Book Group - October Books

[SueDonim]

I hope I'm starting this thread off correctly! Here goes.

The first of this month's books is "The Last Time They Met" by Anita Shreve. It concerns two former lovers who meet again after more than 20 years. The story connects with a previous book, although isn't a sequel as such. I found it patchy, in that some parts were wonderful, such as the episode in Africa and the teenage years, yet other areas were boring. I didn't really empathise with the characters, felt they were self indulgent in many ways. And the ending was a bit odd, a let down for me. I've read a few other books by AS and I don't think this is one of the better ones.

"Bad Blood" by Lorna Sage was my next choice, a memoir of her youth. I read it compulsively, wanting to know what happened next, but I don't think it is an 'extraordinary memoir' as claimed on the back jacket. It seemed a pretty average childhood for the era and in fact, compared to the grammar school I went to, she got away with murder!! Her achievements after the birth of her baby were impressive, though. The book resonates with me a bit because my mum has told me tales of her Welsh grandfather who was a chapel lay reader and overfond of the ladies. Lorna Sage's memory for detail is amazing - I couldn't possibly recall that much about my childhood, I'm sure. But the book is well written and funny as well as poignant, and I liked the final touch, of having no spare pages at the end of the book!

My final choice is "Lost Geography" by Charlotte Bacon. I was drawn to the subject of migration, having been on the move myself a number of times, and also because of the present day issues of migration. For me this book got off to a disasterous start. It seemed so cheesy, boy-meets-girl stuff and cringeworthy descriptions of naked bodies and so on. But once Margaret and Davis got married the book changed altogether, seeming much deeper and more connected to the human condition. It's a sad book, I think, redolant of lives past and futures not quite realising the initial hopes of the characters. But maybe, at the end there is hope for the future. I loved some of the phraseology - 'this slow quiet braiding of their lives' to describe their marriage is wonderful. And I enjoyed the details of actions, such as the washing of the windows in the rug store. I almost felt I could see them, working away together.

Got a bit disillusioned with the Book Club as hardly anyone read "my" books last month so I had the 3 for this month untouched by my bed and attempted the Anita Shreve the day before they were due back at the library. Only read 20 pages but found it a bit pedestrian in style and too much like a womens magazine story. So I abandoned it in favour of the Lorna Sage. Haven't read any Anita Shreve before so I've probably unfairly written her off!

Lost Geography - I rather liked this book although it reminded me a bit of Annie Proulx but without as much detail in the characterisation. I kept wanting to know what happened to the minor characters to round out the story.

The Last Time They Met - Ooooh I hated this! The use of dashes instead of inverted commas for speech irritated me so much that I skipped to the end of the book to see if there was a reason for it (which there was) and once I'd found out why there was no point in reading the rest. I didn't like the characters at all, very unsympathetic. It has put me off reading any more of her books (but as someone said she was Oprah-nominated which maybe should have warned me!}

Didn't have time for Bad Blood, but am keeping it on my list of books to read.

Fionn, I didn't read all your books because I live abroad where it's hard to obtain English language books and they are very expensive. I belatedly added something to the "Regeneration" thread, as I had that from a library.

Bettys, I hadn't picked up on the Annie Proulx but now you've mentioned it....yes! CB has just a shadow of that lady's talent, though.

Bettys & Fionn, do try something else of Anita Shreve's - she was definitely having an off-day when she wrote that one! "The Pilot's Wife" is much, much better but I didn't have that out here.

It's a shame the group hasn't really taken off. Maybe going back to a general 'What are you reading?' theme would be best? To save it getting too long a new (numbered or dated) thread could be started every now and then?

