Five women and one man come together every month to discuss a Jane Austen book. They are very different people with the love for Austen in common. Every month (is every chapter) another book is discussed at one of the group member’s home and the life story of that character is being highlighted in that particular chapter and throughout the story it becomes apparant everybody has had their own share of troubles, losses and other stuff that is common to life.

It is difficult to give my opinion about this book, because when I just started reading I was not sure I wanted Jane Austen’s work analyzed, but a bit further down the road I wished there was more analyzing of the books. It now seemed for me the book club could have read books by any author, because the book club is only a reason to give every character his/her own chapter. Nonetheless enjoyable enough read to keep me going ’till the end. 

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It is Dublin, it is Tuesday and for Harold, Paul, Donald and Mickey it is a different Tuesday than usual. A strange breeze is blowing over the river Liffey. A breeze that seems to have an effect on time, memories, hope and the normal order of life. Few people notice, but the aforementioned four do and they will have a Tuesday they will never forget, or remember. Meet Harold…

Another magnificent book is delivered by Connolly. With his wit and brilliant style he has written a beautiful story about love, life, death and everything in between and beyond. I can tell you, you will love all the characters. I can tell you,  you will laugh and cry (even at the same time probably). I can also tell you, I’m not going to tell you anymore. You just have to read it yourself. Please do your self the favor.

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Richard Wisden is a television celebrity. He has his own garden shows and is very popular. So why would he commit suicide in a hotel room? A question Libby Wisden is desperate to answer. In fact, she doesn’t believe he killed him self, she is convinced her late husband was murdered. Determent and wealthy as she is, she hires different people (a detective, doctor, photographer to name a few) to figure out specific facts and insights concerning Richard’s death. Not an easy task, because along the way secrets, lies and unknown truths come to light and Richard’s life turns out to be as knotted as his gardens.

Geoff Nicholson delivered a strange but compelling plot yet again. Every character, with his or her own voice, takes the reader by the hand and doesn’t let go. With ease you will be taken through a very strange, twisted and sometimes disturbing labyrinth called human life.

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Huckleberry Finn, the friend of Tom Sawyer in his own adventure. A true boy’s adventure.
He has it bad with his father and when things really get from bad to worse, he decides to stage his own death and go south in his boat. On his way he meets a slave he knows, who is going towards his freedom. As of then they travel together. They become friends and look out for each other even when it is made hard by people and circumstances.
Will they both reach their goal?

Great style, subtleties and (presently famous) quotes. Twain is a master in telling stories.

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In a not too distant future, being f*t (read fat) is illegal. Laws to imprison people who have a too high percentage of body f*t have been made and a Health Enforcement team is working the streets of New York to spot anyone who is overweight (‘humonsters’). Matt Devlin is one of the agents working for this team, and he’s content writing out tickets for f*t people. But his routine is shattered when a dead body is found near an illegal ‘eateasy’; the body only wearing a bikini of the best, rarest and purest chocolate (‘brown’). And of course chocolate is an illegal substance to posses and eat. So, the question that arises is this: Who’s crime is this…is it a case for homicide or the mellow Health Enforcement? Or can both apartments work this case together?…f*t chance!

Although I give this book only two stars, I don’t want to give it the tag ‘don’t bother’, because I think this book has something to offer for some people. And I have given the book the tag ‘humor’, although for me this wasn’t entirely true. But still, I do see the attraction of the book, it just wasn’t for me. I think for me the problem is that the book/story takes itself too seriously. You can make a satire on the current society and culture, but then you have to take it to extremes to make it really work. And although it is absurd that being f*t is illegal, it wasn’t far-fetched enough, for me anyway.

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Two universities, one in the USA (Euphoria State) and one in Britain (Rummidge) have an annual exchange scheme. Normally this exchange passes without a hitch, but this year the two ‘priviliged’ ones are Philip Swallow and Professor Morris Zapp and everything will be different. The two academics arrive in tumult and changing times in the academic world. Philip Swallow is hoping to renew his pleasant feelings for the USA from the time he was there over twenty years ago, but he soon realises twenty years is a long time ago and everything is different. Morris Zapp has never been in Britain and would have had no problems keeping it that way, but now that he is, his ironical and sarcastic ways aren’t much of use to him. Both men are in for the biggest shock of their lives.

