacting a price later, runs through Transcription. Juliet’s inner commentary channels a British stoical humour, finding the absurd in the tragic even as she upbraids herself for being too “flippant”.
The main story is sandwiched between two short sections set in 1981, as Juliet lies dying she thinks back over her life. The year is significant; a royal wedding is imminent, and with it a new groundswell of patriotism: “... a sacrificial virgin was being prepared somewhere up the road, to satisfy the need for pomp and circumstance. Union Jacks draped everywhere.”
The question of sacrifice in the name of patriotism is one every character has to face, even as they must also define – then as now – what “England” and its values mean to them.
Minster Readers’ comments
We found this a complicated book to follow, set as it was in 3 different periods of time. It was difficult to keep track of the different men and their secret roles. It was also tricky to fathom which of them Juliet actually worked for. Although believable as a character, she too was a complex character: naïve, husband hunter or idealistic patriot? By the end of the book we wondered how reliable a narrator she had been throughout the story: she certainly by her own admission made up some of the transcriptions. She had, however, played her part in breaking up a group of Nazi sympathisers even at the cost of lives – one of them innocent.
Opinions varied on whether it was a complete page- turner or totally unmemorable. We agreed that there were some very amusing parts – especially in Juliet’s asides.
Scores : Average – 6 Range: 4-8
Our Book list for 2020
Minster Readers Book List 2020
Kate Atkinson Transcription 30/01/20
Josh Mallersman Bird Box 27/02/20
Michelle Obama Becoming 26/03/20
A.J. Finn Woman in the Window 30/04/20
Steve Cavanagh Liar 28/05/20
Liane Moriarty Nine Perfect Strangers 25/06/20
Heather Morris Tattooist of Auschwitz 30/07/20
Celeste Ng Little Fires Everywhere 27/08/20
Elly Griffiths Stranger Diaries 24/09/20
Anthony Horowitz Word is Murder 29/10/20
Edward Stourton Auntie’s War 26/11/20
Raynor Winn Salt Path 17/12/20
Note that the date is when the books are available. Our meetings are the last Thursday
of each month which is when the books are distributed as we discuss the previous book.
of each month which is when the books are distributed as we discuss the previous book.
Therefore Transcription was given out in January and discussed in February.
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
2019-October The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Everyone was disappointed with this book and many gave up half way through or less.
Nervous laughter greeted the usual enquiry as to who had read the book. Of the seven present only three had got to the end, and that for two of them at least had involved semi-demi-skimming at best. The common reaction was “oh good! It’s not just me”, and “this was hard work”.
Nervous laughter greeted the usual enquiry as to who had read the book. Of the seven present only three had got to the end, and that for two of them at least had involved semi-demi-skimming at best. The common reaction was “oh good! It’s not just me”, and “this was hard work”.
Searching for
credit found instances of excellent descriptive passages, and
vivid accounts of some experiences, notably in the Kashmir section,
but overall there was considerable disappointment. People found the
characters hard to identify, partly because of their names, partly
because of the complexities of the various castes, their culture and
clothing and partly because, apart from Anjum and Musa, they did not
engage us. The early interest roused in the unusual life of the
hijiras, more oucast than the untouchables but a part of everyone’s
life for celebrations, was left unsatisfied as the book moved to
political themes, known only superficially by most western readers,
and largely tragic eg Gujarat, Srinagar and Shiraz. The fantastic
setting in the graveyard, while well imagined and described was so
unlikely to have gone un- noticed or persecuted by the police for
hush money over 20 years that it lost credibility, and it’s “Utmost
Happiness” at the end was presumably ironic.
It had taken 20
years to write, during which many ideas and sub-plots had occurred to
the author, many of which would have made good stories in themselves,
but we felt that she liked so many places and episodes so much that
she could not bear to leave them out. It desperately needed a
thorough edit.
The Indian life
style is not that well known here and the references to different
items of clothing, castes etc. were not understood.
The many characters
were difficult to keep up with.
