The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Five of us enjoyed discussing our latest read: a memoir that tells the story of Jeanette’s upbringing by Rex, her alcoholic father, and Rose Mary, her mother who is an artist and a hoarder. Our mutual enjoyment of this book set the tone for our discussion which was quite ‘exploratory.’

We welcome 'virtual' members to our group and, for this meeting, we had email and text input from two members who at last minute couldn’t make the date. One loved the book (as did everyone else) and one didn’t. Here’s what they had to say:

Incoming text during our meeting

e-mail received before our meeting

The story tells of a family of six and from the very start it is clear there is something ‘different’ about the parenting. First impressions led some of us to believe they had a life of adventure, freedom, ideology. Possibly in many ways it was all that and more. The ‘more’ is the bit that Jeanette recalls and most of us feel she did that very well. Perhaps though, as our ‘text’ member feels, she may have overdone the hard-life bit and glossed over happier times? Life in the 60’s and 70’s was poorer, harder, simpler, colder, and hungrier after all. Most of us feel that Jeanette chose to present her childhood as she did for good reason, and that she did it very well.

As the tale unfolds it becomes clear that Rex, though highly intelligent (even intellectual), has gambling and alcohol issues. Rose Mary is a qualified teacher who chooses not to teach but to focus instead on her art. Neither of the parents prioritise income, home comforts, feeding or clothing the children. Rex does, however, dream of one day ‘getting’ enough money to build a ‘Glass Castle’ in which they can all live and he has even drawn the plans. Rose Mary is going to be a sought after artist, if only she can bear to part with some of her paintings!

Running from debt or simply needing a new adventure the family travel from state to state living in trailers, cars, an old station, Rose Mary’s mother’s home, Rex’s parent’s home and a dilapidated wooden shack. It is hard to imagine that any of these places could be regarded as home for the family. The children are poorly clothed. Their clothes (and bodies) are dirty and they frequently resort to scavenging to feed themselves. Of necessity they are a highly self-sufficient, mutually supporting group who share what they have and survive.

That said, the strength of family bonds shines through and the family remains a strong unit. We talked about how love conquers all. It didn’t matter to the children how badly their parents brought them up, they still loved them. The relationship between Jeanette and her father was of doting father and loving daughter. Lori was the perfect big sister. Brian the fun loving little brother and everyone adored Maureen (including the neighbours with whom she found her own way to survive by spending time in their households enjoying their hospitality – food and warmth was easily found for Maureen.). We were left unsure about how the children felt about Rose Mary – she was, after all a mother who did very little for her children and who put herself first when opportunities arise.

Jeanette had her trust in her father shaken on more than one occasion but, when he asked ‘have I ever let you down?’ she couldn’t tell him what she wanted to say because she loved him. With her mother Jeanette was more honest, direct, frank and open and we were impressed at how she could do this without being over-emotional and how her mother accepted (and we think respected her for it). When you ‘listen’ to the conversations between Jeanette and her mother you can understand the relationship a little better.

And if you want to know more, click on this link. There is a photo of Jeanette with her mum now and the article expands on the relationship between mother and daughter.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/how-jeannette-walls-spins-good-stories-out-of-bad-memories.html?_r=0

So, would we recommend this book? Yes. For most of us it is firmly on our ‘Good Read’ list and for some of us it’s on our ‘Must Read’ list.

Our next book is Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez. We will be discussing this, our Christmas read, on Thursday 21^st January at The Hundred, 8pm.

Book Choices - November 2015

It's time to choose our Christmas read!

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen: How one man and his cat found hope on the streets

When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet.

Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas.

Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts.

A Street Cat Named Bob is a moving and uplifting story that will touch the heart of anyone who reads it.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

The stunningly original and brilliant first novel from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman. Now a six part radio dramatisation on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining... And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a compelling, moving story exploring injustice and mob hysteria by the Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.

'On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on'

Santiago Nasar is brutally murdered in a small town by two brothers. All the townspeople knew it was going to happen - including the victim. But nobody did anything to prevent the killing. Twenty seven years later, a man arrives in town to try and piece together the truth from the contradictory testimonies of the townsfolk. To at last understand what happened to Santiago, and why. . .

Our next meeting is THURSDAY 26th November 8pm at The Hundred of Ashendon. We will be discussing The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.

