Peter Goldsworthy grew up in various Australian towns, finishing his school in Darwin. After graduating from Medicine at the University of Adelaide in 1974, he worked for many years in drug and rehabilitation. Since then he has divided his time equally between writing and general practice. He has won many literary awards.
MAESTRO:
This was his first novel, written in 1989. Maestro is the coming of age story of Paul Crabbe. The novel is written as a memoir and focuses on his relationship with his piano teacher.
VAL: Val said it was being read at school when she was teaching. The descriptions of Darwin were beautiful but felt it became a young adult book. That's when it lost her. She liked the piano teacher and the boy, but more when he was older and married. She said it was a good book - not great and a bit patchy.
ROSEMARIE: She discovered it's called Bildungsroman which is a literary genre of youth to adulthood where character change is extremely important. She also loved the Darwin scenes. Rosemarie also liked Paul's parents. It draws on biographical details of his life. She also said it was a good book but not great.
CONNIE: She thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the descriptions of Darwin. Connie didn't mind the 16 year old version of Paul. She felt it was typical of his age. She said it was beautifully written and would like to read more of Peter Goldsworthy.
WENDY: She liked the way the boy accepted he would be a 2nd rate pianist and also the truth about the piano teacher. Wendy really enjoyed it and said it was a good book.
PAT: She thoroughly enjoyed it as well and will read more of Peter Goldsworthy's books. Pat would have liked to have known more about Paul when he was older.
JOAN: She felt she was there in Darwin. The descriptions were great. She felt that he didn't round off the ending so it was a bit rough. She wanted to read more of his books.
JUDY 1: She also enjoyed the book.She appreciated the length of the book and said it was just enough to tell the story. There were lots of contrasts, Darwin, Vienna, Adelaide. Judy hadn't read this author before. She particularly liked the bits about Adelaide as she grew up there.
CHARIS: Student was searching for answers and the answer was in one line at the end "You don't understand, they were our friends". Charis sensed it was a high school theme with the boy reaching a sexual crescendo.
PAMELA: She said the other theme to consider was that of belief, judgment and reality. His style interested her. First impressions were misleading which is what the whole book is about with Paul making terrible judgements about Keller, the piano teacher. Pamela said she loved the irony and the style made the book for Pamela
PAULINE: She felt the same. Pauline loved the wit between the parents and Paul. They came across as eccentric. The descriptions of Darwin were spot on. The ending was abrupt. It felt like he didn't know where to go but she said it was a good read and beautifully written.
THREE DOG NIGHT:
This book was published in 2003. It is set in Adelaide. Martin Blackman, a psychiatrist returns to Adelaide after 10 years in London. He has never been happier but a shadow falls across that happiness when he introduces Lucy, his English wife to his childhood friend, Felix and finds Felix changed beyond recognition. It's a story of love and jealousy which takes them into the central Australian desert. It was shortlisted for a Miles Franklin Award.
DIANE: She did not like the book but had to read it all to find out how it ended but she didn't find out anything. Diane said the three dog night referred to an aboriginal saying about how many dogs you need to sleep next to just to keep warm - 2 dogs or 3 dogs depending on how cold it was.
JULIA: She did not like it all. Julia enjoyed the writing but didn't like the theme.
ED: She really enjoyed the style. She said it was descriptive. Ed started to like the characters but eventually didn't like them.
TAM: Tam said it was a good read but she was annoyed with the characters.
BEV: She said there were weird things all twisted in together. She did not finish the book.
KRIS: The book was well written and difficult to put down but the characters became very unlikable and very frustrating. The ending was also a bit disappointing, leaving you up in the air.
WISH:
This 1995 controversial novel has a story like no other. It explores the relationship between animals and humans - how different are we?
JUDY 4: The story is about a teacher who was born to deaf parents. He learns sign language. As an adult he gets divorced and then lives with his parents. He meets a couple who have a mute girl under their guardianship. He is invited to their home and finds out their daughter is a gorilla. She read it through to the end but couldn't believe it was going to be that bad. She is finished with the author.
DIANN: She found it very difficult as there is a lot about signing - so disruptive. She found it extremely frustrating. The main character is an "oddball". Diann said it didn't involve the reader. She found it depressing and gave up after 30 pages.
HONK IF YOU ARE JESUS:
This book was first published in 1992. It is set in Adelaide in 1994. Infertility expert and gynaecologist, Mara Fox is disillusioned with her work, her life, everything. Mara soon gets a top job that proves to have dire consequences.
