A beautiful story about books, a grumpy bookstore owner, and a publisher’s rep – what’s not too love! And there is an adoptive child as well. The story is unabashedly sentimental and both funny and sad – a real pleasure to read.
Category: Contemporary
Hidden – Catherine Mckenzie
A 3-way story: a man who dies accidentally, his wife, and the woman he was having an affair with. It is not so much a story of infidelity but what secrets need to be hidden.
Watch How We Walk by Jennifer LoveGrove
This is a horrible story about abusive life within a Jehovah’s Witness family, told from the viewpoint of the 11 year old daughter. Combination of desperate guilt and cruelty.
The Rosie Project – George Simsion
An engaging story set in Australia and NY, about difficulties in relationships by someone who probably has Aspergers syndrome. The interesting feature is the degree to which one’s odd personality can be compensated for (sorry for the awkward sentence).
Note from Amy: Sequel is the Rosie Effect.
December 2013
Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
A classic contemporary murder mystery in the Mickey Spillane tradition: hard-boiled private investigator in London with a fabulous name – Cormoran Strike. He is an amputee from Army service, and is investigating an apparent suicide. Excellent context of London, usually Soho in the rain.
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
A psychological story about 6 self-absorbed college students in the 1980s: alcohol, drugs and murder.
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
A really excellent, multi-faceted book. The first 1/4 is an exceptional description of paralysis due to grief. The book then described a self-absorbed and self-destructive life style. Then the final 1/4 becomes a thriller and the end is perfectly philosophical. Overall, excellent story telling and highly recommended.
The Bell – Iris Murdoch
Beautifully written, especially in the beginning of the book. Dora is an annoying ditz, someone who acts without thinking.
September 2013
Notable titles:
- Winter’s End by Mark Helprin;
- The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman;
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam.
August 2013
Double Fault by Lionel Shriver;
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
July 2013
- Majorr. Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson (very British story of honour and duty, unrequited love, racism and sexism …)
- The Boy In The Striped Pajamas – John Boyne (the tragedy of the holocaust from the contrasting viewpoints of two nine year-old boys)
- Behind The Scenes At The Museum – Kate Atkinson (her first book, excellent story-telling, both funny and sad; another “bad mother” book cf. Silver Star)
- The Painted Girls – Cathy Marie Buchanan (1880s Paris, three sisters and a dissolute single mother; one sister joins the ballet and is the model for Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer Age 14”. A hard life)
April 2013
- Lionel Asbo (Martin Amis);
- Bone and Bread (Saleema Nawaz; complex relationship between sisters in a story set mostly in Montreal’s Mile End);
- How To Be A Woman (Caitlin Moran; stories about growing up in England, alternating between hysterically funny and insightful/poignant);
- The Tiny Wife (Andrew Kaufman; only 85 small pages but such an imagination)
What David Read 