The story is of
clashes and fighting between India and Kashmir. Major Amrik Singh is
a cruel leader who appears to kill for fun.
There was an
interesting piece well into the book where Tilo and Musa escape
into Kashmir to spend some time together and Mr Singh somehow discovers
the river boat they are hiding on. Singh believes he has killed Musa
when in fact it was the boat owner who died.
The couple meet up
again later in the story.
The time scale was
around late 1980's early 1990's and maybe Asians would find the book
very interesting but not our group.
The people entitled to mark it gave it 3, 4, 5. Average 4
My comments:
This book should be called the Ministry of Utmost UNHappiness. It is depressing from the first page. I didn't know whether the name used was between trees or other plants talking to each other or what. Then I discovered it was about a child born as a hermaphrodite who as he grows up goes to live in a hostel of either prostitutes or other hermaphrodites, it is not made clear, that are rented out to parties among other things.
Not my type of book. Page 38 is it.
Saturday, 28 September 2019
2019-September The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
First off, this book does not compare to the Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, other that the main character is a loser. It's a more pleasant read with a nicer ending.
My initial comment was that it is a love story about Frank and Ilse. Frank has a record shop in a run down area of Stockton, and Ilse collapses in front of it. She says she wants to learn about music and has weekly meetings with him, where she falls in love with him. Then they learn that she is actually a musician but can't play any more and they fall out and she returns to Germany while he goes downhill and his shop collapses. 20 Years on Ilse returns from Germany and finds his friends and then him and Love blossoms again.
Different people liked different characters in the book, basically Peg and Kit.
Frank didn't have the nerve to be positive in life, basically due to the overpowering upbringing by Peg. Philip Larkins poem about parents was referenced.
The waitress in the cafe where Frank and Ilse met sort of reminded you of Julie Walters in the Acorn Antiques skits.
No one guessed that Ilse was a musician. We thought that Frank would be humiliated by finding out that he had been tutoring a musician who probably knew more than he did.
Pegs information about the composers was interesting.
It was pointed out the interesting commentary about racism in the daubings on the walls.
There was not much plot or story in it. It was somewhat like a Nick Hornby story with some Mills & Boon thrown in. A bit sacharine. The gap of 20 years was just a convenient fiction element. Could Ilse with the arthritic hands pick up an unknown, untuned violin and play the Messiah?
Carrie and I both thought that it was a pleasant read in half-hour sections. But we kept reading! Other comments were that it spent a pleasant hour and had a few laughs. But we wouldn't bother reading another by her.
Marks came out at 6 1/2.
My initial comment was that it is a love story about Frank and Ilse. Frank has a record shop in a run down area of Stockton, and Ilse collapses in front of it. She says she wants to learn about music and has weekly meetings with him, where she falls in love with him. Then they learn that she is actually a musician but can't play any more and they fall out and she returns to Germany while he goes downhill and his shop collapses. 20 Years on Ilse returns from Germany and finds his friends and then him and Love blossoms again.
Different people liked different characters in the book, basically Peg and Kit.
Frank didn't have the nerve to be positive in life, basically due to the overpowering upbringing by Peg. Philip Larkins poem about parents was referenced.
The waitress in the cafe where Frank and Ilse met sort of reminded you of Julie Walters in the Acorn Antiques skits.
No one guessed that Ilse was a musician. We thought that Frank would be humiliated by finding out that he had been tutoring a musician who probably knew more than he did.
Pegs information about the composers was interesting.
It was pointed out the interesting commentary about racism in the daubings on the walls.
There was not much plot or story in it. It was somewhat like a Nick Hornby story with some Mills & Boon thrown in. A bit sacharine. The gap of 20 years was just a convenient fiction element. Could Ilse with the arthritic hands pick up an unknown, untuned violin and play the Messiah?
Carrie and I both thought that it was a pleasant read in half-hour sections. But we kept reading! Other comments were that it spent a pleasant hour and had a few laughs. But we wouldn't bother reading another by her.
Marks came out at 6 1/2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)