March - Jeanette Winterson

Kris:   Gut Symmetries
The story is a love triangle....a British scientist traveling by ship on her way to a job in the USA meets another scientist who turns out to be a Lothario. They begin an affair. When they arrive in New York she meets his wife, and they fall in love. There were also side stories about her families.
Kris thought her writing was very poetic, and very metaphoric but it was hard to understand.  She is not sure if she enjoyed it but she did finish it.

Connie & Wendy:   Lighthousekeeping
Connie was not sure whether we she liked it or not, and some of it was too weird.
She thought she was an extraordinary and original writer, her writing being very lyrical, like a long song. She got lost a few times with 2 characters with the same name.
Wendy loved it. The lighthouse is set in Scotland. Silver, a young child is left alone after her mother dies. She is given into the care of the old blind lighthouse keeper.

Pamela:   Written on the Body
Pamela read 4 pages, and didn't understand it so she didn't persist. She found the writing extremely lush and extravagant. She hated it!

Rosemary:  Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit 
This was written in 1985 and later (1990) successfully adapted for television. It seems to be semi-autobiographical, or so the author says.
Rosemary thinks the novel is about formation, the coming of age, moving from the age of youth through to old age. The stories are told through the eyes of a young girl who is home schooled and her mother is obsessed by the Pentecostal beliefs. As she matures and gets a part time job she takes a lover, a woman. The church intervenes and tries to make her repent. Returning to the church, she forms a relationship with another woman also from the church. This time she is forced to leave the church.
Rosemary finished the book, but said that she didn't really enjoy it.
Ann watched the DVD of the book and enjoyed this media much more.

Dianne:  Tanglewreck
Dianne started to read this book but couldn't get into it. Her comment was that she found her a 'spiral writer'.
She has now begun Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. She is starting to enjoy it and following the comments by others who had read the book, she will finish it!

Jo:  The Daylight Gate 
This book is the author's  most recent, being published only last year. It is set in the 17th century, King James is a Protestant. They killed all the Catholics and threw them in the dungeons. It was horrible and very violent.

Lesley:  Why be Happy When You Can be Normal 
This book corrects the facts from Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and updates the author's life.
She was complicated little girl, adopted by her cruel mother at the age of 6 months. Her mother is bizarre, twisted but she accepts this life and doesn't know anything else.
She is strong-willed, intelligent and has a sense of humour. Her world opens up through literature despite only having the Bible at home, but she manages to expand her reading at the local Library.
She leaves home at 16 and goes to Oxford, discovering along the way that she is gay. Her father is an ineffective and weak man.
Later when she returns to the small town she was born in, nothing has changed. Everyone still does the same things, at the same time and for the same reason.
In Lesley's opinion, her life consisted of a series of battles....overcoming poverty, overcoming lack of love and friends, and overcoming a lack of sensory stimulation.
She didn't like her as a person, but admired her as an author.

Jules:  Weight 
Jules chose this book because the blurb indicated it would be about Greek Mythology and in particular the 12 Labours of Hercules, a subject she is familiar with and enjoys reading about. But she could only manage 4 pages before resorting to Agatha Christie's Labours of Hercules. Much more satisfying reading.

Judy:  Art and Lies
Judy was another one who was not able to finish the book, in fact she struggled to read 45 pages.
So instead she read from the author's website where she talked about the book. Even this was difficult to follow or understand. The author's comment to the question "Some people find this book very difficult. What do you say to that?" "But it's a book not a crime. If you don't like it, don't read it."

Tammy:  The Power Book 
Tammy is a new member to the group, so she conscientiously read the book twice to make sure she could understand it despite being bogged down with it on the first reading.
It is set in the 21st Century  where Ali by day runs a shop for people who want to change or transform themselves. But at night she/he writes stories in cyberspace in answer to other people's problems but maybe she is writing to her inner self through the computer, allowing her to escape and stay on the run.
Tammy found the book fascinating, it challenged her but she didn't like the characters.

Joan: The World and Other Places
This is a book of short stories published in 1988.
 The themes that have been mentioned in other books are here - love, death, betrayal, the nature of time, the beauty of risk, the quest.
The 24 Hour Dog... it is taken from the Rescue Home by people intending to love and train it. But with the dog they no longer have their freedom and so the dog must be returned.
Atlantic Crossing describes a sea journey to New York. With an error in the ticketing system, 2 passengers find themselves in the same cabin. As this is 1956 it is not appropriate for a man and a woman, who are strangers, to share the cabin.

Other books recommended during the morning    
* Before I go to Sleep by S J Watson. Each night when Christine Lucas goes to sleep her mind erases the day. Each day when she wakes up she tries to put the puzzle of her life together.
This book is now available in the Library, and recommended by Jules who couldn't put it down.

*Ratlines by Stuart Neville. Set in Ireland 1963, 18 years after the end of WWII but 18 years is hardly enough time for people to forget the horrors that occurred in and by Nazi Germany. During the war Ireland stayed neutral not wanting to get pulled into another one of Britain's fights, though some like the main character Ryan, did fight with the British. Many Nazi's sought refugee in Ireland after the war to try and save themselves.
This was recommended by Dianne, who commented that it was well written but very violent.