November choice

Our November book was Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is written from the point of view of a woman looking back on her life from being brought up in a strange kind of boarding school to her adult life as a carer for her fellow pupils. The book is entirely her story so we are only given hints about aspects of her world. We found it a sad and disturbing read. I found the most disturbing part the characters inability to change their situation. The older members of the group thought it reminded them of the film Coma. It provoked discussion on some of the issues involved.

October choice

October's book was Want to play by P. J.Tracy. By popular demand we chose a lighter thriller for this month. We felt that this far into the new school year we needed something escapist. And it certainly was. Apparently it is the first of a series and several of us will be begging or borrowing the next titles.
A gripping plot, which kept this reader guessing until near the end, was combined with believable characters and an unobtrusive style. I read it virtually at one sitting because I didn't want to put it down - and because someone else was waiting for my copy.

Because we get our books from the very helpful East Ayrshire Library Service and because we need at least 8 copies of any title, we are somewhat restricted in our choices. In fact we tend to take whatever our local library has sufficient copies of, which makes for an interesting element of randomness. It certainly widens the scope of our reading when we take what we are given, as it were. Next month's book is Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

September choice

We all loved The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr. On the whole it was rated more highly that I would have thought in advance. The blurb didn't look very enticing, but it did prove to be a terrificly entertaining read. I laughed out loud at some bits but it was also quite emotional.