Rule Britannia by Daphne Du Maurier

Seven of us sat down for what turned out to be an amiable chat over a glass (or two) and a book. A somewhat crazy book!

The story is based around the experience of a wonderfully eclectic (and very likeable) Cornish household at the time of an attempted political, economic and military alliance between Britain and America. The household consists of Mad Grandmother, Foster Mother and a famous, in her time, actress; Emma, Mad's long suffering granddaughter; six fostered/adopted boys of all ages; Dottie the elderly housekeeper (once dresser for Mad) and Pa. Emma's father/Mad's son who drops in from his home in London where he is a cog in the alliance wheel.

The neighbours are a local farming family and a Welsh recluse who lives in a shack in the woods. Other significant acquaintances include the local GP and a pub landlord.

The events that unfold in the story draw this tiny community into situations that beggar belief. Seemingly they will stop at nothing to protect their environment and to protest at the intrusions made to their lives.

Our group wholeheartedly agree that this book is 'NOT what we had expected from a Daphne Du Maurier!'

It's a great concept but it's not a 'good' book though it is very readable. The concept is a good one, though not particularly well executed. It is like a children's adventure book, a gruesome Enid Blyton full of 'cartoon like' characters. We were left wondering what possessed this wonderful writer to write this particular book. We decided that perhaps she saw it as her opportunity to prove she is no 'Jane Austen'!

It was intimated in some reviews that this is a semi-autobiographical story and as a group we felt that Mad could indeed have been Daphne's personal pen-picture. However, I have since found that the book is dedicated to Gladys Cooper, a leading lady of Gerald Du Maurier, Daphne's actor father and Gladys is the basis of the main character in the book: Mad.

So, here is 'Mad' Gladys:

And, it all takes place in (fictional?) Poldrea, Cornwall. We all tried to place Poldrea and decided it was somewhere between Falmouth and Plymouth! However, there is a small place just outside Par named Tywardreath with a street named Poldrea and, though the street comprises social housing the location fits Daphne's description very well indeed.

This is a book that raises many questions and fails to answer, or challenge, any of them.

Would we recommend it - yes, though not for its literary qualities!

Our next book is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and we will meet to discuss our reading experiences at The Hundred on Thursday 26th November 8pm when our pub Dominoes team will be playing AWAY to the New Zealand!

Book Choices - September 2015

Let's choose our next read:

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous merchant father brings a young painter back with him from Holland to adorn the walls of the new family chapel. She is fascinated by his talents and envious of his abilities and opportunities to paint to the glory of God. Soon her love of art and her lively independence are luring her into closer involvement with all sorts of taboo areas of life. On excursions into the streets of night-time Florence she observes a terrible evil stalking the city and witnesses the rise of the fiery young priest, Savanarola, who has set out to rid the city of vice, richness, even art itself.

Alessandra must make crucial decisions about the shape of her adult life, as Florence itself must choose between the old ways of the luxury-loving Medicis and the asceticism of Savanorola. And through it all, there is the painter, whose love will change everything.

 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

This is a sprawling family saga, bursting with life, which spans three generations and crosses several continents. At its core, however, is another unorthodox but exquisite coming-of-age story.

The book's wily narrator and central character, Calliope Stephanides (named after the muse of epic poetry) is a hermaphrodite raised as a girl who comes to realise she is happier as a boy and is now living as a man in contemporary Berlin. Cal's tale begins, appropriately enough, in Greece (or more precisely Asia Minor)--an Aegean Strasbourg whose sovereignty is claimed by Greece and Turkey. In 1922 brother and sister Lefty and Desdemona Stephanides escaped their war-torn homeland and arrived, as man and wife, in Detroit, America. It is this coupling that ultimately begets their grandchild Calliope and her ambiguous sexuality, as she, or rather by then he, sanguinely notes:

Some people inherit houses; others painting or highly insured violin bows. Still others get Japanese tansu or a famous name. I got a recessive gene on fifth chromosome and some very rare family jewels indeed.

As Cal recounts the experiences of the Stephanides clan in their new land, from the Depression to Nixon, he unfurls his own symbiotic odyssey to a new sex. Cal's narrative voice is arch, humorous and self aware, continually drawing attention to its authorial sleights of hand, but never exasperating. This is big, brainy novel.

