Hello everyone
Just 5 of us got in on the Zoom meeting today.
Many thanks to those who apologised for absences: Cindy, Sylvia, Heather, Helene, Annette, Jan, Suzanne,
Some gave me book lists too- so I have included them here
I suspect we may still be in Zoom mode next month- but we will see.
We had nearly finished when the NBN techies went into the hole outside my house and cut me off. :-(
Anyway happy reading with the lists.
BTW - the Campbelltown library anticipates being open soon, but they will be only letting 10 visitors to the library at once.
Their reservations system is working and you can select books from across the system again.
Regards
Kerrie Smith
Annette
The books Ive read recently are Force of Nature by Jane Harper. Very good but I liked The Dry best out of her 3 books You are not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Excellent !!
Meet me in Venice by Barbara Hannay-- Enjoyable
Alice to Nowhere by Evan Green written in 1984 and a crime novel set in the Aust outback .Very good . Khaki Town by Judy Nunn .ok but a bit drawn out and slow. Nightingale by Fiona McIntosh A good read set just after world war 1 .The beekeepers secret by Josephine Moon which I believe has been reviewed in.the group previously and one I enjoyed.
The Poppy Wife by caroline Scott An extremely well researched novel set after the First World War. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins About migrants who try and escape from the cartels in Mexico and those who assist them with compassion Compelling reading !
Heather
The Songmaster – Di Morrissey
The interesting story of a female solicitor, a QC, a retired judge, an Aboriginal ex television personality and a journalist all from Sydney who go to Kimberley, north west WA to have an immersion experience of traditional tribal Aboriginal life. The journalist is desperate to get pregnant with her husband and is on a last ditch effort at IVF.
The Aborigine, who was taken from his mother whilst young and placed on a white mission and then fostered by a white family in Perth, is searching for his identity, his roots and his family.
Other characters in the group include an ex nun who has spent many years living with the indigenous community and acts as the interpreter; an Aboriginal Art gallery owner and expert and a part Aboriginal baby abandoned in the Melbourne Art Gallery wrapped in a shawl printed with an Aboriginal tribal owl motif. The baby’s white mother is subsequently murdered. To be returned to her spiritual and physical family the people must trace the baby girl’s tribal family, the only clue is the shawl.
The group, especially the three lawyers, become increasingly impressed by the Aboriginal elders, the closeness of the earth, the creation Dreaming stories and atmosphere of where they are camping. They become involved in the fight for justice as the indigenous artists and community are being exploited and denied access to their sacred tribal sites by the aggressive pastoralists on whose leased land the sites are located.
Susan, the young solicitor, is increasingly attracted to a wealthy cattle property owner whom she met at the airport. His family own a large expense of land near the territory border and his father is fierce in his opinion that his family have been on the land for three generations and the whites are not giving up ‘their’ land without a fight. Susan is gradually drawn into the Dreaming spirituality and atmosphere, greatly impressed by the elders and joins the other lawyers in looking at ways to give the Aboriginal community justice in their claim for their more than 100,000 year old traditions.
The group is joined by a reluctant, aggressive, Pauline Hanson type, would be politician who is very anti everything and a wealthy American women who, under the guise of making a film, has tricked the elders into signing a contract giving her rights to their art and culture. (Can you own someone’s culture?)
Drama ensues with several deaths and the theft of a priceless piece of extremely ancient rock art. Threaded throughout the story is much interesting Aboriginal lore and history.
Heritage –Judy Nunn
Set in Auschwitz, the Italian Alps, Israel and the Snowy Mountain area of Australia, this story of war, struggle, love and secrets, tells of the dreams of the thousands of European displaced persons and migrants who came to begin a new life working on the Snowy Mountains Hydro- electric Scheme and surrounding area. Action packed, with strong characters and past paced, I enjoyed this Australian story.
War Cry – Wilbur Smith
I read most of his books forty odd years ago but this new (2017) one was a birthday gift. Set in 1930-1050’s Kenya and England during the lead-up to WWII , several families’ German, Jewish and Anglo African friendships and loyalties collide. Strong characters, good descriptions of scenery and pre and post-war society in Kenya, this love story stirred memories of my all too short time in Kenya, Tanzania and Johannesburg.
