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We are in the process of adding our comments and a rating
for each book.
Books are arranged alphabetically by author's surname.
Ali-Evaristo Faulks-Grenville
Harris-Quinn
Rowling-Zola
Tip: If you hold your 'shift' button when you click on a link, it will open a
new window which might make it easier to keep track of where you are
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Our Comments:
Several of us were hooked on this book from the beginning. We thought that
it was well crafted and a gripping read. Many of the group had read the
back of the book and had not thought it would be any good but were
surprised when they started reading it. Some were not sure about the
character of Charlie and thought she was a bizarre person. Some thought
the loose ends took a long time to tie up. Others felt that the momentum
decreased towards the end, however most would read another of hers. Some
of our group had already read some of her other books and were not sure if
they were written to a formula. The vocabulary in the book was interesting
- lots of words to do with sundials. A well crafted tale of obsession with
some very creepy bits. |
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Our Comments:
Interesting
Enjoyed this one
Great summer holiday read |
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Our Comments: From
this selection of comments, you can see that this one divided the
group! 'Couldn't put it down- one of the best books I've read. Cried
at the end'. 'Easy to read, got wrapped up in the lives of the
characters. OK for a first book'; 'Interesting subject - made me
find our more about leprosy'; 'Annoyed by first chapter - how did it
fit in with rest of book?'; 'Enjoyed style of writing, made me cry,
timeless feeling to life on island'; 'Easy to read, enjoyable';
'Didn't understand why elaborate structure of book was needed. Ok,
but not great book - was disapponted as had expected a better book
from the hype'; 'Didn't go past page 72 - flat characters and
rubbish dialogue. Found changing points of view frustrating'; 'Loved
book and really enjoyed reading it'; 'Appallingly written but a good
story. Little depth, no emotion or passion'; 'Disappointing with
shallow characters'. Our ratings ranged from 1/5 to 4/5. We did make
a donation to Lepra
as a result of reading the book.
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Our Comments:
Good light read
Great…but what a sell out to the film!
OK, superceded in my mind by the film though. Hugh Grant is too much of a
pull!
Interesting relationship between boy with man's responsibilities and man
behaving like a boy |
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Our Comments:
I liked this clever book although it did go on a bit.
Breathtaking…one of the best books I’ve ever read. Owen’s faith is
incredible. Great characters and descriptions
Didn’t finish this one
The description of the nativity scene is one of the funniest things I've
read - but this book also made me cry - thought provoking and very well
constructed |
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Our Comments:
Good read
Quite good
Did not see the point of this book
Read it but wasn't impressed |
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Our Comments:
Despite being distracted by different narrative voices, the span of
history was appealing and the way she worked out the characters has made
them last in my mind.
Yawn
Didn’t finish this one
Loved this book and its epic nature. The different experiences of the
daughters are woven together well. Have researched more on politics of
Congo since reading this book.
Not something I would have picked up in a
million years but I found that I enjoyed it immensely. The historical
facts about the Congo were really interesting and actually added to the
enjoyment. The story told from each girl's perspective in short chapters
made the book easier to read. |
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| Our Comments: Would want
to read another; Liked
the different fonts;
Believable characters; Aunt
Lovey - marvellous; Concept
of the 2 separate identities joined was difficult for some to
imagine and led to thoughts of the meaning of independence;
Baby was a big surprise;
Painful subject but well written, strangely fascinating but reader
didn't feel voyeuristic, like they were watching a freak show; Was
the ending a dream sequence or real?; Cover
misleading; Too
real - felt cheated it wasn't a true story; Some
of the huge issues were skipped over, eg. mother/child;
Very sad because as they grew older they became closer but reader knew
they could not survive for long;
Somehoped that Nick would find the daughter but if it had happened it
would probably have annoyed the reader as it wouldn't have been
plausible;
Aunt Lovey's death very affecting and brilliantly written; Easy
read; A
study in love;
Is fiction so can't end with closure; One
reader had misgivings but was pleasantly surprised;
Could whizz through it; Convinced
they were going to be separated so was disappointed when they weren't;
Rush
Home Road recommended to one of group and quite a few thought they
would read it; Some question as to when it was set. Sepia 50's
or 70's, missed the reference to 1974; Written
with surprising empathy given she isn't a twin nor has she a sister;
Talented writer. Our score 4/5. |
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Our Comments: Many
of us had read this book before, some for pleasure, some for 'O'
level exams. One member was disappointed with her first reading of
the book and found it unexciting, meandering and did not want to
find out what happened. Others were delighted to revisit the book.