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, 'brilliant' but alcoholic parents.

At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister; her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the 'mundane, middle class existence' she had always craved. In her apartment, overlooked by 'a portrait of someone else's ancestor' she recounts poignant remembered images of star watching with her father, juxtaposed with recollections of irregular meals, accidents and police-car chases and reveals her complex feelings of shame, guilt, pity and pride toward her parents.

Our next meeting is THURSDAY 24th September 8pm at The Hundred of Ashendon. We will be discussing Rule Britannia by Daphne Du Maurier. 

60 Books We Have Read

So we have been running for almost 10 years now and over those years we have read, according to my records, 60 books.

Which was your favourite? Add a comment to this blog and let's discuss at our meeting on Thursday 24th September. Here's the list:

2005
Small Island	Andrea Levy
Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian	Marina Lewycka
Toast	Nigel Slater
Anna Karenina	Leo Tolstoy
2006
Diary of an Ordinary Woman	Margaret Forster
Close Range	Annie Proulx
The Flame Trees of Thika	Elspeth Huxley
The End of the Affair	Graham Greene
Gentlemen and Players	Joanne Harris
2007
The Island	Victoria Hislop
The Edible Woman	Margaret Attwood
The Time Traveler’s Wife	Audrey Niffenegger
The Other Boleyn Girl	Phillippa Gregory
2008
Offshore	Penelope Fitzgerald
A Thousand Splendid Suns	Khaled Hosseini
Mr Pip	Lloyd Jones
The Mill on the Floss	George Eliot
The Sisterhood	Emily Barr
Notes from an Exhibition	by Patrick Gale
A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry
2009
Remember Babylon	David Malouf
The Bolter	Frances Osborne
The Sandcastle	Iris Murdoch
Crossed Wires	Rosy Thornton
A Beginners Guide to Acting English	Shappi Khorsandi
2010
The Boy in the Bush	DH Lawrence (and M.L. (Mollie Skinner)
Chains	Laurie Halse Anderson
Sense and Sensibility	Jane Austen
Suite Francais	Irene Nemirovsky
Pompeii	Robert Harris
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Stieg Larsson
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle	Monique Roffey
2011
The Concert Ticket	Olga Grushin
Three Cups of Tea	Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Cider with Rosie	Laurie Lee
Amsterdam	Ian McEwan
Pigeon English	Stephen Kelman
The Corrections	Jonathan Franzan
2012
Little Women	Louisa May Alcott
The Red House	Mark Haddon
When God was a Rabbit	Sarah Winman
Scoop	Evelyn Waugh
The Boy with the Top Knot	Sathnam Sanghera
2013
A Young Doctor's Notebook	Mikhail Bulgakov
Pure	Andrew Miller
Wolf Hall	Hilary Mantel
Fame is the Spur	Howard Spring
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)	Jerome K Jerome
The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared	Jonas Jonasson
2014
Letters from Skye	Jessica Brockmole
Private Peaceful	Michael Morpurgo
Knots & Crosses	Ian Rankin
The Letter Bearer	Robert Allison
Speed of Dark	Elizabeth Moon
Hard Times	Charles Dickens
2015
The Painter of Signs	R.K. Narayan
Every Day is for the Thief	Teju Cole
Sweet Tooth	Ian McEwan
Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Café	Fannie Flagg

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Seven of us enjoyed a lovely sunny (though for some a little chilly) evening on the terrace at Felicity's house, sipping (Mary's birthday) Prosecco and discussing life in a small town just a short train ride from Birmingham, Alabama. I am sure there is very little to compare between the lush green valley we were overlooking to Whistle Stop (which I imagine to be fairly bare, dusty and flat.) That said, this book makes the reader feel they are sat, hearing and listening to the stories that are so well told throughout. 

Yet again we managed to select a book that we all enjoyed. Though one of our members put the complexity of the relationships, and the author's use of timeline, into context by saying she was 'glad there was no exam on it!' 

The stories are beautifully narrated in this wonderful book. Most of us couldn't put it down, but when you had to do so the chapters were so short it was simple to pick back up again. 

