Hello again! July and August are the months when we get on with holidays, enjoying our gardens – even though it rained so much this year – and reading from our very personal ‘to be read’ piles. What a wide variety of books were enjoyed! We shared our views and, naturally, we drifted into opinion and discussion, as is usual when a group of book lovers get together.
What we’ve been reading
Liz had an armful of books she’d enjoyed. Starting with a book that several of us read, ‘The Grief House‘ by Rebecca Thorne. It was certainly different as with little knowledge of tarot cards, she found it to be a fascinating read. The setting during the floods on the Somerset Levels made it appealing. Lots of interesting opinions, some loving the whole book and others disagreeing on different aspects. Rebecca will be at the Yeovil Library as part of the Yeovil Literary Festival on Saturday 19th October. Visit the event website for full details and to buy tickets.
Liz enjoyed four more books by authors attending the festival. Jennie Godfrey’s ‘List of Suspicious Things‘; Samuel Burr’s ‘Fellowship of Puzzle Makers‘; Nikki May’s ‘This Motherless Land‘ and AJ West’s historical novel ‘The Betrayal of Thomas True‘. All these authors will be sharing their books at the forthcoming Yeovil Literary Festival.
This variety of books opened up a discussion on books and readers. Siobhan wanted to be gripped by page 50 or else her interest would be diminished; Ruth did not warm to thrillers. Characters and names were definitely one of the main reasons to continue with a plot as mentioned by Faye and Mark.
Carol had a busy summer reading. Kate Mosse is a favourite author and Carol read three of her good books featuring the Joubert family, followed by ‘The Ghost Ship‘. That novel was also really enjoyed by Theresa.
Carol also re-read Ariana Franklin and Elizabeth Jane Howard’s ‘The Light Years‘, the first of her family saga. She also enjoyed her ‘Classic’ – ‘Pride and Prejudice‘ by Jane Austen. Others she read were ‘American Wife‘ by Curtis Sittenfeld, and ‘The Governess‘ by Wendy Holden – revealing an aspect of the life of Royal Governess Miss Crawford. Phew! What a wide range of reading she enjoyed!
Siobhan wasn’t quite so enamoured with Tom Hindle’s second novel, ‘Murder on Lake Garda‘, having enjoyed his previous novel. It was a good holiday read though.
Siobhan did highly recommend a ‘monumental read’ entitled ‘Brotherless Night‘ by V. V. Ganeshananthan, set in Sri Lanka in the 1980s. There is a very interesting YouTube interview on the Waterstones site. This novel was written over ten years weaving a story of a family; a humanitarian story. The writing style is breath taking illustrated by it having won the Women’s Prize.
Siobhan also read another excellent read. ‘Demon Copperhead‘ by Barbara Kingslover. Ruth also recommended this book as it is powerfully written. On the other hand, Carol could not feel anything positive about the unrelenting life of this child. My goodness! A good book will always generate discussion – again.
Theresa has ordered ‘The Enlightenment‘ by Sarah Perry, as she has read her other books. This one sounds interesting as astronomy is featured. A lighter read she enjoyed was Jilly Cooper’s ‘Tackle‘, about a football team. She did comment that you can rely on a Jilly Cooper novel giving a good story.
Mark had red Leviathan by Sarah Perry but felt it lacked tension, so it was not for him. He had also read ‘This Motherless Land‘ by Nikki May saying it was excellent. We all want it to become a film now!
Sandra highly recommended ‘The Square of Sevens‘ by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. We, as a book group, had read Laura’s previous novel ‘Blood and Sugar‘, so on Sandra’s advice we will all read her latest novel for this month’s book. She had also read ‘The Story Collector‘ by Evie Woods and called it an excellent read. She mentioned that it helps if you believe in fairies!
Sandra’s third book ‘The Housekeepers‘ by Alex Hay she described as intriguing and humorous. This book she highly recommended and thought it would be good as a film or TV programme.
Ruth was welcomed into our group and she has read some excellent books. Benjamin Myers is a favourite author of hers as he writes historical novels she describes as “magical”. She has read many of them. ‘The Perfect Golden Circle‘ was a good read and she talked about Cuddy – St Cuthbert the hermit on Lindisfarne – and thought ‘The Offering‘ was an excellent read. Ben Myers sounds like an author we would all enjoy.
Faye always listens to audible books while she paints. This time the book that we all read did not appeal but, there is always next month’s choice to look forward to. Faye did read ‘Educated‘ by Tara Westover, ‘The Tennis Champion Who Defeated The Nazis‘ by Felice Hardy, which she really enjoyed, and ‘None Of This Is True‘ by Lisa Jewell, which she did not warm to.
Next Month’s Reads
Our chosen books to read over this coming month and to discuss when we meet on Tuesday 8th October are:
- ‘The Square of Sevens‘ by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
- ‘This Motherless Land‘ by Nikki May.
The reviews of people who had read these two books have whetted our appetite so all of us have chosen now to read them. I feel another discussion coming along!
Next Meeting
We meet again at 12 noon on Tuesday 8th October in the Lounge at Westlands Entertainment Venue. You are welcome to join us and we will see everyone there!