We found the prejudice portrayed in the book even more shocking
today. The portrayal of childhood innocence was very cleverly done
and we compared the children's lives in the book to those of our own
children. Some thought that Atticus would make a great real
dad. The book was sensitively written. Several were confused
as to whether scout was a boy or girl to start with and some had not
realised that Harper Lee was female. The slow pace of the book
helped to create the atmosphere but some bits were exciting. The
huge number of characters was confusing at first, but by the end, we
could picture the townsfolk and we cared about them. We were
interested to hear that she had not written any other novels and
wondered if she had a passion for writing or whether the book was
very autobiographical.
Our rating: 1/5 from one member, 4/5
from the rest! |
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Our Comments:
Harrowing – interesting but not enjoyable
How can you criticise such a personal and painful story? I read it by the
pool on holiday surrounded by rich Jewish holiday makers and George Best
– an incongruous experience!
A shocking and distressing account of his experiences that will stay with
me |
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| Our Comments: This
book provoked an interesting discussion about our own aging parents
and how we envisage caring for them. The transition between being
your parents' child and being their carer was also discussed.
Generally, we thought this was a good read and had some funny and
some very tragic moments. Here are some of our comments.
'Entertaining and thought-provoking relationship between daughter
and father'. 'Interesting relationship between the sisters' - some
of us had experienced the sibling rivalry depicted in the book.
''Tractor bits interesting'. 'Hated tractor bits!'. 'Valuable read -
depicted struggles against the system'. 'Interesting read -
challenged my usual reading tastes'. 'Ending is too quick - wanted
more resolution to story'. 'Good turns of phrase but not up to
second reading. Needed to delve deeper into the characters'. 'I was
a war baby - true to life - legacy of the war and attitudes from
this time lives on. True account of appalling treatment of elderly
people'. 'Loved cover design'. 'Was father mad at end?' 'Good
description of fight against the system - lots of sad bits -tractor
book revealed intelligence of father'. 'Why didn't daughters help
more - action took too long. Nadia's husband could have been a
bigger character.' 'A poignant rather than funny story - enjoyed in
a weird sort of way'. 'Mixed feelings about this one - some bits
hysterically funny - others very painful as I am going through
transition to carer for my parents'. Our rating 3.5/5. |
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Our Comments:
If you've known anyone suffering from depression, this will strike lots of
chords.
Again, hard to criticise an autobiographical novel but I did like the way
it was written
Interesting but rather depressing |
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Our Comments:
Glad I had read it but very unbelievable!
Interesting and thought provoking, pushing barriers of reality and belief
Did not dislike it as much as some but found it longwinded and a bit
"fabricated."
Wanted to read it again as soon as I'd finished. Some bits are plain weird
- others magical and beautifully described. |
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Our Comments: An
easy read with wry humour.
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| Our Comments: We enjoyed this book and
thought that children would too. Fantastic descriptions, baddies and
plucky girls. |
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 Susan
in her Peter Pan in Scarlet finery! |
| Our Comments: We heard about the history
of Peter Pan and the importance of the funding that it brings to
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. This, in part, answered
one of our questions which was 'Why revisit Neverland?' We were
not sure if this was actually a book for children - the very fast
pace could be difficult for children to cope with. Themes from Peter
Pan turned up in the sequel and we thought that the author had done
her best to copy a very hard writing style. We wondered if the book
would have been better had the author stuck to her own style. We
were struck by the creepyness of Peter Pan as a character - he was
horrible and sinister. We were not sure if this book stood on its
own and did not know who it was aimed at. It was not the great
adventure we expected it to be. We certainly couldn't see modern
children reading it and enjoying it. Generally, members ploughed
through the book but did not really enjoy it. Overall rating 2/5.
