Bookclub - what have you been reading?

[scottydog]

Thought I'd start this thread so if you have read anything good (or bad) recently you can tell us about it, if you have time.

I go to a bookclub once a month. Often bookclubs are groups of people who are friends already and get together in each others houses. This one is more formal, noone knew each other before it started and we meet in a cafe and have wine and coffee while discussing the chosen book.

Last night we discussed Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. There were 5 of us there - 2 knew the book already, loved it and were on their 2nd and 3rd readings . The rest of us liked some bits and detested others - I was in that camp. There is some great descriptive writing, especially about life in the trenches in WWI but the 2 sub-stories that were going on around that just didn't grab me - didn't like those characters at all.

We have to read 'I Captured the Castle' by Dodie Smith next month. It is an old book that has been made into a film - has anyone read/seen that?

SD

[Daisy]

SD - your bookclub sounds very serious.  Not like ours, we often don't even talk books   We have been really slack at getting together but I promise the next one I attend I will invite you along.

I haven't read any of the books you mentioned   I'm a bit of a chick lit fan - easy reading on the bus, but always good to know of new authors as I do need to extend what I read.

Happy reading

[Woodpecker]

Hi SD,
Your bookclub sounds WAY to serious for me....omigosh, our bookclub was a social affair...we all got together, nibbles and drinks....chatted like mad and around midnight there was a mad dash for a book!!  If anything was spectacular we chatted about it, it was but purely social and a place to swap books, making the pricing easier.  We also did that with magazines and recipes...which was a great idea...but your bunch sound far too intellectual for that!!! haha...I have just read a book called Motherkind....a bit heavy about the changes people undergo when somebody around them is "evolving"....be it into a new relationship, parenthood, change of life....death of a loved one!  Quite interesting but too heavy to recommend.  One book that I truly enjoyed, which may interest you, is "Its not about the bike" by Lance Armstrong..not being a cycle girl myself I truly enjoyed the book...really well written, informative and interesting....have lent it to many friends and everybody has enjoyed it tremendously.  I like to read for pleasure and escapism...so too much heavy is not too good for the soul for me!!
Take care, catch up soon.
Cheryl
x 

[Carolyn]

Brillilant idea Scottydog starting a reading list.

Birdsong is on my shelves (has been for a number of years) and I haven't read it.
Will pull it down and dust it off.

My current reading is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
One Woman's Search for Everything.
Now if that doesn't get you all interested I don't know what will!!!!

She spends three months of the year in Italy, then India and Indonesia.
Good read.

What's next on your book club reading list???
Great to have recommendations,
Carolyn x

[kiwigirl]

I read The Jigsaw Maker (Adrienne Dines) last week. It was really good. Really, really good. A decent bit of shock factor at the end too. I'd recommend it. (And no, I don't recommend everything I read!  ;D)

[Daisy]

Hello KiwiGirl - good to have you back on the boards.

Shelley

[Woodpecker]

Yep, ditto...welcome back...you have been away for a while.  Hope that you are enjoying the new job! Are you going to share all or is it a secret???
Cheerio
Cheryl
x

[Annamaria]

I've recently read ' The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Hauntingly beautiful book.
Has anybody else read it? What did you think?

[Carolyn]

I love to discover a new author and book.
Thanks for the recommendation Annmarie - will track the book down.
Carolyn x

[Mad Cow]

Read a book called 'How to snap out o it' by Toby Green, while on holiday. Apparently it's a user's guide to getting unstuck, lol. Obviously I need to read it a gain. She is a psychologist, and they are just short 'insights' not indepth reading. But some god advice!!!!!!!!!!!
Am trying to read 'Running and Walking for Women over Forty' at the moment. Not feeling very much like doing any sort of exercise in this crappy weather!

[lynda]

Just read a book Remember Me? It was very funny - light and breezey.  Now reading James Patterson 7th Heaven which, funnily enoughis the 7th book in a series of the Womens Murder Mystery.  Have loved all his other books.

Read a lot really and quite a mixture.  Always open to new authors though.

[Annamaria]

Have just finished a double from Anne Murray - 'Chocolate Girls' and 'Water Gypsies' - both very good, set in wartime England.
Chocolate Girls is about the women working in the Chocolate Factory & their lives & families during WW2.
Water Gypsies is about the boat people on the canals & deals with child abuse. Worth picking up.
PS: Did you notice I'm down a kg??

[mollykate]

Well done Annamaria - I'm going to have to get those books if that's what happens when you read them  Good effort - keep it up!

[Daisy]

Thanks for the info on the books AnnaMaria   and well done on your loss   

[kiwigirl]

I read Adrienne Dines' second book on the weekend - Soft Voices Whispering - and enjoyed it, although not as much as The Jigsaw Maker. The baddie was revealed too soon!

Then I started Patricia Scanlan's 'Divided Loyalties' and I hated it.... bunch of whingers! So I'm not finishing it.