JO: At Adelaide Hospital where Mara works, abortions are performed like a production line. She decides to go to Bible College. An American couple with plenty of money run the college. They keep experimenting with cloning. Jo said it had a science fiction feel and it was over the top.
CHARIS: She also read it and thought Mara was brought in to fertilize the religious leader's wife with DNA collected from the cross of Jesus. The religious leader was sterile. Charis said it beautifully describes the rainforest.
JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM:
This novella was published in 1998. It is a moving tale of loss and the relationship between a parent and a child. It poses moral and spiritual issues when the daughter of a religious couple gets an incurable disease.
JUDY 4: The story is about a couple, Richard and Linda who met as teenagers and married at University. They were considered an ideal couple, white middle class with a charmed life until their daughter aged 3 has to have treatment for leukemia. At 6 years old it returns and she has to have palliative care. Judy liked his writing, his directness and simplicity. Judy found the decision at the end of the book horrific. The book explores suffering and pain.
JOAN: She said it was a beautiful book and easy to read.
IN APRIL WE WILL BE READING BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR MARGARET ATWOOD
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
FEBRUARY ~ Lloyd Jones
Lloyd Jones was born in 1955 in Lower Hutt,
New Zealand, a place which has become a frequent setting and subject for his
subsequent works of fiction. He studied at
Victoria University, and has worked as a journalist and consultant as well as a
writer. The novels we have chosen to read are Choo Woo (1998), Mr Pip
(2007), A History of Silence. A Memoir (2013) and Hand Me Down World (2010)
Mr
Pip won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker.
Choo Woo
BEV: Worst book she’s ever read. Felt ill
reading it. It was about the sexual molestation of a teenage girl, the mother
knows but does nothing.
JULIA: Only read up to pg 41, couldn’t finish
it. Written from the
perspective of the father of a 12 year old who has been abused by her de-facto stepfather.
CLARIS: There was no character development to
support the storyline.
Choo
woo is their ‘baby talk’ when the stepfather violates the 12 year old girl.
Felt
unnerved by the book, being led into voyeurism by the author, the voyeur.
Mr Pip
On
a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled
with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind; the
eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the
ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the children each day from Charles
Dickens’s classic Great Expectations.
CLARIS:
Wishes she had read Great Expectations before
picking up this book.
Although the ending is not woven that well into the
book, thought the writing was an improvement on Cho Woo.
DENISE:
Moral of the story was ‘honesty’. You see all the
lies that are told and the problems they create. People are being dishonest
about what they want their lives to be.
Had some resistance to reading it, but once started,
actually liked it.
PAMELA:
An excellent book and the ending is very good.
Themes include the power of the narrative and the
resilience of the human spirit.
On the negative side, identification can be
dangerous.
SHEILA:
Had a personal interest knowing one of the Bouganvillian
rebels who negotiated with Australia. Thought the author took the basis of the
book from newspapers etc. Didn’t think he had done much research.
Beautiful book. Mr Pip is a natural teacher, taught
the children how to think. They were uneducated, only knowing village life.
JOAN:
Set in
a village on the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville during a brutal civil
war there in the 1990s. Huge copper mine has been opened changing forever the
idyllic life of the islanders.
Thought
the simplicity of description of the atrocities needed further explanation.
DIANN:
Liked
it and highly recommends it.
When
the war began, the children needed a diversion. Mr Watts took them to the age
of “Great Expectations”, a time of stability and different from island life.
WENDY 2:
Not
enamored with it so didn’t finish it. No depth of characters.
JUDY 4:
Lyrical,
beautifully written. There was brutality, simply written, but it hit you when
it came. Made you want to find out more about the area and the conflict of that
time.
WENDY 1:
Simple
language contrasts with the turmoil of life. No much growth in the characters
but fairly well explored.
Enjoyed
it but can see how it strikes people differently.
A History
of Silence
JOAN:
Laboured
to get into his family history. Thought short story writing would be better for
him.
PAT:
Hard
to get into. Writing was boring, his background was boring. Only interested by
one chapter, the story of his mother and grandmother.
JUDY 3:
Loved
it, word pictures were beautiful. You could feel the emotions and see the
scenes especially after the devastation of Christchurch. As the city rebuilds
he sees the need to trace his own roots.
Story
was scratchy in parts, but so was Christchurch.
