DECEMBER:   TRAVEL STORIES

JO:  SCENIC CRUISES DVDS

Jo chose to review her own DVD collection of scenic cruises.  Some were in Victoria and other parts of Australia.  There was also "Scenic Cruises of the World".  She said the scenery was beautiful.

LESLEY:  THIS BARREN ROCK BY SYLVIE HAISMAN

With so much to do at this time of the year, Lesley only read part of the book.  It is a true story set in 1875.  It's the story of Fanny Wordsworth (great great grandmother of the author) and her very spoiled son Charles who emigrate to New Zealand.  They travel down the Cape of Good Hope where the ship is wrecked after terrible gales.  The survivors have to find food, shelter, firewood etc in a place with no trees or vegetation and only seabirds to eat.  Lesley said it was not a happy story but interesting.

JOAN:  IN PATAGONIA BY BRUCE CHATWIN

This book was published in 1977.  In 1972 Bruce Chatwin was hired to write an article about a 93year old female architect living in Paris.  She had always wanted to go to Patagonia which is at the southern tip of South America. Chatwin told her he had always wanted to go to Patagonia she told him to go for her.  The book he wrote about his adventure is ground breaking work with sharp prose and jumbled stories of people and places.  Joan particularly enjoyed the book as she has been to Patagonia.


BEV:  THE OLD WAYS BY ROBERT MCFARLANE

The story is set in England and describes the walks you can take in England.  The author is very interested in geology so he talks about the rock formations as well.  It is an interesting book but not exciting.

ROSEMARIE O:  NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY BY BILL BRYSON

Rosemarie thought the cover looked exciting.  Bill Bryson lived in Yorkshire and married a Yorkshire woman.  He wanted to move back to New Hampshire.  The Sunday Times wanted him to write an article on America so the English would be able to understand American life.  American people are very different to English people. It's a witty, funny book and if you need a lift, this is the book to read.  It opens your eyes to American life.

ANNE:  TRACKS BY ROBYN DAVIDSON

This is the story of a Robyn Davidson, a 25year old woman who makes a perilous journey across Australia from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean in 1975.  She has one dog, three adult camels and a baby camel. It is a compelling tale with vivid descriptions.  She had to contend with sweltering heat by day and terrible cold at night.  She developed an affinity with the aboriginals.  She discovered that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be. Anne found the book very interesting.

PAULINE: FULL TILT BY DERVLA MURPHY

Dervla was born in 1931 in Ireland.  She was always keen on travelling from a young age after her father gave her a bike and an atlas.  At age 31 she decided to travel from Ireland to India on a bike journey. It was a six month journey through Yugoslavia, Persia(Iran), Afghanistan, over the Himalayas to Pakistan and then to India. She had many interesting adventures and she found the people generous and kind. The book is based on the diary she kept on her journey. Pauline really enjoyed it and it is the second time she read the book.

PAT:  TRUE PLEASURES - A MEMOIR OF WOMEN IN PARIS BY LUCINDA HOLDFORTH

Lucinda, the author decided to make a life change at age thirty five when she quit her job and moved to a Paris apartment. In the book she describes the elegance of the women, the smell of buttery croissants and coffee.  It reminded Pat of the time she was in Paris. Due to other commitments, Pat didn't finish it but she found the book interesting.

KRIS:  SHADOW OF THE SILK ROAD BY COLIN THUBRAN

Due to commitments of Christmas Kris did not finish this book but would like to have the time to continue reading it.  The book records the journey by the author along the greatest land route on earth. He travels by bus, train, donkey, camel etc.etc. The Silk Road was the first great trade route out of China into the mountains of central Asia, across northern Afghanistan, the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey. He writes beautifully and his intimate conversations with the people he meets are very interesting.


JUDY:  TURN RIGHT AT MACHU PICHU, REDISCOVERING THE LOST CITY ONE STEP AT A TIME BY MARK ADAMS

Mark Adams is a travel writer in America and his wife is Peruvian. He believed you should travel properly to be a good travel writer so he decides to retrace the steps of Hiram Bingham III who, in 1911 climbed in to the Andes mountains of Peru to discover Machu Pichu. Judy enjoyed the book as she had been to Machu Pichu although she said there was more detail than she would have liked.

JULIA:  JOURNEY TO THE STARS BY STUART CLARK

The book is about dying stars, planets, statistics, black holes and galaxies.  Judy has always been interested in astronomy so found the book very enjoyable.

PAMELA:  HITCHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY CREATED BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

One of the main characters is Arthur Dent.  He has a friend who is an alien marooned on Earth from a planet called Beetlejuice. Arthur Dent's house is going to be demolished for a super highway that will go through the galaxy and destroy earth. Pamela said it is surreal, extremely witty and very verbal.  The characters are wonderful and there is fun with mathematics and probability.

SHEILA:  LADIES ON THE LOOSE - WOMEN TRAVELLERS OF THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY

This book is not a library book.  It is a collection of first person narratives by women travellers of the 18th and 19th century.  They went to many different places throughout the world, mostly remote places with people of strange customs.  They enjoyed the freedom of travelling on their own.  They endured hardship and danger with composure. Sheila felt they were very brave women.

BETH:  FIVE WAYS TO CARRY A GOAT BY BEN GROUNDWATER

Ben is a young travel writer.  He went to fourteen countries in three months.  Some of the countries he went to were Korea, China, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, U.S.A., Canada etc.  There was lots of drinking and clubbing and although Beth did enjoy it, it wasn't what she was expecting.

ED:  PARIS WIFE BY PAULA MCLAIN

This book is not a travel book.  It is a fictional account of the first of Ernest Hemingway's four wives.  She was 28 and he was 20 when they met in America. Hemingway started sending her letters. They moved to Paris.  They were part of the scene of up and coming writers and artists in Paris.  Hemingway needed to be pampered and have his needs and wants met by his wife.  Ed did not finish it.  She found it interesting but not riveting.

ROSEMARIE: HANOI STORY BY PAM SCOTT

The author is an Australian academic.  She is a great writer.  She visited Hanoi in the 1980's and stayed there eight years.  She opened the first English language bookshop and the book describes the trials and tribulations she experienced.  Rosemarie said it was a great read.  She thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in two days.  As Rosemarie had been to Hanoi, the book revitalized memories of her time there.

PRUE:  KINGDOM OF 10,000 THINGS BY GARY GEDDES

The author is a Canadian poet, not a journalist.  He discusses the theory that perhaps Columbus wasn't the first person to discover America.  There are details of big ships from China.  There is a belief that the first person may have been an monk from Afghanistan.  Gary retraced the voyage of the legendary 5th century Buddhist monk from Afghanistan to central America.  The book is well researched but Prue said it wasn't an easy read.  She forced herself to come back to it and then there were snippets of interest.  It is still a mystery.

JUDY:  ROAD TO PARADISE BY PAULINA SIMONS

Judy said there was no paradise in paradise.  It is about a girl who wants to find her mother who had left when she was little.  She didn't find her mother but Judy did not read to the end.  She found it a very tense book with lots of twists and turns and it definitely wasn't a light read.

CONNIE:  A WALK AROUND THE LAKES BY HUNTER DAVIES

The book was written in 1978. The author spent a year doing the various walks around the Lake District.  Sometimes he would walk on his own,sometimes with family but often returned home between walks.  There are maps in the book. Each chapter is about a different lake so it took a while to read.  Sometimes the weather was severe, cold and damp.  Connie knew the area very well but the walks were monotonous.  She did enjoy the book.  There was also a biography of William Wordsworth and it spoiled her illusions of a man she admired.

CLAURENE:  DOWN UNDER BY BILL BRYSON

Claurene has been reading his books since 1995 but this book was the only one she had not read.  It was interesting.  He felt he had privately discovered life on another planet when he came to Australia.  He said it teems with life, a large proportion of it deadly.  He promptly fell in love with the country and said life doesn't get much better than that.

TAM:  COLD MOUNTAIN BY CHARLES FRAZIER

This book is set in the America during the American Civil War.  The American Civil War is one of Tam's passions.   The main male character has had enough of war and after being in hospital he heads home to his girlfriend Ada in Cold Mountain. It takes him a year to get back.  During this time he develops a spiritual relationship with the environment.  There are a lot of characters he meets on his journey who change him.He is also being hunted by the men trying to capture the soldiers who have left.  It is an external and internal journey.  Ada is also on a journey.  She is not used to the land and has to learn independence. Tam loved the book.

DI:  NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND BY BILL BRYSON

Bill Bryson lived in England for twenty years before going to America. Before leaving he took a trip around England and wrote about it in this book.  Di is English so she loved the places.  She loved every page and his sense of humour.  It was a journey amongst people as well as villages.  There was a great divide in England between the North and South.  One million people lost their jobs in the North but the people still expressed great humour and wit. Di said it was a great read.


BOOK LIST FOR NEXT SIX MONTHS

JANUARY:    Santa Sack - a book you read over Christmas

FEBRUARY: Authors of books for Young Adults

MARCH:  Emma by Jane Austen

APRIL:  Anzac Day Stories - 100 years Anniversary

MAY:  Marelle Day (Australian author)

JUNE:  Autobiographies/Biographies

 

NOVEMBER :- Rural Romances

MAREE: The Last Chance Mail Order Bride by Crystal Anne Tilden

When Violet is jilted by her fiancé for a rich older woman, she reluctantly agrees to answer an ad as a mail order bride. After many months of corresponding with this nice widower, she changes her mind and returns to her home town. Many twists and turns, the story of love lost and a sweet easy read.

SHEILA: Wildhorse Creek by Kerry McGinnis

Sheila is not normally a fan of this genre but in this book thought the author told a 'good tale'. Set in 1973 in the Gulf of Carpentaria on a sprawling cattle run, it chronicles the ups and downs, the highs and lows of life on a cattle property. She thought the descriptions of the countryside and the people who lived there were very accurate as the author had lived most of her life in the bush. A good tale.

