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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Wednesday, 5 February, 2014 - First Meeting for 2014



Wow! The holidays went by quickly and here we are again at the start of a new year.  The first meeting of the year is always special for everyone is usually relaxed after Christmas and New Year festivities and we share the books that we have read over the holls.

Je had moved just before the year ended and today was our first visit to her new place! So exciting! The weather was beautiful - a pleasant cool summer as we gathered together around the dining table to catch up on anything and everything!



Books

Su read ML Stedman's Light Between Oceans for the second time. We had discussed this book at the end of last year.  She says that it was good to reread it as sometimes books are read in a hurry and the experience is quite different the second time around. She also read The Language of Flowers, The Meryl Streep Movie Club, The Runaway and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.





The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
                                                                   Goodreads Link



The Meryl Streep Movie Club by Mia March
                                                                 Goodreads Link




Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

                                                                     Goodreads Link






The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman 




Je thoroughly enjoyed How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly. She had a busy few months settling into the new place and this was a great read.


How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly

                                                   (Check Penguin link: for more info Here)





Fra's read:


The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
                                                                    Goodreads Link




Burmese Days by George Orwell
                                                                    Goodreads Link





1984 by George Orwell
                                                                    Goodreads Link


All three were quite different and Fra recommends reading them .... Some of us had read 1984 but a while ago .... others are keen to read The Lowland having remembered that Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, had also been read and enjoyed, a few years ago.





Ant also read Gone Girl.  She listened to the audio version of the book  and said it was quite suspenseful and she didn't want to stop listening as she had to find out what happened next. Besides that she also read a couple of Hilary Mantel books:



Bringing up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
                                                                     Goodreads Link





Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
                                                                      Goodreads Link





An had these to add:


The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
                                                                   Goodreads Link

A story that evolved over many years and involved several generations.  Some of us have read other Amy Tan books eg The Joy Luck Club (Some remembered the movie) and The Kitchen God's Wife were some that were mentioned.


The Grenadillo Box by Janet Gleeson
                                                                     Goodreads Link

An has read many books by this author.  She says this was not as good as The Arcanum, which is to her is better and one of her favourite reads.  This is still good, though interesting to compare the two.




The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
                                                                      Goodreads Link

Set in Alaska and also a good read.



Ca's books:

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
                                                                   Goodreads Link

This is JK Rowlings first book written as Robert Galbraith - crime fiction. There was a bit of controversy with the publishing of the book but it all came out in the end and was a surprise when it did.  Ca enjoyed this book and says it was a page turner that she read very quicly.


One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
                                                                    Goodreads Link

This is the second of Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, (Escape had read the first book some years ago - Case Histories )  Ca says that the book was extremely stylish .. she loved Atkinson's wit and could not put it down.


The Piano Teacher by Janice YK Lee
                                                                   Goodreads Link

Set in Hong Kong during two different times - World War Two and 10 years later - this book was about characters whose lives interconnected.  Ca says that it was interesting to read about Hong Kong during the War, as it was something she had never read before.



Animal's People by Indra Sinha
                                                                      Goodreads Link


This book is on the  1001 Books to read Before you Die List.  Ca found it interesting and appealing.   It is set in a ficticious town in India and is based on the Bhopal chemical disaster that occurred in 1984. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2007




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