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Our Comments:
I was distracted by the separate sections, i.e.. before, during and after
the War. Did not seem to be a consistent tone. Ending a bit weird?
V interesting
Enjoyed the book but the ending was a bit disappointing
A good read
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Our Comments: We
had mixed feelings about this book. Generally we thought it was easy
to read (but with too much unnecessary swearing!) and did not, as
feared, have too much technical stuff about motorbikes. Some of us
found it difficult to distinguish the two narrators at times as they
both had very similar styles. We were interested in the relationship
between Charley and Ewan - we were surprised that they didn't fall
out with each other more. We thought their relationship seemed like
that of an old married couple. We didn't think this was a typical
travel book -although there were some good cameo portraits of the
people they met, there were few descriptions of the landscape that
they were travelling through. One member said, 'I didn't really get
much of a feel or great descriptions of places,,,,it seemed more,
crash through as many miles as possible without getting stuck'.
Because of the time constraints they were working to, the journey
felt rushed. We were all annoyed by the amount of whingeing that
went on! As one member put it, 'they were two spoilt boys who said
they wanted a tough journey and then moaned when it turned out to be
tough'. They did choose to take the trip and were well equipped for
free on the basis of their celebrity - they then hated it when they
were recognised (or rather when Ewan was recognised - which seemed
to annoy Charley). There was a lot of moaning about missing family
etc - but they had satellite phones so were in contact and surely,
the point of such a journey is that you leave you ordinary world
behind. We thought that the trip was a bit artificial as they were
not on their own but had a cameraman with them and support vehicles
not far away - most people doing such a journey would be on their
own. One member described the book as an adolescent diary rather
than a travel book. Despite these gripes, we thought it was an easy
and interesting read. Most of us had been pleasantly surprised that
it was not a 'bikers book'.
Overall rating:3-4/5 |
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Our Comments:
Several of us were surprised to find that the narrator was female -
we had imagined a male voice. Some were irritated by the lack of
names given to characters and instead we had to rely on house
numbers or physical descriptions. Words used to describe the book in
our discussion were: confusing, disjointed, poetic, impersonal,
irritating, unusual. Some people liked the book, others did not find
in enjoyable. Several were annoyed at the pointless ending and the
fact that there was no conclusion. There were also lots on
unanswered questions in the book: what had happened between the
girl's mother and her mother? Did the girl stay with the boy? What
was the significance of the sets of twins? Some people wanted to
know more about the characters, but others thought that the book
described well the way in which you are familiar with your
neighbours and their habits but might not know anything about their
lives other than they park their car badly, have loud parties or
recycle lots of beer cans. We compared it with a Lowry painting - in
that it was all about everyday life - and a Breugel painting - in
that there was lots going on. Again, we had a split verdict on
the book, with a rating of between 0 and 4, depending on whether
readers had loved or hated it. |
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Our Comments:
So good my bathwater got cold as I couldn’t put it down to get out!
A great romp with an exciting finale
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Our Comments: Most
enjoyed this book though some thought it was too long. Apparently it
is on the list of the most borrowed and most stolen books from
libraries. It reminded us of Atonement. We would be interested to
read a second book but wonder if she has put all her ideas into this
first one.
Overall score: 3.5/5 |
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| Our Comments: Some
of us had read this before and were tackling this large tome for the
second time. We thought that the book was very readable (but slow in
places), gory, violent but well researched. We thought some of the
parts in old French and the battles were a bit 'showy offy' as to
how well she'd done her research. The characters were well drawn.
Will was not charismatic enough. Made us want to visit Carcasonne.
