Going, going, gone!

Ok so I'm a little late with this months blog post, I beg your apologies, but sadly their isn't much to report back to you dear reader.  We reviewed our previous read of 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn and I have to say it wasn't very popular.  Personally I thought it was ok but this blog is for the reading group and it didn't go down to well with the group as a whole.  

Several members didn't enjoy it as it was written in the first person and we all agreed it had a very weak ending.  For a title that has won several prizes and is very popular we were surprised at just how far fetched the story was.  We also found it to be quite wordy, with a lot of description that wasn't necessary.

The good news was that we had nearly a full turn out last Wednesday, missing just one member, and we welcomed our newest member Jo (waves enthusiastically).  Because of this we were able to agree our forthcoming reads FOR THE YEAR. How organised is that! So if you want to read along with us this year and get annoyed waiting for me to type up a blog post with details of our next read (I'll even apologise again, ok), here ya go:
(FYI the date given is the date we will be reviewing that title, so for example throughout March we will read Decline and Fall then review it on April 2nd, simples).

April 2nd:    "Decline and Fall"   by Evelyn Waugh 

May 7th:     "The Red House"   by Mark Haddon

June 4th:     "The Host"    by Stephanie Meyer

July 2nd:      "A Cottage by the Sea"   by Carole Matthews

August 6th:    "The Somme Stations"   by Andrew Martin

September 3rd:  "12 Years a Slave"   by Solomon Northup    

October 1st:    A novel by  Janet Evanovich  

NB Sue is going to investigate titles and copy numbers so will get back to us on that.  

November 5th:   "The Catcher in the Rye"   by J D Salinger

December 3rd:      Buffet and chat about our favourite/worst reads of the year

We even managed to pick reading group members to lead discussions...I think we're turning into a proper grown-up reading group here, what do you think?  Now I'm not one to try and bribe you along to one of our meetings but their was talk about a possibility of having tea and maybe even a biscuit at forthcoming meetings for a 50p fee.  

So you have the reads, either give us your comments below or come along to a meeting and for 50p you will get a cup of tea, biscuits and a good old natter about books with a very organised (snort) reading group :)

A small review, of the small book 'The Small Hand'

Hello again, yesterday seen the first meeting of the Builth Wells Reading Group since December and we were all keen to get out our thoughts on our January read 'The Small Hand' by Susan Hill.  OK keen maybe isn't the correct word as it actually had quite a lukewarm reception.  As horror stories go this one wasn't particularly scary...in fact, not at all...but we did think it had the right spooky atmosphere.  Unfortunately that was accompanied by a quite linear, predictable and almost dull story.  The group aren't generally horror fans but even this didn't phase them (I did mention Radio 4 are doing a two part dramatisation of the exorcist but apparently that is the complete other end of the scale!).  Several of the group weren't keen on the first person style writing although we did discuss it would be hard to do a ghost story in any other way.

One of the group went on to read another short ghost story by Susan Hill called Dolly and said that was much scarier so that's what my plans are for the weekend...if I'm feeling brave!

So on to our next read which is staying with the dark but a bit more thriller than horror and we're reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (I have it from good authority its pronounced G-illian and not J-illian). 

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

As usual feel free to leave your comments below or find us on Facebook as Builth Wells Reading Group otherwise we hope to see you at our next meeting Wednesday 5th March at 7pm, Builth Wells library.

Happy new read...

...see what I did there? Yes, yes the puns haven't got any better I'm afraid.

Happy new year to all our blog followers from everyone in the Builth Wells Reading Group.

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed we didn't set a read for over Christmas, we thought we all might be too busy, so we have set a short read to be discussed at our next meeting on Wednesday 5th February.

 Our first read for 2014 is *drum roll* Susan Hill - The Small Hand 

 

 

Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer’s evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, ‘as if a child had taken hold of it’. - See more at: http://www.susanhill.org.uk/small-hand-0#sthash.LyKX5wDn.dpuf

Late one summer evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn. He stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house, and compelled by curiosity, approaches the door. Standing before the entrance, he feels the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. At first he is merely puzzled by the odd incident but then begins to suffer attacks of fear and panic, and is visited by nightmares. He is determined to learn more 'about the house and its once-magnificent, now overgrown garden but when he does so, he receives further, increasingly sinister, visits from the small hand.

We thought a spooky read for these cold, blustery, dark and spooky wintery nights was the way to go but we do recommend you read it with the lights on...otherwise it will be difficult to read.

Anyway you will also have noticed I'm a little late in posting this but hopefully you should be able to read it before our next meeting as its only a short book of around 208 pages.