MARGARET: The Outback Heart by Fiona Palmer

Margaret described it as a romance with an underlying theme.....a young fellow who has had a heart transplant, befriends a young girl who also has had a transplant. When she dies, he is so distressed he moves away so that his family wont have to feel this pain if anything happens to him. It was interesting to see how these people feel about themselves, the donor and the grief they put their family through.

CHERYL:  Call Me When the Cross Turns Over by Darcy Niland 

Written in 1957, the cross refers to the Southern Cross and tells of a young lady trying to learn and survive in the harsh outback conditions of the times.

The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill 
This book was written in 2013 and tells of a young woman trying to make her way in a
mining community in the Pilbara.
These 2 books highlight the different place women now have in society, the changing lifestyle in the bush and the language used .

CLAURINE: Border Watch by Helene Young

Set in North Queensland, the story is mainly a mystery but with hints of a romance. There were very good descriptions of the country but the story revolves around a terrorist operation and who should be protecting northern Australia. It is the first book in a series of 3.

CONNIE: Heart of the Valley by Catherine Hein

This was chosen by Connie as it is set in a horse stud in the Hunter Valley and had a personal connection as her granddaughter worked there. There were great descriptions of the horse studs and the love the characters showed for their horses.
But as a love story, she looked at it from an older person's perspective and found much frustration as to what the younger people considered 'true love'.

BETH: 
Beth also read the same book, and having come from the area, praised the descriptions of the community and the neighbours. This she found more interesting than the romance, which she thought was only a minor part of the story and a bit silly. She related more to the horses!

JULIA: 
Julia also read the book, enjoying the author's knowledge of horses and the running of the properties.
She commented on the important role that women have in this industry.

LIBBY: Outback Blaze by Rachael Jones

Libby described it as a 'shocking book'. The story revolves around a fire in the small town of Bunyip Bay with the main male character called Blaze! The romance in the story was too much like Days of Our Lives. She couldn't recommend it.

WENDY: Right as Rain by Tricia Stringer

Based in South Australia, the story involves a young woman who has returned to work on the family farm with her father. But when he becomes ill, her mother encourages her brother ( who has never shown any interest in working on the land) to take over the farm. The plot is worked through and well resolved.
The romantic interests of the various characters are also quickly sorted out.
Wendy enjoyed the book and also learnt a lot about corriedale sheep.

ROSEMARY S: Tracking North by Kerry McGinnis

Rosemary thought the setting of far northern Queensland was well described and there was enough suspense to hold your interest through the book. It was an easy read but with a predictable ending.

JOAN: Rocking Horse Hill by Catherine Hein.

Joan was encouraged to read this book following a visit in June to the library by the author. She came from  family where 3 generations had been involved with horses and had been very enthusiastic in her presentation. Joan described the story as 'very predictable'.

JUDY:
Judy also read this book, and having grown up in Adelaide, found some place and family names had greater meaning for her. Again, the family fortunes and inheritance rites are thrown into turmoil when a new comer arrives on the farm. After a couple of near misses and eventually a tragedy, all is resolved. An easy read, good for holidays.

LESLEY: Heartland by Catherine Hein

Another book by Catherine Hein which seems to follow the formula of many books in this genre.
Beautiful girl who doesn't realise she is beautiful.
Handsome guy who has issues.
Horsey theme which helps to heal her broken heart.
Family misunderstandings.
Ended as you expect.

ROSEMARY also read the book.
Surprisingly, there were quite graphic sex scenes in this book! The love story was between an older man and a younger woman. There were also some annoying characters.
Rosemary said she enjoyed it but had read better.

JO: Red Dust by Fleur McDonald

After the death of her husband in a plane crash, a young woman takes on the daunting task of looking after the cattle property. As well as coping with her husband's death, she also has to contend with rumors that his death was not an accident, and a cattle rustling gang.
Jo loved it.....'it had everything in it'.

LAURA: Rain Dance by Karen Wood

A 16 year old greenie and vegan, lives on the mid north coast with her father. When he is laid off from his job as a builder, they move to a job on a cattle station.
The rich young son comes home from private school. Sweet young love occurs but with no sex or romance.
There are issues of rich v poor, climate change, cold seam gas, water shortages, and bushfire all in this one summer period! But Laura still described it as 'well written'.

TAM: Crimson Dawn by Fleur McDonald

Romance was secondary to the story with the underlying theme being women coping with responsibilities on the land. They are tough, independent women dealing with things in a man's world. They have to do double the amount of work to prove they are capable.
Tam described it as a good bedtime read.

PRU: Driftwood by Mandy Magro

Set in north Queensland, Pru described it as the 'simplest read'. A young girl who will never met her biological father, determines to become a jillaroo to be more like him. As she begins life on a country station, there are many references John Deere tractors, R M Williams clothes etc almost as if they are sponsors of the author. She has written 3 books in 3 years.

ED: Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry

The story is set in a small town in western New South Wales.When a convicted murderer returns after completing his sentence, he is immediately suspected when a body is found in the boot of his car. But the local police sergeant isn't convinced of his guilt.
Ed enjoyed it, finding it interesting but predictable.


Other Recommendations:

KRIS: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A thriller, with a wife disappearing on their 5th wedding anniversary. It is riveting with many plot twists and nothing as it seems.



DECEMBER: Enjoy reading a book about TRAVEL and come along to discuss. All welcome.

OCTOBER BOOKS

Our Author this month was RUTH PARK.

Tammy - POOR MAN'S ORANGE. Easy to read but the story was filled with hardship and not much communication.

Rosemary - MISSUS. Written in 1985 the story was quite disjointed. It was about the courtship and romance of the main characters of Harp in the South. Set in outback NSW with shearing sheds, pubs and rural town life.

Jo - PLAYING BEATTIE BOW. The story is about the very difficult times of a young girl and her family. The father leaves the mother and daughter (Abigail). The daughter finds a way back to 1873  and lives with other people. Absolutely marvellous.

Ann - PLAYING BEATTIE BOW. Fantasy - Abigail chases another child (Beattie Bow) & finds herself in another time zone - 1873. Descriptions of The Rocks at that time. The intrigue is that in every 5th generation a stranger appears, and the family that Abigail goes back to think she is the stranger - so they wont let her travel into her own real time zone.

Diane - HARP IN THE SOUTH. Story of and Irish family, their neighbours and their simple but challenging lives. The characters hardly move away from their own street. Their existence is enclosed by the Pub, the SP Bookie and the Church. Grinding poverty is clearly depicted. They are a good family despite their challenges. Wonderful language.

Lesley - HARP IN THE SOUTH. Written in 1948 was a huge success for Ruth Park. The story is set in the slums of Surrey Hills.The themes cover domestic violence, prostitution, alcoholism, crime but also deep love, forgiveness, faith, resilience, stoicism, support for ones own class and acceptance. Some sections of society at the time of publication wanted it banned as it clearly displayed many facets of human life that weren't openly discussed at the time. A good read.

Pamela - HARP IN THE SOUTH. Graphic details and slum life. It truly depicted Paddy's Market and was evocative of Haymarket at the time. Well written - the language, whilst easy to read, disguises the complex language structures Ruth Park was so good at penning.

Connie - THINGS IN CORNERS. 5 stories for young readers age 12-13. One story is about a child living in a block of units that had a lift. This child had a strong fear of the lift and the story reveals how the child overcame this fear. Perhaps the stories all end a little quickly, the conclusions settled in short time. Maybe this devise is because the stories are aimed at younger readers.

Claurine - THE SYDNEY WE LOVE. Needed to sit and read this with the UBD opened beside her. Book is full of interesting and factual information. Gov.Philip suffered from sea sickness. The Harbour Bridge was nicknamed the Ironlung as it kept 1400 people alive through the Depression. Hotel called Golden Cobb in Essex St had a viewing window so patrons could watch hangings in the street. Lots of artwork, lots of reading and was very much enjoyed.

Beth - SYDNEY. Interesting factual book, a chapter on the Hawkesbury. Map with walks, information about historical buildings in Sydney, early Sydney people. Fascinating. Also read The Muddle Headed Wombat - not enthralling in the modern day. Beth's grandchild read it as well with her mum but was neither delighted nor engrossed with the story. (She liked the time spent sitting with Mum much more).

Rosemary - FISHING IN THE STYX. Vol. 2. Life story of Ruth Park from when she was married. Lots of pictures. Her husband - D'arcy Niland - wrote the Shiralee. This became somewhat of a burden to her as his success gained more attention and allowed him to pursue his writing completely whereas she was still tied to the family and the pressures of looking after everyone

Judy - FISHING IN THE STYX Vol 1. About Ruth Park's early life, growing up in NZ. Very poor, a harsh mother, little affection. Revealed some familiarity with the Maori language.

Pauline - FISHING IN THE STYX Vol 1 and Vol 2. Enjoyed both. Talked about her marriage, 5 children, husband died when only 50, having to really pull self together to cope. Had amnesia through the shock of D'Arcy's death. Ruth resented the freedom D'Arcy had to  follow his career when she was tied much more closely to the family. Ruth won a SMH competition and was offered 20 pounds a week to write for the paper but she turned it down as she had the family to manage.

Pat - SWORDS AND CROWNS AND RINGS. About a dwarf rejected by his father but deeply loved by his mother. He had a tough life, always judged by his looks, struggled to gain employment. His mother gave him confidence and good values and he was able to overcome his burdens. Set in the Rocks, a good story. Won the Miles Franklin Award in 1997.

Bev - MY SISTER SIF. Aimed at young adults, an easy read, well written and very descriptive. About a family who lived on an island in the Pacific - the mother is a mermaid, the father a human. There's romance, science, environmental issues, pollution, nuclear testing. Quite enjoyable.

