Janet

Hmm - I guess there is a twist if you don't work out the storyline before you get to it! I do hope you enjoy it when you get round to it.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes The ‘blurb’ Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time. A sort of modern day Beauty and the Beast, Me Before You tells the tale of two people who end up spending a lot of time in each other’s company - with Will (as the ‘beast’, proud and aloof who is a quadriplegic following an accident) thawing as he spends time with quirky Lou. I have seen this described on Amazon as “chick lit with a twist” – having finished it I don't think there was a twist - the story was predictable and I guessed the ending long before it happened. For this reason I’m giving it 3 stars out of 5 – I liked it, but it wasn’t the wonderful read I was anticipating. That said, I can see from the reviews on Amazon that I’m in the minority in not giving it full marks. If my review suggests I didn’t enjoy it then that’s not entirely true. The characterisation was good and I particularly liked Lou’s noisy family – and seven or so years ago this would have been right up my street, but I’m not sure I shall be rushing to read any more books by this author with so many other books out there calling to me! I nearly chose it for Book Club but changed my mind… and then the person after me chose it! I can see it being adapted for TV – or even for film. I just hope that if this happens, the action takes place in the UK and with British actors – not like the dreadful Shopaholic adaptation! The paperback is 481 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 2012. The ISBN number is 9780718157838. 3/5 (I liked it) (Finished 25 May 2013)

Yup - 35 bought (so far), 12 read!

^ I must head back to the library and get it out for him now!

Thanks, Claire. I will have a look and see what they have. I'd rather not pay if I can help it! I liked the sound of Annie John though, so it was good to see that June enjoyed it.

Bath & NE Somerset libraries charge £8 for inter-library loans! I'll probably buy it from Amazon at some stage - I can get a marketplace copy for £2.81 delivered.

I'm now half way through my Dahl challenge - 11/22 books. My last two reviews can be found here.

#11/22 The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl The ‘blurb’ ’Well, that did it! I saw red And before I was able to Stop myself I did something I never meant to do. I put the magic finger on them all!’ A fairly typical Dahl cautionary tale about a girl who dislikes the things her two friends and their family do and so casts a sort of spell on them with her magic finger. This was much shorter than I expected – the story is 57 pages long – 16 of the total page count at the end of the book are made up of facts about Dahl and his books. Clearly I’m not the target market here – it’s probably long enough for little ones but it was over rather quickly for me! The paperback is 73 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 1956. The ISBN number is 9780141346519. 2½/5 (I quite liked it - but it was over in a flash!) (Finished 20 May 2013)

#10/22 Going Solo by Roald Dahl The ‘blurb’ Going Solo is the action-packed tale of Roald Dahl's exploits as a World War II pilot. Learn all about his encounters with the enemy, his worldwide travels, the life-threatening injuries he sustained in a plane accident, and the rest of his sometimes bizarre, often unnerving, and always colorful adventures. Told with the same irresistible appeal that has made Roald Dahl one of the world's best-loved writers, Going Solo brings you directly into the action and into the mind of this fascinating man. “A life is made up of a great number of small incidents, and a small number of great ones. Going Solo follows on immediately from the first part of Dahl’s memoirs, Boy. Dahl has left school is now working for the oil company, Shell. His first job with them sends him to East Africa – Dar es Salaam - for a three year tour and the book opens with anecdotes about his life there with colonials and his ‘boy’ Mdisho. His trip to East Africa is cut short with the arrival of World War Two and Dahl enlists in the RAF and the book thereafter is taken up with tales from his experiences of the war. I enjoyed the first part of the memoirs more than this part, but it was still interesting. I gather though that Dahl embellished an awful lot of what happened (some reports state that he was not, as the book suggests, unaccompanied when his plane came down), so maybe one shouldn’t take some of the wilder tales at face value. I really should read a biography about Dahl at some stage. The paperback is 213 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 1986. The ISBN number is 9780755335602. 3/5 (I liked it) (Finished 20 May 2013)

Nope, I haven't read it yet. I'm going to get it from the library at some stage.

I volunteered as a Home Library Visitor for a couple of years. This involved going to two care homes every 4 to 6 weeks and taking around 25 large print books and collecting the ones that had been taken the previous visit. One home was private and one council-run. The residents of the council-run home valued the facility but eventually the council closed it so I stopped going to that one. The folks in the private one didn't utilise this facility really (in fact, they moved the bookcase into a room that wasn't really used). One month I put all the books in alphabetical order and when I went back the next month there were still in the same order! It was at that point that I stopped volunteering (and I think the library stopped supplying books there - although they would start again if the home decided it was required. Initially when I signed up I was told I would be put with one housebound client who I would visit and get an idea of what they liked and then select books on their behalf (or pick ones they requested if they knew what they wanted) but there wasn't a 'spare' client, which is why I ended up with the homes. I'd have preferred the one-to-one contact really.

I have searched high and low and I can't find Sweet Thames anywhere. But yes, he's loosely based on Bazalgette. There is also a character called Edwin Sleak-Cunningham, and he's based on Edwin Chatwick. I think London is a wonderful city and I love the Victorian era, so this was always going to appeal to me.

