August meeting - I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Our August meeting was kindly hosted by Sue (and husband Neil) at their home. 11 people attended; 10 having read the book. Sue served excellent food and Emma provided a delicious dessert. We reviewed the book I Found You by Lisa Jewell.

We found this book easy to read. Jeanette gave a detailed review as she wasn't sure she would make the meeting. Some of her views are as follows: "I quite enjoyed the book, and did find it the 'page turner' it promised to be on the cover of my copy. I don't think I would say it was a 'must read' which was also stated. 

"I felt a bit sad that the character of Derry Dynes didn't play a bigger role in the story. I was also a bit disappointed that the seaside village of Ridinghouse Bay didn't play a bigger role. I quite liked the local references to Robin Hood's Bay. I bounced between being intrigued by (and a little envious of) Alice and her bohemian lifestyle and really very annoyed by her.

"I wasn't so keen on the fact that the children had been involved with social services more than once - and that seemed OK - and when 'Frank' said 'I think I've killed someone' she didn't change her view of him."

Jeanette goes on to comment about the female characters in the book and comes to the conclusion that they all need a good shake! "I did enjoy reading it. I like that it drew me in and I wanted to know what happened - but the number of rather silly women wafting through life really annoyed me"

Many agreed with these views and thought that Alice was a good character but seemed to take too many risks with social services and then allowed a strange man into her home. Gray's mum also took risks allowing her children to go off with a stranger. The book got sillier and a bit far fetched. People were desperate for love.

Sue said she felt no character had depth and thought the author couldn't follow through. We all thought it was a book you can read quickly; a good holiday read. Near the end of the book it was a bit boring. We thought the map would reveal more. Jeanette was pleased it turned out not to be about a mental health issue.

Overall we rated it 3/5 although Sue hated it and gave it a 1!

A thoroughly enjoyable evening with fantastic hosting and yummy food! Sue put together a list of classics for us to choose and we found that many of us had read quite a few from the list. Emma suggested Swallows and Amazons as it is her dad's favourite book. This will be our September read. 

Our next book is Defending Jacob by William Landay. Happy reading!

July meeting - This Book Will Save Your Life by AM Homes

We met at The Victoria in Low Fell in the library room. At the beginning of the meeting there were 8 of us and this number rose to 10. Only Anne Marie and Joan had read the book. Joan had read the book on audio. Anne Marie said she would not recommend it to anyone!!

Joan said it was OK but she certainly didn't love it. Anne Marie said it got better as it went on. Set in LA with wacky characters and one or two funny one-liners. Pauline could not attend the meeting so she emailed her comments to Joan - "I've read the book and enjoyed it: a daft bit and unrealistic fantasy, but fun! I found the characters mostly quite appealing (though not particularly memorable!) and I looked forward to reading it each evening. Altogether I think probably a 4/5!"

Anne Marie and Joan gave the book a score of 3.

We talked about the Essex Serpent, which was last month's book and Joan said she had read a podcast about the author. Joan said that This Book Will Save Your Life went on about donuts too much but there were some nice bits about his son.

Some other books were recommended - Island of Secrets and The Japanese Lover.

Viki chose 5 books for us to choose from and we decided to give it a week before making our choice. 

We also talked about a cinema visit to see A Man Called Ove, which we arranged for the following Wednesday. Six of us, along with Emma's friend went to see it at The Tyneside Cinema and loved it. Emotional but true to the book. 

Our August meeting has been arranged for Thursday 3rd August. Sue has kindly offered to have the meeting at her home. Looking forward to meeting up and discussing our July book, I Found You by Lisa Jewell.

Written by Joanne Crilly