The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkes

This book was highly recommended to us by another all-female book group. Billed as a 'psychological thriller' this was a new genre for us as a group read and it got a unanimous, and enthusiastic, vote as our next read. 

So, did we enjoy it?  

It's clever (nothing is obvious and it twists and turns in unexpected directions) BUT it's drawn out and yes, we know she's an alcoholic and we didn't need constant reminding. 

The idea of the train and the view into the gardens is great. Most of us imagine we have been on the same train line and enjoyed the garden spotting opportunities it presents! And, the tiny bits of information that are just dropped in to make the reader 'wonder' are really clever. 

It's is a real page turner - even the slow readers among us found they read it in record time. 

We expected to get chilled by a thriller, to feel afraid of what would happen next, to be frightened when reading alone at night, and we didn't. That's the disappointing bit.

The characters - well they are all a bit far-fetched. 

The police are really badly portrayed. We would spoiler the book if we explained why but their behaviour is so questionable that we wondered if it would offend most self-respecting police. 

We loved Cathy - what a good friend. We wonder what happened to Cathy after. 

Megan's story is so sad. Tom, we were not surprised by. Scott is weak and questionable. Kamal is a genuinely nice bloke (we had to re-read the kiss, it caused great debate). Mac is unforgivable. 

But why are all the women portrayed as losers and victims? We are actually quite angry about that. It's so unnecessary to do that. 

We ended our discussion trying to work out why is this book so popular? Marketing, Richard & Judy, very readable, there's a film, the title is clever and one you can relate to.  It's hype. 

We won't recommend it (but you might want to give it a go anyway and see what you think!)

Our next read is a classic: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and we will meet to discuss that on Thursday 26th January 2017 at 8pm in The Hundred. 

Book Choices - November 2016

Our next meeting is at 8pm on Thursday 17th November at The Hundred of Ashendon. We will be discussing The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. 

Here are choices for our next read: 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and a devastating expose of the "Jazz Age".

Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that surrounds him.

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

Eccentric, hilarious, and devilishly witty, this Wartime tale of an evacuee during the Blitz is like no other. Noel Bostock is a ten-year-old orphan sent, for safety, to live with 36-year-old Vera Sedge, in St Albans. Vera is a livewire, with money problems and a scheming mind – Noel provides the intelligence to her hair-brained ideas and together they make a great team. 

These explosive characters will have you in fits of laughter, as you fall head over heels for this book. All of which is less of a surprise when you learn that the author was a Former producer of Father Ted and a director of Have I Got News For You.

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis and the world goes to war, young Alma Belasco's parents send her overseas to live with an aunt and uncle in their opulent San Francisco mansion. There she meets Ichimei Fukuda, the son of the family's Japanese gardener, and between them a tender love blossoms, but following Pearl Harbor the two are cruelly pulled apart. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love they are forever forced to hide from the world.

Decades later, Alma is nearing the end of her long and eventful life. Irina Bazili, a care worker struggling to reconcile her own troubled past, meets the older woman and her grandson, Seth, at Lark House nursing home. As Irina and Seth forge a friendship, they become intrigued by a series of mysterious gifts and letters sent to Alma, and learn about Ichimei and this extraordinary secret passion that has endured for nearly seventy years.

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

“I ‘lolled’” ”I enjoyed it “  “it was a good choice”

So that’s it, we did it again, we chose another successful read – but of course we have more to say.

Let’s start with The Bryson Line. What a great idea, Mr Bryson decided to find a line and follow it. Only, we don’t think he did. We think Mr Bryson is a little self-centred and just wanted to get his name on the map AND that he may have already written the book before he put the line in. The Bryson Line was a big disappointment.  But, we still enjoyed the book.

It’s quite educational. We learned a lot. Things like the categorisation of roads in Britain. Who’d have thought it?

And, it’s true to life: people are rude in shops and having read this book we are now so much more aware of the issue. Though in Cuddington Stores they are not rude, they are lovely, so go there.

Swearing doesn’t really add any interest to a book like this. Why does an author feel the need to choose swear words and use them badly? There isn’t really a good variety of words – just a few – and he doesn’t really use them well. While we are at it, we didn’t like the tendency of an old man to muse either. On the other hand, Bill is an author who can poke fun at himself and his own country and that we enjoyed.

So, the honest truth here is that we enjoyed the book overall BUT it annoyed us too. In fact, the start is quite boring and hard to get into. If this hadn’t been a book group book it may have been put down and not picked up again. Because it was a book group read we persevered and the perseverance paid off – it got better!

For a start you find yourself realising you have been there: “Devon Torcross is where we used to go with the children every year”;  “Wittenham Woods are a Sunday favourite” , “Aberystwyth is  actually a lovely place and he over rates Crickhowell”. Just one thing though: It's The Isles of Scilly (please: they are NOT The Scilly Isles they are The Isles of Scilly. You can say Scilly but The Scillies is incorrect too - just saying).  

That said, thank you for sharing so many new places to visit and new books to read (one by Gilbert White sounds fascinating) - we need to plan some book group outings.