I don't have much of a review, I'm afraid. I read this in 2009 when I scored out of 10 and I gave it 7. I remember enjoying it, but I don't recall all the detail! Sweet Thames by Matthew Kneale The ‘blurb’ London in the summer of 1849. With a deadly cholera epidemic threatening, young engineer Joshua Jeavons is convinced it is his mission to save the capital and reform its festering sewers. Meanwhile in his domestic life he is troubled by the baffling coldness shown towards him by his beautiful new bride, Isobella. As he struggles to win her round, he works feverishly on a revolutionary drainage plan. This is his dream, his dazzling vision of the future: a London free of effluent. Then a sudden and mystifying disappearance throws his whole life upside-down. He is forced to embark on a harrowing search, which plucks him from his respectable life and throws him into a London previously unknown to him. A netherworld of slum-dwellers, pickpockets and scavengers of the sewers. He will find it is this very world that holds unexpected answers to the mysteries that surround him. Set during the Cholera epidemic of the 1840s, it tells the story of Joshua Jeavons who has plans to reform the sewage systems in London - and at the same time investigates the disappearance of his wife. The characters and story are loosely based on real people. Whilst I didn't enjoy it as much as Kneale's English Passengers, [which isn't set in London], it was a great story. I find his characterisation excellent and he is superb at painting a really vivid picture of Victorian London, both of the upper classes and the slum dwellers who live in close proximity in the city. I think it's out of print now.

I've only read one so far - A Month in the Country - but it was excellent!

I have this on my Amazon Wish List. I felt sure our library had it but I've just looked and they don't!

Yay - I'm so glad you enjoyed Yes Man!

I probably shouldn't have put the Gaarder book on the list as it was actually a children's one (the 'chooser' didn't realise at the time and chose it for the Christmas theme). The Bragg was part of his 'Soldier' trilogy - and was nothing like I expected. I enjoyed it (it was my choice) but it wasn't heavy at all. I didn't really 'get' the Naipaul at the time (again, it was one of our first books - I'm certain I'd appreciate it if I read it now). I chose the Saramago book for my last book - most of the members were surprised to find they actually enjoyed it and that the text wasn't as hard to follow as they'd imagined! I'd like to suggest a Dickens for my next go (if only to kick-start me into reading one), but I know that not all of the others would finish it in the time allowed. Half of the members only read one book a month - so sometimes our book is the only one they'll read - and one of them doesn't often finish the book we are discussing! I'm certainly happy with the way the group is though - and that's what it's all about at the end of the day. There are 7 of us in our group. When our founder was setting up she was told that 10 is a good maximum number - any more and there is a tendency for the group to split into two groups rather than all discussing the book together.

I like the idea of this but Sundays aren't really doable for me - I shall definitely be watching with interest though - the thread will make for great reading, I'm sure.

It's a shame this wasn't very good. It sounds like it ought to be good and I like the cover!

That sounds interesting, frankie. It's in one library in our county so I've put it on my library wish list. ETA: Somehow I missed all the subsequent posts - I was talking about Hell's Prisoner! I shall go back and see what else I've missed!

There are a few 1911 on Abebooks.co.uk. Prices vary depending on condition and whether it's actually a first printing of the first edition or not. Put "Peter and Wendy, J M Barrie Published by Charles Scribner's Sons and illustrated by F.D. Bedford 1911 with dust jacket" into a search engine and you'll find some results. Your best bet is to contact an antiquarian bookseller. Bookclubforum.co.uk is not a valuation platform, and although Abebooks have editions for sale that doesn't necessarily mean your copy is valuable. Good luck - and if it is valuable do remember to tell us how much it's worth.

Yesterday I finished Going Solo by Roald Dahl (for my Dahl challenge). I took a book back to the library and picked up The Magic Finger, also by Dahl - it was only little so I started and finished that yesterday too! Thoughts to follow!

Awww, thank you, but I really can't take on any more books at present! I still can't get my head round him making things up in an 'autobiography' - that's pretty dishonest really when he's claiming "all is true". I mean, it's one thing to embellish the truth, but (if Wikipedia is to be believed) he named the wrong headmaster. That's not right at all. Although it does beg the question why Geoffrey Fisher didn't sue him!

Which biography did you read, Kay? I've just finished Going Solo, and in it, Dahl implies that all his incidents are true, and in the front of Boy he actually writes "All are true." in his introduction. Does that mean he was lying? In print? That saddens me as I enjoyed both editions and really thought he was being truthful.

I know you’re very well read and I don’t think I’ll ever be as well read as you – and probably to you our choices would be very tame - but we’ve read authors such as Khaled Hosseini (who I love, but when I read The Kite Runner back in 2006 when we’d just started our group it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to read such a book), V S Naipaul, José Saramago, Robertson Davies, Oscar Wilde, Jostein Gaarder, Melvin Bragg… and whilst some of these are no longer out of my comfort zone, they are still books that other members wouldn’t dream of picking up unless they were doing so as part of our book club. One of our members still always picks something along the chick-lit lines. Last time it was a Dorothy Koomson, which was pretty dire! The time before that it was an American romance novel (equally as dreadful!) and this time it’s a Jojo Moyes book - but the rest of us do try to pick things we think will make for good discussion. We’re all women though so that probably makes a difference to our choices and you probably wouldn’t consider them to be anything special. I can’t imagine us reading a Western or Sci-fi for example. Maybe I should pick one of those next time it’s my go?!