Shiela - POWER OF ROSES. Set in The Rocks 1948/52. Slums, privies, grey houses, reveals the lives of Sydneysiders at the time. Descriptive language wonderful, the characters are given life and are believable. Different type of poverty revealed, not like todays. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Julia - CALLIES FAMILY. Family story, many arguments within the family, Callie made up a castle to hide in (really the attic in the house). Story is about how she grew up and continued to live with the castle.

SEPTEMBER - FANTASY

CLAURENE:   DRAGON FLIGHT BY ANNE MCCAFFREY

The author is American of Irish descent and these books were written while she lived in Ireland.  It was published in 1970.  It is one in a series of books.  Claurene has read all her books and likes science fiction and fantasy written by women.  It's based on an earthlike planet that was settled and then fell apart.  The settlers lost contact with earth.  They return to a rural type of life but have to protect themselves from spores sent off from a red planet when it gets close to them.  The original inhabitants are a species of large telepathic dragons.  They are ridden by dragon riders. Claurene liked the book.

BEV:  MAGICIAN BY RAYMOND E. FEIST

Bev was surprised she enjoyed what she has read.  She hasn't finished it yet as she was very busy but will finish it. It is about an orphan boy apprenticed to a magician.

JO:  RESERVED FOR THE CAT BY MERCEDES LACKEY

The story is about a ballerina in the late 1800's in France who loses her job as she is too good. For a female, at this time, it is very depressing to not have a job.  You either starved or became a prostitute. The cat decides she has to go to England.  The cat turns out to be her father in cat form.  She said it was a good book although not normally her "cup of tea".  It was weird and wonderful.

JUDY:  THRESHOLD BY URSULA K. LE GUIN

The author has received many awards for her books. This book was written in 1980 and Judy said it was very dated.  She had read it in primary school. There are explicit sexual references that don't really fit.  It is about a misfit boy in his 20's.  He has a depressive mum.  He likes to jog in the woods where he meets a runaway girl.  They discover a gate that only certain people can see that takes them to a different land back in time to the 16th century.  Life is degenerating and the boy becomes the chosen one but to save them he needs the help of the girl to translate.  She is able to understand and speak this different language.  Judy would not recommend this book.

ANNE:  NIGHT CIRCUS BY ERIN MORGENSTERN 

Anne said the book was boring, then it became a bit interesting and then boring again.  She only read part of it.  It is about a circus that appears and then disappears overnight.  There are good descriptions but there is a sinister thread throughout.

KRIS:  THE HOBBIT BY J.R.TOLKIEN

This book forms the prelude to the trilogy "Lord of the Rings" and as stated in the front of the book "It is a complete and marvellous tale in itself".   The Hobbit was originally written as a story for his own children but I think it is enjoyed just as much by adults.  The story begins with the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins who has a very comfortable life he does not want to abandon. When the Wizard Gandalf  visits he talks Bilbo into joining a group of dwarves on a quest for reclaiming stolen gold which is guarded by a giant dragon.   On their quest they encounter trolls, goblins, elves and giant spiders. The book was great and Tolkien is a wonderful writer.

LESLEY:  DAGGERSPELL BY KATHARINE KERR

The book has a Celtic feel. The people speak a different language, believe in fate and reincarnation. It begins around 1045 in a fictitious land called Deverry.  The story line didn't grab Lesley and she didn't want to read more of the series but could see how people could get drawn in.

PAULINE:  ANIMAL FARM BY GEORGE ORWELL

Pauline doesn't like fantasy.  She had read this book as a teenager but did not appreciate the political side of the book.  It is an allegory of Russia and the revolution.  It is set on a farm called Manor Farm where the animals are not treated well. There is an old boar called Major. The animals have a meeting and decide to have a revolution but it doesn't happen until after the Major dies.  They take over the farm and get rid of the farmers.  One of their commandments is "All animals are equal" but of course, as in all societies, certain ones take over as leaders.  Pauline found it an interesting book.

JUDY G:  RIVER'S GIFT BY MERCEDES LACKEY

Judy doesn't like fantasy and thought "yuck".  She's not hooked on fantasy after reading this book.

TAM:  INFINITY GATE BY SARA DOUGLAS

This is the third book in a series.  Tam generally doesn't like fantasy but she enjoyed reading this book.  It is a story of good and evil.  It involves sorcery, magical spells, mythical beings and time travel.  The kingdom is going to be overcome by a power struggle.  She thought Sara was quite a good writer and Tam said she will try another fantasy book.

JAYNE: ALICE IN WONDERLAND BY LEWIS CARROLL

Jayne said there was a lot in the book you don't realize as a child. The author is English and Lewis Carroll is a pseudonymn. The book was written in 1865. It was the most popular children's book when Lewis Carroll died. Lewis Carroll was also a photographer and he based Alice on a real child he had photographed. Rumours have said he was high on opium when he wrote the book but these have been disputed.  He was a genius mathematician and there are mathematical puzzles throughout the book.

ROSEMARIE:  PETER PAN BY J.M. BARRIE

Rosemarie doesn't like fantasy so read Peter Pan instead.  Rosemarie said it was a good tale.  J.M.Barrie was born in 1860 and died in 1937. He was a Scottish author and dramatist.  Peter Pan was based on his older brother who died in an ice skating accident when he was fourteen. The book popularized the name of Wendy.   Rosemarie enjoyed the book.

LAURA:  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER BY SETH GRAHAME-SMITH

The book is a mashup which is two genres mashed together.   In this book the biographical facts are correct and very good.  The vampires could buy slaves to eat and Lincoln hated slavery.  Laura enjoyed it as she is interested in both genres but wasn't sure who else would enjoy it.

ROSEMARIE O: APPLE FOR THE CREATURE BY CHARLAINE HARRIS AND TONI L.P. KELNER

This book is a number of short stories.  Rosemarie chose the Spellcaster.  It is about a group of university students writing up documents for the professor. One of them is a saboteur changing formulas for the spells and when the wrong spell is used a demon is unlocked.  The saboteur is killed.  The demon is in control of faith and science.  Rosemarie found it hard to get her head around. She also read a second story about Suki Stackhouse who is visiting her nephew when a failed suitor comes to the school with a gun.  The replacement teacher is a witch.  Rosemarie enjoyed the stories and might read more.

ED:  PAWN OF PROPHECY -THE BELGARIAD BY DAVID EDDINGS

This book is part one of a series.  Ed enjoyed it.  It is a coming of age story of young man called Garion and the recovery of the legendary Orb of Aldur.  He seeks to fulfill an ancient prophesy that will decide the fate of the universe.  She enjoyed it much more than two of our recent authors, one being Doris Lessing.

JULIA:  WIZARD OF OZ BY L.FRANK BAUM

The author was born in 1856 in New York.  This is America's best loved fairy story.  Julia saw the movie10 to 12 times as a child and she loved it.  The author wrote the book in the late 1800's .  He thought it was time for a new fairy story, a modernized fairy story.  His incentive was to have a fairy tale that did not have all the horrible things.  Julia found it very interesting.

PAMELA: GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT - ANONYMOUS

Although it is not known who wrote it, the book was edited by Tolkien. It is a late 14th century tale written in the north west midland dialogue which is more Germanic than Chaucer (more Norman French).  It is a serious as well as funny story.  The setting is King Arthur's court on Christmas eve.  A challenger rides into the hall on horseback.  He is very big and green and his horse is also green.  He is carrying holly for good luck.  In the other hand he is carrying a 90cm wide axe.  The green knight wants someone to cut his head off.  Gawain takes it on.  The head rolls under the table and people try to keep the head separate from the body so it will die but the knight gets his head and races off.  In a year and one day Gawain has to travel to the green chapel to have his head cut off.  He keeps his part of the bargain.  It is a long journey in winter and he stops at a castle beforehand to rest.  The host is married to a beautiful woman who tries to entice him.  There is also an old, ugly lady at the castle who is treated with great respect.  There is a very interesting twist at the end.  The book explores fidelity, chivalry and loyalty.   It is a wonderful story.


SHEILA:  A BLINK OF THE SCREEN BY TERRY PRATCHETT

Sheila doesn't enjoy fantasy.  She read it due to pressure from her family.  She thought it was clever but she said "she wouldn't really give you two bob for it".  She also read THE DIRTY STREETS OF HEAVEN.  She said she should have thrown it in the bin.  It was about good angels and bad angels fighting over the spirit as it leaves the body.  She said the language is appalling, the swearing terrible and there was a lot of torture.  She only got to page 40 and said it was just awful.

DIANE:  WATERSHIP DOWN BY RICHARD ADAMS

This book won an award for children's fiction.  Diane thought she would enjoy it.  It is a story of rabbits who leave their warren to find a safer place. She got to page 130 and didn't like all the different names and trying to follow them.  The pace of the story was slow.  The author is English and he's a brilliant wordsmith.   It is a bit drawn out because it started as a story told to his children on a long road trip.

PAT:  LAVINIA BY URSULA LE GUIN

She only read 12% of the book.  It is a book of passion and war and the cost of war.  Pat just could not get into it.  She has enjoyed some fantasy including the Hobbit.

CONNIE:  ENCHANTMENT BY ORSON SCOTT CARD

The book is well written and she enjoyed the first few chapters.  It is set in what is now the Ukraine  The story is about a boy who liked to run in the woods. His parents are poor farmers.  He gets lost and finds a female body lying on a pedestal in a lake full of mud.  After he is grown up the body of the woman still haunts him. He studies Russian folklore as he believes it is necessary for our psyche to read very old folklore.  He sets out to find the body 20 years later and falls in love with her. They cross a bridge to a land 2000 years ago and go back and forth in time.  They continue to do this even after they get married and have children.  Connie said it was well written but it was too long (400 pages) and the print was too small.

