'If I Stay' review by Book Club Member Sam..

In contrast to we were liars, I really liked the characters in the book and I guess, that is why it was such a heart-wrenching read. The prose moves between the presence where Mia has been in a car crash and lost those she dearly loves and her memories of the past, where we see exactly why she loved these people and others so much. She is trying to choose as to whether to still live a life she has loved but without so much dear to her or dying. Obviously this is a tearful read but being yet another teen title ( seems to be my new favourite genre), it is bearable and actually quite uplifting. A special mention has to go to the grandparents portrayed in this book, they're the embodiment of what grandparents should be and I'm proud to say reminded me very much of all my own.

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1st Prize Winner, Nick Barton's piece "The Stranger's We've Become"..

I liked to think we’d spend our last night together singing songs not to mourn or regret, but to smile. With no birds outside to hear us, I wanted the stars to gather in constellations above to listen. But, that’s not what happened. Instead, under a hanging light bulb, Stacy and I read in silence while the world outside hummed on without a passing thought as to what we were doing. The quiet between us went on and on until I gave up reading altogether. Watching her reflection in the wardrobe mirror, she sat on the comfy sofa, her knees hugged to her chest and her headphones pressed against her ears made her look awfully cute. She read a paperback open against her thighs and I knew she could see me watching. When I turned around to glance at her, she said without looking: ‘Stop being so needy, I’m reading your book.’ I went back to my story and she hadn’t even broken through ten pages. Last week I read a novel and said she’d love it and I kidded myself into thinking sh...

Norwegian Wood Book Club Member Review

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...

'The Husbands Secret' Book Club Review

The general consensus as a book club was the book was easy to read due to the author’s easy style of writing. Deep moral life issues are addressed in the book. There are too many important issues in the story plot to give gravitas to life changing events and actions and the moral issues of: Forgiveness; Guilt; Parenting; Marriage; Infidelity; Secrecy; and ‘what if’ scenarios. Comments from the group I enjoyed reading “The Husband’s Secret” and the author hooked me into the story very quickly. Whilst searching for a piece of the Berlin wall for her daughter, Cecelia finds a letter from her husband with a note to read only after his death – what should she do? What would you do? After reading it the lives of the three main characters become inextricably linked. At first I thought there was too much going on but very quickly got involved with each of the characters. Cecelia is very organised and Tupperware stalwart – a pill...

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