In conclusion we thought this book was an exceptional read packed full of things we take for granted in Britain like: nature, countryside and walks with rights of way. It took a foreigner to point this out and he’s right. Not many countries offer the same access to the open land. Even in Ireland you need to take a piece of pipe on walks so that you can put it over barbed wire fences when walking,

Would we recommend this book? Yes!

Our next read is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, which we will discuss on Thursday 17^th November at The Hundred of Ashendon.

Quick Ad Break: don’t miss the Literary Festival in Thame over the weekend of 15^th October. 

Book Choices - September 2016

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 22^nd September when we will be discussing The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson – see you at 8pm in The Hundred.

Isalda has kindly grabbed the baton and her suggestions for our next book choice are here:

Sweet Caress by William Boyd

Amory's first memory is of her father doing a handstand. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and, when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future.

A spell at boarding school ends abruptly and Amory begins an apprenticeship with Greville in London, living in his flat in Kensington, earning two pounds a week photographing socialites for fashionable magazines. But Amory is hungry for more and her search for life, love and artistic expression will take her to the demi monde of Berlin of the late 1920s, to New York of the 1930s, to the Blackshirt riots in London and to France in the Second World War where she becomes one of the first women war photographers. Her desire for experience will lead Amory to further wars, to lovers, husbands and children as she continues to pursue her dreams and battle her demons.

In this enthralling story of a life fully lived, William Boyd has created a sweeping panorama of some of the most defining moments of modern history, told through the camera lens of one unforgettable woman, Amory Clay. It is his greatest achievement to date.

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. 

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Do No Harm by Henry Marsh

What is it like to be a brain surgeon?

How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut through the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason?

How do you live with the consequences when it all goes wrong?

DO NO HARM offers an unforgettable insight into the highs and lows of a life dedicated to operating on the human brain, in all its exquisite complexity. With astonishing candour and compassion, Henry Marsh reveals the exhilarating drama of surgery, the chaos and confusion of a busy modern hospital, and above all the need for hope when faced with life's most agonising decisions.

Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevallier

This is a vintage classic book, first published in Great Britain in 1936. It was originally written in French. It has been continually in print since 1936. Though not quite on par with Lady Chatterley's lover it is quite 'racy' and 'base' at times and surprisingly so for its time.

The story is of a French village in the Beaujolais wine region and complexity of living the simple life in a community centred around wine production!

Some of us enjoyed the Windmill Players stage performance of the story of Clochemerle and were quite surprised at the depth of the story in the book. In fact most of our group felt the book had taken longer to read then anticipated. The sentences are long, convoluted and very 'rich'. This is a book to read in small chunks and to be savoured. Our French member confirmed that this is the same in the French language version.

The underlying tone is satirical. We have a Frenchman poking fun at his fellow countrymen, and it is brilliantly witty and very funny. The outrageous behaviours of the church, the administration, the wartime military, the 'aristocracy' are carefully interlaced with the culture and traditions of ordinary small town/big village country folk.

We (inevitably as an all female group) got on to the subject of feminism and quickly concluded that we actually really enjoyed the scandalous way Gabriel wrote about the women of the village. This is irony, it's not supposed to be 'politically' correct!

So of the characters, the behaviour of two 'neighbourly' priests was, we felt, a 'hoot' and the stand off between the Contessa and Taridot is a perfect example of the way the author ridicules the establishment (in this example the class divide). The story is so full of brilliantly observed characterisation that it is impossible to single out any one person or incident.

We briefly considered whether English life at the same time bore any similarities. Yes, of course it probably compares on a rural community lifestyle perspective but the revolutionary undertones of the French culture has a style all of its own - when it comes to deference, the English do it and the French do not!

Would we recommend it? Yes, it's hard work but it's a very worthwhile read. We should challenge ourselves more often with our reading and so, we were pleased this book was suggested. So, on that basis we will 'suggest' it to others.

Our next book is The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson and we will discuss that when we next meet in The Hundred of Ashendon on Thursday 22nd September. 

Next book

Sorry I didn't get the last group review done and I don't have notes with me. The next book is Bill Bryson Road to Little Dribbling - I'll sort the rest when I'm back from my holidays w.c 25th July 

Book Choices - July 2016

I totally admit it has crept up on me and it's tomorrow that we will be meeting to discuss Clochemerle AND (if you have manged it) Clochemerle Babylon, by Gabriel Chevallier. We are meeting at 8pm in Sue's garden (or conservatory) to discuss these books and celebrate the Summer.

Our book choices for the next great read are below:

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted: Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation's heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. 

To mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn't altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain's occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island - Home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas. Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes and Jamie Bulloch

Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. Things have changed - no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognises his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman.

People certainly recognise him, albeit as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable, the inevitable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own T.V. show, and people begin to listen. But the Führer has another programme with even greater ambition - to set the country he finds a shambles back to rights.

Look Who's Back stunned and then thrilled 1.5 million German readers with its fearless approach to the most taboo of subjects. Naive yet insightful, repellent yet strangely sympathetic, the revived Hitler unquestionably has a spring in his step.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realise what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel from author Vanessa Diffenbaugh, about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.