AUGUST "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy

JOAN:
Joan enjoyed reading the book, and thought it successfully described for her what life was like in 1874. It was worthwhile reading it.

CONNIE:
Connie explained that 'madding' from the title meant 'frenzied', and possibly this was because the story took place in a small village away from crowds.
She enjoyed every single page especially the descriptions of the countryside, and the words and accents of the people.
Another comment was that the author was very knowledgeable about many things, eg the Bible, Turner's paintings, and history (Napoleon).
She has been reading Hardy since she was 15 years old.

ED:
Ed also enjoyed the book but found she had to slow down her reading due to the amount of descriptive language used. She thought the plot was predictable.

TAM:
Tam was another to enjoy the book, not having read Hardy since her HSC days. She thought the author showed incredible knowledge of human nature and the natural landscape.

ROSEMARY O:
Rosemary didn't read it as it was 'too heavy'.
Instead she read her Secret Santa gift from last Christmas, 'The Grub-and-Stakers House a Haunt' by Charlotte MacLeod. An old lady is confronted by a ghost from the 1800's who want her to help him find his bones and gold.

 JO: 
Jo found it too slow and too much description and very hard to get into. There were too many adjectives and adverbs, she wanted more action.

JUDY J:
Judy was another to enjoy the book, although she had to resort to some skimming techniques to finish it.
She commented on how quickly and deeply the 3 men fell in love with Bathsheba!
Although Frank Troy had few redeeming features, in the end he mourned the death of his true love, Fannie.

ANNE:
Anne explained that it was first published as a serial and so it needed 'cliff hangers'.
She tried to look at the characters and to see how their behaviour was in keeping with the times they lived in.

CLAURENE:
The 12 pages she read took her 3 days! She couldn't continue. She found the sentences very long, she doesn't like complicated grammar and tortured descriptions.

BEV:
Bev had a plan to read a chapter a day, but this was such a long process she only managed 12 chapters. But she did read the final one.
She thought the story was too long and drawn out.

CHERYL:
Cheryl thought that Hardy needed an editor. So much of what he writes is good, but he waffles in his descriptions you lose the beauty of his writing.
She thought it was nice to see a man's perspective of love.

PAT:
Some of the descriptions annoyed her so much it was difficult to pick up the story. Consequently she became bored with it.

DIANNE:
Dianne was another to not finish the book, but this was because she did not allow enough time to read it all.  But she will complete reading the book.
She also commented that not much has changed...the men are still in the Oast House and the best looking woman gets all the men!

PAULINE:
The title Far From the Madding Crowd comes from Thomas Gray's famous 18th-century poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard".
She also commented that she found that the names that Hardy had chosen for the men, were very interesting.
Oak...solid and dependable
Boldwood...not very emotional
Troy.... Trojan horse, he was hiding what he really was

BETH:
She enjoyed the words and the descriptions of wandering through the countryside. She liked the author's use of words but found some of the characters annoying.

SHEILA:
Sheila found it ponderous and so gave up reading it.

PAMELA:
Pamela thought that Hardy was a better poet than novelist. But she still loved his use of words and thought it was very clever the way he writes the dialects and describes village life.
She thought some of the plot was unbelievable and this was a fault with the book.

JULIA:
The version that Julia borrowed had many references, notes and maps. It also included an author's preface and information about the places in the story. This added to her reading of the book. She enjoyed it but thought it was one of the few examples where the film version is better.


MAREE:
Maree really liked some parts but not others. This was also true of his descriptive passages, some were wonderful where others she found too long. She thought the story was good, but used selective skimming to get through the book.
She was not disappointed she had read it as it was not the type of book she normally read.

KRIS:
Kris liked it and especially loved the language used to describe the Wessex landscape. Wessex was a fictitious place but the name came from a medieval Anglo Saxon kingdom.
She thought Hardy loved the area and the times and could see things beginning to change.
Bathsheba- Troy hated her for her beauty enticing him. She was so young, she couldn't see the steadiness in Oak, till later.

ROSEMARY:
She found the book ponderous, but may go back to it after hearing that so many others had liked it.

LESLIE:
Leslie finished it by skipping over some parts (descriptions). She thought the imagery of the names was clever and that village life was reflective of the proprieties of the times.
She described the book as 'dense'.
Some things about life haven't changed...men and affairs for example
Bathsheba was very young and naive (only 24) and had 3 suitors from different backgrounds.
The message may be....don't marry for love or lust. Marry for security and steadiness.


 Join us next month when we will be sharing our thoughts on books from the genre 'Fantasy'.

JULY - FEMALE BIOGRAPHIES OR AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

CONNIE:   "NEVER SAY DIE" BY DR CHRIS O'BRIEN

This book is about the life and work of Sydney brain surgeon, Dr Chris O'Brien.   Connie said it was an excellent read.

JOE:   "WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD"
This book is a compilation of pocket biographies of great women.  Joe said it was excellent.

PAMELA:  "GOD IT'S A WOMAN" BY NANCY BIRD WALTON
This book is about the youngest commercial pilot in the Commonwealth and the wonderful tales of the early days in aviation.  She flew from the age of 19 and died at 93. 

SHEILA:  "THE HOSPITAL BY THE RIVER" BY DR CATHERINE HAMLIN

This is the excellent story of Dr Hamlin and her specialist husband setting up and maintaining a fistula hospital for women in a third world African country.  It was inspiring.

 ED:  "BY MYSELF AND THEN SOME" BY LAUREN BACALL

This is the life story of highly acclaimed American actress, Lauren Bacall.  It was interesting and a good read.

TAM:  "PLEASE STOP LAUGHING AT ME BY JODEE BLANCO

This book is about school bullying.  It is set in the U.S.A.  It was a bestseller.  The story is about the author's lectures and workshops to prevent/handle bullying.

CLAURENE:  "GEORGETTE HEYER"BY JENNIFER KLOESTER

This is an account of the author, Georgette Heyer's life.  She doesn't come across as a nice person.  The reader would continue to love Georgette Heyer's books but his biography falls short.

ANNE:  "STORY TELLER" BY ZOE DANIEL

An ABC's foreign correspondent's stories from her assignments in South East Asia.  Anne felt it was poorly written.

DIANE:  "GREAT CATHERINE" BY CAROLLY ERICKSON

This book is about the life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.  It is a great story but poorly written.

PAT:  "DON'T WAKE ME AT DOYLES" BY MAURA MURPHY

This story is about a woman's trials in a loveless marriage with many children.  It is set in Ireland in the 1950's. There is crude language but good insight into family hardship and Pat said it was well written.

LAURA:  "THE FOSSIL HUNTER" BY SHELLY EMLING 

This book is set on the UK coast. It is poorly written.  ? wrong genre.

BEV:  "RAELENE" BY RAELENE BOYLE AND GARRY LINNEL

This is Boyle's story on her running career.  It was an enjoyable read.

ROSEMARY:  "DUCKS ON A POND" BY ANNE SUMMERS

This is the story of the personal family life and good works by the author.  It was an enjoyable read.

ROSEMARY O:  "JANE GOODALL" BY LISA KOZLESKI

Enlightening but "too much animal"!

JULIA:  "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I USED TO BE" BY JULIA NORRIS

Julia found it disappointing and would not recommend the book.

JOAN:  "DESERT QUEEN" BY JANET WALLACH

This is the story of Gertrude Bell, an English woman (1868-1926) and her outstanding achievements as an adventurer, archaeologist, British spy and more.  It is an excellent biography and historical read.

KRIS:  "JULIE AND JULIA"  BY JULIE POWELL

 Julia Child, born in 1912 is an American chef, author and television personality.  She is recognized as bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". This book is about Julie, a young bored woman who feels a bit of a failure, taking on the challenge of cooking 524 recipes in a year from that cookbook. She decides to write a blog detailing the event.  She swears a lot throughout the book.  It wasn't a great book and I really would have liked to read more about Julia Child.

JUNE - NATURAL DISASTERS

ANNE: "AUSTRALIAN DISASTERS THAT CHANGED HISTORY"

*I apologize to Anne if this is not the correct title and if necessary, will update it at the next book club meeting*
                             
There were many stories and Anne chose Cyclone Tracy.  She said most people in Darwin were there for strategic reasons.  There were two classes, one paid to stay and the other too poor to leave. There were other tropical cyclones before Tracy and the town had been rebuilt.  The houses were jerry built.  They were poorly built fibro houses, raised off the ground with glass louvres as windows.  They were unsuitable for a town hit by a tropical cyclone.  When Tracy hit on Christmas Eve 1974,  most people were out celebrating and not taking the warnings seriously.  Anne found it interesting and said it should not have happened.  How it changed history was the change to the building code after Cyclone Tracy.

JOAN: "TRACY" BY GARY MCKAY

Joan was in Darwin in 1972, two years earlier than Cyclone Tracy. Gary McKay, the author, was involved in the clean up after Cyclone Tracy.  The book is personal accounts by various people in the buildup to Cyclone Tracy and during the cyclone.  The first cyclone "Selma" went away from Darwin and most people thought Tracy would do the same. One story was of a young man, working out at sea on his boat, who wanted to get back to his very pregnant wife.  There were many stories of people taking risks. It would have been much worse if it had been daytime rather than night.  People didn't move around so much in the dark.  Joan thought it was very sad and she hadn't thought about the human accounts.  Many marriages broke up in the aftermath. The bill estimate for the damage was 3.2billion dollars in 2001 dollars.

KRIS: "TRACY" BY GARY MCKAY

Kris read the same book as Joan.  Kris also enjoyed it as she had a personal involvement.  Her two sisters-in-law were there at the time. They survived by hiding in the bathroom.  Many people had already left Darwin to spend Christmas with their families in other states.  The noise level was horrendous. Many people were unprepared as it was Christmas and everyone was in a celebratory/holiday mode.  The houses weren't built to withstand tropical cyclones. Although most of Darwin was destroyed, the death count wasn't as high as expected but there were a lot of terrible injuries from flying debris and broken glass.  Children developed pneumonia afterwards due to exposure to the cold wind and rain. It's amazing to hear the stories of survival and this book is well worth a read.

