Friends, book discussions, food matching and food sharing. A private book group. Warning: may contain spoilers.
Sometime in October 2021
No meeting for this one and, possibly, not many readers.
Sabine really liked it and rolled swiftly on to the next one. I also really enjoyed it - a good, old fashioned spy story. However, Gill C gave up on it and Gill F never started, speaking for many of us when she wrote "I have to confess to falling out of the habit of reading. But I plan a comeback tour in the very near future.".
September 9th, 2021
Present: Jen, Sabine, Gill F, Nic
I was on my own in supporting this one. I danced through the pages, loved her prose, revelled in the atmosphere she invoked of a different era (albeit one I am happy to have dodged). Yes, it is dated but I was nonetheless enchanted by the tale. Others, less so. Jen disliked the “lazy” portrayal of the closed convent, Sabine the characters, Gill was in agreement.
September 9th, 2021
Present: Jen, Sabine, Gill F, Nic
My first draft said I hadn’t read this because everyone had panned it. Now I have to edit it. Damn Kindle - I can barely remember what I’ve read and what I haven’t! Well, it is either Kindle or old age. I am starting to feel like the protagonist in Elizabeth is Missing.
Universally revered by everyone here and, via What’s App, by Nat who declared it a “9/10 book”, “slick”, “dry humour”, “identifiable” and “LOVED IT”. Now that I’ve worked out which book it is, I agree with everything she says. A heart-warming story of adultery, rape, and rail disaster.
April 22, 2021
Present: Sabine, Vanessa, Nic, Gill F, may be Jen?
Ok, so I am recapping (relatively) recent books in reverse order and now I realise THIS is the book everyone was hating, not the next one. I haven’t read this one because early reviews from the group were “unpromising”.
Date: ? It’s a lockdown, people. Every day is the same.
Present: ?
People mostly felt frustrated by the repetition but I think that was probably, mostly, the point. Disappointed to miss the BBC adaptation with Glenda Jackson, I would like to see how they did it. For what it is worth, I rather enjoyed it but I was definitely in the minority.
Some time in January, probably.
Present: who knows?
People generally enjoyed the book. Some more than others and some not as much as other Ann Patchetts. There was a futility to the lives, to the obsession, to the hold that the property had, the shadow that it cast, despite being made of glass, that made the book difficult.
Sometime in December 2020 / January 2021
Present: me, Nathalie, beyond that, I cannot remember
Nathalie found the female voice unconvincing. I wanted a pet donkey. That’s pretty much all I can remember.