Our first book for the year, aptly named Year of Wonders, had us all agreeing that this is a good tale, well told, and includes everything (and everyone) that makes a successful novel. We all agreed that the steps taken by the villagers were courageous, but the presence of superstition and fervent religious beliefs made for a realistic portrait of the times. We all felt the inequality of the social system and had a good discussion on how it worked and whether it was still in place today.

A few of us mentioned that we thought this was probably the best of Brooks’ novels, finding her others disappointing, and lacking substance compared to Wonders. The only criticisms we could really come up with was the novel’s closing stages. Anna’s unusual actions had us all wondering how likely a woman of her time would be to execute such a conclusion.

Many of us have read other novels and books relating to the plague and concede that the history and issues pertaining to the disease makes for interesting and compelling reading. Thankfully this is what Year of Wonders delivered and we recommend it with a big healthy tick!

We like to award points to all our books read throughout the year and find out which was our favourite. Well, the prize goes to The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster. You can read our review here. Why not add it to your reading list for 2012 and let us know what you think.

Our preference list is as follows -

1. The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster

2. Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee

3. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

4. Trespass/The Road Home by Rose Tremian

5. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

7. Room by Emma Donoghue

8. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

9. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

10. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

11. A Mercy by Toni Morrison

12 Long Song by Andrea Levy

Fforde’s world is a future world in which democracy has been replaced by colourtocracy. Visual colour dominates society. You are what you can see. Eddie Russell has better than average red perception and is happy with his lot until he  moves to East Carrmine and falls in love with a grey named Jane. She opens his eyes to the painful truths behind his seemingly perfect world eg What happened to all the people who never returned from High Saffron, and why when you begin to question the world around you do black and white certainties reduce themselves to shades of grey?

New members are always welcome to join our friendly group. If you would like to find out more about the group ring us on Phone 4227 8133 or call into our beautiful library at 67-71 King Street Warrawong.

Picardie, 1963. A truck drops a group of illegal workers by a deserted stretch of canal in the dead of night near Poissons-les-Marais, desperate travelers in a pipeline, searching for a better life. Days later, one of them surfaces, stabbed to death.

For Inspector Lucas Rocco, finding the victim’s fellow travelers presents problems. Most Algerian immigrants are welcome, but traveling for any who aren’t is a sensitive issue loaded with threats of civil unrest – something which terrifies his bosses in the Ministry. And when Rocco is ordered to stay away from one factory where he suspects illegals are employed, it goes against everything he knows.

Do you enjoy a good mystery? Want to join a book club but can’t make the meeting commitments? Why not join our online club, itsamysterytome. Each month there will be a new mystery novel to read, copies available from the Wollongong library service. Then just visit our bookclub blog through the link on our library page and comment on the monthly selection.  It’s that easy! Why not start the New Year with a new reading experience!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the coming-of-age story of young, sensitive and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the turn-of-the centuryWilliamsburgslums ofBrooklyn. This poignant and moving tale is filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident.

From the moment she entered the world, Francie needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life ofWilliamsburgdemanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences.

As a book group, we are no strangers to American classics. We’ve delved into more than a few over the 10 years we have been meeting, and on no occasion have they been described as ‘saccharine’. But there is a first time for everything, and this is exactly what approximately half of our group thought of Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. If you would like to learn more … and there is more, visit Over the Fence and read on.

Quoyle is a hapless, hopeless hack journalist living and working inNew York. When his no-good wife is killed in a spectacular road accident, Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers – the remotest corner of far flungNewfoundland. With ‘the aunt’ and his delinquent daughters – Bunny and Sunshine – in tow, Quoyle finds himself a part of an unfolding, exhilarating Atlantic drama.

 There is little in this world that is more subjective than the reading of a novel. What one person finds truly enthralling, another will find totally boring. I think it would be safe to say there is a book out there for everyone … just not the same book!

 Such was the case with The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, a Pulitzer Prize winner, no less. The majority of our Monday night group found this tale of Quoyle, a hopelessly ineffectual individual, much like the character himself … a total waste of time. They found the writing disjointed and the story slow with little or nothing to engage them. Sandra persevered and finished the book even though she found all the characters annoying and Cheryle had to work hard at staying interested, finding her enjoyment level waning and accelerating several times throughout.

 Jean proved the biggest fan and became engaged with everyone, loving the subtle humour and gradual development of Quoyle’s character. She made a pertinent comment that Quoyle seemed to be a bystander of his own life and only slowly began to take charge near the story’s conclusion. Something we all firmly agreed with and on a positive note, found very satisfying.

It was generally recognized within the group that this type of characterization is tricky and only an accomplished author could pull it off. Whether Proulx did it successfully is still a matter of differing opinions. There were those of us who could not finish or attempt this read, but it was mentioned this could simply be because of the time of year (too much on our minds) and that they may well try again in the near future. Regardless, Shipping News presented a challenge to wrap up a great year of reading with our Monday Night club and the whole group is eager for another 12 books in 2012.

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers!

The pretty gift-wrapped box floating in a toy dinghy looks innocent enough, but it holds a bloody secret; a human heart.

Nothing is more important to Detective Sam Becket than being able to keep his family safe. But when the gruesome package is found outside their home, he and Grace, his wife, fear it can mean only one thing; that Cal the Hater, the psychotic serial killer with a grudge against them is back.

Hilary Norman’s new Dectective Sam Becket thriller is now available.

Jack is five and excited about his birthday. He lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight and measures eleven feet by eleven feet. He loves watching TV and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real – only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits that there’s a world outside …

Told in Jack’s voice, Room is the story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. Unsentimental and sometimes funny, devastating yet uplifting.

It’s not often a book gets the thumbs up from everyone in a book club, but when it does the discussion can become stilted with agreement. Not in this case. This month’s book , enjoyed by all, provided a lively discussion with our Monday night group, mostly centred around Jack, the child. We had some conflicting opinions on whether his development was realistic. Why was he so mature on some matters, yet his voice often younger than his five years?

Everyone had an opinion on this; isolation, one-on-one mothering, confined environment, lack of socialization. And in the end we all agreed that Jack’s situation could not be measured against any ‘normal’ five year old’s world. Vanessa made an interesting observation about Jack’s ability to communicate his wonder at a world he had not yet seen. Most toddlers cannot verbalise their amazement at a new experience or environment, whereas Jack could. This view point was sobering and had everyone contemplating the situation of the many real-life children who have been born to such heart-wrenching conditons.

We also had a healthy scrutiny into the roll of the media in these situations, an analysis of the parents, their support or lack of, and the emotional stability of any young girl who escapes after such an ordeal.

So, although we found ourselves on the the same side of the fence with Room, by no means did this limit our ability to grapple with the issues. In fact, opportunities for stimulating debate seemed to grow as we explored the territory and were confined only by the need to move onto the next prescribed read!

1222 metres above sea level, train 601 from Oslo careens off iced rails as the worst snowstorm in Norwegian history gathers force around it. Marooned in the mountains with night falling, its travellers are forced to abandon their snowbound train and decamp into a centuries-old mountain hotel. They ought to be safe from the storm here, but as dawn breaks one of them will be found dead, murdered

With the storm showing no sign of abating, retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is asked to investigate, but Hanne has no wish to get involved. She has learned the hard way that the pursuit of justice comes at a price; her glittering career in the force ended when a bullet lodged in her spine.

Trapped in a wheelchair, trapped by the killer within, trapped by the deadly storm outside, Hanne’s growing unease is shared by everyone in the hotel. Why was the last train carriage sealed? Why is the top floor of the hotel locked down? And, of course, what if the killer strikes again?