The story is told through the relationship that builds between an elderly lady in a nursing home and a disaffected housewife who visits (and befriends) her in the 1980's. One tells and the other and listens to stories of life growing up in Whistle Stop, from the 1920's onward. The themes are diverse: a relationship between 2 women, injury, death and murder, White vs. African American, ageing as a woman and, of course, food! Throughout the tone changes, one minute happy, the next sad!

For the African American people the prejudice and inhumanity of the white people was (is?) a daily reality. This book does, however, illustrate that decent people at all levels of society recognise that this is not right and that kindness and humanity also exists.

Our favourite character was, unanimously, Idgie (and her beautiful family) who exude warmth and are truly respected within the community. The family hold no prejudice and accept people for what, and who, and how they are. So, when Ruth moves in with Idgie, their relationship, whilst never overtly defined, is understood and never challenged.

We also love the character of the book itself. It has little touches that make it special: news bulletins punctuate and separate the stories perfectly and those by Dot Weems are so clever - she blends local small town news with national news and the significance of each piece is left unmeasured. There are also recipes at the end for the reader to try (and enjoy)!

Would we recommend this book? YES, for our group it was an excellent choice, a great book. We are looking forward to seeing the film (or perhaps one day even a trip to Irondale, Alabama? on which Whistle Stop is based and where the annual Whistle Stop festival can be found!)

Our next book is Rule Britannia by Daphne Du Maurier. We will meet to discuss this book on THURSDAY 24th September at 8pm in The Hundred. 

Book Choices - July 2015

Here are our choices for our next read.

The  Ballroom Cafe by Ann O'Loughlin

Sisters Ella and Roberta O'Callaghan haven't spoken for decades, torn apart by a dark family secret from their past. They both still live in the family's crumbling Irish mansion, communicating only through the terse and bitter notes they leave for each other in the hallway. But when their way of life is suddenly threatened by bankruptcy, Ella tries to save their home by opening a café in the ballroom – much to Roberta's disgust.

As the café begin to thrive, the sisters are drawn into a new battle when Debbie, an American woman searching for her birth mother, starts working at the Ballroom Café. Debbie has little time left but as she sets out to discover who she really is and what happened to her mother, she is met by silence and lies at the local convent. Determined to discover the truth, she begins to uncover an adoption scandal that will rock both the community and the warring sisters.
Powerful and poignant, The Ballroom Café is a moving story of love lost and found. 

In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck

A novel that fearlessly explores the line between principled defiance and blind fanaticism, John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle contains an introduction and notes by Warren French in Penguin Modern Classics.

'This book is brutal. I wanted to be merely a recording consciousness,' Steinbeck said of In Dubious Battle, which aroused immense controversy when first published in 1936. It follows the fortunes of Jim Nolan, disenfranchised and alone, his family destroyed by the system. Desperate to find his place in the world, Jim joins the Communist Party and becomes entangled in a strike of migrant workers which spirals out of control, unflinchingly detailing the apocalyptic violence that breaks out when the masses become the mob. This fast-paced, compelling novel is at once a brilliant observation of social and political turmoil and a moving story of a young man's struggle for identity. In Dubious Battle explores and dramatises many of the ideas and themes key to Steinbeck's writing.

Rule Britannia by Daphne Du Maurier

Emma wakes up one morning to an apocalyptic world. The cozy existence she shares with her grandmother, an eccentric retired actress known to all as Madam, has been shattered: there's no post, no telephone, no radio - and an American warship sits in the harbor.

As the two women piece together clues about the 'friendly' military occupation on their doorstep, family, friends and neighbours gather round to protect their heritage. In this chilling novel of the future, Daphne du Maurier explores the implications of a political, economic and military alliance between Britain and the United States. 




Our next meeting is tomorrow: THURSDAY 2nd May 8pm at Felicity's house (because it's Summer.) We will be discussing Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

The Painter of Signs by R.K Narayan

Seven members of our group sat down to review this book. The meeting started like this: "I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to finish it." Excellent start! the debate began. At one point there were two conversations running in tandem and everyone had an opinion and a different perspective. 

• It was a refreshing read.
• I preferred the beginning to the end. 
• It was different but I found myself getting annoyed.
• It was short - if it had been longer I'm not sure I would have read it all.
• I look for characters that I can engage with. I failed to engage with anyone here. 

