Stoke Library book chat - November
We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 5:30pm at Stoke library. All welcome.
Our next meeting is February 18th 2026.
Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss
Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006.
In the foothills of the Himalayas sits a once grand, now crumbling house - home to three people and a dog. There is the retired judge dreaming of colonial yesterdays; his orphaned granddaughter Sai who has fallen for her clever maths tutor; the cook, whose son Biju writes untruthful letters home from New York City; and Mutt, the judge's beloved dog. Around the house swirls mountain mist - but also the forces of revolution and change. For a new world is clashing with the old, and the future offers both hope and betrayal ..."--Publisher.
This was our reader’s second attempt at reading this work, but they found the book went nowhere and the descriptions were flowery. Although there were good narrations, the plot and sub-plot did not seem to be linked. Another reader in our group loved it, so you may need to read it and decide for yourself!
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Although this is an adult novel, there are semblances of the teenage experience, that Blume is so well known for writing about. In her teens, the main character, Victoria (Vix), is befriended by uber-wealthy Caitlin, and is invited to holiday in the lap of luxury with Caitlin’s family at Martha’s Vineyard, where the two become friends and ‘summer sisters’. Back at school their social circles are very different, and a complex friendship unfolds, in which the girls are close only for the summers. Years later Caitlin invites Vix to her wedding to be Maid of Honour and despite reservations Vix is compelled to revisit that last shattering summer.
Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
The fifth book in the Thursday Murder Club series, this story features the same beloved four characters.
"Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan? It's been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who's in trouble, kidnap and death are hot on their heels again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?" --Back cover. This time Joyce’s daughter is getting married, and someone tries to kill Nick.
Bob Dylan : no direction home by Robert Shelton
Our reader enjoyed this biography of Bob Dylan, written by a fan who had reviewed / carried out interviews with people who knew Dylan as a boy. Our reader loved the language in the book, and quoted: ‘I can’t even touch the books you’ve read’
The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia, 1)
From the classic, much-loved Narnia series, this book is a little different from the others in the series, which are to do with the four children, whereas the Magician’s Nephew starts with Polly and Digory staying with their Aunt and Uncle and one of the queens has gone into the real world.
"Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighbouring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony's parents. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. One day, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony's child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but will leave it with her. Eilis has choices to make, and what she chooses to do after this shattering news makes this one of Toibin's most riveting and emotional novels to date."-- Provided by book vendor. This is the second book in the series, the first ‘Brooklyn’ follows Eilis’s life as a young woman, leaving her Irish home for better employment opportunities in New York.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Set in Edinburgh of the 1930s in an exclusive girls’ school, progressive teacher Miss Brodie shakes up the conservative ideals of head mistress Miss McKay, when she encourages the girls to follow their passions and live life to the full. Things go awry when one of the girls is killed in the Spanish Civil War at Miss Brodie’s misguided suggestion.
The novel has been adapted for stage, film and television, including a movie made in 1969 and starring Maggie Smith as Miss Jean Brodie, and a television series (1970s.).
The Unlikely Doctor by Timoti Te Moke
"Timoti Te Moke has led a life of extremes. Initially raised by his grandparents, Timoti thrived and was deemed a gifted student, but all that would change at the age of six, when his mother and stepfather took custody of him and moved to Auckland, where he endured horrific abuse at the hands of his stepfather. By the time he turned 14, he was broken and started hanging out with other kids from his neighbourhood ... In his early 20's, he moved to Australia ... About 15 years later, he returned to New Zealand and trained as a paramedic ... After qualifying as paramedic, one day he was sent to a job where an elderly woman was struggling to breathe. She collapsed in front of him and, while he did everything he could, she died ... The next day he applied to study medicine. He was twice rejected by Auckland Uni before being accepted by Otago, and with incredible support from his teachers, flourished. In his fifth year, he won the Hauora Maori Prize for top marks for a Maori student. Last year he finished his studies and now works as a house officer at Middlemore Hospital. This is an extraordinary story of succeeding against the odds - and Timoti's message is that it shouldn't be this hard"--Publisher.
An amazing and true story.
Fire by John Boyne; 3rd in Elements series.
Our reader found this hard to put down, but not an easy read.
On the face of it, Freya lives a gilded existence, dancing solely to her own tune. She has all the trappings of wealth and privilege, a responsible job as a surgeon specializing in skin grafts, a beautiful flat in a sought-after development, and a flash car. But it wasn’t always like this. Hers is a life founded on darkness. Did what happened to Freya as a child one fateful summer influence the adult she would become – or was she always destined to be that person? Was she born with cruelty in her heart or did something force it into being? In Fire, John Boyne takes the reader on a chilling, uncomfortable but utterly compelling psychological journey to the epicentre of the human condition, asking the age-old question: nurture – or nature?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte [Audio book version on CD]
Our reader found the style of language in this classic read a little different from a contemporary novel, and it took a little getting used to. Orphan Jane endures the tribulations of a modest boarding school education, then becomes a governess. She falls in love with the man she works for (ostensibly a widower), then much drama ensues when the first wife is discovered, including running away, a fire, tragedy, and an inheritance. This outline doesn’t do justice to this beautiful work which shares Jane’s inner life with sensitivity.