JO:
Confusing,
but a good read. Interesting reading about Christchurch earthquake.
CONNIE:
His
description of the earthquake and how it affected him gave a great insight into
what it was like then. So he looks for his own family.
Felt
sorry for him – had no joy in his life or family. Felt he didn’t give enough
detail about family members and seemed to give up too easily while researching.
DIANNE:
Author
needed to chase up his own family, hence the title.
Depressing,
he knows more about the history of their dogs than the people in the family.
Found
it annoying that he flips around from one person to another.
Hand Me
Down World
A woman washes ashore in Sicily. She has come from North Africa to find
her son, taken from her when he was just days old by his father and stolen away
to Berlin. With nothing but her maid's uniform and a knife stashed in a plastic
bag, she relies on strangers to guide her passage north. These strangers tell
of their encounters with a quiet, mysterious woman in a blue coat each account
a different view of the truth. But her sacrifices won’t be fully understood
until she retells her own story as the conclusion to the novel.
BEV:
Easy
to read with an interesting approach to the story. Each of the narrators has
their own chapter as they tell of their experience with Ines. The ending is
told in an unusual way in the last chapter.
PAULINE:
Enjoyed
it. Different people tell different parts of the story. Her chapters tell the
complete story, connecting up these earlier ones. Some narratives were
unreliable.
The
writing was sparse and simple, but there was a lot of power to this story.
ROSEMARY:
Book
of 2 halves, 2 versions of the same story.
Applicable
today with the refugee situation around the world.
It’s
a mother’s tale of determination. The ending was not necessarily a happy one.
TAM:
Having
read it twice, gained so much more about each character. Same stories but told
from different perspectives. The author uses his characters to express social
issues.
LINDA:
Hard
to get to know the main protagonist, Ines.
Shows
the length a mother would go to find her child.
Interesting
book, hard to say if enjoyed it or not.
JUDY 1:
Enjoyed
the book. Like a collection of short stories featuring many different
characters. Quote from a recommendation for the book- “….how the
disenfranchised accept the world as it is handed to them, on the weakness of
men, on the deeply moving kindness of strangers, and on the power of maternal
love”
Paint Your
Wife (2004)
PRUE:
Seems
different from his other books. Set in country NZ, the men have gone to war,
and the paint factory has closed. One man who did not go to war, goes around
sketching and painting the wives left behind. When the husbands return, there
is trouble.
Not
much depth of characters, no social issues, just a rollicking good yarn.
VAL:
Recommended
a new book tipped to be ‘best fiction book published this year’.
Adrian
McKinty is an Irish author who now lives in Australia. His latest in the Sean
Duffy series is called Police at the Station and They
Don’t Look Friendly. Looking forward to reading it!
Join us for upcoming Third
Thursday Book Club discussions.
MARCH ~ Peter Goldsworthy
APRIL ~ Margaret Attwood
MAY ~ Mothers - your own selection
JUNE ~ Classic Australian books
JULY ~ Jane Austen (not Emma)
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
JANUARY, 2017 - BOOKS WE READ OVER THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
DECEMBER ~ Best books of the year.
We concluded another very successful and enjoyable year of our Third Thursday Book Club with a chance for everyone to share their thoughts on the "Best Book" they had read this year.
JULIA ~ THE LAST CAMEL DIED AT NOON by ELIZABETH PETERS This is the 3rd book in this series of murder mysteries set in Egypt in the 18th century. Amelia Peabody is the main character, but the books also feature her amazing husband and their children. There are about 20 books in this easy to read series.
BEV ~ THE CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK from the same series. She also has read several other titles, enjoying them all. Amelia Peabody was a spinster, who after inheriting money travels to Egypt, to indulge her passion for Egyptology. Not only does she meet her future husband but becomes involved in a murder. Great fun to read said Bev.
JUDY 3 ~ ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE by ANTHONY DOERR Described as beautifully written book, it tells the story of 2 children during WW2. One is a young German boy, Werner, who is selected to join the Hitler Youth as he has a penchant for, and an uncanny expertise with radio. The other is a young bling girl who father works at The Museum of Natural History. Eventually their paths converge in St Marlo when the Germans invade Paris. Thoroughly recommended by Judy.
PRU ~ LAST WORDS by MICHAEL KORY This author writes crime/suspense stories with a supernatural twist. While Pru recommends his books, she thought this title was disappointing.
