January Book Club Meeting

The first Book Club meeting of 2018 took place at The Angel Inn on a rainy night in January (not Georgia).   Present were Annemarie, Joan, Sue, Jeanette, Pauline and Kate.  We discussed the various book gifts that had been exchanged at our Christmas meeting and read during December. We also enjoyed some food in the dining area. It was a nice venue as it is large and it felt as though we had the place to ourselves.

The following reviews are shorter than usual and not as detailed as I am trying to avoid giving too much of the storylines away as members are swapping and sharing the books.

Joan A  kicked off the proceedings with her views on  When Breath Become Air by Paul Kalanithi which had been given by Jeanette. The story is an autobiographical description of a young doctor’s memoir following a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. Although it is obviously  sad,  Joan loved the book and also found it oddly inspiring.  She would not hesitate in recommending it to others .

Joan scored this book a 5.

Kate had received After You’d Gone by Maggie O Farrell which had been given by Emma. Kate had mixed feelings about the book. The plot revolves round a woman taking a train journey to visit her family. However she witnesses something shocking  and leaves for home immediately. Kate felt she had been put off by a reference right at the beginning of the story and found the plot rather unbelievable, and the twists did not reflect the characters.

Kate gave the book a score of 3.

Jeanette had been give Red House by Mark Haddon and was keen to read it as she had enjoyed The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Nigh Time.   The story centres on two families on holiday together in a cottage. Jeanette admitted that she struggled with it at first and had to resort to her memory technique as there were a lot of  names to remember.  She felt the chapters were too long and the lack of a back story meant she wasn’t really bothered about the characters till a long way into the plot.

Jeanette rated this one 3.

Pauline had received Precious Bane by Mary Webb from Annemarie.  She commented that it was a lovely book and beautifully written, although in this particular edition the lengthy preface gave too much of the story away. It is set in rural Shropshire  in the early nineteenth century and tells the story of a woman born in the countryside who has a facial affliction. Pauline felt the melodramatic nature of the story was comparable with Thomas Hardy.

Pauline rated this book 4.

Annemarie had been given  A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  If I had to sum up this book in three words it would be  Snowy, smouldering and secretive.  A woman steps from a train in rural Wisconsin in the bitter winter of 1909 to meet a man she has agreed to marry via his newspaper ad. I really enjoyed this book it has some classic gothic twists and turns but the ending was unexpected. I would certainly recommend it to others.

 I would rate this book 4.

Joan H gave us her comments via the Facebook site. Joan had read  The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Alborn.  Joan had enjoyed the book although she felt it was sad, but it does make you think about life. She found the book quick to read and is keen to pass it on to others. We don’t have a score as yet for this one.

Although Sue was present for the meeting she had only just started her book so it was too early to review this one.

If anyone who was unable to attend the meeting wants to add their comments please do so via the page or the blog.

Remember the read for January is A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys.

Our next meeting will be Thursday February 1^st. Venue to be agreed.