Book Choices for February and March 2018

Another year of reading presents itself - I wonder what it will bring?

To start the year we have three interesting choices:

Peter by Harvey Barrier

Peter is a bright young boy - a typical teenager in most respects. He likes fast cars, gets into tiffs with his parents and has little patience for schoolwork, despite being talented with it. Unlike most typical teenagers, however, he becomes too enamoured with the easy riches that the dark underworld of the city can provide for him and has taken to dealing drugs to make quick cash. It's not long before Peter sees the error of his ways - when gang turf wars are on the horizon and Peter is expected to up his game, he struggles to see a way out of it without getting himself seriously hurt. With limited options ahead of him and dangerous threats making their way to himself and his family, Peter sees only one escape route, and it lies a long, long way away...

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.

But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?

In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

Two dogs, Snitter and Rowf, escape from a research laboratory in the Lake District where it is wrongly supposed they have been purposely infected with a deadly virus and now pose a dangerous threat to the human population. As the authorities give chase, the two friends make their way through the hills and across the moors, along the way learning to survive on their wits and finding friendship and help from a fox they encounter. They dream of finding their original owners and a safe haven - but the hunt is on.

A lyrical and engrossing tale, The Plague Dogs is a remarkable journey into the hearts and minds of two canine heroes.

We will make our choice at our next meeting on Thursday 25th January when we will discuss The Fall of the House of Wilde by Emer O'Sullivan. See you at The Hundred, 8pm.