Goodreads included these reviews while Deborah Crabtree had this to say about The Visitors.
Looking forward to hearing about your experience at our next Cityside Book Club at Mackay City Library at 6pm on Thursday 4 June.
Sunday, 17 May 2015
We're reading about 'The Visitors'
Rebecca Mascull's debut novel takes us on a journey into the world of a deaf-blind girl born in late Victorian England. The only communication Adeliza experiences is with the ghosts she speaks to in her head, 'The Visitors' until she meets Lottie who teaches her to 'talk' and 'listen' with her hands.
Goodreads included these reviews while Deborah Crabtree had this to say about The Visitors.
Looking forward to hearing about your experience at our next Cityside Book Club at Mackay City Library at 6pm on Thursday 4 June.
Goodreads included these reviews while Deborah Crabtree had this to say about The Visitors.
Looking forward to hearing about your experience at our next Cityside Book Club at Mackay City Library at 6pm on Thursday 4 June.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
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!
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..............
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..............
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Cityside readers start their book club year!
Five folk were keen to start their book club reading for 2015. It was wonderful to hear the variety of books that our members had read over the break. Mysteries, biographies, histories, chick lit were just several of the genres indulged in. Some of our book club books from last year were re-visited and discussed anew as were some of their associated films.
We have rather a hefty tome to start the year but it is just so beautifully written, I'm hopeful our members will persist. Although set during and around the Second World War, to categorise Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See as a war story would be doing it a disservice and not giving any indication of its scope.
Carmen Callil from The Guardian had this to say about the novel while William T Vollmann from The New York Times gave the following review.
Looking forward to hearing your views at our next meeting on the first Thursday in March at Mackay City Library at 6.00 pm!
Read to live!
We have rather a hefty tome to start the year but it is just so beautifully written, I'm hopeful our members will persist. Although set during and around the Second World War, to categorise Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See as a war story would be doing it a disservice and not giving any indication of its scope.
Carmen Callil from The Guardian had this to say about the novel while William T Vollmann from The New York Times gave the following review.
Looking forward to hearing your views at our next meeting on the first Thursday in March at Mackay City Library at 6.00 pm!
Read to live!
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Cityside Book Club kicks off tomorrow Thursday 5 February at Mackay City Library!
Hello everyone!
Just reminding you that we start our Cityside book clubbing year tomorrow at Mackay City Library at 6 pm!
Looking forward to catching up with your reading news and then giving you a taste of the first novel on the menu for 2015!
If you want to join our club, just come along! You do need to be a Mackay Regional Library Member so if you are not yet, just come a bit earlier and bring along some official ID with your Mackay residential address and our friendly staff will get you signed up!
Looking forward to another year of reading, discussion and laughter!
Just reminding you that we start our Cityside book clubbing year tomorrow at Mackay City Library at 6 pm!
Looking forward to catching up with your reading news and then giving you a taste of the first novel on the menu for 2015!
If you want to join our club, just come along! You do need to be a Mackay Regional Library Member so if you are not yet, just come a bit earlier and bring along some official ID with your Mackay residential address and our friendly staff will get you signed up!
Looking forward to another year of reading, discussion and laughter!
Monday, 8 December 2014
Caroline Overington's book stimulates passionate discussion!
I am finding it very difficult to summarise our discussion last Thursday evening as the ideas really ricocheted around the room.
As some of our readers had grown up in country New South Wales they readily identified with the novel's setting. From their experience they thought that the portrayals of Med and Haines were very real and unfortunately easily recognisable. One reader was particularly incensed with Med's attitude to his wife - the notion that a garden and a child would guarantee a woman's happiness was beyond anathema for her! Fat's plight evoked much sympathy.
Another train of thought that created much emotion was the notion that a biological parent would be almost by definition, the best parent for a child. One reader considered this limiting assumption made by the courts and welfare system in this novel, as the source cause of distress in the book!
Our readers seemed to consider that the use of personal letters as the basis of the structure of the novel to be very effective because the novel's content was so intensely personal. Utilising letters in this manner reinforced the effect that such tragic events have on families.
One reader had not progressed far through the book but following our book club discussion was keen to continue reading the book so that they could form their own opinion.
While not exactly uplifting, this novel certainly provoked opinionated discussion which is part of the fun of being part of a book club. It's a great way to extend one's experience of a book through the reactions of other readers. Through a book club one is able to read the same book with more than one set of eyes.
In Cityside Book Club we are going to read our own choice of books over the Christmas break. We will meet again on Thursday 5 February at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library.
Don't forget our MRCL Book Club Christmas Get-together at the Gordon White Community Meeting Room on Thursday 18 December from 6.00 pm till 8.00 pm. Please bring some finger food to share and some beverages that cater to your own taste. It'll be a great chance to meet folk from the other two MRCL book clubs! Looking forward to seeing you there!
As some of our readers had grown up in country New South Wales they readily identified with the novel's setting. From their experience they thought that the portrayals of Med and Haines were very real and unfortunately easily recognisable. One reader was particularly incensed with Med's attitude to his wife - the notion that a garden and a child would guarantee a woman's happiness was beyond anathema for her! Fat's plight evoked much sympathy.
Another train of thought that created much emotion was the notion that a biological parent would be almost by definition, the best parent for a child. One reader considered this limiting assumption made by the courts and welfare system in this novel, as the source cause of distress in the book!
Our readers seemed to consider that the use of personal letters as the basis of the structure of the novel to be very effective because the novel's content was so intensely personal. Utilising letters in this manner reinforced the effect that such tragic events have on families.
One reader had not progressed far through the book but following our book club discussion was keen to continue reading the book so that they could form their own opinion.
While not exactly uplifting, this novel certainly provoked opinionated discussion which is part of the fun of being part of a book club. It's a great way to extend one's experience of a book through the reactions of other readers. Through a book club one is able to read the same book with more than one set of eyes.
In Cityside Book Club we are going to read our own choice of books over the Christmas break. We will meet again on Thursday 5 February at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library.
Don't forget our MRCL Book Club Christmas Get-together at the Gordon White Community Meeting Room on Thursday 18 December from 6.00 pm till 8.00 pm. Please bring some finger food to share and some beverages that cater to your own taste. It'll be a great chance to meet folk from the other two MRCL book clubs! Looking forward to seeing you there!
Monday, 1 December 2014
Come to say "Hello" at Cityside Book Club
Well it's the last Cityside Book Club for 2014!
I cannot say I am enjoying Caroline Overington's "I Came to Say Goodbye". I am finding it a very uncomfortable book to say the least and I certainly don't look forward to my evening reading session like I usually do. I hope to have it finished by Thursday but it is going to be close!
Hope you are having more success than I!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday 4 December at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library!
I cannot say I am enjoying Caroline Overington's "I Came to Say Goodbye". I am finding it a very uncomfortable book to say the least and I certainly don't look forward to my evening reading session like I usually do. I hope to have it finished by Thursday but it is going to be close!
Hope you are having more success than I!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday 4 December at 6.00pm at Mackay City Library!
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