Then the three main characters were in the spotlight. They could be thought of as one 'weak' man and two 'strong' women:

Ramen - the painter of signboards for local businesses - was 'shallow', 'simple', 'undemanding', 'sheltered', 'undervalued', 'a bit dim', 'a pushover' - all of which were disputed and debated. He took pride in his work and stood up for what he believed to be quality - he didn't compromise. He was respected among the community. BUT he was 30 years old and the reader could be forgiven for thinking him to be 12 years old. So,jury's out on him.
Daisy - the independent woman who stood up for women's rights - was 'strong', 'focused', 'passionate in her beliefs' - NO - Daisy was running away, afraid to have feelings, putting up a facade. 
Aunty - the simple living, dedicated stand in for Ramen's mother - was  'strong', 'focused', 'passionate in her beliefs' - YES - Aunty looked after Ramen with a sense of duty and pride in her domesticity, she patiently picked stones from rice, she was passionate about her religion, she knew what her destiny was and followed it. 

The ending is inevitable. 

Would we recommend this book? Yes, as a snapshot of a slice of life. 

We finished our meeting with a brief chat about books we have been reading recently and the following are three good reads for long Summer ahead.

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce: Four of us have read it and we all loved it.
• Heratic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali: A compelling read. 
• Restoration by Rose Tremain: Worth reading and some of us will read this as well as our next book. 

Our next book is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

We will meet to discuss this book on TUESDAY 2^nd July at 8pm. If the weather is kind to us we plan to meet at Felicity’s and enjoy the views from her terrace. If it’s not so nice we will meet at The Hundred. 

Book Choices - May 2015

This is a quick post to give you the book titles for our next reading choice. 

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg: 

The day Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison opened the Whistle Stop Cafe, the town took a turn for the better. It was the Depression and that cafe was a home from home for many of us. You could get eggs, grits, bacon, ham, coffee and a smile for 25 cents. Ruth was just the sweetest girl you ever met. And Idgie? She was a character, all right. You never saw anyone so headstrong. But how anybody could have thought she murdered that man is beyond me.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a mouth-watering tale of love, laughter and mystery. It will lift your spirits and above all it'll remind you of the secret to life: friends. Best friends.

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant.

The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside . . . 

The Midwich Cuckoos is the classic tale of aliens in our midst, exploring how we respond when confronted by those who are innately superior to us in every conceivable way.

Restoration by Rose Tremaine

When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkling charm, Robert Merivel rises quickly, soon finding favour with the King, and privileged with a position as 'paper groom' to the youngest of the King's mistresses. But by falling in love with her, Merivel transgresses the one rule that will cast him out from his new-found paradise. Determined to be restored to the King's grace, Merivel begins a journey of self-knowledge and soon discovers that the King's pleasure is equally matched by his wrath...

Our next meeting is tomorrow: Thursday 14th May 2015, 8.00pm at The Hundred to discuss The Painter of Signs and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Look forward to seeing you there. 

World Book Night - 23rd April 2015

Tomorrow night is World Book Night - click here for more details.

As book lovers we can all get involved by simply choosing a book from our shelves and passing it on to someone we believe would enjoy the reading experience. There is nothing to stop you doing just this and then doing nothing more BUT if you want to register your giving at the World Book Night site then please click here: Volunteer a Book.

I am lucky enough to have been given 18 copies of a special World Book Night edition of a book. Last month I ran a 'request' post on my Facebook page and the responses to that allowed me to select the lucky recipients of my chosen book: Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson. 

Sometimes it's hard to make the time to read and the people who will be receiving my book have all admitted to letting their reading slip as other things take priority. They have all said that they will make the time to read this book and then to pass it on to someone else they know would like to read more. 

It would be great to share our World Book Night experiences at our next Book Group Meeting on Thursday 14th May, 8pm.

FILM NIGHT - ASHENDON - THURSDAY APRIL 16th 2015

On Thursday April 16th 2015 the Ashendon WI are showing the film of the book: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window & Disappeared. 

            

This is for everyone - not just WI members or even just women - and will be a great opportunity to see the film of the book we so loved. 

The best bit about Ashendon film nights is that for just £5 you get to see the film and enjoy a glass of wine & nibbles provided.                 

                 

Doors Open 7.30pm for a 7.45pm Start.

Please come along for a book group outing!

                

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

Six of us enjoyed a somewhat eye-opening chat about our latest read: Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan.

