LESLEY: A FEW OF THE GIRLS by MAEVE BINCHY
This is a collection of 40 short stories. Some are delightful, witty, charming and poignant. Others are ridiculous in a fun way. Lesley said it was perfect summer reading and would recommend it as something light to read.
DIANN: THE PATTERSON GIRLS by RACHAEL JOHNS
The story is about four sisters who come together after their mother dies. They all come from different circumstances. The family come together with their Dad who owns an hotel. It's set in South Australia. Diann said it was a good read but you have to be open minded.
CONNIE: SUGAR MILK FALLS by ILONA VAN MIL
This book is set in a maple syrup town in Canada. It's an old and isolated community. A female stranger comes to town. They open their hearts to her about a disaster that happened a long time ago. Connie also read SMALL GREAT THINGS by JODI PICOULT. It's a book about racism. The main character is a Negro woman who has been a midwife for twenty years. She is a good living, bright woman. A mother comes in to have her baby delivered. She is a white suprematist who hates coloured people and tells the midwife not to touch the baby. It takes a powerful look at what white people think about coloured people and their fear of them. The story moved Connie. She would fully recommend this book.
JUDY 4: THE STORY OF THE LOST CHILD by ELENA FERRANTE
Judy said it's a beautiful book set in Naples. It is the fourth in the series. The two protagonists are Lila and Elena. The first book begins in childhood and follows them throughout their lives. Judy said you have to concentrate on many different people but there is a list of characters at the front of each book.She said it was well worth the time. She also read WHERE I LEFT MY SOUL by JEROME FERRARI. This is a book about three people all involved in various military conflict where torture is used. She said it's a horrible story but a good book.
JOAN: THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
Dostoyevsky is a Russian author born in 1821. The story is set in 19th century Russia. The author had spent time in a monastery and in prison. He drew from these past life experiences. Joan said she had to challenge herself to keep on reading. It is 1000 pages of fine print. The main characters are an adulteress father with three legitimate sons, one illegitimate son and several frivolous women, as well as monks. It also involves a lengthy trial. Joan said the characters were fulsome and it is a passionate and philosophical book.
CHARIS: NOT THE END OF THE WORLD by KATE ATKINSON
This is a short story collection. There are connections to people in the different stories as well as different books. The author pulls it all together with a theme or crime. One of the stories is about a woman who had a broken relationship. A cat takes her over, moves into her house and then into her bed. She thinks she is pregnant to the man who left her but when she has a scan it shows tails in her abdomen. Charis has also read ONE GOOD TURN and GOD AND RUINS by the same author. Charis would recommend Not the End of the World over the other two books but had enough of the author by the third book.
DENISE: LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALENTINA by SANTA MONTEFIORE
The story is set in a village outside of Naples, Italy before World War II has finished. An Englishman comes into clean up after the Germans have been there. He falls in love with an Italian girl and she has a child. Then it moves to 1970. Denise found the ending left her longing. The story is about families and secrets. She found it a difficult book to start, annoying but good.
SHEILA: A DROP IN THE OCEAN by JENNI OGDEN
Anna Ferguson, the main character, is a neuroscientist and dedicated introvert . The funding for her Huntington Disease Research unit is cut so she decides to rent a cottage on Turtle Island in the Barrier Reef to retreat. She finds extended family she never knew existed. It's eccentric. She meets a turtle whisperer. Sheila said it is a beautiful book and well written. It's a very good holiday book.
PAMELA: AN EXALTATION OF LARKS by JAMES LIPTON
This is a book for all word lovers. To be a gentleman in the 15th century you had to know the correct usage of words. When you hunted you had to know the collective noun for the animal you were hunting. This book is about the different collections. Some examples are "Parliament of Owls", "Murder of Crows", "Ostentation of Peacocks". It then started to be used to describe people. Examples are "A Sentence of Judges" and "A Descent of Relatives". Pamela's favourite is "Anthology of Prose".
KRIS: BURIAL RITES by HANNAH KENT
Hannah Kent won various literary awards for Burial Rites, her first book. She lived for a time in Iceland. This novel is inspired by a true story of the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829. It is well researched. She paints a great picture of Iceland's stark landscape. Agnes,who is charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. The family are very frightened of her but the longer she is with them, the more they think about her possible innocence. It's a riveting book and beautifully written.
ROSEMARIE: THE SEPARATION and THE TEA PLANTER'S WIFE and THE SILK MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER by DINAH JEFFRIES
Rosemarie read all three books. They are family sagas all set in the East with the backdrop of turmoil and conflicts of that particular country. The Separation is set in Malaya, The Tea Planter's Wife in Ceylon and the Silk Merchant's Daughter in Vietnam. They have good character development and the descriptions are vivid. They paint a great picture. They are easy to read and she is looking forward to the fourth book. Rosemarie also love THE TOYMAKER by LIAM PIEPER.
PAULINE: THE MAGUS by JOHN FOWLES
A young man accepts a position as a teacher on a remote Greek Island. It's a mind twister and a mystery tour. Supernatural things happen. Pauline thoroughly enjoyed the book. Pauline also read GOLDEN HILL by FRANCIS SPUFFORD. It's about an Englishman in America who turns up with promissory note. He can't get payment as they want more information. He is stuck in America. You don't know why he is there. It's a rollicking tale. Pauline said it's an excellent read, well written and exceptional.
BEV: UP WITH THE LARKS:STARTING AGAIN IN CORNWALL by TESSA HAINSWORTH
This is a true story set in Cornwall about a woman who has a high powered job in London. She works long hours and her husband wants to be an actor. He looks after the kids and takes odd jobs. She watches a show called "Is that all there is to life" and decides to have a seachange. After holidaying in Cornwall she decides to move and start a pottery business. The family have a lot of teething problems. The husband gets a part time job but his wife can't get a job. She decides to apply for the job as post lady. She doesn't understand local customs so things go wrong. Bev recommends it and said it was a really nice, enjoyable and easy read.
