Several members didn't enjoy it as it was written in the first person and we all agreed it had a very weak ending. For a title that has won several prizes and is very popular we were surprised at just how far fetched the story was. We also found it to be quite wordy, with a lot of description that wasn't necessary.
The good news was that we had nearly a full turn out last Wednesday, missing just one member, and we welcomed our newest member Jo (waves enthusiastically). Because of this we were able to agree our forthcoming reads FOR THE YEAR. How organised is that! So if you want to read along with us this year and get annoyed waiting for me to type up a blog post with details of our next read (I'll even apologise again, ok), here ya go:
(FYI the date given is the date we will be reviewing that title, so for example throughout March we will read Decline and Fall then review it on April 2nd, simples).
April 2nd:
"Decline and Fall" by Evelyn
Waugh
May
7th: "The Red
House" by Mark
Haddon
June 4th:
"The Host" by Stephanie
Meyer
July 2nd:
"A Cottage by the Sea" by Carole
Matthews
August 6th:
"The Somme Stations" by Andrew
Martin
September 3rd: "12
Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup
October 1st: A
novel by Janet Evanovich
NB Sue is going to
investigate titles and copy numbers so will get back to us on that.
November 5th: "The
Catcher in the Rye" by J D Salinger
December
3rd: Buffet and
chat about our favourite/worst reads of the year
We even managed to pick reading group members to lead discussions...I think we're turning into a proper grown-up reading group here, what do you think? Now I'm not one to try and bribe you along to one of our meetings but their was talk about a possibility of having tea and maybe even a biscuit at forthcoming meetings for a 50p fee.
So you have the reads, either give us your comments below or come along to a meeting and for 50p you will get a cup of tea, biscuits and a good old natter about books with a very organised (snort) reading group :)