2022 - March - Prague Nights - Benjamin Black

Some links to interesting things in the book that I had to look up. 

https://www.gigaplaces.com/en/place-confluence-of-the-elbe-and-vltava-in-melnik/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_laws_of_planetary_motion

It was a marmite book, some enjoyed it and some didn't. Not as bad as cleaning the oven was one comment.   3 marks at the 2 level and 5 at 6/7. Average 5. 

A good comment was that they got to feel the language, enjoyed as a light read, lots of characters, and good atmosphere of the court.

Otherwise it was poorly written, almost as  the second book of a two book deal.  Others felt nothing for any of the characters and weren't drawn into it. Not enough precise detail.   I couldn't fathom  who-dun-it.

2022- February - 2 books, The Behaviour of Moths (Adams) and Educated(Westover, Tara)

 Behaviour of Moths by Adams

Just a  few notes that I made during the discussion.   Neitehr Chris nor I read it due to time constraints on the loan.

It needed a good editor. It was a bit of a slog

It was peculiar, someone commented that it reminded her of A.S. Byatt.

Something a bit wrong with Vivi, was she autistic? She had to be trained to use teh correct facial expressions

It is a different book, not recommended to others as some parts were a bit gruesome. 

Marks averaged at 5.

Educated  by Tara Westover

 Our retired teacher found it hard to beleive.

The book was well written. Clear and simple writing.

Chris commented about how different Americans are . How passioante in their beliefs. A lot to do with religion.

She persuaded people that she needed help, and people everywhere gave her the help she needed. How helpful academia was, getting scholarships, having time out etc. 

2 Points - Brother leg burnt, and Shears. Different peoples understanding  of events in retrospective. 

Her mother wrote a book called Educating. 

MArks 7/7/7/8/8 -  7.5

2022-January Home Fires

 Home Fires by Kamila  Shamsie. 

A reworking of Antigone in a modern setting. 

My notes: According to the notes, a modern reworking of Antigone. Two Muslim families in Britain, one two sisters and a twin brother who joins ISIS and is killed when he tries to leave, and the other the Home Secretary and his son who has fallen for the twin sister. How the Home Secretary is being steadfast in his treatment of terrorists, but his son goes to the aid of his love, with disastrous results.  I found that the first section did not grab me, but on prompting I kept reading and was really caught up in it. I can't say enjoyed it, but I did find it fascinating. At the same time I was reading 'Walk in My Combat Boots' which was recollections of american soldiers of their time in the army, much of it in Afghanistan & Iraq, and how the soldirers tried to help the locals. This contrasted heavily with the Isis treatment of the book. 

This book got high marks from all of us - 8's and a 9. 

It was well written and we thought that we could be sympathetic to all the characters, though I think a bit less to the older daughter.  It was very clever on the conversion of the characters from Antigone to the modern day. It was a broad and far reaching story, and it has kept us thinking about it after finishing it - always a good sign.

Would we read another of hers? Yes, but we need a gap, it was too intense.

2021 November PAcking My Library - Manguel

Due to everybody, well a lot of us, going on holiday, there will not be a meeting to discuss this book this month. Hopefully we will have a Christmas meeting  in December. 

My thoughts. I am not getting on with it very well. I realize that it is supposed to be in praise of libraries, but I have already decided that it is not a book that I would keep in my library. At the moment I am reading one section every evening. I don't think it would be possible to read it in a large session. You need to absorb what he has said in each section. I doesn't strike me as a book that is written with a purpose, just putting down his ideas and thoughts as he packs up his library and home. 

2021-September & October - Maxwell Sim and Leon

COE	TERRIBLE PRIVACY OF MAXWELL SIM
DE WAAL	MY NAME IS LEON

 Well, I have not received any comments about either of these books, so there is nothing to write here.

 

August 2021 - Dear Mrs Bird

 I did enjoy Mrs Bird ; a lovely light read which made me chuckle and moved me to tears.

Horribly realistic descriptions of the air raids. And I did enjoy a happy ending. Not high literature but it 

gets a 9 from me!

Maggie

My review of dear Mrs Bird. Thought the beginning of the book was entertaining and light weight but the 

descriptions of the blitz was well written and real,and the sadness of those affected buy the bombing. I 

think I'll give it a 5, because I liked the Mrs bird part, hated the love part. See you all soon. Daphne

Peter Notes: A chick-lit type story about two girls living in London in 1942. Emmie gets a job on a 

newspaper, but it turns out to be a woman’s magazine and she has to select agony aunt letters for Mrs 

Bird, a real old battleaxe to respond to, but she starts responding to some that Mrs. Bird deems 

'unsuitable' 

She also works at a fire station where Bunty falls in love with a fireman. At first I nearly gave up as chick-

lit but I got caught up in the story. Em gets caught out and nearly loses her job, but ends up with a better 

one, and Bunty gets back in touch after a breakup and saves her bacon. [5]

Ali: Enjoyed book, had read it before. 8. Didn’t think the problem pages added much. Chris didn’t read.

OL not impressed. Very light read. Sounded better than it was

Have a good meeting either outside or via zoom - say hello to everyone and see you all at the end of   September.     Linda

9/5/5//8  = 7.

2021 - May - The Word is Murder by and with Anthony Horowitz

The thing that pleased me when I finished is noting on the inside back cover that this was the first in a series of books about this detective. The story is first person around an author who is to follow a difficult detective and write about his work on a murder case. It is very different from other crime stories. Towards the end I found myself thinking that all the clues had been there but I had missed them, just like the author in following Hawthorn around. It would have helped if I knew Hamlet better, but I am more familiar with the scottish play. I enjoyed it. My mark 9?

On Fantastic Fiction it shows that he is a prolific author of all sorts of books.

These are the Hawthorn books.

   1. The Word is Murder (2017)
   2. The Sentence is Death (2018)
   3. A Line to Kill (2021)

Started the second book. Hawthorn shows up on a movie set and drags the author away. Very much a continuation with comments about the first book  not yet on sale and Hawthorn still doesn't like the title.