UK Book Club discussion
A - Z Author Challenge
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Susan''s 2011-2012 +2012- 2013-2014 A to Z Challenge.



It's the story of an unusual friendship between a gifted young girl, and a homeless, damaged teenager.
The story is sad, and haunting....and very thought provoking....certainly well worth reading.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.




I've wanted to read this book for a while, having really liked another book by this authorMister Pip, but I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much.
It was interesting, and kept me reading, but I found it disjointed, and for me, just didn't seem to fulfil the potential I imagined it to have. Disappointing.


It seems to have taken me ages to read this book, but it was worth it.
Detailing Egypt's political struggles at both the beginning and end of the 20th Century, this book also tells a wonderful love story, revealed as the great-granddaughter of the lovers discovers the contents of an old chest.
By reading the journals and letters it contains,she is able to piece together the story, while she and her cousin live through the upheavals of the region in the late nineties.
It seemed especially relevant to read this book just at this time, considering the recent upheavals in Egypt, and it has made me want to read more of it's history.



I've enjoyed this unusual story, which explores the problems of illegal immigration from the point of view of a young girl, traumatised by terrible persecution and violence in her own country, who hopes, mistakenly,to find safety in England.
This is a very thought provoking book.

This was a great read, unusual, funny, enough action to keep it exciting...and wonderfully far fetched!
6 down and 20 to go!!!!



This was an amazing book......I think I shall be thinking about it for a long time to come!
It looks at how a nine year old boy tries to come to terms with the death of his Father in the tragedy of 9/11, and is unlike anything I have ever read!
Susan wrote: "I've just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.
This was an amazing book......I think I shall be thinking about it for a long time to com..."
Added to my tbr list - thanks Susan
This was an amazing book......I think I shall be thinking about it for a long time to com..."
Added to my tbr list - thanks Susan


I think I shall read his other books, this was the first of his I've read.

I enjoyed the first half, then it became not so good, then it became just daft !!
Disappointing.

It was good, but not as good as his other books which I've read.

I've enjoyed reading it, and watched the film version as soon as I had finished the book.
I was surprised by how much the film left out, and much preferred the book. Classic stuff!
11 down 15 to go!

So clever....if you like words, I think you will like this book.



This was the first of his books I've read. It was an enjoyable Detective/Murder mystery, which I thought was well written, and kept me guessing until the end.

Doing E now....Gathering the Water

I didn't like this book at all....if it hadn't been on my A to Z challenge I don't think I would have finished it.

W. The Clue of the Twisted Candle by Edgar Wallace.
K. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
So not as behind as I thought!

Chapter two, when the heroine of the story suddenly finds herself a down and out in London, having suffered a loss of memory took me by surprise, but her journey through destitution, and back to her vicarage home was interesting enough to keep me reading.



This short love story really surprised me in just how good it was, I will definatly be looking for more of his writing.

This is another novella, it was a good story, even though short, and has interested me in reading more of his work.

I'm not too sure what to say about this book....there were parts of it that were good, and the idea behind it was brilliant, but, I found large parts of it boring and strangely irritating, and sadly, overall I didn't really enjoy it.

I quite enjoyed this book, at least I kept reading it until it was finished, but
I definatly wasn't all that impressed .
It was all rather predictable, a bit depressing and obvious, and to be honest I thought it stretched credibility that all those momentous things should just happen to happen on the same date, year after year......

I loved the writing in this book, but of course it is such a sad story.
It's very well done though, and some parts were incredibly moving.
I saw this movie a while ago, and thought it was very good, but the book was somehow different and better.


For Y maybe Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto or Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates?
For R, my husband surprised me with a new novel One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner - I haven't read it yet but will have to soon, if only to encourage him to treat me to more books!

My husband has only ever surprised me with one book, apart from lots of cookery books, that is, and that was The Lord of the Rings, many moons ago....I suppose nothing could ever surpass that, so he's never chosen another for me.
Books mentioned in this topic
A Small Death in Lisbon (other topics)The Spindlers (other topics)
Hand Me Down World (other topics)
The Various Haunts of Men (other topics)
The Remains of the Day (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert Wilson (other topics)Lauren Oliver (other topics)
Lloyd Jones (other topics)
Susan Hill (other topics)
Kazuo Ishiguro (other topics)
More...
B....All fun and Games Untill Someone loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre.READ APRIL 2011.
C....The Other Hand (aka Little Bee) by Chris Cleave. READ APRIL 2011.
D....Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. READ JULY 2011
E....Garhering the Water by Robert Edric. READ JULY 2011
F....Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathen Safran Foer.READ APRIL 2011
G....Travels with my Aunt by Graham Green.READ MAY 2011
H....The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. READ MAY 2011
I....Backwater by Conn. Iggulden. READ SEPTEMBER 2011
J....Here at the End of The World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones. READ MARCH 2011
K....Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok READ APRIL 2011
L....Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey. READ JULY 2011
M....The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. READ FEBRUARY 2011
N....One Day by David Nicholls READ OCTOBER 2011
O....A Clergymans Daughter by George Orwell READ AUGUST 2011
P..The Map of Time by Felix J Palma. READ SEPTEMBER 2011
Q....One True Thing by Anna Quindlin. READ OCTOBER 2011
R....The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss READ JULY 2012
S....The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif. READ MARCH 2011
T....Sanctus by Simon Toyne. READ APRIL 2011
U....Morality play by Barry Unsworth READ OCTOBER 2012
V....No and Me by Delphine de Vigan READ JANUARY 2011
W....The Clue of the Twisted Candle by Edgar Wallace READ JANUARY 2011
X....Sky Buriel by Xinran READ JANUARY 2012
Y....Cold Spring Harbour by Richard Yates READ OCTOBER 2012
Z....Journey into the past by Stefan Zweig READ SEPTEMBER 2011Morality Play