Do you believe in ghosts?

Rebecca Mascull's debut novel The Visitors introduces the reader to a variety of new experiences.

 

 

Deborah Crabtree, a bookseller for Readings Carlton, wrote this review while Ani Johnson from The Bookbag had this to say. As this is a debut novel, there seemed to be very few reviews available and reading between the lines on one site it was hinted that book reviewers usually don't pay a lot of attention to this particular genre which was an interesting comment.

 

 

I hope you enjoy your foray into the hopfields of Victorian England and relish the luxury of some un-interrupted reading time over Easter!

 

 

Happy Easter and happy reading!

Air conditioning reminds us of the atmosphere of 'A Colder War'

Several of our spy thriller aficionados were disappointed with this offering from Charles Cumming. Some were still keen enough to try other books written by him though so they certainly have not written him off as an author. There was much chat about the language being appropriate to the genre and for some who were not accustomed to this genre, it was an opportunity for them to extend their vocabulary. Unfortunately this novel was not sufficiently addictive to persuade them to read more of this genre. One reader new to this genre found the novel quite slow and difficult to get into and this is not a criticism usually associated with this style of novel.

The main disappointment, seemed to be the early disclosure of the 'mole' which rudely halted the gradual build-up of the frisson of tension, usually associated with this genre. There was much discussion about the fact that usually an early disclosure usually meant a huge red herring but this did not eventuate in this case which was bit of a let-down.There were many comments about the uneffective pinkish herrings tossed in to supposedly muddy the waters. Some readers spoke of easily being able to ignore the side stories and thus making the main plot just too obvious for sustaining enjoyment.

Other readers had experience of living in overseas embassies and were quite accepting of the concept of spies being within the embassy staff. On the other hand they found it very doubtful that a 'non-spy-trained' person would have been brought in on such an important operation, so this destroyed to a degree the authenticity of the book for them. One reader is planning to visit Turkey soon and as a result of the events within this book was a little less enthusiastic about the upcoming trip. Another of our readers utilises Google a lot to extend her understanding of places and events mentioned in the novel she is reading and is thus far better informed about Turkey now. In a quirky coincidence a member of her family is now travelling to Turkey so she already has the background to better visualise the places they might visit.

On average our readers rated this read between a five and a six and a half out of ten. All but one of our group had finished it so overall people though not wildly excited about the read were quite happy with the experience.

Our next read is Rebecca Mascull's debut novel The Visitors which certainly looks like an excursion into different territory. It has the potential for yet another interesting discussion.

Keep those pages turning.......

Oops! Forgot to Send you Some Reviews of 'A Colder War'!

Time flies whether you're having fun or not it seems and in next to no time, well this Thursday actually, we'll be meeting at Gordon White Library Meeting Room to discuss Charles Cumming's A Colder War.

 

 





Patrick Anderson, a regular reviewer of mysteries and thrillers for The Washington Post wrote this review of Cumming's novel while across the ocean Andrew Taylor had this to say about it in The Spectator.

 

This novel is quite a change from our usual bill of fare, so it will be interesting to hear how folk reacted to the change in genre.

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it, this Thursday at 6.00pm in the Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room.

 

Reading, reading, reading............

A step into the smoke and mirrors world of espionage

We move between Turkey, the UK and many places Middle Eastern in our next novel, Charles Cumming's A Colder War. We try to visit a variety of genres at book club and the spy, espionage genre rarely gets a guernsey, so for this month we'll take a walk on the wild side!

I'm sorry I have been having issues uploading photos of our book titles so am still not able to show the front cover.

Will find what some experts have to say about this novel in the next blog but can't wait to hear what the real experts think at our next book club!



Happy reading!



"A History of Loneliness" provokes much discussion

Most of our readers found  John Boyne's gift with the language to be extremely pleasurable even though the content was at times confronting. Our readers spoke of how Boyne's style was easy to read and of the book having an authenticity throughout. Readers spoke of returning to the cover blurb several times during reading, just to check that it was not a biograpy or a non-fiction as it had such a feel of reality and truth.

Many of our readers found Odran's naivete and innocence difficult to believe and comprehend. Some readers were quite frustrated with his interpretation of events. This provoked discussion how much public knowledge regarding child abuse has changed. There was much talk about having to consciously try to position ourselves in Ireland in the 1970's through to the present and how much attitudes to the Catholic Church and treatment of children have changed in that time. Children of the 1960s were not considered to be reliable witnesses and their complaints of abuse in any form were rarely given much credence. Children of that time were not taught to speak out either as adults and revered institutions were considered more infallible than today. So though there were observable behavioural changes in children, there was not the public knowledge or awareness of child sexual abuse to raise the alarm bells that would ring today. The Catholic Church in Ireland in particular was held in high esteem by the majority of the population. There was much discussion about the reader having to transport themselves into a different place and a different time when much information was considered very private and not for public consumption.

There was much discussion about Tom's character and the way his childhood experience of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his father, followed by the repression of healthy sexual activity during his adolescent years at the seminary really set him up for dysfunctional behaviour as an adult. To add to this, he had no interest whatsoever in the priesthoood which was forced upon him by his father, thus creating a lifestyle for which he was unsuited in every way. Our readers sympathised with Tom's story but still found his behaviour unforgiveable. One reader had tried to find whether there were any statistics regarding the childhood experiences of Irish priests who had been accused of paedophilia, to see whether Tom's story was indicative, but had been unable to source relevant information. There was much discussion of the hidden, secretive nature of abuse and of its effect on future generations.

The novel's title evoked much talk about its aptness. Several readers spoke of their expectation that the origin of the novel's title be revealed in the book. Tom challenged Odran to see that he too had experienced 'A History of Loneliness' and there was much discussion as to how many priests experienced  'A History of Loneliness'.

Overall our readers rated John Boyne's novel between seven and nine out of ten, indicating how much they had appreciated his sensitive approach to a very difficult, emotive topic. He enabled readers to have a greater understanding of the causes of child abuse within the church and the extent of damage caused by both the deliberate and innocent ignorance of the issue. There are so many more victims than just those directly involved.

Overall our readers enjoyed and contributed to a very thought provoking discussion.

We will have a complete change of pace and genre for our next book club selection. More details on that to be found in the next post.

Keep on reading and keep those cogs moving!

Book club to discuss "A History of Loneliness"

Hello folks,

Thank you all again for being so considerate in sharing the book club set copies around so generously and promptly.

Hopefully this title will generate a lot of discussion especially in light of the enquiry here in Australia.

Looking forward to hearing about your experience of this novel,

Life continues, page after page....

Our next read is from John Boyne

We are going to Ireland for our next novel. John Boyne's A History of Loneliness explores the experiences of the people and the priesthood in Ireland during a time of turbulent change for the Roman Catholic Church.

JP O'Malley from The Observer had this to say about it while Helen Dunmore from The Guardian wrote this review.

No doubt this novel will ensure lively discussion at our next meeting.

Keep those pages turning!