TAM:  "CYCLONE TRACY" BY BILL BUNBURY

This book was written in 1994, twenty years after Cyclone Tracy.  Bill Bunbury was a reporter at the time and he interviewed people who were in Darwin at the time of  Cyclone Tracy.  He became emotionally involved and cried with the people.  This book is about what happens to these people afterwards.  A lot of people never came back.  This book is about a community.  Tam said we are more than just buildings and houses.  There are dogs, cats and other pets as well as organizations like scouts and sporting clubs etc.


LAURA:  "DISASTER DELUGE" BY SYDNEY FOWLER WRIGHT

This is a fictional book.  It was written in 1927.    It was just after World War 1 and there were a lot of disillusioned people. The disaster begins with a big storm.  The wind gets stronger and England starts to tip.  Flood waters come up and England is broken apart.  People are alone.  There are no mobile phones.  A community is formed but some of the people are unsavoury characters. People wonder who they can trust.  It doesn't paint a pretty picture and leaves you wondering.  Laura did enjoy the book.  It builds slowly and is well paced.


ROSEMARIE OTTO: "MR DARCY BROKE MY HEART" BY BETH PATTILLO

Rosemarie didn't read a disaster book. She read a Jane Austen turnaround type of book.  It is the story of a girl who goes to see an old lady who is supposed to have a lost manuscript.  This manuscript is meant to be  an early version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  It's all fictitious. A publisher who wants the manuscript pretends to be falling in love with her.  She thinks she has found her Mr Darcy but should she go back to her boyfriend.  Rosemarie really enjoyed the book.

ROSEMARIE:  "SURVIVAL - INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF THREDBO DISASTER'S SOLE SURVIVOR BY STUART DIVER" WITH SIMON BOUDA

At 11.35pm.on 30/7/1977 eighteen lives were lost in the avalanche at Thredbo. One life was saved and this was Stuart Diver.   The coroner put the disaster down to excessive rain as well as a water pipe breakage.  3,500 tonnes of rubble came down on two chalets.  Stuart Diver's wife died within a couple of minutes.  Stuart was trapped for 65 hours.  It was interesting to read about the fluctuation between dying and trying to survive. He got frostbite.  It is the story of how he coped post Thredbo.  He still lives there .Rosemarie enjoyed the book.  She found it very interesting and she liked that he thanked everybody who helped in the rescue.  There are about twenty pages in the back of the book called the Roll of Honour.

JULIA: "SURVIVAL -INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF THREDBO DISASTER'S SOLE SURVIVOR" BY STUART DIVER WITH SIMON BOUDA

Julia read the same book as Rosemarie.  She said Stuart was 27 at the time.  He thought he would be out within the hour when they discovered him but it was 65 hours later.  Julia said it was a wonderful book and she cried when she read it.  She thinks he is a wonderful man.  He was only married two years and afterwards he wrote a poem to his dead wife. Julia was also very impressed by the Roll of Honour in the back of the book.

JUDY: "HANDS ACROSS THE WATER" BY PETER BAINES

Judy said it was a story of an ordinary guy who ends up doing incredible things.  He began as a policeman in Cabramatta.  After time he got a transfer to the Forensic Crime Scene Investigation team.  He was promoted and transferred to Sydney to manage these teams.  He was married with three children. In 2002 the Bali bombing occurred and 202 people died. The Indonesian police were overwhelmed and victim identification was too difficult. With the skills he had gained from the Forensic Crime Scene Investigation Peter would oversee this work. After Bali he came back to Sydney, but in 2004 he was part of a team sent to
Thailand after the Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean.  He got so involved he felt he had to do something and made three trips back to Thailand. This eventually caused the breakdown of his marriage.  Judy cried copious tears and said it was a very good book.

MARIE:  "POMPEII  DESTRUCTION 79AD - POMPEII THE LIVING CITY"

Marie felt this was a wonderful book, full of so many facts and history but written in a story style as well. Marie had been there in 2009 so it brought back memories for her.  Pompeii, before the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, was a place rich in wine, sex, over the top parties and political upheaval. During excavations when they uncovered the bodies, the people had not been burnt but died from asphyxiation. In the digs, plaster of paris was put over them to make a mould of them. This showed what they were doing at the time they died.   It was bombed in 1943 during the war.  A lot of pilfering of treasures took place. Marie said it was the best book.

DIANNE: "FIRE MOUNTAIN, HOW ONE MAN SURVIVED THE WORLD'S WORST VOLCANIC DISASTER" BY PETER MORGAN

This is the story of the volcano in Mont Pelee, Saint-Pierre on Martinique, an Island in the Caribbean.  It was a French colony, the Paris of the islands.  The people never believed something bad would happen.  There was rumbling in 1796 and again in 1851.  The big one was in 1902 when 30,000 to 35,000 people died in seconds.  Only one man survived.  He had been drunk and disorderly and was locked up in a cell.  This had been protected from the volcano because of the way it was facing. People from the other side of the island found him. It's not like a story but more like reporting. Peter Morgan, the author was a reporter. Dianne said it was well worth a read.

JAYNE: "KRAKATOA, THE DAY THE WORLD EXPLODED AUGUST 27, 1883" BY SIMON WINCHESTER

This is the story of the catastrophic eruption of the most dangerous volcano in 1883 on an island off the coast of Java, between Sumatra and Java. .  There was a lot of shipping going through. People ignored the first signs.  There was rumbling, plumes of smoke, pumice falling on everybody but people still ignored it.  There was a tsunami coming.  A couple, with their children, left through the rice paddies to get to higher ground and survived.  Thousands of people disappeared.  There was a plume of smoke 24 miles up into the atmosphere.  It was the loudest noise ever heard on the planet.  Jayne was amazed that everyone ignored it.  She said it was fascinating.  Simon is a very good writer but the book was a hard read because of the amount of detail.

ED:  "100 DISASTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD" BY NIGEL CAWTHORNE

There were many stories but Ed chose the story "Sinking of the Sultana".  It was the worst maritime disaster in the USA and yet it was not well covered by reporters at the time due to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It was the story of a riverboat going up the Mississippi River in 1865. It was the Union's strategy to carry troops by riverboat and then bring back prisoners of war - walking skeletons. It carried over 2000 people, 60 horses and mules. The boat was in a decrepit condition  but it was decided to leave the overhaul  until after the passage of the prisoners of war. There was a huge explosion, then two more explosions.  The boilers blew up and the boat was nearly cut in half. 1547 people died.  It is not a well known story.  It was not well covered by reporters at the time as President Lincoln had been assassinated.  Ed found it very interesting.

CONNIE: "WHEN THE FERRIES GOT AWAY" BY BILL BOTTOMLEY

On 19th March, 1978 it started to rain and the Hawkesbury river rose to the second highest level ever.  It was 14.32m.  It was rising quickly with the Colo and Macdonald rivers coming into the Hawkesbury.  They had to take the ferries off the cables and tie them to the bank with ropes but one escaped very quickly bumping into the others.  The three men on the ferries, all ferryman, were heroes Connie said.  They bravely rode the ferries down the river.  If they didn't they would bump into Peat's bridge (car bridge) and kill people.  They got to Berowra Waters and within 50 feet  of the bridge. The bridge had to be closed. With 200 tonnes of debris and 400 tonnes of ferry the bridge would have been destroyed. They eventually got the ferries tied to a tree. Connie found it very interesting and thought the book was well written, even though he is an amateur.  She also enjoyed the book as nobody died in the story.

CLAURENE: "WORST OF DAYS, INSIDE THE BLACK SATURDAY FIRE-STATION" BY KAREN KISSANE

Karen Kissane is a journalist so this book is written as a journalist would write.  It is about Black Saturday on 7/2/2009 in Victoria. It concentrates on the Kinglake Fire Station.  They had no computer so the firemen went home to get a laptop.  There were a lot of acronymns and no glossary so Claurene did not know what the initials meant. They didn't mention "catastrophic" as they didn't want people to know. Communication was a problem that day. It was very difficult to read and dreadful knowing what's going to happen. "You wonder how people could be such idiots" Claurene said.  She was horrified by it.  She wanted to stop reading and started skipping bits.


JUDY G: "BURN, BUSHFIRE STORIES IN AUSTRALIA INCLUDING THE CANBERRA INFERNO OF 2003" BY PAUL COLLINS

Paul Collins, the author, was a priest who lost his home outside Canberra during the bushfire. Judy talked about the Canberra bushfire as she had a personal involvement. Judy lived there at the time but was in Melbourne watching the tennis during the bushfire.  Her twenty six year old son was in the house with his grandmother at the time.  She was in her eighties and suffering dementia. She was amazed and proud how well her son handled everything.  They had been in drought and had horrendous water restrictions.  There were burnt cars and burnt houses everywhere. The wind changed direction and saved their house. Judy said it was well written.

The Next Six Months

These are the topics we will be reading over the next 6 months of the year.

JULY:   Biography/autobiography of a famous woman  (Don't forget Christmas in July lunch)

AUGUST:    Far From the Madding Crowd  (Thomas Hardy)

SEPTEMBER:    Fantasy

OCTOBER:    Ruth Park   ....various titles

NOVEMBER:    Rural romance ( set in Australia)

DECEMBER:    Travel ....choose your own book

MAY:- author Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing died in 2013 at the age of 93. As a writer she moved between genres - sci fi, literary fiction, plays, poems, essays and autobiography. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

JOAN:   The Grass is Singing
This was her first novel published in 1950. It was set in southern Rhodesia and was an instant success in Europe and the USA. The book tells the story of Mary, a stenographer who marries Dick, a kindly but inefficient farmer. Life on the farm is solitary and harsh.
The black and white racial situation is a constant theme through the story.
Joan described the novel as original, hard, honest, grim and sad. It was beautifully written and worth reading.
Doris Lessing spent her early life in Rhodesia and used her experiences there as the basis of much of her writing.
Joan also read Under My Skin the autobiography of the early part of her life. She had a terrible relationship with her mother, a fantastic woman who only wanted the best for her child. She rebelled against her mother as her own mother had too.