I also very much enjoyed The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes: the story of the backpack library, set in 1930, 40’s, hillbilly country, Kentucky, deep south USA. The courage and strength of several females on horseback (or mule) who fought against popular opinions, social mores of the times and parochial culture of the area, especially the male population, as the women struggled against physical and natural disasters to provide reading material to outlying inhabitants and school children is admirable and moving. (Thanks Cindy for the loan of this book.)
Gulpilil – Derek Rielly: recommended last meeting. I found this most interesting with many things I was unaware of about his life.
In a Dark Room – Deborah Crombie: a tale of arson ,murder, kidnapping of a young girl, love, relationships, family and the work of firefighters and police set in London.
Cold Earth – Anne Cleaves: another in the Shetland series
An Apprentice in Death – J.D.Robb - Dystopian
The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence – Alyssa Polombo – a novel set in 1480’s Italy around the painting by Botticelli of the Venus rising from a seashell and the Medici family.
{The Chosen Queen –Joanna Courtney : Two of a trilogy fiction (faction) set around and the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings 1066 and the conquest of Saxon England by Duke William of Normandy (William I of England) seen from the perspectives of the Saxons (Queen Edyth) and the Normans (Queen Mathilda)
The Conquerer’s Queen – Joanna Courtney}
Jan
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
The book is set in the town of Rye in East Sussex in 1914.
The main characters are Hugh Grange, who is studying medicine, and his cousin Daniel and they are visiting their Aunt Agatha. Agatha is a quite forward thinking and she has risked her reputation pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master at the local school.
Beatrice Nash is the other character in the book and she is taken on as the Latin teacher but is significantly more free thinking (and attractive) than people think a Latin teacher should be. On her part, Beatrice has been left penniless since the death of her father and needs to work. Just as Beatrice is coming to terms with life in Sussex and also has romantic feelings for Hugh, the perfect summer that they have experienced comes to an end with the start of World War 1.
This book was very long but even so, it held my interest all the way through, especially with food shortages, hording and plans to grow and store food, etc. which I was reading about at the same time as we were starting to do much the same thing.
Suzanne
*THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa - March listing
*THE PARIS MODEL by Alexandra Joel - March listing
*CODE NAME HÈLÉNE by Ariel Lawhon (based on the thrilling true story of Nancy Wake “The White Mouse”)-a great read
*A KISS FROM MR FITZGERALD by Natasha Lester
*HER MOTHER’S SECRET by Natasha Lester
*THE PARIS SECRET by Natasha Lester
Barbara Albrecht
REBECCA'S TALE, Sally Beaumann - recommended
GREY FRIAR'S HOUSE, Emma Fraser
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN, Angela Kelly
Meredith
THE RAIN QUEEN, Katherine Scholes
THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHER, Katherine Scholes
THE WEDDING DRESS MAKER, Leah Fleming
THE OLIVE GARDEN CHOIR, Leah Fleming
THE PARIS SECRET, Natasha Lester
JAMES COOK, Peter Fitzsimmons
MELTING MOMENTS, Anna Goldsworthy
Annie
THE WEEKEND, Charlotte Wood
MUM & DAD, Joanna Trollope
THE WIFE & THE WIDOW, Christian White
Now having a Ruth Rendell/ Barbara Vine binge from books she owns
Barbara W
THE WOMAN IN THE GREEN DRESS, Tea Cooper
THE MIDNIGHT ROSE, Lucinda Riley
CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW, Jacquie French
Kerrie
May 2020
4.1, GREY MASK, Patricia Wentworth
4.3, ELLY, Maike Wetzel
4.4, THE CASE IS CLOSED, Patricia Wentworth
4.6, PAINTING IN THE SHADOWS, Katherine Kovacic
4.5, LONESOME ROAD, Patricia Wentworth
April 2020
5.0, PEACE, Garry Disher - Australian author & setting
4.7, RIGHT BEHIND YOU, Rachel Abbott
4.5, THE PORTRAIT OF MOLLY DEAN, Katherine Kovacic - Australian author & setting
4.8, THE GOOD TURN, Dervla McTiernan - Australian author
4.5, BOXED, Richard Anderson - Australian author & setting
4.6, IN THE CLEARING, J. P. Pomare - Australian author & setting
4.3, THE BEEKEEPER, Stewart Giles
4.3, RETRIBUTION, Richard Anderson - Australian author & setting
5.0, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, Craig Sisterson - Australian and New Zealand crime fiction
4.5, THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPE, Katherine Kovacic - Australian author & setting
4.4, TRUE WEST, David Whish-Wilson - Australian author & setting,
