Book club

[Sue]

OK

[Sue]

I have just finished 'A Class Act ' Wendy. Interesting story(s) left in the air. Perhaps there will be a follow up book. See what you think Wendy

I am now embarking on 'Phantom of the Opera'

[Wendyf]

A Class Act only seems to be available as an e-book on Kindle. Col has taken away the tablet pc he passed on to me as there is something dodgy about the wireless connection.....its been returned to whence it came.

[Sue]

What a shame, we will have to come up with another book for August

[Wendyf]

No Sue, hubby to the rescue....I am allowed to use another one. Its a bit clunky and heavy, but the book is downloaded and I'm ready to go once I have finished "The Shipping News".

[Sue]

Great, I will be interested to see what you think.

[Wendyf]

Right Sue, I am ready to start. I might just have a day's break from reading as The Shipping News is still being processed in my brain!

[Wendyf]

I finished "A Class Act" over the weekend and found the sudden ending very frustrating. If it was a real book rather than an e book you would know the end was nigh, but I was left trying to turn a page that wasn't there!
For anyone who hasn't read the book, it is a post Great War story of a young woman who we are introduced to as Freddie, but who changes her name and style of clothing at the start of the novel for reasons which don't become clear till much later on.She works for two families as a "companion" and as she becomes involved in their lives we learn a bit about Freddie's past as a nurse in France during the war.

It is an odd story, quite informative and interesting because you expect it to lead to some sort of conclusion...but it doesn't! There is no beginning, middle & end, you drop into Freddie's life at one point and out of it again a few months down the line with many questions left unanswered. I also found the strange punctuation and odd spellings annoying at times.

[Sue]

Agreed Wendy. I thought it was like the beginning of a trilogy or something. I expected the two families to tie in with each other or even with her past, such as when she was recognised by the politician lady. A nice read whilst it was happening but went nowhere. It seemed to finish rather abruptly. I bought the book as I was looking for novels on the suffragettes and Kindle threw up this one. I did read another which was much much better, which also involved the Irish problems of the early 1900s, but I shall have to check the title on my kindle

[Wendyf]

We need more readers ready for September's book, and someone else to have a go at choosing a book...does no one else fancy joining in?

[Gloria]

I have got Jodi Picoult's Perfect Match to read whilst on holiday if you fancy that. I will be back to review it in about a fortnight. I have read a few of her others and all are very good.
Gloria

[Sue]

I have read Perfect Match and many other Jodi Picoults. However I feel I can't read any more of them as she leaves me emotionally drained

[Wendyf]

I've never read any of her books. They wouldn't normally appeal to me but I shall give it a go Gloria. I like having my reading chosen by other people.

[Gloria]

I haven't time to get another book to read whilst away, so sorry Sue it will have to be this for me. I know what you are saying about them but they do keep me gripped.
Have you read any by Mary Higgins Clark?------ another author with a lot of books I find worth reading.

[Sue]

No never tried her Gloria. Perhaps I'll give it a go when I have finished Phantom of the Opera. Now there is a strange book. I am not sure what I think about it.

Perhaps I should read Picture Perfect again. Its a long time since I read it. What do you think Wendy.

I think the suffragette book I read was Cat and Mouse. Must check on my Kindle

[Wendyf]

Yes, if you mean Perfect Match, then have another go at it! I have ordered it from Amazon...a proper book this time.

[Sue]

OK will search it out on the bookshelves at home when we get back later this week. It seems ages since we were at home and the weather has been so superb here apart from last Monday when it rained all day. I compemsated by a trip to two fabric warehouses on the same trading estate in Vannes. Sewers heaven ! (That is sewer as in sewing person not as in pipes and toilets and things!!!!)

[Wendyf]

I finished reading Perfect Match yesterday. I can't say I enjoyed the experience, but I certainly needed to read it to the end. A quite disturbing book, it will take a bit of thinking about.

[Sue]

I haven't re read it yet for exactly that reason. Jodi Picoult leaves me 'shell shocked'

[Gloria]

I think you have it spot on Wendy, quite a disturbing book which I found it difficult to put down. It had more twists and turns than I thought possible, I felt it read as though it had been written on the go without a plot, and then out of nowhere another twist.
Gloria

[Sue]

Can I pass on this book. You have both confirmed what my thoughts on the book were. What about a book for September. I am between books at the moment.

[Wendyf]

I couldn't feel in sympathy with any of the characters, except Caleb perhaps, but in the end even he killed. I thought Nina was a monster, who should have been locked up for life! The idea that it is OK to commit murder if you have a good reason must be very American and linked to their attitude to firearms.
Sue, you have read it before I suppose....

[Sue]

I read it about 5 years ago. I was'in to ' Jodi Picoult at the time. I read about 7 or 8 of her books and then suddenl;y found I couldn't read any more of them. I was emotionally shattered. I found her books gripping, I couldn't put them down till I had finished them. Looking back on them all the stories merged into one except'19' I think it was called which was about a mass murder in a college. That was the last one I read andI think it finished me off!!! I have no desire to read one of her books again and therefore would like to pass on this one. I would have read it, had yur views been different from mine, but you seem to reinforce my views in general. Can you summarise the book so I can bring it back to mind. Was it the one where she married the 'perfect man' who turned out to be a wife beater?

[Wendyf]

No not that one! The main character is a lawyer who prosecutes child abuse cases. Her son is abused by a priest and she decides to shoot him in the head instead of letting the case go to trial. Turns out she shot the wrong priest, but in the end she is cleared of his murder because she had "just cause". Right at the end you discover that her husband, who has been completely shocked by the action she took, has poisoned the real abuser. All ends happily.

[Sue]

Oh I don,t remeber that one, perhaps I haven't read it. I felt sure I knew the title