TAM ~ DI MORRISSEY is one of Tam’s favourite authors. She likes the fact that her books are set in an Australian location and follow a well-tried formula. They usually involve an environmentalist, a journalist, a romantic interest and a bad guy trying to destroy the environment. Always a good holiday read.
PAULINE ~ THE ESSEX SERPENT by SARAH PERRY Published in Aug 2016, this historical novel is set in Victorian London and an Essex village in the 1890s. Two very different people fall in love despite their opposing opinion about the rumours of the possible return of the Essex Serpent from the marshes. Pauline loved the beautiful language, descriptions of the countryside and thought it had a slightly Gothic feel to it. She really enjoyed it.
CONNIE ~ THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH by DONNA LEON Having been introduced to the Inspector Brunetti books by another Book Club member, Connie has now read the whole series and eagerly awaited this most recent published title. She loves the books because of the descriptions of the city of Venice, their way of life in the city, their food, the family and seeing how things grow and change through the years. She has also bought a recipe book featuring many of the dishes described in the stories and referencing them to the featured book.
DIANN ~ A TOWN LIKE ALICE by NEVILLE SHUTE The book is based on the true story of a group of women who were forced to march through the jungles on an island in Malaya. Diann described it as a ‘gem of a read’ and relates to the good values expressed and intertwined with a tale of love.
JUDY J ~ THE ICE CREAM MAKERS by ERNEST VAN DER KWAST Translated form the Dutch, it tells the story of 4 generations of ice cream makers who live in the mountains of Italy. They spend each summer in Rotterdam selling ice creams and creating new flavours. It describes the fate of 2 bothers whose lives take very different course, one slaves all day over an ice cream machine while the other travels the world as a poet. An interesting twist brings them together but under unexpected circumstances. Many good moments in the story.
SHEILA ~ IN TOO DEEP by JAYNE ANN KRENTZ This story, one from the Arcane Society series, is described by Sheila as an easy, good fun, holiday read. Set 400 years ago, the people have paranormal powers and use these to protect others like them against people who want to lock them up. The books are well written and interesting because they are different.
CHARIS ~ THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD by SIMON WINCHESTER This book tells the story of William Smith, who in 1793, found that by tracing the placement of fossils uncovered during his diggings, he could map the layers and the underside of the London and its surrounds. An amazing and fascinating story.
JOAN ~ ROBIN DE CRESPIGNY’S poignant letter to a long-dead family member. It recalls a birthday cake, a significant friendship and a betrayal. This story was originally written for a Women of Letters event at the Ubud Writers Festival.
JUDY 4 ~ MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON by ELIZABETH STROUT Exquisitely written, melancholy language, painfully sad, this short book was thoroughly recommended by Judy. It’s a story about the emotional complexity of family life and the inescapable power of the past. Lucy wakes up in a hospital to find her estranged mother by her side!
LESLEY ~ THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS by M L STEDMAN Tom returns as a hero from the horrors of WW1, but due to his emotionally damaged state, takes on a Lighthouse Keeper’s position for the much needed peace and quiet. He meets and marries Isabel and begins a wonderful life on the island. After she suffers several miscarriages, a boat washes up with a baby inside. Despite Tom’s misgivings, they keep the baby. But after subsequent trips to the mainland they face the moral conundrum and consequences for their decision. Lesley enjoyed the story. The film based on the book has recently been released.
WENDY ~ THE GOOD PEOPLE by HANNAH KENT This is the author’s 2nd book and set in Ireland in 1825. The ‘good people’ are the fairies and are the only explanation the people have to explain tragedies and accidents that befall them. They have no education or contact with the outside world. Wendy loved the book, and commented that the writing made you feel like you were there; the setting, the environment and the characters were so well described.
ROSEMARY also enjoyed the book but didn’t feel as though it reach the heights of the author’s first book, Burial Rites. Her current book is also based on a true event.
KRIS ~ MY BRILLIANT FRIEND by ELENA FERRANTE This is the first book in the series about 2 young girls, Elena and Lila who grew up in Naples in the 1960s. The culture and the neighbourhood were violent and education not encouraged. But Elena goes on to pursue her studies while Lila follows the norm and marries at a very young age. The book follows their friendship through the early years of their lives. They are separated for long periods but are co-dependent on each other. Kris loved the series.
LAURA - JUMPING THE
QUEUE by Mary Wesley.
