We were almost a full house at Margaret's for our February meeting. There were 11 of us - two members were missed but we had three lovely new members, and we were very pleased to welcome them.
We discussed our Secret Santa books and many others that we had read over the past few weeks - my little notepad and I struggled to keep up! Here are some brief notes on some of the books:
The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year by Sue Townsend - funny, thoughtful, brilliant, loved it.
I Do Not Sleep by Judy Finnegan - an easy read, well written.
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta - well written, unusual, thought-provoking, interesting.
Four Meals For Fourpence by Grave Noakes - interesting social history memoir.
The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez - intriguing. Highlights the unfair treatment of women in Afghanistan. The author had a cake shop in Kabul, so could write from experience of living there.
Daughter by Jane Shemilt - liked it, but felt 'enjoyed' wasn't the right word. A daughter is missing, and the events in the book peel off layers of the family relationships.
Moving by Jenny Eclair - too complex, like several books in one. Not as good as Life, Death and Vanilla Slices by the same author.
Emma by Alexander McCall-Smith - good read, well written. Like a modern Jane Austen novel.
Kate Morton books - Distant Hours, The Lake House and The Secret Keeper were all mentioned, several people like these.
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan - about a man who inherits an elephant. Very funny.
The Glass Painter's Daughter by Rachel Hore - very interesting to learn some of the history of glass painting.
The Year I Met You by Cecelia Ahern - refreshingly light. Enjoyable to read about a voyage of discovery.
These are by no means all the books we talked about - it was a very busy evening!
We will be meeting next on 20th April, details will be emailed to members nearer the time. The books we will be discussing (amongst others, no doubt!) are:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (this is our main choice, so please try to read this one if you can. The others are extras)
The Rose of Tibet by Lionel Davidson
Tightrope by Simon Mawer (this is the sequel to The Girl Who Fell to Earth, which we read for Book Club some time ago)
Happy Reading!
