Cramlington Book Club

A big month for me personally as I have officially given up work as a solicitor!!!!! Slightly daunting but I have signed up to the School's PTA, have a list as long as your arm of summer holiday activities and pledge to immerse myself in all things book! First to be read this month was our #BookOfTheMonth This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. A true account of a doctor working for the NHS. It was equally hilarious and heartbreaking and scored highly with the group. A football related read followed next with Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer (well it featured a man named Kane!) Following the lives of two men (one called Kane and one called, yes you guessed it, Abel) born to very different fortunes shortly after the turn of the 20th century. The classic saga was gripping from the get go although the hatred between the two was weak and the ending sad. One I had been waiting to read for a while was Room by Emma Donoghue about a woman and her son ...

This was one of a large selection put forward as contenders for July's #BookOfTheMonth and knowing it was for sale in Sainsburys not one, not two, not three but FOUR members of the group legged it there after the meeting to purchase a copy. This Is Going To Hurt is a no-holds barred account of one junior doctor’s time on the front line of the NHS. Kay, being the said doctor, excellently explained the medical jargon not least by adding some of the best footnotes ever (Dick Fan Dyke). I understand on for e-readers these may have been removed to the back of the book which I imagine would greatly affect the reading experience. I was surprised by the amount I learnt but make no mistake, a medical text book this is not. The anecdotes had strong humour and Kay didn't hold back, although I did question a particular sentence on page 63 (well in my copy anyway). I cringed (the lamppost) almost as much as I laughed yet overall it was a heartbreaking account of how close to breaking...

Written in 1866 and set in St Petersburgh  Crime and Punishment  (billed as the psychological account of a crime) follows the path of Raskolnikov, a near penniless student who commits a heinous crime and the mental torture he goes through afterwards. It was different to read a book based in Russia that wasn't about the revolution or Stalin which has been the theme of nearly all Russian books I have read previously. Poverty of course featured quite heavily as did all round general hardship. Whereas the book was about a murder, it wasn't a murder mystery, a crime story or even a thriller. Although some cat and mouse chasing took place between Raskolnikov and the policeman. You knew who the murderer was from the get go what you didn't know was whether he would confess to it or not.  I struggled at times with how the characters interacted with each other and couldn't always work out whether Raskolnikov was actually speaking or merely expressing the thoughts in his head....

I was a little apprehensive reading Room , a story about a woman and her son living inside a small room following the kidnapping of the woman several years earlier, as I didn't enjoy Our Endless Numbered Days which I read quite recently and was similar in concept. The book was told from the boy, Jack's perspective and the writing style does take a bit of getting used to as the reader adjusts to Jack's vocabulary. Seeing the Room from Jack's perspective was an original idea and such a good move by Donoghue. Where as I really couldn't get away with Our Endless Numbered Days, finding I couldn't stomach the abuse, Room was different in that it almost wasn't about abuse, it was about Jack living in a very small room and how he, with his Ma, dealt with it. I did question whether I accepted the abuse more readily because it was only against a woman as opposed to a child and there was no prior relationship in Room. Whilst I strongly believe no t...

Even though I have read Honour Amongst Thieves  and Only Time Will Tell   I still have a hard time believing that Jeffrey Archer is an author. Not only that but an author of books that are not even really about politics. Whereas Honour Amongst Thieves heavily featured American politics Kane and Abel, following the lives of two men born to very different fortunes shortly after the turn of the 20th century only glances into politics as the time span necessitates. Gripping right from the start the book , originally published now over 35 years ago, surprisingly hasn't dated. Maybe as it's your typical family saga where a great number of years are covered, modernity matters less. I liked the way Archer covered the passing of years, references to Ford and other various 'up and coming' companies being name dropped into the text. Reading about Poland during the First World War and Abel's travels in stark contrast to Kane's childhood was a brilliant read.  I enjoyed ...