PAULINE also read The Grass is Singing.
She agreed with Joan's summary of the story but was not as enthusiastic in her praise. In fact she felt quite ambivalent about it. While she admired the descriptions, the characters and the writing in general, she thought it a depressing book. All the relationships were depressing, there was no happiness in fifteen years. This amount of misery put her off reading any other books by this author.

CONNIE was another to The Grass is Singing.
By coincidence she happened to see the Swedish film version of this story while reading the book. The film was very gloomy but showed how good was her writing. Her could recognise her descriptions of the landscape and her characters in the film, just as she had read them.
She thought it was storyline in which not much happened, and there was not one nice person in the book.

TAM:   The Habit of Loving
This is a book of short stories. Tam thought she was a very good writer who explored characters well, was very observant about human nature and described scenery with great realism. In these stories she explored and described different relationships - eg mother/son, homosexual. Her writing always made you think, sometimes she used symbols for hidden and implied  relationships.

 JULIA & CLAURINE:    The Fifth Child
Set in the 1960s in England and features 2 people who don't fit into the era of the 'swinging sixties'. They are married and want a big family. Life is wonderful with their 4 children and they recall great times with their extended family.
The 5th pregnancy is very difficult and is vividly described in the book! A 'horrible' child is born, looks like a troll and is a difficult baby. By the time the child is 3 years old he had killed the cat and dog. The other children are afraid of him and he takes over their life. It is hard to love him. They eventually have to put him into a home, but the mother feels very guilty about this.
There are no chapters, and neither Julia or Claurine were able to finish the book.

ANNE:   Ben in the World
This is the sequel to the previous book. Ben is now 17 or 18 years old, he is horribly grotesque, hairy, a freak and not very bright. At 18 he looks 40 years old!
Throughout his life he is bullied and taken advantage of often because of his great strength. But some women do befriend him and try to help him.
Anne thought it a grim, sad, but honest book. She was only able to read about a quarter of it.

JULIA:   The Old Age of El Magnifico
Lessing was obsessed by cats, and this was one of several books she wrote featuring them. In this short book, she shows great kindness towards animals.

DIANE:   On Cats
Published in 2002, this is a collection of stories some of which had already been published separately.
Again, it shows her obsession with cats. Cats take over their owner's lives even to the extent that they chop trees down to keep the birds away. Diane thought it was wonderfully written especially the description of an incident in South Africa when the cats look out for and protect the snakes.
She wouldn't recommend it though unless you adore cats.

ED:   The Cleft
The story is narrated by a Roman historian, during the time of the Emperor Nero. He tells the story as a secret history of humanity's beginnings, as pieced together from scraps of documents and oral histories, passed down through the ages.
Humanity was made up, in the beginning, of solely females who reproduced asexually. These females were a calm race and had few problems. They lived by the sea and were partially aquatic. They called themselves "Clefts" - after The Cleft - a fissure in a rock which the females deemed sacred, and which had a resemblance to the female vagina.
One day, a cleft gave birth to a male child - to what the clefts dubbed a "Monster". This caused such a fright that the boy was killed by the clefts. But more "monsters" were born, and the clefts left them on a rock to die. Eagles, which lived nearby, saw the dying babies and swooped down and carried them off, to deposit them in a nearby valley where they were then suckled by beneficent deer. The children gradually grew older and able to fend for themselves. Soon, as more boys were brought by the eagles, a tribe emerged.
One day, a female wandered over to the valley and was raped by the now adult men. She fled and gave birth to a new, mixed child nine months later. When she told her story to the rest of the clefts, the two tribes soon came into contact with each other. The matriarchs of the clefts, however, feared the "monsters" and decided to try to kill them off.
A very weird story, published in 2007 and from the sci fi genre.!!!!!

JUDY J:   Alfred and Emily
Published in 2008, this is the last book she wrote. Alfred Tayler and Emily McVeagh are the writer's parents and this is a book in two halves. The first section is the novelist's fictional version of her parents life. There is no war, England is prosperous and life is good. Alfred lives in the countryside, marries kindly Betsy, raises twin boys and lives the idyllic life as a farmer in rural England.
Emily, also lives in the same village, but goes to London to train as a nurse. She marries a wealthy doctor, who dies only a few years later after a loveless marriage. With her now considerable wealth she spends the rest of her life setting up schools for the underprivileged.
The second part tells their real story. The horrors they both suffered through the war, Alfred loosing a leg and Emily suffering great distress while nursing the wounded. The move to Rhodesia was a very difficult one but shapes her attitudes and character and gives her much inspiration for her future writing.
A very interesting read and having listened to other books discussed, Judy could recognize common themes in many of them.

LESLY:   The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels
Lesly's comment was that Lessing writes very well, her characters are sensitive and very intuitive. 
One of the stories involves two women who have been friends since boarding school. They continue their intense friendship after they marry and each has only one child, a son. They are always together. It is so well written that you begin to feel uneasy about the relationship. When one husband had died and the other leaves because of this friendship, they both begin affairs with the other's son! The sons marry but the affairs continue.
The other stories are about racial issues, fantasy and gender ageist issues.
Lesly quite enjoyed them but they made you feel uncomfortable. Her writing is subtle but not graphic.

JUDY G:   The Diary of a Good Neighbour
This is one of two books the author wrote using the pseudonym Jane Somers. It was published in 1983. Judy only read one chapter..... A professional woman befriends a dirty old lady. The writing is so descriptive you can almost smell the dirt! The book becomes very depressing, horrible and very traumatic. Judy thought it seemed similar to other books that people had spoken about except this time she is writing about age and aged care.

JO:   Love, Again
After reading the blurb she decided she "couldn't read it". Her only other comment was that she was a daring writer.

BEV:   The Sweetest Dream
Written in 1982, it revolves around a number of very different people who move through a large house in London and are all connected by one horrible man, Johnny. Bev found it a mammoth effort to continue reading it.....so she didn't!

PAMELA:   The Golden Notebook
When this was published in 1962 it was extremely popular and admired. Maybe this was because she appealed to the liberated woman of the sixties as her books often scrutinized the plight of emancipated women of the day.
The book was 650 pages long and small print. So Pamela didn't read it having other priorities she preferred to pursue.

ROSEMARY wanted to recommend a book she had recently read.
The Last Lecture is written by Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg. After he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three months to live, he his asked to give his last lecture entitled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'. It is about living your life better and the issues he faced when told he had so little time left. There is much humour as well as it being very uplifting.
After reading it you feel that what ever is in your life, you can get over it. This is how he lived his life.
 “The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture 

NEXT MONTH Our subject for June will be Natural Disasters. Everyone is welcome.

APRIL - WORLD WAR 1

PAMELA:  THE MIDDLE PARTS OF FORTUNE BY FREDRICK MANNING

It was about the battle of the Somme and life in the trenches.  She found it so depressing.
She also read:
OTHER PATHS TO GLORY BY ANTHONY PRICE

It is a thriller about something that happened after World War 1 but related to World War 1 and the Battle of the Somme in France.  60,000 British and allied soldiers were killed in one day.  People in other countries were not taking the war very seriously.  From England whole towns went together or all the miners from the village went together to fight overseas.  By 1916 the Germans had time to get dug into the Somme.  There were six levels down into the tunnels and none of the guns could reach it.  Germans stayed snug with comforts of home, heating, trucks etc.  A good book.

KRIS:  YOUNG DIGGER BY ANTHONY HILL

This is a true story of a French boy called Henri Hermene who wanders in the Australian airmen's mess in Germany on Christmas Day in 1918.  It is the end of World War 1 and the Allied forces are in Germany preparing to go home. It is based on family stories and archives with some artistic licence to fill in the gaps.  Henri's mother is killed at the beginning of the war when their house is bombed.  His father has also been killed fighting the war.  He is rescued by an Englishman from the Royal Field Artilllery who takes him away in his car but he is also killed in Ypres and Henri needs to find a new protector.  He attaches himself to various squadrons using his innocence and charm for survival. He is enticed into the Australian mess by the smell of chicken cooking and eventually becomes their mascot, affectionately known as the little Digger.  An English born Australian air mechanic, Tim Tovell takes the boy under his wing and against great odds smuggles him back to Australia to live with his family.  His brother Ted Tovell helps him.  It is a heart warming story.  The book is an easy read and I really enjoyed it.

ROSEMARIE: YOUNG DIGGER BY ANTHONY HILL

Rosemarie read this book as well and said it was a nice story.  It had a sad ending because Henri died in the end in a motor bike accident.  In the book no information is given to the adopted parents.  Although he had lived with the Tovells in North Queensland he had to move to Melbourne to live with another family when he was old enough to do an apprenticeship with the forces.  When he dies the Tovells did not have any input about his grave etc.  There was a plaque and monument but it was destroyed and the gravesite became derelict.   Rosemarie spoke about the new ending written since, where the gravesite has been restored and a particular verse Tim Tovell had hoped to have on the original gravestone was now possible. The verse was "Who plucked the flower, The Master, The Gardener held his peace."  It is also on his son Timmy's grave who had died while his father was in France.

JO:  THE GREAT WAR - ILLUSTRATED HISTORY - BY PHIL CARRADICE

Jo said it was a fantastic story.  She spoke about the stupid general.  The casualty list was enormous just to gain a couple of yards.  All the problems going into World War 11 were because of what happened in World War 1.  Wonderful photographs.