The conversation started like this: "it's nicely written but I found myself wondering where it was going, I got bored and had to force myself to finish it."

Oh no, I thought, this is going to be a one drink meeting and early to bed. How wrong was I? well, very! 

Our resident Ian McEwan fan jumped in: "I absolutely adored it, it was extremely clever and there was a constant sense that this was going somewhere interesting, something would happen."  

Now, I should have seen this coming as every time I have seen said fan recently she has been talking about how the 'tension' was building and wondering if I had got to the bit where...? and I was a bit bemused...

...because, my take on it is: I didn't get it! I didn't experience any tension but I really enjoyed the read and the characters. I thought it was a bit Bridget Jones in places, there were loose ends all over the place and the characters weren't all that convincing (I don't feel the author knew these people very well.) I was disappointed in the ending but probably because I failed to spot the 'clues' which were (according to no.1 fan) peppered throughout.  As an Ian McEwan 'virgin' I didn't know to look for clues though!

Our education continued, we learned that this book is Ian McEwan's first happy story, and it was quirky and full of deceit. You see, I for one didn't realise it was happy and I didn't notice the deceit! We did all agree that we enjoyed the quirkiness of the novella's. Also, the writer character is, in fact, Ian himself. You do have to read the book to realise how highly he rates certain of his abilities and how funny that is. 

So it seems that with Ian McEwan, you either love him or simply enjoy him. Certainly no-one hated the book but it was fabulous to have someone who was able to see the book for what it was and allow the rest of us to understand what makes a great spy story and to gain some appreciation for the talent Ian McEwan has. That is the beauty of a book group.

Of the characters most of us felt they were not very convincing. We did like Shirley a lot and Jeremy so Sarina (boring as she was) did choose her friends well. 

Would we recommend this book? Yes, especially if you like Ian McEwan. And, if you haven't read him and don't know what to expect, give it a try and please look for the clues!

As agreed, some of our group also chose to read another of our choices: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. We didn't discuss this book in detail but the overriding response is it is very well written, gripping, and a great read. 

Our next book is The Painter of Signs by R.K. Narayan. We will meet to discuss our reading experience on Thursday 14th May, 8pm at The Hundred. Again we were split in our choice and we will try to also read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. So we have a readathon going - happy reading. 

Book Choices - March 2015

Here are our Spring choices: 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage or Harold Fry by Sue Joyce

Harold Fry is convinced that he must deliver a letter to an old friend in order to save her. He meets various characters along the way and reminisces about the events of his past and people he has known, as he tries to find peace and acceptance.

Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say she is in hospice and wanted to say goodbye. Leaving his tense, bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to post his reply but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie -- who is 600 miles away --because as long as he keeps walking, Harold believes that Queenie will not die. 

So without hiking boots, rain gear, map or cell phone, one of the most endearing characters in current fiction begins his unlikely pilgrimage across the English countryside. Along the way, strangers stir up memories -- flashbacks, often painful, from when his marriage was filled with promise and then not, of his inadequacy as a father, and of his shortcomings as a husband. 

Ironically, his wife Maureen, shocked by her husband's sudden absence, begins to long for his presence. Is it possible for Harold and Maureen to bridge the distance between them? And will Queenie be alive to see Harold arrive at her door? 

The Painter of Signs by R.K. Narayan

For Raman the sign painter, life is a familiar and satisfying routine. 

A man of simple, rational ways, he lives with his pious aunt and prides himself on his creative work. But all that changes when he meets Daisy, a thrillingly independent young woman who wishes to bring birth control to the area. Hired to create signs for her clinics, Raman finds himself smitten by a love he cannot understand, much less avoid-and soon realizes that life isn't so routine anymore. 

Set in R. K. Narayan's fictional city of Malgudi, The Painter of Signs is a wry, bittersweet treasure.

The Truth by Terry Pratchett

William de Worde is the accidental editor of the Discworld's first newspaper. New printing technology means that words just won't obediently stay nailed down like usual. There's a very real threat of news getting out there.

Now he must cope with the traditional perils of a journalist's life - people who want him dead, a recovering vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people who want him dead in a different way and, worst of all, the man who keeps begging him to publish pictures of his humorously shaped potatoes.

William just wants to get at THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, everyone else wants to get at William. And it's only the third edition...