Matilda, recently widowed and not close to her adult
children, decides to clean up house, pack a picnic and commit suicide.
Unfortunately an obnoxious teen arrives at her picnic and spoils the scene.
Then she sees a man about to jump off a bridge. Matilda talks him out of
jumping, takes him home and a new phase of life starts. The story is told with
humour even as tragedy is revealed. A good, character driven story.
PAT - Audio -
Marriages of Opposites by Alice Hoffman.
Set on the idyllic island of St Thomas, during the 1700's,
the story is about a young, educated woman - unusual for the time - who is
forced into marrying a widower with 3 children. All to save her father's
business. When the husband dies 10 years later, his nephew takes over the
business. There is no place for Women's rights. Eventually the female heroine
has a scandalous affair with the nephew and finally marries him, producing many
children. One is the famous painter Camille Pissarro. This book is a good read
about relationships and women's rights.
ANNE - Kingdom of
Strangers by Zoe Ferraris.
19 bodies are found in the desert, all arranged in a
particular way that send a hidden message. There is a serial killer out there. Set in Saudi
Arabia, this book is about the harsh world of immigrant workers and the secrets
hidden behind the veils of the country. A good story.
THE DRY - JANE
HARPER.
A murder/mystery set in a fictious Victorian town. Federal
police officers attend a murder/suicide - and the detective realises the victim
was a friend 20 years previously - and they shared a secret. Returning to the small town opened up old wounds for
the detective. An interesting story with a twist.
JO - FAMOUS FIVE -
Enid Blyton.
Jo loves reading all the books in the series, she grew up
with them and they are close to her heart.
DENISE - Mary, called
Magdalene by Margaret George.
The book is about the travels of Mary Magdalene as she grows
into adulthood. She was a single woman amongst men, the disciples, and so the
Catholic Church labelled her a prostitute. Mary was not stoned, but she was
vilified by the townspeople. The book is very moving, poignant and simply
beautiful.
VAL - A SPY AMONG
FRIENDS; Kim Philby and The Great
Betrayal. Ben MacIntyre.
Kim Philby came from a
privileged background, wealthy, educated, good connections. He was charming,
intelligent, married, loved socialising and liked to drink. But he fooled
everyone as he was a spy - giving information to the KGB. Philby rose to become
head of British counter intelligence during the Cold War. He was best friends
with Nick Elliott, and he along with many others in MI5 unwittingly provided
vital information that Philby fed to Russia. Eventually, as the net closed on
him he confessed and fled to Russia. So many colleagues and friends were
shocked, confused and horrified over his actions, not only for what he did but
how they were all so fooled by him
Sunday, November 20, 2016
NOVEMBER - BOOKS ABOUT AFGHANISTAN
THE PEARL THAT BROKE IT'S SHELL BY NADIA HASHIMI
CONNIE: She did not enjoy this novel. She got weary reading about the terrible violence. The story is about one woman and her great,great-grandmother. Connie said they might as well have put it in two books. Although she sympathized with what is going on there she couldn't cope with it but she did finish the book.
DENISE: She normally hates books like this but she actually enjoyed this one. It's all about women being treated badly. It saddened her that this goes on. Denise couldn't understand why the mother in law treated the young wife badly when she had been treated badly by her mother in law.
JO: She found it very depressing that people live like that. Jo said " it's not normal". She did read the whole book.
JUDY 3: She did enjoy (not love) this story about women in Afghanistan. The two main characters are Rahima and Shekiba who live in different centuries but live remarkably similar lives. Both grow up in all girl families. Shekiba, having lost the rest of her family to disease, is married off by her uncle, and Rahima and two of her sisters are sold off as brides to strangers to pay off a debt of her father. Their bid to escape from their situations is the basis of this story. Interwoven with their stories we get a picture of how life in Afghanistan changes and how much it remains the same. Judy said she found it difficult at first to cope with the foreign names but once she was past the first few chapters the story had her entranced. Judy said the writing was not always to her taste and she probably would not read another one of her novels. She preferred Khaled Hosseini's books.
ROSEMARIE: She agreed with what everyone else had said about the book. Rosemarie enjoyed the book but felt bad about it.
