Author: Jackie

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Other Richard and Judy Book Club

Richard and Judy 2009 Book Club – Complete!

Richard and Judy host a TV programme, here in the UK. Every year they chose a selection of books, and then review them on their show. I have been following their book club for a few years, and have read some great books thanks to them.

This year’s Richard and Judy selection didn’t seem as strong as in previous years. I was disappointed with many of the books; the majority were average, or worse, and contained many flaws. I’m not sure that I will read the entire list in future years, especially as I am unable to watch the TV programme now that it has moved onto a satallite channel.

There were a few great reads though. I was very pleased to discover The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher both were rich, informative reads that I highly recommend.

Have you read this years R&J selection? If so, I’d love to know your opinion. Do you think the standard has dropped this year? Will you be reading the list in future years?

 Richard and Judy’s 2009 Book Club Choices


Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman

Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff


The Bolter by Frances Osborne

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

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The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin

December by Elizabeth H Winthrop

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

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Recommended books Richard and Judy Book Club

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite/The Glimmer Palace – Beatrice Colin

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite is one of the best books I have read this year. The blurb on the back cover describes a very different book to the one it actually contains. I’m not very interested in the film industry, and the life of an orphaned cabaret dancer doesn’t sound like a great basis for a novel, but luckily the book bears little resemblance to it’s description.

The book is set in Berlin during the early part of the twentieth century. The central character, Lilly, is brought up in an orphanage, and faces many hardships. When the orphanage closes, Lilly is thrown onto the streets, and has to learn to live independently. WWI plays a big part in the story line. Lilly has to cope with food shortages, disease and death. The suffering of the German people is described vividly, but sensitively. Lilly is one of the best characters I have come across in a while. She is flawed, but her strength shines though – I loved her!  By coincidence I am also reading Gone With the Wind at the moment, and noticed a lot of similarities between Lilly and Scarlett O’Hara. I’d love to ask the author if  this was just coincidence!

It is very well researched, and I learnt a lot about German history. My only criticism is that the historical facts became too densely packed towards the end. There was a point when I began to wonder if the book was non-fiction, and actually went to check! For three-quarters of the book it was a rich, well written, novel about one woman’s struggle against adversity, but the last part of the book was a bit disappointing, as Lilly’s character seemed to get drowned in historical facts, and the famous people began to dominate the plot. This is only a very minor criticism though, so please do not let it stop you from reading this book.

The book was well paced, informative, and entertaining, and I agree with Simon –  the writing style is very reminiscent of Sarah Waters. I’m sure that anyone who loves Sarah Water’s books will love this one too.

Highly recommended.

NB:  This book is called The Glimmer Palace in America.

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Meme

Booking Through Thursday – Best ‘worst’ book

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Suggested by Janet:

The opposite of last week’s question: “What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”

This is a really hard question, as I’m not really aware of any books which I’d class as a ‘worst book’. The great thing about the blogging community is that I can follow people with similar reading tastes to me, so I don’t read many reviews written by the millions of people who like different genres.

I also tend to be more fussy than a lot of people, and am noticing it getting worse as I get older (or is it because I’ve read more great books!?!). I can think of lots of books which others have liked, that I have not, but not the other way round. This might be because if my trusted blogging friends write a negative review then I don’t tend to read the book!

The only one I can think of is The Da Vinci Code. It wasn’t the best book in the world, but it kept me entertained the whole way through. It must be nearly five years since I read it though, and my reading tastes have changed since then, so I don’t know what I’d think if I read it now.

I’m happy to admit I enjoyed it though – it was an enjoyable distraction from the work I did at the time!

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Blog Improvement Project Other

Do you Digg it?

125px-digg_new_svgAs part of the Blog Improvement Project I have just signed up to Digg, but after having a browse round the site, and a few other web discussions about it, I’m not really sure there was much point in signing up. It looks as though it is a great site for finding out about current news stories, and maybe a few interesting one-off articles, but I’m not convinced that it is a great way of drawing traffic to your blog.

If you do manage to get an article accepted to Digg (and this sounds like a political minefield!), it sounds as though it may generate short term spikes in visitor numbers, but no long term benefits.

Have you signed up to Digg? Have you managed to successfully submit an article? If so, did it produce any results for you? Unless I hear some amazing anecdotes, I’m not going to attempt any more Digging!

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Other

Sisterhood Award

sisterhood_awardSandy from You’ve Gotta Read This! honoured me with this amazing award. I’m proud to have made so many great friends here in the blogging world, and count Sandy as one of the most special. Thank you so much Sandy!

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Other Weekly Geeks

Weekly Geeks – Historical Fiction

The weekly assignment for Weekly Geeks is to discuss historical fiction.

 

 

I love historical fiction. Knowing that the book you are reading is based on events which actually happened adds to the magic of them. It’s also a great way to learn about history, without having to get bogged down in dry text books!

I don’t have a favourite historical era – I love reading about all different periods of history.

 

My favourite historical fiction book is probably The Other Boleyn Girlby Phillipa Gregory. I read this pre-blogging, so haven’t written a review of it yet, but two great reviews are here:

Book Club Queen
All Things Girl 

The writing is so  vivid that you become totally immersed in 16th century life. I highly recommend that you read it.

 

One of my other favourite historical fiction reads is The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel. This book is set 35,000 years ago, and gives a great insight into early human life. The characterisation and plot are amazing, and this book is one of my all time favourite reads. 

I’m not sure that either of these books are appropriate for a book club read, as they are both a bit too long, but there is a lot to discuss if you do give them a go.