We will make our book choice on Thursday 19th March, 8pm at the Ashendon Hundred when we will be discussing Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Please come along and join us if you would like to - whether you have read the book, or not. 

Every Day is For The Thief by Teju Cole

Just four of us met to discuss this book on a chilly evening at The Hundred. Another of our members though kindly sent her comments 'virtually'!

Of the five: one member ‘did not love it’ because it did not tell ‘a story’, three loved it and one enjoyed “having had the opportunity to read such an interesting book” but did not consider it a 'good read.'

So we discussed our differences in opinion and decided, though fiction, this is more of a diary than a novel. However, regarding the missing story, each chapter is a small story and, though the book is a quick read, perhaps each chapter should be read and reflected upon before moving forward? 

So, why was it not a good read for one of us? We found it wasn’t the quality of the writing that is the issue but the situation. The book presents a desperate situation in a desperate, lawless state. So, for this reader, the issue is that there is “so little to enjoy” in the tale that unfolds. 

This is certainly true - this book depicts Lagos (and Nigeria) as corrupt, lawless, anarchistic and lacking in self-sufficiency or national pride.  However, it's not all bad and our narrator, during his visit, finds plenty of examples of good, honest folk living 'ordinary' lives: the record shop, the lawyer's clerk, the music society MUSON School, his own family, his friend the doctor. 

That lead us on to think about the author's motives - why did he write such a seemingly damning reflection of his visit to Lagos and such a scathing critique of his home nation? Was he simply painting a picture of how he saw his home city at a point in time? Or perhaps it's a cry for help on behalf of his county (to embarrass the leaders or to expose what is happening to the wider world?) Or is it to overcome a personal dissonance: he left, he doesn't really want come back but feels he should? Or is it to express his disappointment at how things have changed since he left? Who knows? We concluded the author is fabulous but perhaps a little confused.

So, would we recommend this book? We didn't really conclude this but overall we felt it's worth a read because it's not a hard or long book to read and it does give an interesting view on a country none of know, or understand. So - ummm - YES!

Our next book is Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan, a favourite author of more than one member of our group. There was a split opinion and the casting vote swung in favour of fiction and away from a perceived sensitive subject. However, some of us will also aim to read Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey over the next couple of months. So, we will meet to discuss our thoughts on Sweet Tooth and, if more than one has read it, Elizabeth is Missing on Thursday 19th March 2015, 8pm at the Ashendon Hundred. Here's hoping for a better turn out: as always all welcome. 

Book Choices - January 2015

Winter is still with us and threatening to get colder and harder before Spring arrives. For Ashendon Book Group reading books offers a break from the harsh reality outside our doors and we have three strong contenders to choose from.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

In this darkly riveting debut novel - a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also a heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and ageing - an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared, and her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences.

Elizabeth is Missing introduces a mystery, an unsolved crime and one of the most unforgettable characters since Mark Haddon's Christopher. Meet Maud ...'Elizabeth is missing', reads the note in Maud's pocket in her own handwriting. Lately, Maud's been getting forgetful. She keeps buying peach slices when she has a cupboard full, forgets to drink the cups of tea she's made and writes notes to remind herself of things. But Maud is determined to discover what has happened to her friend, Elizabeth, and what it has to do with the unsolved disappearance of her sister Sukey, years back, just after the war.

A fast-paced mystery with a wonderful leading character: Maud will make you laugh and cry, but she certainly won't be forgotten.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy 

Far from the Madding Crowd is perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was '...the past was yesterday; never, the day after'. And lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr Boldwood, whose love fills him with '...a fearful sense of exposure', when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this tale is the Wessex countryside in all its moods.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

From the bestselling author of Atonement and Enduring Love comes ‘A web of spying, subterfuge, deceit and betrayal... Acute, witty...winningly cunning’ Sunday Times.

The year is 1972. The Cold War is far from over. Britain is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism. Serena Frome, in her final year at Cambridge, is being groomed for MI5.

Serena is sent on a secret mission – Operation Sweet Tooth – which brings her into the world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories, then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? And who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage – trust no one.

We will make our book choice on Thursday 15th January, 8pm at the Ashendon Hundred when we will be discussing Every Day is For the Thief by Teju Cole. Please come along and join us if you would like to - whether you have read the book, or not.