Hope to see you at our next meeting the usual place of Builth Wells Library, 7pm, Wednesday 5th February.

Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer’s evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, ‘as if a child had taken hold of it’. - See more at: http://www.susanhill.org.uk/small-hand-0#sthash.LyKX5wDn.dpuf

Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer’s evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, ‘as if a child had taken hold of it’. - See more at: http://www.susanhill.org.uk/small-hand-0#sthash.LyKX5wDn.dpuf

We found 'The Lost Duchess'

Jenny Barden with Alices' famous mulled wine

We had a real treat at last nights reading group meeting, a visits from the author of The Lost Duchess Jenny Barden.  Before I go into what we talked about and our review of the book I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jenny once again for her company, giving us the background to the book, discussing the writing process and giving us insights into possible future books.  Often we we talk about the book from our, the groups, point of view and it was fantastic to hear from a writer for a change and their love for the characters and landscapes that they have created. 

Our first question had to be, why then? Why that time period? Why there? (OK technically that's three but you get my drift*)

The sixteenth century is such a wonderfully rich and fascinating period in English history. It was our Golden Age, the Age of Discovery, an era that saw a flowering in the arts and visionary thinking. As for the voyages, these are key episodes in England’s growth as a nation. The backdrop to Mistress of the Sea was Drake’s first successful raid against the Spanish in Panama which set him on the path to fame and fortune. Drake’s subsequent exploits in asserting English dominance at sea were to culminate in the defeat of the Spanish Armada and prepare the way for the foundation of the British Navy. As a novelist, I find there’s an irresistible allure to writing about these ventures that involved journeys into the unknown and risking all to go further and do more than had ever been attempted before. 

When I met my editor to discuss the next book I already had several outlines for a second novel which had been commissioned simply as ‘historical novel 2′. She asked me what, in my heart, did I really want to write about, and I answered: ‘Traces on a Timeless Shore’ which was the working title I’d given to a novel I’d planned to write about the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Initially I’d envisaged that Ellyn and Will from Mistress of the Sea would take the lead in this book, but my editor was keen that I should centre the tale on different characters to allow scope for the development of another new love story (rather than one revived within an existing marriage). She was particularly drawn to Kit, Will’s brother, the handsome mariner with a troubled past: ex-hostage, Spanish prisoner, and leader of an outlaw band of escaped slaves, the Cimaroons; a man with a son by his Cimaroon lover, and a burning desire to avenge her murder at the hands of the Spaniards. It was a joy to develop Kit as a protagonist, and introduce Emme Fifield, fictional lady-in-waiting (‘Maid of Honour’) to Queen Elizabeth, who is violated by the Earl of Hertford, son of the usurped Duke of Somerset. Through Emme, I was able to work affairs at court into the story, as well as the politics that supported Sir Walter Raleigh’s New World venture and some of the problems that plagued it. I also had material for a soaring high tension romance, and an action-packed thriller. The background was a wonderful subject, one with deep resonance on many levels: a terrific tale of vision, endurance and bravery, steeped in tantalising historical mystery of the kind that arouses perennial fascination.

[adapted from my own notes and notes on this blog]

But on to our review...

The following is from Jenny Barden's website here:

Once a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, Emme Fifield’s only hope of surviving the scandal that threatens to engulf her is to escape England for a fresh start in the new America.
Emme joins Kit Doonan’s rag-tag band of idealists, desperados and misfits bound for Virginia, but such a voyage will be far from easy and Emme finds her attraction to the mysterious Doonan inconvenient to say the least.
As for Kit, the handsome mariner has spent years imprisoned by the Spanish, and living as an outlaw with a band of escaped slaves; he has his own inner demons to confront, and his own dark secrets to keep…

Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh’s settlement at Roanoke was abandoned in 1587 its fate has remained a mystery; The Lost Duchess explores what might have happened to the ill-starred ‘Lost Colony’


The group felt like they knew the characters well and could each picture them clearly in our minds highlighting how well drawn each of the characters were.  The book gave a real flavour for what we can imagine that time, the Elizabethan period, could be like.  I had to tell Jenny how I had to put the book down at one point where she tells how a journey by ship over rough sees is made and I could feel myself rising and pitching with the ship and could get a real idea of how that must feel.  It came to light in our discussion that Jenny had been on the reconstruction of the Golden Hind in London as well as sailing so could give a real description of her own experience with a little writers magic.

Sticking with the characters the group found them believable and cared about the journey of each of them throughout the book, and we had a good discussion of one of the baddies,Ferdinando, and Jenny explained why he could be so bad but the possible reason behind it.  I won't type that here and leave it to your imagination dear reader :)

What becomes clear is that this is a thoroughly well researched book that blends fact, fiction and writers magic to create a tale of wondrous excitement, adventure and emotion.  Jennys dedication to getting as much historical information accurate and blending of her experiences leaves you with an enjoyable story that as a reader paints a glorious picture enabling you step back in time.  You feel part of the action and carried on the journey of the main characters in the book.

