The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Excellent read. Written for children but fast, clever, captivating story for all ages, and very touching - very emotional. One reveiwer said "Did we need another holocaust book? We needed this one."

Hilary's copy has been read by Eileen then me and is now with Katy. Sarah you could reserve it and read it in a couple of days over Christmas.

9/10

London Fields by martin Amis

My first book by Kingsley or Martin Amis (father and son). Very enjoyable but almost too clever for his own good. Clever story about three people living in west London in the 1970s with many strange or invented descriptive words and very sharp social observation. Dickensian complexity to the story and the language so it took ages to read - but enjoyable. Will wait up to a year before trying another Amis!

8/10

Ciderhouse Rules - John Irving

Really enjoyed this, although took me quite a long time. I've found John Irving quite slow epic stories. I liked the characters in this, in fact I thought most of them were very sympathetic. The main story is subtle but interesting.
Will read more...

8/10

Almost Perfect - James Goss

My dalliance in to sci fi! It's a story about the characters in Torchwood (the Dr Who spin off), involving aliens and body swaps. It was very funny. I'd certainly read something by james again, but perhaps not the rest of the torchwood series.

score? 10/10 of course!

Winter Moon by Dean Koontz

I was desperate for something to read and found this in the club house. It started off ok as a police in New York story. Unfortunately the plot starts to involve alien invasion and not Wyndam style so I just kept thinking about horror movies. Only read it if you've nothing else available.
3/10

The glass blowers - daphne du maurier

the story of Daphne's family who were glass blowers!! goes through the revolution in 1800s (oh dear my french history is appawling!).

no gripping dark moments lik rebecca but a good story that keeps you all the way through.

8/10

The bean trees - Barbara Kingsolver

the same woman who wrote the poisonwood bible.. not as amazing, but very nice and gentle to read.. varied who was telling the story.

About a girl who lives in small town america.. bit of illegal imigrants.. bit of feminist issues.

interesting quick read

7/10

Hungry Hill - Daphne du Maurier

not as thrilling as her other stories.. it's about a family who live in a big house and the lives of the hiers as they come into ownership.. so it's goes through about 4 generations in the end.

Obviously I liked it because it was late 1800s onwards and it was daphne... not one of her bests though so wouldn't recommend

8/10

Regeneration by Pat Barker

Didn't know what to expect but wanted to read this trilogy because of what people say about it. Found it surprisingly easy to read - coherent, a good novel but about real people which draws you in. Ready for second book now.

9/10

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Glad I bought and read this. A scientist's very critical (to say the least!) view of religion and religious people and their affect on our society and world. My own views on the subject have been crystalising over the last year or two and Dawkins has reinforced them and clarified them. But not a perfect or easy read - sometimes repetitive or long-winded. But a good read if you are prepared to give his views a hearing.

9/10

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

Some light reading. Usual strong/fast adventure story with Koontz's usual science fiction or fantasy twist in it. OK but not worth recommending.

4/10

A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve

Interesting book that I found in the apartment about some college friends who meet up after about 30 years at a wedding. Usual sort of story where people keep referring back to an incident taht happened when they were friends and had an affect on their lives.
7/10

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

This month's Book Club book so I thought I'd read it anyway, even though I suspected it would be like the other books I've read recently about Afganistan. The author lived with the bookseller and his family for four months and so it's an authentic account of life in Afganistan. Very interesting and revealling and I think on a par with "The Kite Runer" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns".
9/10

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

I found this in the apartment....not sure who left it. It's very American in style, a love story told by a man well into his 80s with a wife who has alzheimer. A quick, easy read but I didn't find the style too exciting.
5/10

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker

The second book in the Regeneration Trilogy and just as good as the first. This book concentrates more on Billy Prior (from the first book) and reinforces the difficult decisions people had to make during the war.
9/10

Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean

I got this as a book swap. I'd not heard of it but thought the blurb sounded interesting. It's about two couples who meet on a luxury holiday in the Caribbean. One man is dying and the woman in the other couple is showing signs of dementia, so not a happy setting. The book explores their relationships and can be ammusing although pretty sad as well.
7/10

The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley

I decided to read this after reading Mary Wesley's autobiography. You can see a lot of her experiences in the book. A good read about how war can change people's lives.
8/10

The Rachel Papers - Martin Amis

We'd been talking at work about the film that most summed up the 80s and this was in the shortlist. then I saw the book in a charity shop for 50p and took it home.
Slightly odd read that it's a story written in an evening and it keeps flicking back and forth. I could kinda remember the story from the film, but not completely.

Funny, quick read.

7/10

Small World - Martin Suter

No idea who's book this is or where it came from, but I found it on my bookshelf so thought I'd read it.
About a man in Cyprus who has been adopted by a rich family and then develops dementia. He starts remembering things (which I htought was the opposite of dementia) and the family worry that some big secret will come out.

the front of the book says 'as gripping as any hitchcock' so you know there is going to be some kinda twist at the end. and it was really gripping!!

8/10

Wild Mary by Patrick Marnham

This month's book club, I wasn't really looking forward to it as I'm not a great fan of biographies. It's about Mary Wesley who became famous as an author in her 70s with the novel "The Camomile Lawn". In fact once I got into it, I enjoyed it more than I expected. Quite a remarkable women who lived an unusual life which formed the basis of her novels.
6/10