JO: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY KILLER by MARY HIGGINS CLARK
The story is about a woman who spent fifteen years in prison for supposedly murdering her fiance.A television show that investigates cold cases takes up her case to help her prove her innocence. Jo said it was well written.
TAM: THE ROSIE EFFECT by GRAHAME SIMSION
This is a follow up to the Rosie Project. It's about Don Tillman, a brilliant scientist who married Rosie. Don is very scheduled, perhaps autistic. Rosie is having a baby and Don is driven mad with worry. He can't cope with change. Rosie understands him. Tam said it was hilariously funny and sad
at the same time. Tam enjoyed this book.
JULIA: THE FINAL SILENCE by STUART NEVILLE
Julia likes thrillers. She said she couldn't put this book down and has now read five in the series.
She also read a new author called DOUGLAS CORLEONE. She read his series of a man who follows up child abduction. It was something different to her usual thriller but she loved them both.
JUDY 1: THE GOLDFINCH BY DONNA TARTT
This story is told retrospectively by the main character, Theo Decker. When he was a thirteen year old boy living in New York, his mother took him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Dutch Masters. He is admiring the Goldfinch, a small painting by Fabritius (a pupil of Rembrandt) when he sees a red headed girl with an older man. He falls in love. There is an explosion and his mother is killed and the boy is given a ring by the older man. Theo grabs the painting and waits for his mother but she is dead. His father had left a year ago so he goes to live with the family of a wealthy schoolfriend. The story is about how one moment affects his life from then on (the explosion, the ring and the painting). Judy really enjoyed the book.
PAT: JASPER JONES by CRAIG SILVEY
This is Craig Silvey's second novel published in 2009. Pat thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in a few days. It has been described as Huck Finn meets Atticus Finch in a West Australian country town. It includes ethical and moral issues, although in a humorous way. It is about the banter between two boys, Charlie (a 13 yr old Vietnamese) and his friend. Both boys are intelligent. Pat would highly recommend it as it is entertaining, comical and the dialogue is great.
MAREE: THE SECRET WIFE by GILL PAUL
Maree absolutely loved the book. It starts off with Daisy and her husband. Everything is fine between Daisy and her husband until she finds out he had been having an affair. She retreats to a cabin inherited from her great grandfather and in the cabin she finds a piece of jewellery. It's an old piece which happened to belong to the gardener of the Romanov family. It's fiction but a "What If" story.
WENDY: COMMONWEALTH by ANN PATCHETT
The story starts in America in the 1960's. It's about five decades of family and step families. It's a real family drama, not the Brady Bunch. It's about relationships. It's not soppy and there are lots of quirky bits. It builds up to something and then takes a complete twist. It's about who own history and memories. Wendy highly recommends this terrific book.
LAURA: MAURICE GUEST by HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON
This is one of the twenty best Australian books ever written. It's very long (562 pages) and Laura is only half way. It was written about 100 years ago. It's very wordy. The author was a lesbian who took a male name to write this book. The main character, Maurice is British. He is studying music in Leipzig. There are a series of tragic unrequited love stories. There is a good interplay of people. Laura is loving this book.
PRUE: OPERATION NAPOLEON by ARNALDUR INDRIDASON
This is the code name for a covert operation towards the end end of World War II. During a storm a German bomber crashes on a glacier in Iceland. Many years later the US Army is secretly trying to remove the plane from the glacier. An Icelandic boy tells what he sees to his sister. The boy gets murdered. There are twists and turns. It is easy to read and fast paced. Some of it is far fetched but Prue thoroughly enjoyed it.
LINDA: TRULY, MADLY, GUILTY by LIANE MORIARTY
This is Liane Moriarty's seventh book. Linda would like to read some of her other books as she enjoyed this one. She found it difficult to put down. It's about six adults at a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon. Something happens that changes all these people.
JUDY 4: NEWS OF THE WORLD by PAULETTE JILES
After the American Civil War a 70 year old widower reads the News of the World to people for 10c a head. He meets a Negro who asks him to take a little girl, rescued from the Indians, to her aunt and uncle. She has lived with the Indians for four years and is quite wild. The story is about their journey together over 400 miles. Judy said it was just beautiful and she didn't want the book to finish.
DIANE: OUR SOULS AT NIGHT by KENT HARUF
It's set in a street in America with big, respectable houses. Mostly single people live in these houses. Adie, an older woman, is lonely since her husband died and asks the chap across the road to come and sleep with her. She doesn't want sex, just the warmth and companionship. Diane enjoyed this book.
WENDY 2: A DANGEROUS LIFE BY WARREN LAMB
Wendy said it was a fascinating book. It is the truestory of a prostitute found dead in Centennial Park. She claimed her boyfriend Warren Lanfranchi had been killed by the police in cold blood.
VAL: RATHER BE THE DEVIL (INSPECTOR REBUS) by IAN RANKIN
Val likes detective stories. In this book John Rebus is haunted by a 40 year old murder of a wealthy promiscuous woman in Edinburgh. Val also read THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE(HARRY BOSCH) by MICHAEL CONNELLY. In this book Harry Bosch is asked to meet a very wealthy financier who is dying. He had an indiscretion with a Mexican woman when he was in the Army. He is trying to find her so he can leave his money to her. Both detectives in these two series flaunt authority. They both have difficult relationships with their daughters and they are both semi-retired. Both books are very readable for holiday time but the Harry Bosch series sometimes gets bogged down by court procedure etc.
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