PAT:  SOLDIER BOY BY ANTHONY HILL

This is an earlier book by Anthony Hill who wrote the Young Digger.  Once again it is a true story about Jim Martin, the youngest Australian soldier, an Anzac.  The book is based on six surviving letters, family recollections and archives.  He was 14 but looked older and was tall for his age.  His father was rejected from joining the forces so Jim said he would go instead.  The family did not want him to go but he said if they didn't give written consent he would change his name and they wouldn't hear from him again.  If they did give their written consent he promised to write regularly.  They did not need a birth certificate.  Unfortunately he did not get any of his parents letters which saddened him.  He developed typhoid and only lasted four months.  He didn't go to the medic for help for fear of his age being discovered. Good book.

CLAURENE:  EMPIRES OF THE DEAD BY DAVID CRANE

The book is set in France at the beginning of World War 1  It is a true story about Fabian Ware who went to France with a motley lot of vehicles donated from the Red Cross and RACV to start a mobile ambulance unit.    He was horrified by the treatment of the dead and he started recording the identity of people who died, the position where they were buried etc.  He put in a cross with their details of rank and unit etc.  He established a war graves registry unit.  He became the war graves commissioner.  He had been in South Africa and was a very good organizer. He had lots of problems and red tape to get through to accomplish it but he battled to get it done. It is a true story.  Claurene loved it and said it was a beautiful book.

ED:  MY DEAR I WANTED TO TELL YOU BY LOUISA YOUNG

It is a novel and Ed did enjoy it.   The title refers to a standard form letter sent to families of wounded soldiers to let them know they were in hospital.  The book is about the experience of the women left at home.  An interesting part of the book is about an actual person Dr Harold Gillies, originally  from New Zealand, who wrote a book called Plastic Surgery of the Face (1920). He operated on the wounded men.  There are photographs of some of the wounds and burns of the soldiers. It is a good book, not graphic and has a nice love story.

CONNIE:  ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT BY ERICH  REMARQUE

Connie knew she would be depressed and upset by the book.  She had to keep reminding herself that this was about German boys. The main character is Paul who writes in the first person.  It is fiction but based on a lot of experiences.  It is about a group of schoolmates, about 18 years old, who all go off to fight on the western front. Their schoolmaster practically forces them to go and most of the book is set in France.  It is depressing but has moments of such tenderness within the groups.  There is a little bit of comical relief in the humorous things they get up to and Connie is glad she read the book.

PAULINE: 

She also read All Quiet on the Western Front.  She had tried it two years ago and could not finish it.  She gave it a second go and finished it.  The author was banned by the Nazis and he moved to Switzerland, then to the United States and then back again to Switzerland.  Pauline said it was very unsettling but she did enjoy it. 

BEV:  SHOULDER THE SKY BY ANNE PERRY

It is a novel and the third of a set of books.  Bev has never read Anne Perry before.  She didn't realize it was part of a series.  It is the story of a family whose father had connections with someone in Germany.  He got wind of a plan that Germany wanted to form an alliance with England. The father has two sons, one a chaplain and one in the intelligence service.  They are trying to find out the identity of the peacemaker.  The secret service will deal with him but Bev was disappointed that his identity wasn't revealed.

ANNE:  ANGELS IN THE GLOOM BY ANNE PERRY

This is a part of the series of the previous book mentioned.  It is once again about the Reavley family.  The chaplain is the brother of Matthew Reavley who is in the Intelligence Service.   The sister is an ambulance driver at the front.  The peacemaker has had the chaplain's parents murdered.

JULIA:  WE SHALL NOT SLEEP BY ANNE PERRY

This is the fifth in the series with the two novels previously mentioned by Anne Perry.  Julia didn't really enjoy it although it is considered one of her best.  It is about the Reavley family.  As she had not read the earlier books she didn't know anything about the Reavley family.  It is about the Western front and the soldiers are abusing the German soldiers. The peacemaker is also in this book. Julia feels she is a versatile author but did not really enjoy this book.

DIANNE:  TO HELL AND BACK BY SYDNEY LOCH

Dianne said it was very graphic.  You get a personal involvement as it gives you a bit of Sydney Loch's background in Australia.  He goes to Gallipoli and he gets typhoid.  He is sent to hospital where he keeps journals which are eventually turned into a book.  He is horrified by war.  He couldn't get the book published so he turned it into a novel but still couldn't get it published.  He needed the money so he wanted to get it published back in Australia but the censors tried to stop it.  It gets right into the nitty gritty.  He later marries and he wants to help humanity.  Dame Murdoch gives him funds to help with his humanitarian activities.

ANNETTE:  BOY SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR BY RICHARD VAN EMDEN

One of the youngest boys ever recorded going over the top was only 12.  They had boring, heavy, dirty jobs.  The young boys thought it was a great adventure.  They didn't need birth certificates to join up to fight and they often gave false names.  The book is first set in England. The recruitment officers got paid for the number who joined so they turned a blind eye.  Some of the boys became officers quickly and excelled.  They got medals for bravery.   Others got petrified by the death and the shooting. The information was put together from boys' diaries.  There was also an 18 year old female nurse who went out to the front.  It was horrific.

JAYNE:  STORIES OF LOVE AND WAR BY REBECCA BRITT

Rebecca is the curator of the War Memorial.  She used the archives to do a whole lot of short stories about courtships and marriages.  There are beautiful photographs and copies of love letters. etc.  It covers both the first and second world wars. A lot of men survived and came back. One of the stories with photos is about a soldier getting married to a nurse.  Jayne said it was not depressing and nice to read about love surviving.

LAURA:   TUG OF WAR BY BARBARA CLEVERLY

It is a fictional book set just after the war.  It is a mystery.  It is about a soldier shipped back from Germany to France.  It is set in France.  He has no I.D.  There is a photo put in the paper but they had thousands of replies claiming him. It shows how the families and villages were affected by the war. Many of the women just wanted a man in the house for physical help or to get a government pension.  France was devastated.  A British soldier is sent over to investigate as the soldier speaks in English when he has nightmares. Many of the Allied soldiers were billeted in France with a family, a week of normality before they were sent back. It was like a little bit of home for them.  The mystery is eventually solved and they find out where he should be but perhaps not where he belongs.

TAM:  A LONG LONG WAY BY SEBASTIAN BARRY

This is a novel. The main character is Willie Dunne, an Irish private.  He seems to be in a kind of a fog, a bit vague.  He goes off to fight with the allied troops in World War 1. In the meantime the Irish are rising up against the British.  When he goes home on leave his friends reject him.  His father also gives up on him when he helps a rebel.  His girlfriend gives up on him as well when she finds he has had his first sexual experience in France.  There are battles on all fronts.  He questions why he is alive when someone else is dead.  Tam will be thinking about all of these soldiers on Anzac Day.

LESLEY: GALLIPOLI: OUR LAST MAN STANDING BY JONATHAN KING

He is a journalist who was interested in the stories of the last ten surviving Anzacs.  This is the story of Alec, born in 1899.  He joined at 15.  He was an excellent shooter, excellent horseman, slight build and a poor student.  He had Scottish heritage and belonged to the Presbyterian church. He wanted to go to war and would have forged his signature if his parents did not sign.  He was not part of the landing group at Gallipoli.  He was in the front line but never got shot.  The fellow in front of him got shot and fell with his gun.  The gun hit him in the face and damaged his nerves.  He then got influenza and had to leave.  He was part of the withdrawal.  He was then going to France but developed Bell's Palsy and had to come home at sixteen and a half years old.  He became very political, joined the union movement.  He was 103 when he died.  Lesley enjoyed book.

JOAN:  BRAVE BESS AND THE ANZAC HORSES BY SUZANNE BROCCER

Bess was a horse born in 1910 in New Zealand.  The story is told through her eyes.  10,000 horses were sent to war from New Zealand and only one returned, Bess.  Loading was very difficult on the troop carriers.  There were brass bands, hooters etc. trying to get them up.  They had to stand up for seven weeks.  At the other end they had to put them in slings and haul them over.  At Cairo there were no green fields to graze on. One of the big problems was water. They didn't have to charge the enemy anymore.  One man was responsible for his own horse and three others and they were taken behind the lines. 8 million horses died during the war.  Bess got home and died in 1934.  Joan enjoyed the book.

JUDY:  WAR HORSE BY MICHAEL MORPURGO

This book was written as a children's book in 1983.  The horse, Joey is telling the story.  It is a very sweet story.  It is set in Devon where a poor farmer, who drinks too much, buys a horse.  His son, Albert takes care of him, teaches him and trains him.  There is a little bit of war thrown in but not too much.  Half the horses were killed but Joey survives.  He is captured by the Germans and used to transport cannons.  He runs off and ends up in No Man's Land.  He gets caught up in barb wire and a soldier from both sides help release him and talk to each other. In the meantime Albert has joined up and Joey finds him.  Joey has tetanus and Albert nurses him back to health.  They are not taking any horses back but Albert does get him back to Devon.  There are no gory details.

MARIE:  WORLD WAR 1 LAYMAN'S GUIDE

Marie said she had limited knowledge of World War 1 and wanted to learn more.  She treated this as a project.  It covered all the major battles. She learnt how they brought the soldiers up the wrong side at Gallipoli. She thoroughly enjoyed it and looked up all the places to give her an idea of where they were etc.

MARCH - ROMANCE

JULIA:     THURSDAY'S CHILD BY SANDRA BROWN

Julia said it was a light romance and a nice read but if you don't like romance the author also writes thrillers.  Julia said she is a versatile writer and Julia has read The Crush and half a dozen other thrillers written by Sandra Brown.  She said you can't pick the ending.