KRIS: The story begins in Kabul in 2007. The Taliban rule the streets. Rahima and her sisters live in a village outside of Kabul with warlords holding most of the power. Their father is addicted to drugs. Their mother, with encouragement from her older sister, decides to use the ancient custom of Bacha Posh. This will allow Rahima to shop at the market for her and hopefully escort her sisters to school. Bacha Posh allows a girl to dress as a boy until she reaches marriageable age. Interwoven with Rahima's story is the story of Shekiba, Rahima's great great grandmother who was also a Bach Posh in the early part of the 20th century. Kris did not like the way women were treated but admired the young women's strength. She enjoyed the book as it was a very interesting story.
WHEN THE MOON IS LOW BY NADIA HASHIMI
JUDY 4: This is another novel written by Nadia Hashimi. Fareiba marries Mahmoud after her mother dies in labour. Fareiba learns to love Mahmoud but he is murdered when the Taliban comes in to the village. Fereiba and her three children are forced to travel to safety. Judy felt for their plight. The story portrays refugee camps in Europe and she felt for the people who were seeking safety for their families. Saleem, Fereiba's teenage son becomes separated from them in Greece.
PRUE: She has had a very busy month so Prue did not have time to read this book but read the blurb on the back. It's an expose of conditions in Afghanistan. Kabul used to be very ancient, then modern and then turned around again.
DI: She didn't think she was a good writer but a good storyteller. Di had sympathy with the protagonist and her family. They didn't want to go to Turkey as they considered it had one foot in Europe and one in Asia. Saleem, the teenage son gets separated and tries to get across to England. Di's sympathy went with them all trying to get to England rather than other places along the way. She wouldn't recommend the book.
DIANN: She also read this book but felt differently as Fareiba was living a happy life and then the Taliban comes in and throws everything up in the air. Her husband is murdered. Diann was glad she read the book and said it's an insight.
LESLEY: The story is abut belief, religion and family and how all that pans out. It's written in the first person of Fereiba, the mother. This is the stronger part of the story but then it swaps to the third person when she's separated from her teenage son, Saleem. This is the weaker part of the story. The story is about displaced people, their traditions and superstitions that guide their life and the will to survive. Lesley didn't particularly like it or not like it.
3 PARA by PATRICK BISHOP
VAL: This is a true story set in Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. Patrick Bishop is a war correspondent and Val said it was well written. It's about the different tribes and ethnic groups and the country has been at war for a long time. The Taliban came in from Pakistan. After 2001 they routed them out but then they were back again quite strongly. 3 Para refers to the British parachute regiment sent to Helmand province, south of Afghanistan. Their task was to keep the engineers safe while they were reconstructing the villages. The temperatures were around 50 degrees. The villagers appeared quite friendly but these fellows had been in Ireland so they felt a sense of unease. It was a good book.
FROM UNDER A LEAKY ROOF BY PHIL SPARROW
WENDY: This book is non fiction. Phil Sparrow is an experienced UN aid worker and this book is about the Afghan refugees in Australia. The book is in the form of interviews with refugees. They are mostly a tribal society. Afghanistan is a western construction with Russian, American and British intervention. Wendy said the stories were quite moving and revealing.
THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHANA by GAYLE TZEMACH-LEMMON
SHEILA: This book is non fiction. The author is a journalist from Europe. It is written in the form of personal interviews. Many men had fled Khair Khana, a suburb of Kabul and the Taliban controlled all aspects of the lives of the women left behind. Their lives are miserable. Kamila Sidiqi has a teaching degree but is banned from teaching. As she is the sole breadwinner for her siblings, she takes up dressmaking and eventually has about 100 women working for her in secret. Sheila found a lot of the book boring.
Sheila also read UNDERGROUND GIRLS OF KABUL by JENNY NORDBERG
This is another true account. The author is a New York based foreign correspondent who broke the story of the Bacha Posh in 2010. Bacha Posh is where a daughter is raised and presented to the world as a son until menstruation. In the Dari language it means dressed as a boy. Sheila said this book was better written.
KITE RUNNER by KHALED HOSSEINI
PAMELA: It is a story about a boy named Amir who lives with his wealthy father in Afghanistan. Amir is constantly trying to win his father's love.They are Suni. They have two servants, Ali and his son, Hassan. They are Hazaras, an ethnic minority. The boys are best friends but there is a lot of prejudice against Hazaras by Suni's. The boys enter the annual kite running contest and when Hassan is attacked by some Suni boys, Amir doesn't help. Amir is racked by guilt. Pamela thought Amir was a very unpleasant child. When things change in Afghanistan the family have to get out of Kabul through Pakistan and finally go to America. Unbelievable coincidences in the story prevented Pamela from reading the rest of the book. Pamela did not like the book.
THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by KHALED HOSSEINI
BEV: This novel was written after Kite Runner. The title is from an Afghani poem. The main character is an illegitimate 15year old girl called Mariam. Russia is invading Afghanistan. The Taliban has taken over the villages. Mariam is forced to marry a 40 year old when her mother commits suicide. Her husband is cruel but when she miscarries a few times he becomes worse because she doesn't produce a son. The villagers are nice to her. When the parents of a little girl from the village are killed by a bomb the little girl becomes part of Mariam's family.
JULIA: Julia also read this book. She enjoyed it and said there wasn't a lot of descriptions of violence. The book was more about relationships.
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH by ERIC NEWBY
PAULINE: Eric Newby is an English travel writer and this is an autobiographical account of his adventures in the Hindu Kush, north of Nuristan in Afghanistan. He went on a trip with his friend Hugh. They made out they were mountaineers. They go through Turkey and find a body on the road. They get arrested, delayed by two days and when allowed to leave they go to Kabul. There are quite good descriptions of the countryside. They make a couple of attempts to go up the mountains. They end up with dysentry. Pauline said it's an amusing book and nicely written.
It was a nice book to end with after most of our harrowing stories.
In DECEMBER we will be discussing the best book we have read this year.
CONNIE: She did not enjoy this novel. She got weary reading about the terrible violence. The story is about one woman and her great,great-grandmother. Connie said they might as well have put it in two books. Although she sympathized with what is going on there she couldn't cope with it but she did finish the book.
DENISE: She normally hates books like this but she actually enjoyed this one. It's all about women being treated badly. It saddened her that this goes on. Denise couldn't understand why the mother in law treated the young wife badly when she had been treated badly by her mother in law.
JO: She found it very depressing that people live like that. Jo said " it's not normal". She did read the whole book.
JUDY 3: She did enjoy (not love) this story about women in Afghanistan. The two main characters are Rahima and Shekiba who live in different centuries but live remarkably similar lives. Both grow up in all girl families. Shekiba, having lost the rest of her family to disease, is married off by her uncle, and Rahima and two of her sisters are sold off as brides to strangers to pay off a debt of her father. Their bid to escape from their situations is the basis of this story. Interwoven with their stories we get a picture of how life in Afghanistan changes and how much it remains the same. Judy said she found it difficult at first to cope with the foreign names but once she was past the first few chapters the story had her entranced. Judy said the writing was not always to her taste and she probably would not read another one of her novels. She preferred Khaled Hosseini's books.
ROSEMARIE: She agreed with what everyone else had said about the book. Rosemarie enjoyed the book but felt bad about it.
KRIS: The story begins in Kabul in 2007. The Taliban rule the streets. Rahima and her sisters live in a village outside of Kabul with warlords holding most of the power. Their father is addicted to drugs. Their mother, with encouragement from her older sister, decides to use the ancient custom of Bacha Posh. This will allow Rahima to shop at the market for her and hopefully escort her sisters to school. Bacha Posh allows a girl to dress as a boy until she reaches marriageable age. Interwoven with Rahima's story is the story of Shekiba, Rahima's great great grandmother who was also a Bach Posh in the early part of the 20th century. Kris did not like the way women were treated but admired the young women's strength. She enjoyed the book as it was a very interesting story.
WHEN THE MOON IS LOW BY NADIA HASHIMI
JUDY 4: This is another novel written by Nadia Hashimi. Fareiba marries Mahmoud after her mother dies in labour. Fareiba learns to love Mahmoud but he is murdered when the Taliban comes in to the village. Fereiba and her three children are forced to travel to safety. Judy felt for their plight. The story portrays refugee camps in Europe and she felt for the people who were seeking safety for their families. Saleem, Fereiba's teenage son becomes separated from them in Greece.
PRUE: She has had a very busy month so Prue did not have time to read this book but read the blurb on the back. It's an expose of conditions in Afghanistan. Kabul used to be very ancient, then modern and then turned around again.
DI: She didn't think she was a good writer but a good storyteller. Di had sympathy with the protagonist and her family. They didn't want to go to Turkey as they considered it had one foot in Europe and one in Asia. Saleem, the teenage son gets separated and tries to get across to England. Di's sympathy went with them all trying to get to England rather than other places along the way. She wouldn't recommend the book.
