Stoke Bookchat - February
Our next meeting is Wednesday March 18th at 5:30pm. All Welcome!
Tiny moment of Joy by George Penney
George recorded snippets of conversations she overheard while at the market. Our reader loved this book written by a New Zealander. ‘Come for a walk with me... Take a moment to forget about your worries and enjoy these tiny instances of warmth, curiosity, humour and creativity, spotted over the course of a year on market day in Aotearoa New Zealand. These heartwarming vignettes, captured in a fleeting instant, are a gentle reaffirmation that there are always moments of joy to be found in the world.’ Publisher.
The Rosie Project trilogy by Graeme Simsion (The Rosie Project; The Rosie Result)
Such a good trilogy! In the first book central character Don is trying to find a wife, and he meets a woman who doesn’t really tick any boxes - Rosie. Our reader didn’t really like Rosie’s character in the second book, in which she gets pregnant ‘on purpose’ then complains about how unsuitable Don is for parenthood, despite the fact Don is trying hard to be a good father. By the third book the son is 11 and he also has autism. Our reader loved the trilogy.
More for a quiet kitchen by Nici Wickes
TV personality Nici Wickes writes about her life as a single woman, finding peace with herself, and she shares her recipes. Covid times saw Nici move to a batch at Port Waikato, where she found meaning and comfort from cooking good food. Although Covid restrictions are long gone, Nici has continued to enjoy life at her bach, and find solace in the face of climate change concerns through cooking.
The book of two ways by Jodi Picoult
While in Egypt, budding Egyptologist Dawn Edelstein forms a relationship with a young man. She then leaves Egypt, forgets about her past, becomes a death doula rather than an Egyptologist, marries someone else, and has a daughter. Later Dawn is in a plane crash and with the possibility of death before her, one face flashes into her mind – that of the young man from Egypt. Once she has safely landed, Dawn must consider the question of what to do next – should she confront her past? Our reader thought it was a good read, but a little long, and she felt that Dawn was a bit selfish – surely, she’d have put the needs of her daughter first! Interestingly the book doesn’t tell you who Dawn decides to be in the end – leaving the reader to decide.
The assassins apprentice by Robin Hobb (Farseer; 1)
A fantasy book filled with mystery and magic. The raiders are coming in by ship, abducting people and demanding gold, lots of it, or they’ll return the hostages to the village, repeating clearly if the gold is paid they will kill the hostages. If not, they’ll release them. Needless to say, the gold is not paid, and the hostages are returned, but they are not the same; they are soulless, not knowing or caring for anyone or anything yet fighting over everything, stripped of what makes them human. While this is happening Fitz is given an assignment, a large group from the castle are undertaking a long, perilous journey to meet the Prince’s new wife and Fitz is to join them and is tasked with killing the Prince’s brother, a man he has been told is sick and weak. He is neither, and those that advised the Prince to order the assassination then betray Fitz by telling the would-be victim that Fitz is an assassin. It is a big read, but it is also very well written.
Cry of the Kalahari by Mark & Delia Owens
"Carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, two young Americans, Mark and Delia Owens, caught a plane to Africa, bought a thirdhand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. There they lived for seven years, in an unexplored area with no roads, no people, and no source of water for thousands of square miles. In this vast wilderness the Owenses began their zoology research, working alongside animals that had never before been exposed to humans. An international bestseller on original release, Cry of the Kalahari is the story of the Owenses' life with lions, brown hyenas, jackals, giraffes, and the many other creatures they came to know. It is also a gripping account of how they survived the dangers of living in one of the last and largest pristine areas on Earth."--Publisher.
Delia Owens also wrote Where the Crawdads Sing
Fly Wild Swans by Jung Chang(sequel to Wild Swans)
"Fly, Wild Swans is the follow-up to Wild Swans and brings the story of Jung's family- along with that of China--up to date. The book is in many ways Jung's love letter to her mother. It is inevitably also about her grandmother and father, both of whom died tragically in the Cultural Revolution but are often recalled in this book."--Back cover. Interestingly, the grandmother in the book is of the generation that had their feet bound. A very interesting biography.
Jacinda Ardern – a new kind of leader by Madeleine Chapman
Our reader thought it was very readable, but more about the Labour party than the leader. ‘I enjoyed it, but it’s forgettable.’ Another in the group thought Ardern’s autobiography was very interesting – published last year and titled A Different Kind of Power.
Backman’s new novel tells two parallel, but related, stories, set in different times. In the earlier story four 14-year-olds share a summer that they’ll remember forever. They also inspire a painter to include their group in a work that becomes famous. 25 years later aspiring artist Louisa is driven to discover the story behind the painting’s creation, and she journeys to the seaside town where it all began. The novel explores the depth of connections we make as teens, as well as musing on art – great art is never finished – it’s just abandoned! Our reader concluded it’s a good adult read, as well as being a book teenagers could relate to. Backman also wrote A Man called Ove, which has been made into two movies.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year. In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry's story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis"--Publisher. Green tells the history of Tuberculosis and how it affected and continues to affect the lives of individuals and how the disease has shaped social history. It’s a book you can dip into, as it’s not pure narrative. Mind blowing!
A Donkey in the Meadow by Derek Tangye (Minack Chronicles, 4)
The fourth title in the Minack Chronicles, tells the story of how Derek and Jeannie acquired two donkeys, Penny and Fred. From the first steps and learning all about donkey foibles, through to picnics in the meadows, this is a further charming instalment in the tales of the Tangye's life at Minack. (Cover)
O’Donnell’s psychological novel explores themes of control and emotional abuse, as main character Ciara attempts to ‘nest’, or build a home, and a life for her children and herself -in a ‘temporary’ hotel room and later in her own rented house. The reader gets to experience the complex threads at play in these situations and to understand how a woman just like you or me becomes so enmeshed that it takes a herculean effort to leave. Despite the challenging subject matter the story is hopeful, and hard to put down