Highly entertaining novel, very witty. Sometimes I had the feeling of everything being too artificially written down and hence the fictional situations too coincidental. But still, Lodge knows how to write and entertain his readers.

P.S. This novel is part one of a trilogy: Changing places, Small world & Nice Work.

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Frankie is a pediatrician in the Upper East Side of New York. Her clients are the high society of the city and throughout the book Frankie is the binding factor for all of the other characters we get to meet. There is Judy the wannabe, Samantha the accomplished and Barry the Hollywood movie-maker, amongst others. Per chapter we get to hear from them, about their struggles to get to the top or the tiresome task of staying there. At some point their lives aren’t as real anymore as they all might have thought and that is when everything starts to crumble down. How do they cope when their society as they know it seize to exist.

What a great book! It made me laugh, it made me cry — in the positive sense of the word — it made me bump into things (and people…sorry!) because I didn’t have time to look up from the book, it was so absorbing that even my boyfriend, who reads a lot himself, got a little impatient with me when after the x-th time I still didn’t answer him.
On the cover of the book it says it is a modern-age Jane Austen and I can relate to that. The critic on society and cultural rules are plenty represented, but never a hassle. The style is upbeat, but with an in depth story (line), a lot of round characters, intertwined with each other and each making their own life within the given circumstances.
This is definitely a book I could read again.

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A nameless protagonist works at The Scheme. All day he drives an UniVan from one depot to another. What is in the UniVans? Spare parts for the UniVans. So in the complete economical scale of things, this scheme doesn’t really contribute, but it aims to be the solution for full employment. With very strict rules everybody that works there is happy. But what happens when the workers start to doubt each others workmanship?

Magnus Mills has yet again proved he has the amazing ability to create a believable world, that is just ‘off’ in contrast to our world. And yet again he tells the story with a great sense of humor, speed and rythm. But I do have to say, this is not the best book I’ve read written by him.

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Paul has lost his Jenny, Mary lost her David. Two years along the road they both are struggling with their loss still. How to move on when you lost your soulmate, your reason for living? What to do if you want to live in reality, but can’t see it, being stuck in the past, in dreams you don’t want to dream? You will breath in and out, but without the notion you’re doing so. You talk to your best friends, who hate to see you like that and are trying with all their might to make you understand you really have to start living again. But how? Paul and Mary have a mission: they have to stop living in the past and take on the reality of the present. And they need each other to do that, somehow they know, they knew all along, but how to meet when you still have Jenny and David to deal with? What then?

Totally brilliant, what else can I say? The book makes you laugh, the books makes you cry. In its style it is unique. Connolly really knows how to put the feelings of his characters into words. He can make it clear, without any kind of doubt, that Paul and Mary are meant for each other, by using repetition, subtle hints and the process both characters are going through at the same time. The book is a love story with a twist, a big twist, a twist you have to experience for your self. Please read this book!

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Lily lives with T. Ray, her father. Her mother died when she was four years old. Despite Lily’s efforts towards T. Ray to get some love and attention from him, all he gives in return is for her to work in the peach stall without books and her knees in grit on the ground when she does something she shouldn’t. The summer of 1964 is not any different until there are some bees in Lily’s room. These bees, Lily thinks, are sent to her for a reason.
When Rosaleen, the help T. Ray hired to mother Lily, is being arrested and thrown in jail for no more reason than the fact that Rosaleen is black, Lily takes control. She frees Rosaleen and they run away towards a place Lily knows holds the secret to the life of her mother: Tiburon. In that town live three black eccentric sisters by whom Lily and Rosaleen are taken in and learn what real freedom is.

What is great about this book, is that it is a solid story. In that respect it reminded me of one of my all time favorites To kill a mockingbird. You really get an idea of how a fourteen year old girl tries to make sense of a complicated and unjustice world. Of how she realises what are dreams and possibilities. And of how you should take control over your own life.

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