Some liked the time slip between chapters, others found it
confusing. One reader thought that the old story was much better
than the modern day version. Some thought that the book was too long
and were daunted by the size of it. We thought that the review that
called it 'chick lit with A levels' was fairly accurate. Overall an
enjoyable read and a good escapist girls adventure story. Our rating
- between 3-4.5 out of 5. |
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| Our Comments: We
thought the book contained an eclectic array of characters which
were sometimes difficult to keep track of. We thought the book was
very interesting as it was being written at the time of the invasion
and occupation rather than afterwards. It was evident that it was a
work in progress but we thought that she was obviously a masterful
writer with great confidence and literary powers. One reader was
particularly taken with her descriptions of sounds - another by the
description of blossom on a blue spring sky. Several found it
difficult to read with few likeable characters. We all wanted things
to turn out differently for Lucille. All of the aristocratic
characters seemed to be horrible whereas the lower classes were
portrayed as 'plucky'. Our ratings for the book ranged from 2 to 4.5
out of 5. |
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Our Comments:
Some of us thought that the story was very unlikely and were not
aware of the siege of the Japanese embassy that took place in Peru
in 1997 and lasted for 126 days. We thought it was interesting only
to get one side of the events - we never had any idea of what was
happening on the outside- only vague hints from the Red Cross
negotiator. Generally an easy read.
Our rating: 3.5-4 |
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Our
Comments:
Attitudes to this book did seem to depend on whether members had
read some of this author's books before. Those who had read some of
her other books did not think it was one of her best and were a bit
bored with the inevitable courtroom finale. Her books were
suggested as being written to a formula and with very American
attitudes. General comments were that the book as easy to read
despite a confusing beginning with lots of characters introduced
over a short space of time. Most found the book enjoyable and
gripping but the subject matter was quite difficult at times. We
felt that the light writing style was at odds with the shocking and
serious issues raised in the book at times. Some were concerned that
this might trivialise the issues raised in the book. We were
sympathetic towards Jack but felt that he did not do himself any
favours and was perhaps too naive. The ending elicited mixed
feelings: some had predicted it about half way through the book and
were disappointed to find that there wasn't a final extra twist.
Others were surprised at the ending and had not picked up on clues
in the text. We discussed a better ending but don't want to
spoil the plot for others by revealing our alternative! We
wondered at the many Father/daughter relationships in the book and
wondered why the only Mother/daughter one was between a mother and
her dead child. Most members who had not read one of her books
before said that they would try another. Overall rating 4 out of
5. |
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Comments: Many of us had read one or more of her books
before (see above) and this coloured our attitudes to this book.
Most people enjoyed the book but were getting to find her books
predictable and formulaic. We wanted her to tackle something
different. The story was compelling and a page turner but we were
expecting a twist at the end - as in her other books. We were left
to decide whether miracles had taken place for ourselves and some
found all the unanswered questions very annoying. One reader thought
that none of the faiths in the book were treated fairly and that
this subject was too controversial for fiction. We didn't think this
book was as good as some of her others (for example, The Pact).
Overall rating 4 out of 5 (but not many had read it). |
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Our Comments: KD, who led
the discussion on this book, wondered if attitudes to the book might have been
different if it had been presented in a brown paper wrapper with no indication
of the author! Several members of the group said that they found the book funny
in places but then remembered it was Terry Pratchett and so not for them. The
general opinion seemed to be that his books were for 10 yr old boys....something
that KD tried hard to argue against. Some members of the group found the idea of
a book about Death too off putting and did not get very far. The keen eyed
amongst us wished he'd employed a better proof reader. General verdict 3/5. |
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Our Comments:
I took this 'children's book' on holiday very reluctantly but
absolutely loved it and wished I'd had the whole trilogy with me
Can only be read with the other 2
Mind blowing. Too good for children!
Good read but didn’t make me want to read the other 2 in the trilogy |
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Our Comments: This book
provoked some strong reactions from our group. Some enjoyed it
whereas others hated it with a passion! Here are some of the
comments: 'Wanted to slap the main character, didn't like it, didn't
get much idea of other characters'; 'Easy to read but full of
dysfunctional families and a main character with no scruples'; 'Read
the UK equivalent 'may contain nuts' instead, hated this one!'; 'Big
laughs, a good summer read'; 'Tedious, boring'; 'Biggest load of
obscene rubbish I have ever read'; 'Enjoyed it, reasonable read -
accepted it for what it was'; 'Wouldn't give this book suitcase
space, hated everything main character stood for - provoked extremes
of emotion'; 'Good holiday read but far-fetched characters'; 'Very
annoying book. Disappointing, wouldn't read another by this author';
'Didn't want to waste my time reading about these shallow people -
made me feel sick'.
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