SueDonim - didn't mean to sound petulant in my post, I was a bit worried that was how it might have come across! I was just a bit disappointed that the Book Club didn't seem to have taken off after so much initial interest. I am enjoying Bad Blood and will try to finish it quickly so that I can join in the thread. Ok I'll trust you on Anita Shreve!

problem I'm having is that I seem to have a dozen or so books that I have been meaning to read for the last year just sitting around, and so I am loathe to add any more to that list. When we were orphans was sitting on that shelf, so when it happened to be suggested for the Book Club it gave me the kick I needed to read it - but the rest of the stuff is such a general miss-match that I'm loathe to suggest any as potential book club topics! Also, at the moment I'm finding i'm so bashed by the time I crawl in to bed that I manage one or two pages and then I'm out cold. I hate giving up on books too - don't know if this is a good or bad thing - sometimes it means that I waste huge amounts of time reading something that really doesn't grab me, other times I find a "slow developer" becomes un-put-downable. I used to read at least one if not two books a week (commuting aint all bad) in the old days - now I'm lucky if it's one a month. Maybe I should be more brutal and just chuck the ones that don't entrance me instantly because of this. Anyway, just wanted to make it clear that it's not that I don't want to get involved, it's just that I'm wading through a backlog at present!

SueDonim, is the Lorna Sage really worth persevering with? DH bought it for me a while back and I've never got beyond about page 80...
recently started the Donna Tartt new one The Little Friend, a bit macabre because it's about a child murder so not perhaps to everyone's taste, but I'm reading it slowly because it took so long for her to write, I feel I have to get my money's worth out of it too because I actually bought a hardback for a change

Bundle, I really enjoyed Bad Blood and it does move on from her early years. But if it's not for you, then give it the elbow. Plenty more books out there to read. LOL at Donna Tartt!! I shall remember that when I get round to reading it.

My trouble with the book club is that I never seem to find the time to compose my thoughts, book in hand - all my other posts I can do at work or at the odd moment but find it more difficult when actual thought is required. Anyway, DS now asleep so here are my thoughts. I read the Anita Shreve ages ago and can't say it stuck in my mind as one of her best. Also once you have flipped through to the ending (something I always do unfortunately) I think the point of the book is somewhat lost. I think Anita Shreve has a tendency to portentousness and this book is a good example of this. I think at the time the book got very good reviews, and she obviously has a strong following. The prequel to this is now a movie with Elizabeth Hurley!

Bad Blood is a much better book, although like Bundle I started it ages ago and never finished it, and then was driven on by the Book Club!! I liked her turn of phrase, and thought overall it came across as a very honest book, good recall of how it felt to be a child eg how she felt about her mother and her jealous anger when her mother went on the stage - children are selfish and it's good to be reminded of this! The end of the book comes as a rush, and I was curious to know more. Some people have compared this to "in a house on fire" (title something like that) by Andrea Ashworth but the latter is quite different - a much more tortured lifestory (worth reading by the way). Lorna Sage's childhood was quirky, very much shaped by post-war period, and the fact that she was obviously remarkably intelligent.

There isn't a time limit on the books, people can add to the comments whenever they like. The thing I liked about the Book Club is that it prompted me to read books I wouldn't normally, as I find it all too easy to stick to favourite authors, or re-read old ones, so I'm a bit sad it hasn't really worked.
Unless someone would like to suggest some books to read this month...?

SueDonim, my husband thinks I've got the attention span of a gnat and should persist with the likes of Lorna Sage..he would soldier on, I'm sure a hangover from school when you HAD to eat all your greens before your pud because it was good for you...
I think what happens is if I don't identify with the book's 'voice' pretty sharpish I just switch off and read it robot-like and don't care about the characters. I've never experienced that with eg classics like George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and stomping good crime novels like Patricia Cornwell's. Still 'with' Tartt though, I think I'll see this one through.

LOL at the gnat, Bundle! I fear it comes with motherhood - at least that's what I tell myself. My brain is total pap these days, all my RAM is used up.

Florence, I've just read the House on Fire book (what was I saying about my brian?? I can't recall the title) and it is much darker than Bad Blood, quite terrifying in parts. The end of Bad Blood is rushed, I agree, but I wonder if LS thought that part of her life wasn't interesting enough? I'd have read it, though! Sadly, she died a ?couple of years ago, I remember seeing the obit in the newspaper.