ANNETTE:     APRIL FOOL'S DAY BY BRYCE COURTENAY

The story is about Bryce Courtenay's son who died from haemophilia.  It was a difficult life looking after him.  He was in incredible pain and the slightest knock would mean a trip to the hospital. His son's mate was going out with a lovely girl but when Bryce's son and the girl met, they fell in love.  Hence the love story. On the back of the book it writes about the impact a loving relationship can have on a person.  Aids was prevalent at the time.  He got aids from an unclean blood transfusion.  The son, family and girlfriend experienced incredible stigma.  Annette loved it and said it was extremely good.

DIANNE:     THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER BY ELISABETH HYDE

Dianne finished the book but did not like it and would not recommend it.  The Abortionist gets murdered and the daughter has a romance with the detective on the case. It does have a nice ending - good relationship at the end.  It leaves you on a bit of a high but Dianne couldn't work out whether the author was for or against abortion.

TAM:     LETTER FROM A STRANGER BY BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

Tam had not read this author before. All the characters are too perfect - beautiful, good jobs and plenty of money.  The main character goes to Istanbul in search of her beloved grandmother after seeing a letter from her grandmother to her mother.  She thought her grandmother had died many years before.  Tam said she doesn't normally like romance but it was an easy read and the setting in Istanbul made it interesting.

JANE:   THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY BY ROBERT JAMES WALLER
              
The book is set in 1965.  Robert Kinkaid is a National Geographic photographer who is in Iowa to photograph the covered bridges of Madison County.  While looking for them he meets Francesca an Italian warbride married to a farmer. Francesca has been desperate to find someone to talk to about creative and artistic pursuits.  She finds it in the photographer.  They make a connection and fall madly in love.  They have a passionate affair over four days while Francesca's husband and children are away.  He wants her to run away with him but they have responsibilities and so he leaves.  It is a real love story - a genuine love story but it ends and they never know what happens to the other.  Jane said it was a good book.

ROSEMARIE:    ON CHESEL BEACH BY IAN MCEWAN

Ian McEwan was born in 1948 and is the winner of the  Booker Prize.  This book is set in July, 1962 just prior to the sexual revolution.  Edward and Florence the main characters are honeymooning in Dorset.  It is a real love story and they are both virgins.  They are from different backgrounds but it doesn't make any difference to them or their families.  He is a son of a schoolmaster and she is a talented violinist from a well to do family.  The story takes place over a 2-3hour period.  Edward is keen to consumate the marriage and Florence is terrified of sexual intimacy.  The book is very sexually descriptive and the tension builds over a 2 hour period.  There is a lack of communication between them and this results in something sad.  It was an easy read.

JOAN:    A WALLFLOWER XMAS BY LISA KLEYPAS

Joan said it was so easy to read but she also read CONVENIENT MARRIAGE BY GEORGETTE HEYER.  She found this much more intriguing.  It was written in 1935.  She was credited with establishing the Regency period romance novels.  This book was set about 1776 in class structured England.  The wealthy Earl wants to marry Lizzie, an impoverished beauty but she wants a love match.  Joan found it very interesting as she had never read any of her books.

ANNE:   THE ROSY PROJECT BY GRAEME SIMSION

It is written in the first person with Don Tillman the narrator. He is a professor of genetics who has Aspergers. He has to give a lecture on Aspergers.  He ends the lecture saying "a lot of people have Aspergers and don't know it."  He is 39, daggy, endearing and has decided he wants to get married so he starts the "wife project".  He does speed dating and prepares a 16 page questionnaire. He wants someone who is punctual, a non smoker, a non drinker etc. etc. Rosy Jarman is looking for her biological father and convinces him to help her find her father. This becomes the "father project". Rosy fails in every requirement. Anne said it was very enjoyable, quirky and the words are cleverly chosen.

ROSEMARIE O:   PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY JANE AUSTEN

The main male character, Mr Darcy is puffed up and proud but Elizabeth, the main female character, cuts him off at the knees. Mr Darcy is raked over the coals by his Aunty who expects him to marry the cousin.  Rosemarie says the book is just like the movie, nearly word to word perfect to the BBC video.  Mrs. Bennett, Elizabeth's mother goes husband hunting.  She has five daughters to marry off.  Rosemarie found the first line in the book very amusing "It's a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

PAULINE:   PERSUASION BY JANE AUSTEN

Pauline had never read Jane Austen until two years ago.  She has read three since and enjoyed Persuasion the most. The book centres around Walter Elliot who is a Baronet.  He has lost his wife.  He has three daughters.  He is a very proud man and a line in the book states "vanity was the beginning and end for Walter Elliot - in looks and position". His eldest daughter Elizabeth, like her father, is proud and conceited.  She tends to take the position of the wife.  The second eldest daughter Mary is married with children but she is always complaining of being sick and wants constant attention.  The story is about Anne, the youngest daughter and Frederick Wentworth who fall in love.  Anne's aunt didn't want her to marry him as he had little prospects.  She was persuaded not to marry him.  They meet again when Anne is twenty eight and both are still unmarried.

KRIS:    PERSUASION BY JANE AUSTEN

Kris also read Persuasion and thought it was a great read.  The book begins eight years after Anne has given way to persuasion by the much loved Lady Russell to give up Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer. Lady Russell felt he would not be able to support a wife and family.  He is now a successful and rich naval officer who has risen through the ranks. Anne is an attractive 28 yr old who is unmarried, lonely and unappreciated by her family but Captain Wentworth has held a grudge towards Anne all this time for her rejection of him.  He has misunderstood and misjudged her and is intent on marrying someone else, almost anyone.  Mary's (Anne's sister) in-laws live nearby and they have two pretty unmarried daughters who are very attracted to Captain Wentworth.  The blurb on the back of the book says "In striving for their eventual reconciliation Anne must overcome many hazards, not least of which is the affection that Frederick develops for Henrietta and Louisa, two lively young charmers". Beautifully written.

CLAURENE:   REGENCY BUCK BY GEORGETTE HEYER

This is a period romance which covers all the things Claurene enjoys.  The book was written in 1935 and Claurene finds her books "comfort books in difficult times". It is a love story.  The main character is an heiress and someone is trying to kill her brother.  The dialogue is amusing and there are amusing details about where it is set, mainly in Bath. Georgette Heyer also wrote mysteries but Claurene did not enjoy them.

ED:    THE LOVE KNOT BY CHARLOTTE BINGHAM

Charlotte Bingham is a prolific writer of books and television series.  This is a nice easy read, a very light story. The story is about three girls and the trials and tribulations of their falling in love.  It is set in the late 1800's, early 1900's.  The characters are aristocratic and wealthy.  It is the advent of the car.  Ed enjoyed the book.

JO:    ROSE COTTAGE BY MARY STEWART

The story is set at the end of World War II.  A war widow returns to the cottage (Rose Cottage) where she was born.  She finds out her mother, thought to be dead for the last thirty years, is still alive.  The war widow falls in love with the next door neighbour.  They used to play together as children.  Jo said it was a beautiful, beautiful story.

BEV:    A WEEK IN WINTER BY MAEVE BINCHY

When the youngest daughter from a big family on the coast of West Ireland meets an American tourist, there is disapproval from the family.  Despite this, she goes with him to America.  He never marries her and eventually leaves her.  She is too embarrassed to admit this to her family.  Her niece wants to visit but she tells her she can't come as her husband has been killed in a car accident. She is friends with the landlady of a boarding house and after doing a few courses decides to buy and do up a hotel. A week in winter is based on the first week in this hotel.  It is all about the lives of the people who come to stay.  Bev enjoyed the book.

PAT:   THE RED THREAD BY NICHOLAS JOSE

The author was born in London but worked in Shanghai and Beijing in 1986-1990.  Pat said it was not believable, not interesting and just silly. The main character is an art appraiser.  He is looking for the missing two chapters of a six chapter ancient Chinese manuscript. He falls in love with an Australian woman. Pat wouldn't recommend it.

CONNIE:   TIM BY COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH

This is a love story.  The main character is Tim, a 25yr old, tall, blonde, handsome but intellectually handicapped young man. He lives next door to a 40yr old career woman.  The parents look after Tim very well but don't teach him anything.  His workmates taunt him.  His neighbour, Mary notices this and tries to teach him.  He takes a while to realise he has a friend in her.  His tied to his mother and father and when his mother dies, he is devastated. Mary comforts him.  She teaches him to embrace her, but when he kisses her he doesn't know when to stop.  She teaches him to handle his feelings.  Eventually they get married.  Connie really enjoyed it and said it was very Australian.

SHEILA:   MR CHEN'S EMPORIUM BY DEBORAH O'BRIEN

Sheila likes Australian writing.  It is a story of two women who are born 200 years apart. In 1872, a seventeen year old Amy Duncan arrives in the goldfields.   She is disappointed with the dusty town until she walks into Mr. Chen's Emporium. Mr. Chen is Chinese but has one foot in each country as he was brought up by Australians.  There is discrimination shown to the Chinese and when Amy falls in love with Mr. Chen she is not allowed to marry him.  The other woman in the story is a modern day widow who comes to live in the same house in this town 200 years later.  Amy's keepsakes are found in a trunk and she decides to learn more about Amy's life.

PAMELA:  THE TRANSIT OF VENUS BY SHIRLEY HAZZARD

When Pamela first read this book she thought it was the perfect novel. Venus is the goddess of love and transit means going across.  Pamela thought the ambiguity of the book made it very attractive. The book is set in Australia briefly, London, then New York and Stockholm during the 1950's to 1980's. The two main characters are two Australian orphans, Carolyn and Grace Bell.  Their mother was drowned after a ferry accident in the1930's. The story centres mainly on Carolyn's relationships with three men, one being an astronomer and another a playwright. The book explores the happiness or otherwise of human relationships. Pamela liked the book second time around until towards the end.  Pamela felt, in the last few pages of the book, the author contradicted the theme of "selflessness" shown throughout the rest of the book. She was disappointed as she thinks Shirley Hazzard is a good writer, but the book was ruined by the ending.