Speaking of action the book begins with a particularly shocking scene which personally I found helped me to move away from the airy fairy fluff of the Queens court and straight into the action of the nitty gritty of that period.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable book we would happily recommend to readers of historical fiction but also those with a sense of adventure!

Builth Wells Reading Group with author Jenny Barden 2013

So that's us for another year, 2013 has been a rollercoaster of great, good, bad and downright awful reads but we were fortunate to leave the year on a high.  We will be back Wednesday 5th February, Builth Wells Library, 7pm to review...well something we'll decide in January (come on we've got to go help Santa).

We hope you have a very merry Christmas and look forward to a wonderful new year!

*shipping puns intended

The Casual Vacancy

At our last meeting, Wednesday 6th November, we discussed The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. This is Rowlings first novel for adults after some series about some boy wizard or something (sarcasm) and seemed to go down quite well with the group.

Firstly a synopsis of the book... When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Its a big novel about a small town.

A few of us, myself included, hadn't quite managed to the end of the book in time finding it to be quite a difficult read.  The language is quite raw and some of the subjects covered quite controversial.  There are a lot of characters to keep track of but they are very well drawn and the short chapters make this easy to do.  We also felt it had a lot of similarities to Builth, or any small down, so often you were assigning people you already knew to the characters in the story.

There are two different covers available for the book this one...

Which we felt highlighted the uncomfortable nature of the story with its bright red and yellow cover, and this one...

Which although was a prettier cover we agreed it doesn't really convey the content very well.

Those that did finish the book said they really enjoyed it and some couldn't put it down.  It was described as a book that makes you think  after  you have finished it...so I better get reading!

Our read for this month and to be discussed at our December meeting is The Lost Duchess by Jenny Barden.  We're very lucky that Jenny is coming along to our meeting in December to discuss the book with us and the publisher has given us several copies for the group to help with our review.

The December meeting is a social one, with food and drink and more jovality than usual so if you're new and would like to come along this is a great one to attend.  So we will see you Wednesday 4th December at 7pm Builth Wells Library, High St, Builth.

December meeting plans with The Lost Duchess

At our December meeting, Wednesday 4th December,  we are having a visit from author of 'The mistress of the sea' and 'The lost duchess' Jenny Barden where we will be discussing her novel 'The lost duchess.'

Usually our December meeting is a very social event where we all bring some grub along, Alice brings her infamous mulled wine, and we enjoy the last session of the year.  

So if you are planning to come along to that meeting, and I highly recommend it for the mulled wine alone, could you have a think about what you could bring along to compile a list at our November 6th meeting or email Jan as usual. 

Unfortunately the cheese and biscuits idea has already been snaffled, I'll need to go to my fallback plan of Pringles!

A room swept...meh

At last nights meeting we reviewed 'A Room Swept White' by Sophie Hannah. As you can tell by the title of this post it didn't receive a standing ovation neither was it thrown from the top landing of the library, it was ok.

The story...

"TV producer Fliss Benson receives an anonymous card at work. The card has sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four – numbers that mean nothing to her.

On the same day, Fliss finds out she’s going to be working on a documentary about miscarriages of justice involving cot death mothers wrongly accused of murder. The documentary will focus on three women: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines. All three women are now free, and the doctor who did her best to send them to prison for life, child protection zealot Dr Judith Duffy, is under investigation for misconduct.

For reasons she has shared with nobody, this is the last project Fliss wants to be working on. And then Helen Yardley is found dead at her home, and in her pocket is a card with sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four…"

So what were the issues? Well the group felt it was quite predictable in places as well as being a little unrealistic especially towards the end of the story. Several group members didn't enjoy reading one of the characters from a first person viewpoint but our main issue was trying to keep track of the character names. Specifically the names of the police officers which we all found confusing and muddling.

The story itself however was well researched and enjoyable enough but we were hard pushed to call it a psychological thriller. Jan has read several of the authors titles and did say this wasn't one of her best and the website did mention this was fifth to feature some of the characters so possibly getting to know the characters from the start would help.

You can find out more about the author from her website here.

So on to our next read which will hopefully inspire us more, 'A Casual Vacancy' by J.K. Rowling. As ever there are several copies in the library, have a look by searching here.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th November at 7pm in Builth Wells Library, High St, Builth Wells or as ever you can post comment here or Twitter using #BuilthBooks