the gathering by anne enright

review by nic

Well it was a struggle to read this, not that it's a difficult read, when I did pick it up I got through it quite quick, it was just bringing myself to read it that was the hard part and though I hate not finishing books, I was sorely tempted a number of times to e-mail round & say that I had had enough...

Also I haven't been in the best frame of mind recently so this was not really what I needed, but I only have myself to blame for that, hopefully I'll chose better next time! So I found it really quite depressing, it was bad enough that most of the book revolved round collecting Liam's body and the reality of his suicide, but the chapters on Veronica's grandmother Ada and without giving too much away what Lamb Nugent got up to, real or imagined, made me feel quite uncomfortable, though I guess this was the desired effect.

So moving on, I'm now reading Escape by Carolyn Jessop, which although is also not a happy read its a fascinating memoir on life born into the cult of FLDS and how she eventually escaped. The Jon Krakauer book Under the Banner of Heaven, which I read just before Xmas got me interested in this strange religion (if it can be called that) & to think this sort of thing goes on in modern day America is quite scary. I do prefer reading non-fiction to fiction though the great thing about a book club is it encourages a more diverse reading than one would normally.

the whaleboat house by mark mills

Review by Katie

The second installment for our book club is Whaleboat House by Mark Mills. I have to admit that I read this book a while ago now (November?) and can hardly remember it - I have had to skim read the first few chapters to remind myself what the book is about - probably a sign that this isn't the most thought-provoking book ever written. It is a mystery set on the NE coast of the USA, where the traditional fishing communities live side-by-side with the rich weekenders from New York. The book was written by a British author, but actually on reading the book it felt like it was written by an American. I did enjoy the book - I thought the book was very well written, unlike most detective books, although the characters aren't particularly memorable. I recommended this book on the strength of Savage Garden, a recent best-seller this summer by the same author, which I preferred.

On another note, since the birth of my baby last Summer I have read at least 20+ books (all those long hours breast-feeding). I thought I would share with you my top 10 (in no particular order) - all of which I can highly recommend: Behind the scenes at the museum, Case Histories and One good turn - all by Kate Atkinson, who writes great books with very memorable and credible characters; Restless, Fascination and Any Human Heart, all by William Boyd; the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield; the House at Riverton; Mission Song, by John Le carre; and Savage Garden by Mark Mills.

Atonement Book Review

at last! i finished this book. yes, it took a bit longer than i had anticipated but i think i was deliberately reading slowly so as to savour every word. it's beautifully written and it was a really enjoyable read, very atmospheric, almost filmic in style.

confession, i have never read any of mcewan's books before and i think i chose this title precisely because of that but also i love books about world war 1 and 2. these wars in particular had such an impact on society and everything changed which i find fascinating to read about.

you might criticize this book's pace as it did seem slow at first but i would argue that it was essential to set the scene, deliberately building up the expectation of the crime. we sense something big is going to happen and is the main theme of the work but i loved the unexpected turn this book took, i hate being able to predict the ending.

this book has definitely whetted my appetite for more mcewan novels although some reviews i read briefly seem to suggest that this is not a typical mcewan novel, any thoughts?

suggestions please

i want to change my photo in my profile but can't think of anything. any suggestions?

coming soon..

online bookclub and the first book is Atonement by Ian McEwan. Feel free to join in and post your comments or add suggestions for the next book.

surrealism

ok so now i live in england again. that's why i have been unable to talk for 6 months, i'm still getting over the shock or it could be, according to my profile, that i am in fact 251 years old. that might explain why i feel so tired.

anyway, just checking in to see if anybody still looks at this although i probably wouldn't. although i managed to reclaim this page and am now the proud owner of a shiny new google account, the fact that i cannot remember my old password could be a problem. oh well, check in again next week and all may be revealed..or not.

if anybody asks me how i am these days, this is what i want to reply. we move in less than 3 weeks. yes, we are excited, yes, we are sad to go, we will miss our friends here and our house. this is where our son was born but we have happy memories here. i really won't miss the snow or the cold. looking forward to being closer to family and old friends. really quite excited, just a little stressed.