chesilbeach

I don't know why, but although I loved The Shadow of the Wind, I didn't have much interest in reading the prequel or sequel, but your comments have intrigued me, so maybe I'll try them at some point after all.

Fabulous lists, Lauren! Lots of good books on your lists, and I can guarantee your wishlist will grow exponentially now you're a member of the forum!

I know with our library book group there is a limitation as to what books we can read, as only the popular books and authors will have enough copies circulating in the library system to be able to get enough for the group. We also have to wait until the books have been in the system for two years before they can be reserved as a batch for our group. This means we're rarely going to get any niche books or unknown authors, in fact the only time we tend to get these are if we're sent a batch from a publisher. I would love to be part of a book group not affiliated with the library where we chose our own books and bought our own copies, as I think there would be more breadth in the choices of books, but unfortunately, I've never been able to find one locally. Fortunately, this forum has filled that gap!

Thanks Kay. If I hadn't borrowed it in the first place, I'd lend you my copy, but unfortunately it's gone back to my friend.

You're more than welcome.

Yes, I did see the film first, in fact I'd seen it many, many times before I read the book. I think that's why I have such affection for it, and prefer it to the book.

We don't have any set questions, it's just a round the table discussion about what we thought about each book. There are often questions that arise out of that discussion, but never anything planned or structured, just a chat about it really. Nice and informal.

I have read The Apple - here's what I said about it at the time:

I finished If You Find Me yesterday, and it was very, very good too. Have been out all day today and a Sunday without reading just doesn't feel right. Will be picking up Diving Belles again next, but not sure if I'll get to it today, or will have to wait until tomorrow.

I hope you get a chance to read it sometime, Athena. as you can tell, I absolutely loved it!

Interesting review, tunn. I've had this on my wishlist since it came out, despite the fact I'm always dubious about the "laugh out loud" reviews on book covers. Now that the price has come down, I think I might pick it up before we go away on holiday.

Are you all aware that there is a collection of stories by Faber called The Apple: Crimson Petal Stories? It has some stories inspired by or in the same setting as the original book, plus follows on the stories of some of the characters too.

I think I'm going to be abandoning Under The Skin by Michel Faber. The first one of his I haven't enjoyed, and I think I've read nearly all of his books now.

I've finally got round to preparing a statistical analysis of your reads from last year! You've probably forgotten, but you were prepared to bribe me with coffee and cake if I did it for you Anyway, here you go: You read 89 books in total, meaning you read a book every 4.1 days on average, of which … 63 were from your own bookshelves, 11 were borrowed from the library, 7 were loaned or gifted to you, and 8 were audiobooks downloaded from Audible and … 59 were fiction, and 30 non-fiction plus … 47 were by male authors, and 42 were by female authors and of those … 1 was a Biography 2 were Children's fiction 8 were Classic fiction 2 were Collected letters 2 were Crime/Thriller 2 were Fantasy fiction 1 was on Feminism 7 were Historical fiction 4 were Humourous fiction 20 were Literary/General fiction 15 were Memoir 1 was Poetry 5 were Science fiction 2 were Short stories 10 were Travel 2 were War fiction 1 was a Western 4 were YA You rated your reads as follows (TEN=best; ONE=worst): 19 books at TEN 29 books at NINE 30 books at EIGHT 6 books at SEVEN 3 books at SIXE 2 books at FIVE 0 books are ONE, TWO, THREE or FOUR Giving an average rating of 8.6

I go to my local library reading group, and I would say that you will definitely get a mixed bag of books. There is no doubt, you will read (or abandon) some books that aren't to your tastes at all, others that will you will be ambivalent about, some you've already read, and some that you never would have picked up otherwise, but with any luck, once in a while, you will get a book that absolutely blows you away, and you will be able to sit with a group of people for an hour or two, and share a book you've loved. What I've also found is that even if I haven't enjoyed, finished or even started the book choice(s) at each meeting, it's still worth listening to others opinions, and we always discuss other books by way of reference to the one being discussed, or just by talking about what we're all currently reading over the tea break, and it's a wonderful opportunity to talk to people with the same love of books. I've picked up plenty of recommendations based on the "if you liked that, you'll like this..." discussions, as well as the authors I've found who I would never have dreamt of reading if it hadn't been a book group selection. Don't forget, you can always try it and if you don't like it, no one's going to force you to keep going! Hope that helps.

The police find a man wandering in the Nevada desert. Checking the name on the ID in his wallet, they find out he is Samson Greene, a professor at Columbia University who has been missing for eight days. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there, and at the hospital, is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The tumour is removed but leaves gaps in his memory, in fact, he can remember nothing of his life after the age of twelve. Astonishingly though, he can create new memories, and so has to rebuild his memories by learning who he is from those people who know him. He returns to his home in New York with his wife, and you see the strain on a relationship he has no memory of. Imagine going from the thoughts of being a twelve year old to being a man in your mid thirties with no recollection of your education, your career, your friends, and even the woman you share your bed with. What was fascinating was how as a reader, just like Samson himself, you had no knowledge of who he was as a man, and as he attempts to fill in the missing years of memories, you and he find out not only what has happened to him in the intervening years, but what sort of man he had become. It's not without flaws, and there is a scientific experiment relating to memory towards the end of the book, which while it was convincing and believable within the confines of the story, it felt a little bit too fantastical for me. However, it does work brilliantly within the story, and forces Samson into action to move on with his life in the present. There is also a fascinating epilogue - obviously I don't want to give anything away about it, but it did leave me questioning the conclusions I'd made by that point, and the idea of identity itself. I posted this review in my reading blog, but I'm still thinking about this book a few days after finishing it, and wanted to put the review in the fiction section so it didn't get overlooked on my own thread.

Bladderwrack

After reading this article on the Guardian today http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/17/childrens-literature-parent-sister-brother, I downloaded the sample of If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, and I couldn't resist buying it. Think this may be my Saturday all sewn up!

It's a gorgeous day here so far. The sun is out, the sky is blue, there's not a cloud to spoil the view, but ... that's as far as that goes! (One for the teenagers )

Ok, I'll set another one up for you ... Shamrock

Mine was a pathetic 3/10 this week too!

Bullock

Pinprick

Candlewick

You can start a reading blog any time you like - they don't even have to be annual ones, some people just start a single blog and keep it going indefinitely. I've only read a couple of Margaret Atwood's but the one I liked most was Lady Oracle. The other was a collection of short stories called Moral Disorder which I had mixed feelings about. I keep meaning to read more - would you say The Blind Assassin a good starting point?