Across the sea to Ireland

Our next novel is a contemporary novel set in Ireland. John Boyne's A History of Loneliness traces the tribulations of the Catholic Church in Ireland in modern times.

Helen Dunmore wrote this review in The Guardian while Jennifer Bort Yacovissi from Washington Independent had this to say about John Boyne's novel.

John Boyne writes with great authority on this sensitive issue and hopefully this novel will evoke much discussion.

Looking forward to hearing your views!

"All the Light We Cannot See" gets a positive reception.

Eight readers congregated in the Community Venue Room to discuss Anthony Doerr's war-time novel which traces the paths of the blind Marie-Laure LeBlanc which begins in Paris and the German orphan Werner Pfennig,  a prodgy in all things radio, who starts life near the coal mines of  Zollverein. Marie-Laure patiently negotiates a world without sight and Werner develops a way of finding secret radio broadcasters. Eventually their paths cross for a brief moment.

Readers spoke of their pleasure in Anthony Doerr's writing style and of the freshness of his expression. Others spoke of the incredible network of tales intertwined into the story. They loved the side stories and the variety of characters introduced. Others who usually find the backing and forthing in time in some novels confusing, found Anthony Doerr's deft handling of this approach did not befuddle the reader. Having 1944 as a fulcrum probably helped and have short pithy chapters helped keep all stories under the spotlight.

Some readers were a little disappointed with the ending and considered some parts of it quite superfluous while others liked to know 'what happened after the novel'. Some thought that it was not essential to tie up every tale. One reader was very pleased that the Sea of Flames diamond's fate was not clear - was it allowed to return to the water or did it continue to wreak havoc?

There was some chat about whether there were too many stories and maybe there could have been some judicious trimming. For some folk the ending could have been less tidy while others enjoyed the neatness.

The overall view was that the book was something special and well worth reading. Some of our time-poor readers who had not quite finished the novel, asked that they have the book a little longer so that they could finish it as they had not reached the place where the stories intersected and they were looking forward to that. Folks were sufficiently inspired by this novel to intend to read more works by Anthony Doerr.

Hopefully our next book club selection generates as much discussion.

Reading, reading, reading..............