Better turn out this month - hooray! Still need to recruit some more book worms though and also need some more book suggestions as our list is diminishing! (we decided to take off a few of the older choices on there which we had always skirted around) Here's what's on the list at the moment:
The Shock of the Fall - by Nathan Filer
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Only Human by Jenny Diski
The Shining by Stephen King (I've just added this one as we haven't read a horror yet and I'm sure Rachael suggested it ages ago)
Anyway this month we were talking about 'Childhood's End' by Arthur C Clarke - a classics 1950's sci-fi, which received mixed reviews from everyone. I really enjoyed reading and sped through it, I love sci-fi films and was quite eager to read this. It wasn't the best book iv ever read but it was different. I liked the fact that it was written years ago and talked about the time and what they imagined to be the future as some of it has come true and some of it not a lot has changed. I did find the aliens themselves a little disappointing as I was expecting their reveal to be a bit more dramatic and I was also expecting it to be about the aliens leading the humans into a false sense of security and then wiping them out - but I was wrong as it was really about the aliens forming a relationship with the humans to study what they knew was inevitably going to happen the planet.
We had some interesting discussions about space and time travel mostly from Neil - so we aren't sure if he made it up or not but we were all suitably baffled by the possibility of each experiencing time at a different speed. The book seemed to jump from character to character some who were not related to each other in anyway which made it a bit disjointed but I guess the author was trying to show a vast timescale in years throughout the book which was actually pretty short. There definitely could have been more about the resistance when the aliens first arrived as that all seemed a bit of a cop out and everyone just got on with life as if they weren't there - which I very much doubt would happen if aliens suddenly started floating in the sky above our house and telling politicians how to run the world. Overall though it was definitely worth a read and I like reading different genres its what books club's all about - reading stuff you might not normally consider.
Next months book is called 'Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore' by Robin Sloan. This was one of my suggestions so if its rubbish its all my fault - I hope its good though, I've had good experiences with previous books that are about books and quirky book shops - don't let me down Mr Penumbra!
'A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore'
Next time we meet will be on firework night, I can't believe its been a year since the last sparklers!! We thought we'd re-enact last year so everyone is invited to mine for some nibbles and sparklers again. Maybe we can watch another film related to something we've read - has any one got Life of Pi on DVD/Blu-Ray?
Next Time:
Date: Wed 5th November
Time: 7.30pm
Location: Gems House
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