DIANN: She also read this book but felt differently as Fareiba was living a happy life and then the Taliban comes in and throws everything up in the air. Her husband is murdered. Diann was glad she read the book and said it's an insight.
LESLEY: The story is abut belief, religion and family and how all that pans out. It's written in the first person of Fereiba, the mother. This is the stronger part of the story but then it swaps to the third person when she's separated from her teenage son, Saleem. This is the weaker part of the story. The story is about displaced people, their traditions and superstitions that guide their life and the will to survive. Lesley didn't particularly like it or not like it.
3 PARA by PATRICK BISHOP
VAL: This is a true story set in Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. Patrick Bishop is a war correspondent and Val said it was well written. It's about the different tribes and ethnic groups and the country has been at war for a long time. The Taliban came in from Pakistan. After 2001 they routed them out but then they were back again quite strongly. 3 Para refers to the British parachute regiment sent to Helmand province, south of Afghanistan. Their task was to keep the engineers safe while they were reconstructing the villages. The temperatures were around 50 degrees. The villagers appeared quite friendly but these fellows had been in Ireland so they felt a sense of unease. It was a good book.
FROM UNDER A LEAKY ROOF BY PHIL SPARROW
WENDY: This book is non fiction. Phil Sparrow is an experienced UN aid worker and this book is about the Afghan refugees in Australia. The book is in the form of interviews with refugees. They are mostly a tribal society. Afghanistan is a western construction with Russian, American and British intervention. Wendy said the stories were quite moving and revealing.
THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHANA by GAYLE TZEMACH-LEMMON
SHEILA: This book is non fiction. The author is a journalist from Europe. It is written in the form of personal interviews. Many men had fled Khair Khana, a suburb of Kabul and the Taliban controlled all aspects of the lives of the women left behind. Their lives are miserable. Kamila Sidiqi has a teaching degree but is banned from teaching. As she is the sole breadwinner for her siblings, she takes up dressmaking and eventually has about 100 women working for her in secret. Sheila found a lot of the book boring.
Sheila also read UNDERGROUND GIRLS OF KABUL by JENNY NORDBERG
This is another true account. The author is a New York based foreign correspondent who broke the story of the Bacha Posh in 2010. Bacha Posh is where a daughter is raised and presented to the world as a son until menstruation. In the Dari language it means dressed as a boy. Sheila said this book was better written.
KITE RUNNER by KHALED HOSSEINI
PAMELA: It is a story about a boy named Amir who lives with his wealthy father in Afghanistan. Amir is constantly trying to win his father's love.They are Suni. They have two servants, Ali and his son, Hassan. They are Hazaras, an ethnic minority. The boys are best friends but there is a lot of prejudice against Hazaras by Suni's. The boys enter the annual kite running contest and when Hassan is attacked by some Suni boys, Amir doesn't help. Amir is racked by guilt. Pamela thought Amir was a very unpleasant child. When things change in Afghanistan the family have to get out of Kabul through Pakistan and finally go to America. Unbelievable coincidences in the story prevented Pamela from reading the rest of the book. Pamela did not like the book.
THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by KHALED HOSSEINI
BEV: This novel was written after Kite Runner. The title is from an Afghani poem. The main character is an illegitimate 15year old girl called Mariam. Russia is invading Afghanistan. The Taliban has taken over the villages. Mariam is forced to marry a 40 year old when her mother commits suicide. Her husband is cruel but when she miscarries a few times he becomes worse because she doesn't produce a son. The villagers are nice to her. When the parents of a little girl from the village are killed by a bomb the little girl becomes part of Mariam's family.
JULIA: Julia also read this book. She enjoyed it and said there wasn't a lot of descriptions of violence. The book was more about relationships.
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH by ERIC NEWBY
PAULINE: Eric Newby is an English travel writer and this is an autobiographical account of his adventures in the Hindu Kush, north of Nuristan in Afghanistan. He went on a trip with his friend Hugh. They made out they were mountaineers. They go through Turkey and find a body on the road. They get arrested, delayed by two days and when allowed to leave they go to Kabul. There are quite good descriptions of the countryside. They make a couple of attempts to go up the mountains. They end up with dysentry. Pauline said it's an amusing book and nicely written.
It was a nice book to end with after most of our harrowing stories.
In DECEMBER we will be discussing the best book we have read this year.
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