YC Reading

Norwegian Wood Wendy:   I started off enjoying the book, the writing style was easy to read and descriptive, however I found (the style) then changed and it didn’t translate well. I found the book to be very destructive- in the sense of the characters and relationships, which gave me an overwhelming feel that the author’s personal views of women (and not liking them) was a strong message he wanted to portray; whether deliberately or not. The sexual nature of the book was far too descriptive; the in-depth details were unnecessary and excessive; a suggestion of sex would have worked just as well. The book gave me a great visual sense of Japan; I could imagine the characters and places well and the author writes well, however the book does not inspire me to read any of his other novels and it is not recommendable. David: I really enjoyed Norwegian Wood; I found it to be uplifting and particularly enjoyed the Asian influences and cultural references. I can imagine t...

What a great meeting we had yesterday to discuss Norwegian Wood and The Catcher In The Rye; the books made for great disccusion (all of which i will be posting shortly). I would like to welcome and thank our newest members to the club; Nick Sharon Wendy Beth Tizney Sherlock Emma Tamara Its my pleasure to run the club and to see it grow; i look forward to seeing you all and hearing your views over the coming months. - Carey

Norwegian Wood   Norwegian Wood is a 1987 novel by author Haruki Murakami. The story is a nostalgic one of Toru Watanabe's developing relationships between himself and two very different women; Naoko and Midori. The novel is centred heavily around loss and sexuality, the student movement in Tokyo and Toru's perception on student life and relationship dynamics.   Metaphorically Murakami uses season's to portray life's cycles, in-particularly winter. Winter can naturally represent dying and death and it reminds us that death is natural and inexorable. Using this, there is great detail and attention paid to the seasons and its relationship it has with events that happen in the story.   Murakami has a great way of describing characters features and quirks, and with this I could really envision all the characters in the book, however, Toru himself isn't as clearly described, but this could be purposefully done by Murakami as the importance is between th...

What a great looking selection we have! 

Why I Chose… “Norwegian Wood ” (Haruki Murakami)   The question every reader both loves and dreads to answer is this one – what’s your favourite? There are never any short answers – and very often, the result is a  long list.   There are books which you read every summer, or every winter. The ones that remind you of being five, or fifteen, or your college years or your first love. The books we remember fondly are the ones whose lines we memorise and drop into conversation; whose characters we wish we could be like; the ones whose worlds are those we could almost step into, which strike a chord so deep we feel we’ve always known them and afterwards change our perception slightly of our own world.   Norwegian Wood is one of those books.   It is a bittersweet tale of looking back, of an acutely felt nostalgia for past youth and past loves. From hearing the Beatles song, “Norwegian Wood”, Toru Watanabe is reminded of his first love, Naok...

Sharon Curtis, a  new member to the Book Club has just finished reading The Cuckoo's Calling and here are her thoughts ..   "I found this a riveting page turner and read it at every opportunity – nothing too challenging but gripping from the start.  The characters were very well defined – some very likeable; others quite loathsome.  The hero, down on his luck Detective Cormoran Strike and his sidekick (Robin, his ill afforded temporary secretary) take us to some of the haunts of the rich and famous in the search for the killer of model, Lula Landry.  Strike lost part of his leg in Afghanistan and the reader can only feel his pain as he trudges from place to place in his quest for the truth.  After solving their first major case, hopefully enough business will be generated to take us on another sleuthing adventure - Strike and Robin deserve their own series of stories.  We are also left with the ‘will they, won’t they’ scenario…! "   ...

Fancy your chances at writing a poem, short story or flash fiction? Enter in to the Bridport Prize competition for your chance to win a cash prize! Rules : Poems : Max 42 Lines Entry Fee: £8 £5000 1st Prize Short Stories : Max 5000 words Entry Fee: £9 £5000 1st Prize Flash Fiction : Max 250 words Entry Fee: £7 £1000 1st Prize Entrants must be 16 years and over. Posthumous entries are not eligible. Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant. Work must never have been published previously. Entrants can send as many entries as they wish. Entry fees must be in sterling by credit/debit card, cheque or postal order. Entries must be in English. Entries must be typed on A4, Single-sided and securely fastened. Stories to be double spaced, every page numbered and the total word count noted at the top of the first page. Poems to be single spaced. No personal information on the entries (name, address etc), only on the entrant form. Entries...

It's my pleasure to confirm our January Book Club meeting is: Date: Tuesday 28th Jan Time : 4pm Place : University Centre Yeovil (UCY, Preston Road) If any body needs directions (or a lift) please let me know. Looking forward to seeing you all there! - Carey

Is your New Year's Resolution to read more? Then Yeovil Reading Room is perfect for you! We read everything from recent novels by popular authors, classics, and everything in-between. It is a friendly and open discussion on the latest book, with the availability of participation via the blog/twitter or email. You DO NOT need to be a Yeovil College student to be a member, just turn up and all of our books are on loan by Yeovil College FREE OF CHARGE, either via hard back or the use of a Nook. Our next meeting is Tuesday 28 th January at 4pm, at the University Centre Yeovil (UCY), Preston Road. Tell your friends! The more the merrier!  Looking forward to meeting my fellow bookworms! - Carey

Now that Christmas and New Year are officially over and the routines of "normal" life have returned, its time to get back to business! I am currently busily writing reviews for Norwegian Wood and The Catcher in the Rye in preparation for the next book club meeting at the end of January, I managed to finish both books quite quickly and had the fantastic experience of rekindling my love for Salinger and creating a new love for Murakami. I won't go in to great detail now to save spoiling any ending's for members who have not yet finished, do not fear though there is plenty of time to finish up, the next meeting is not scheduled until the last Tuesday of January (more details to follow). I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and celebrated the birth of 2014 in style, I however, did  not succumb to any glamorous outings or shenanigans, but snuggled at home with (none-other) than a good book! As always, any questions or queries, or if you would just like a genera...