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Date |
Title |
Author |
Genre |
Comment |
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Mar 2004 |
Starter for ten |
Brian Nicholls |
Modern |
Light but enjoyable. Some found characters irritating. |
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Apr 2004 |
Curious Incident of Dog in night-time |
Mark Haddon |
Modern |
Well received and provoked lengthy discussion on subject of book |
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Brick Lane |
Monica Ali |
Varied reaction with some really enjoying it and others finding it too long and/or slow |
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May/June 04 |
Brick Lane (continued) |
Monica Ali |
? |
I think we selected two books for two meetings? |
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Jul 2004 |
The Loving Spirit |
Daphne Du Maurier |
Romance |
Definite thumbs down and a bit dodgy with caveat not a bad attempt for a first book. |
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Oct 2004 |
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! |
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Dec 2004 |
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. |
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Feb 2005 |
Case Histories |
Kate Atkinson |
Modern |
good read, but characters are rather cliché-ridden |
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The Queen and I |
Sue Townsend |
Enjoyable read but not much to discuss! |
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Mar 2005 |
The Joke |
Milan Kundera |
European |
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Popular Music |
Mikael Niemi |
Not many people read this – varying reactions from not very interesting to very enjoyable. |
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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 |
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Jun 2005 |
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. |
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Jul 2005 |
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 |
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Stuart a life backwards |
Alexander Masters |
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Sep 2005 |
Broken Music |
Sting |
Autobiog |
Enjoyed by most, though some found writing style strange. |
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The Road Taken |
Michael Burke |
Everyone enjoyed this |
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Nov 2005 |
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 |
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Dec 2005 |
Irish poets (various) |
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Irish Poets |
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Mar 2006 |
Around the world in 80 days |
Jules Verne |
Travel / Adventure |
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April 2006 |
Moondust |
Andrew Smith |
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Lincoln Lawyer |
Michael Connelly |
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Arthur and George |
Julian Barnes |
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June 2006 |
The Farm |
Richard Benson |
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Aug 2006 |
You Know you got Soul |
Jeremy clarkson |
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| 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 |