Judy De la T: Judy
read 4 interconnected books written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón:
The Shadow of
the Wind
The Angel’s Game
The Prisoners
of Heaven
The Labyrinth
of the Spirits
Set in Barcelona in Franco’s Spain,
it involves intrigue, mystery, corruption and circles around Cemetery of
Forgotten Books and the bookshop of Sempore and Sons.
Connie: Me Before You by
Jojo Moyes
Connie found the
characters likeable and the dilemma they found themselves in was intriguing. A
young highflyer with career and everything it brings, becomes paralyzed
following a motorbike accident. His carer, a young girl from a not well off
family takes on looking after this miserable bloke.
Tam: A Passionate Life by Ita Buttrose
Having listened
to Ita Buttrose talk about her life, Tam was interested to read her
autobiography. As well as being a wonderful and dignified speaker, her life was
very interesting. She was a trendsetter being a pioneer in the media industry,
and she had her struggles including a couple of marriages, but never lost her
dignity.
Pamela: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
This is a very
strange book narrated by a Pakistani man. He tells the story of his life to an
American in a café in Lahore. The
format of the book is interesting, there are a lot of ambiguities and parts of
it are very sinister.
Bev: A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski
For over 10 years, four women have been members
of an online Book Club, but they have never met. They are all very different
people, at different stages of their lives and careers. They decide to meet for
a week in the Blue
Mountains and each has to bring a book that personalizes their life.
Lesley listed a variety of books she had
enjoyed this year.
They included
Kristina
Ohlsson ~ Silence, Unwanted and The Chosen
Robert
Galbraith ~ Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike),
Cuckoo’s Calling, Silkworm
Judy Nunn ~ Maralinga
Jane Harper ~ The Dry and Force of Nature
Liane Moriaty ~ What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies, The
Husband’s Secret and Truly Madly Guilty
David
Lagercrantz
~ The Girl in the Spider’s
Web continuing the Millennium Trilogy following the death of Stieg Larsson
Val:
Val read a poem
by Robert
Risenden, better known for his thrillers.
Pat: The Stony Ground by Michael Crowley
This book had a
personal connection for Pat as it told the story of James Ruse, a First Fleeter
who eventually settled and farmed along the Hawkesbury River, close to where
Pat now lives. No biography has been written about him because he was a
convict, so this is a fictional account based on historical records.
Wendy L:
Jane Harper’s The Lost Man is her third book and in Wendy’s opinion,
her best. It is totally different from the first 2 books featuring Aaron Falk.
Her second
recommendation is Feet of Clay by Markus Zusak. This book took
many years to write and tells the story of several generations of one family.
The Dunbar boys are a gaggle of bruised and battered brothers, raising
themselves in the wake of tragedy. Their mother is dead, their father has fled
and most remarkable of all is Clay. Watch out for the twist at the end!
Charis: Starlite Drive-In
by Marjorie Reynolds
A young girl and
her parents live in the Starlite Movie Theatre. When a young man comes to work
at the theatre, both mum and the daughter fall in love with him.
There is a
murder but the the story is told very gently.
Rosemary: The Tattooist of
Auschwitz by Heather Morris
This is the
incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved,
Gita, whom he met within the camp. It is his account of what they needed to do
to survive.
“If you wake up
in the morning and you’re alive, it’s a good day!”
Jo:
Jo read 4 books
from The Cotswold
Mysteries, a series of 16 books. Tragedy and intrigue set among the
muddy paths and winding roads of this beautiful countryside.
Anne: Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
Following
unexpected circumstances in her own life, Leigh Sales became interested in how
ordinary people turn their lives around following tragedy The book is full of
many interesting stories of people who have managed to survive.
Kris: Red Notice by Bill
Browder
This is the true
story of high finance, murder and one man’s fight for justice. Bill Browder was
in the ‘dog eat dog’ world of hedge fund investing in the 1990s.
He had developed
his business in Russia investing in undervalued Russian oil stocks. He later
finds himself on the wrong side of some very powerful men when his young lawyer
is murdered after uncovering a huge fraud committed by Russian government
officials.
Natalie: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriaty
This book was a
disappointment, certainly not the author’s best work. Natalie thought it became
bogged down in parts.
Sheila:
Sheila has
thoroughly enjoyed reading Sharpe’s Company by Bernard Cornwall.
This is
a series of historical fiction stories centered on the character of Richard
Sharpe
in the British Army beginning with the Napoleonic Wars
The stories are historically
sound and very good fun to read, covering the period from 1799 to 1821.
Joan: The Fox Hunt by Mohammed Al Samawi
This is a young man's moving story of love, war, and hope in
which he recounts his harrowing escape from fanaticism and a brutal civil war
in Yemen, with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small
group of interfaith activists in the West.
Joan described it as a riveting page turner. It showed the
generosity of the human spirit and is very current.
Diann: Daughter of Australia by Harmony Verda
Written in 2016, the book has epic scope along the same
lines as The Thorn Birds. It is filled with characters and vivid details of the
Western Australian landscape.
This year, Women in the Bush has been a theme for Diann’s
reading.
Prue: Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter
This Science Fiction thriller is the first of a trilogy.
Humanity has been decimated by a human pandemic and it looks like the end. But
genetic engineers can change the genes in some people and also genetically
engineer other people to do the work.
The story rolls along at a good pace, and the characters are
well developed. Some of the problems they encounter are also the problems we
have today.
Judy J: Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
This family saga portrays the lives of an Irish family in
Brooklyn, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and then the second
world war. A young woman becomes a diver to help the war effort and after
meeting a gangster her father had worked for, she tries to find out how and why
her father has disappeared. A magnificent book.
Julia: Redemption Point by Candice Fox
This book is a real thriller. It’s the story of a former
police officer who was wrongly (according to him) accused of abducting a 13-year-old
girl. The book is set in Queensland.
The author is also the co-writer of several best sellers with
James Patterson.
Ed: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
This an enthralling historical novel about two women, a
female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War
1 and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947.
This is a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.
January 2019
Santa Sack: come
along and tell us about a book you read over the Festive Season
