IVC Book Club – books read and discussed to date

Title Author Genre Comment
Mar-04 Starter for ten Brian Nicholls Modern Light but enjoyable. Some found characters irritating.
Apr-04 Curious Incident of Dog in night-time Mark Haddon Modern Well received and provoked lengthy discussion on subject of book
Brick Lane Monica Ali Varied reaction with some really enjoying it and others finding it too long and/or slow
May/June 04 Brick Lane (continued) Monica Ali ? I think we selected two books for two meetings?
Jan-00
Jul-04 The Loving Spirit Daphne Du Maurier Romance Definite thumbs down and a bit dodgy with caveat not a bad attempt for a first book.
Jan-00
Oct-04 The Motorcycle Diaries Che Guevara Travel Only half group had read this. Varying reactions from brilliant to so so. Film more popular generally − perhaps we should be a film group!
Dec-04 Pompeii Robert Harris Crime Again, wide range of reactions from very enjoyable to didn’t get past the first 30 pages − yawn. Blockbusters/beach reads not to all tastes.
Feb-05 Case Histories Kate Atkinson Modern good read, but characters are rather cliché-ridden
The Queen and I Sue Townsend Enjoyable read but not much to discuss!
Mar-05 The Joke Milan Kundera European
Popular Music Mikael Niemi Not many people read this − varying reactions from not very interesting to very enjoyable.
Apr-May 2005 Time and the Conways JB Priestley Play Everyone really enjoyed doing a play and reading it out in parts. This was linked to a theatre visit to see another Priestley play, An Inspector Calls
Jun-05 Persuasion Jane Austen Classics Half the group read this book, who all really enjoyed the book − good characters and lots of wit. most probably read it before. I think there was another title, can’t remember what.
Jul-05 Like a Fiery Elephant:The story of BS Johnson Jonathan Coe Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction Both these titles were enjoyed by those who read them (Stuart a Life Backwards currently being serialised on BBC4). The Fiery Elephant book quite hard going though
Stuart a life backwards Alexander Masters
Sep-05 Broken Music Sting Autobiog Enjoyed by most, though some found writing style strange.
The Road Taken Michael Burke Everyone enjoyed this
Nov-05 The Beach Alex Garland Thriller / cult Only a couple of people read it − good page turner − quite a lot of discussion around cult nature of book, and comparisons to film
Dec-05 Irish poets (various) Irish Poets
Mar-06 Around the world in 80 days Jules Verne Travel / Adventure
Apr-06 Moondust Andrew Smith
Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly
Arthur and George Julian Barnes
Jun-06 The Farm Richard Benson
Aug-06 You Know you got Soul Jeremy clarkson
Oct 06 A Quiet Vendetta Roger Jon Ellory
Oct 06 also Play (part 1)- The Cocktail Party T.S. Eliot
Nov 06 The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd
Nov 06 A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka
Nov 06 also Play (part 2)- The Cocktail Party T.S. Eliot
Dec 06 Readings of Poetry and short stories etc. Various
Jan 07 The Innocent Man John Grisham
Jan 07 Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Jan 07 A Spot of Bother Mark Haddon
Jan 07 The Thunderbolt Kid Bill Bryson
Mar 07 Small Island Andrea Levy
Apr 07 Semi-Detached Griff Rhys Jones
June 07 Brighton Rock Graham Greene
August 07 Cleopatra’s Needle Anne Mustoe
October 07 "Purple Hibiscus" or "Half a Yellow Sun" Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
November 07 "Farewell my Lovely" Raymond Chandler
"The Naming of the Dead" Ian Rankin
January 08 "Maps for Lost Lovers" Nadeem Aslam
Feb-08 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby
Apr-08 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
Jun-08 Candide Voltaire
Jun-08 Mill on the Floss George Elliot
Jul-08 Bearded Tit Rory McGrath
Jul-08 Blood River Tim Butcher
Jul-08 Dreams of my father Barak Obama
Sep-08 The Road Home Rose Tremain
Nov-08 Planet of the Blind Stephan Kuusisto
Dec-08 Poems and Stories Various
February 09 "A Mercy" Toni Morrison
April 09 The Delegates Choice Ian Sansom
April 09 (alternate choice) The Yes Man Danny Wallace
June 09 The Other Hand Chris Cleave
June 09 (alternate choice) Angels and Demons Dan Brown
July 09 Snow Orhan Pamuk
September 09 The Help Kathryn Stockitt
September 09 (alternate choice) Northern Lights Philip Pullman
October 09 The American Boy Andrew Taylor
October 09 (alternate choice) The Book Thief Marcus Zusak
January 2010 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga
January 2010 (alternate choice) A lust for Windowsills Harry Mount
March 2010 Right Ho, Jeeves P.G. Woodhouse
May 2010 The Lieutenant Kate Grenville
June 2010 All Quiet on the Western Front Eric Marie Remarque Rated 8.5/10 and a worthwhile read.
July 2010 Solar Ian McEwan
October 2010 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson


List updated by Richard Salt. on 20th April '10