Working all day at a lathe leaves Arthur Seaton with energy to spare in the evenings. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting young rebel of a man, he knows what he wants and he’s sharp enough to get it.
Seemed outdated to us all having seen the film so long ago yet it was worth reading and we were able to look beyond the obvious storyline and could see how the main character was drawn from real life.
Star rating ***
The year is 1985 and Brian has just started his first term at university, armed with the obligatory CND membership and a complete set of Kate Bush albums. But he also has a dark secret – a burning ambition to appear on University Challenge and now it seems the dream is about to become reality.
Difficult to award a star rating as the responses were so mixed! One member gave up after a few pages as she found the book so irritating; two more found it “all right” and two of us thoroughly enjoyed it and found it a particularly telling picture of the adolescent male from the naked-strapping-to-the-pier-with-laxatives to Spencer alone with his hand to hid forehead. for myself I particularly enjoyed the middle class labrador who probably had £grade four piano”!
Star rating: no agreement
‘The Thirteenth Tale’ is an emotional mystery in the vein of Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’, about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling. Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield House. As she digs deeper, Margaret discovers tragedy and secrets about her own past.
A compelling read with evocative descriptive passages interwoven through a strong narrative thread. A good book for discussion as enough was left open to interpretation to generate different viewpoints including the extent to which the ghostly elements were unsettling.
Star rating: ***
A huge bestseller in America and the UK this is a novel about life and death, forgiveness and vengeance, memory and forgetting. 14-year-old Susie Salmon, now dead, looks down on her family and friends from heaven.
A moving, touching story. All the characters were believable and sympathetically portrayed. The style was engaging with a well paced plot and unusual structure.
Star rating: ***
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