Cramlington Book Club

At last a book where I have noted the score! New Years resolution? check! And a good job I did as it was a high one. I confess that I had already read this book and not being able to lay my hands on my copy decided not to re buy it and therefore not reread it. I remembered I wasn't too fussed at the time about it. It took me a while to work out which brother was which and I felt at times the book dragged on with the author being overly keen to describe the weather, the marshes, the monastery etc. What I, and a number of the group really liked was the fact that it was set in the Tudor Court where Henry 8th was King however it wasn't about Henry or his wives. Don't get me wrong I love those type of books (Phillipa Gregory anyone?) and have read several but to read about the dissolution without having to regurgitate the usual Anne Boleyn saga was refreshing. The characters at times were quite stereotypical - a brother who was ...

So I'm way behind with my blog and the book clubs most faithful follower (my mum) has threatened to stop following it unless I write something so here goes. Looking back I was surprised to see how quickly the books had stacked up. Surely 4 months hadn't gone by already? The first book I haven't blogged about was The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I have to be honest I really didn't fancy reading this book to start off with. It was on 3 for 2 at Waterstones and just didn't sound like my cup of tea. In a nutshell, Edie finds a letter addressed to her mum during the war which opens up a can of worms as she retraces her mums past. In many ways this book was similar in format to our last book The Poison Tree. Modern day stops to deliver a story from a number of years ago that involves a murder and is still affecting todays characters in some way that we will have discovered by the end of the book. I commented in my last blog on how many books now seem to have to prese...

It's been a while since I read this book so apologies for the late blog. Maybe this is a test for the book - how well do I remember it 2 months later? Well I had to refresh my memory when it came to the names of the characters as I couldn't remember them. Not a good start but then it started to come back to me. We commented on how everyone in the book leaves Biba and Rex, the sister and brother main characters. Many people were drawn to the house where they lived but never stayed. In many ways Biba was the poison tree, turning those she loved against her by her demanding, selfish attitude that Rex, too afraid of her reaction if he stood up to her, encouraged. We talked about why then, given above, did Karen stay. We understood why she was attracted to Bibas lifestyle, the total opposite to her boring straight laced in may ways pre mapped out life. Karen had come to a natural break in her life - university ended, flat mates moving on without her and ...

Not sure what I expected with this book. With a title involving God, an opening that includes a child asking her family if God loved her and then the appearance of a talking rabbit it could have veered in any direction. I'm not really religious and wasn't really wanting to read a book that was going to heavily preach religion. The book didn't try to get us to church on a Sunday however and reverted to a more 'normal' storey of a family set up over the course of several decades. It symbolised the end of innocence and new beginnings. After beginnings that involved the molestation of a young girl, homosexuality, and hints at a lesbian incestuous relationship (well sisters in law) and of course a rabbit that talks the main characters mum and dad with the lottery win, and move the family to the Seaside to set up a B&B. Reading that back it seems not only very unbelievable but ridiculous and yet I didn't think so at the time I was reading it. I must admit it did t...

Summer time (supposedly) so I suggested we read a summer book. Not a book set on a beach but the classic summer read - light hearted, and dare I say it chick lit. Gulp! It was a bit of a risk asking a book club to review a book that normally, at least I, would steer clear of and perhaps some of us had preconceptions that were never going to be overcome. The book wasn't your standard however. For a start it was told from a teenagers point of view about a teenager - not your normal career women who is disastrous in love then. It also started off with the main characters (Tamaras) dads suicide and Tamara and her mothers resulting bankruptcy and removal from the family home. Not your usual summer read by the pool huh? The book then kind of took on your more usual chick lit format, introducing a love interest that had disastrous consequences. Yet it still twisted away from the norm by introducing The Book of Tomorrow. It was here that I think it lost some of us who found the co...

SORRY! I know it's been a while since my last post. I've no excuse so hopefully here goes 3 blogs in a row starting with The Help by Kathryn Stockett I initially found the book very slow paced, in a way mirroring the way of life of the deep south where the book was set. The pace never really went up a gear and I think a couple of us found it took a little while to get into. Although despite its lack of pace we found that it crept up on us and made us want to read to the end. Most surprising was the fact that the book, based around slavery was set in 1960s the very decade of freedom in England. It seemed so strange that this was going on such a short time ago. How white women would leave their children almost entirely in the hands of coloured women but wouldn't share a bathroom with them was such a bizarre thing to get your head round. We therefore spent a while talking about America in that time compared to England. We are lucky enough to have an American in our mis...

So I missed my first book club as my husband booked me on a surprise holiday. Truth be I hadn't finished the book. We were supposed to have read The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas . Its set in modern Australia and is supposed to delve into the repercussions of a grown man slapping a badly behaved boy at a family bbq . I was put off from the first page and even though I stuck with it my first impressions were correct. The characters were vile, the language was terrible (swearing not grammar ) and painted a depressing racist view of Australia. I am no prude but time and time again I felt uncomfortable reading it. I'm not sure whether this was because I was aware I was going to have to discuss it in front of ladies who (not wanting to offend anyone) are slightly older than me but there really was no need for the extent Tsiolkas went to. There wasn't a single character who you felt you could empathise with or that you were rooting for. I expected to be swinging from character to...