Author: 730bookclub

Roz's has been reading: Thomas, Rosie (2010) Lovers and Newcomers. Harper Collins. They were wild in the 60s; but now they face turning sixty themselves. Miranda decides a lonely widowhood is not for her. Reviving a university dream, she invites five old friends to live with her. To begin with the omens are good, but they… Continue reading March Picks →

Walls, Jeanette (2009 ) Half-broke horses. Simon & Schuster. A debut novel based on the extraordinary life of Jeannette Walls' maternal grandmother - a sassy, straight-talking heroine for whom saving lives, taming wild horses and beating ranch hands at poker are all in a day's work.  Glass Castle, a memoir of Jeanette's childhood, is also a… Continue reading Recommendations from Wisconsin Jan (her Bookclub’s favourites) →

Roz's been reading: Nicholls, David (2009) One Day. Hodder & Stoughton.  On the 15th July 1988 Emma and Dexter meet for the first time, on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every… Continue reading February Picks →

Nafisi, Azar (2004) Reading Lolita in Tehran; a Memoir in Books.  Hodder. For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Azar Nafisi gathered seven young women in her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. The stories of these women are intertwined with the books they are reading.… Continue reading Great Reads – Reminder →

Gruen, Sara (2010)  Ape House.  Allen & Unwin.  Dr. Isabel Duncan studies and cares for six bonobos, members of the ape family who have mastered sign language and can understand English. The bonobos are like family to her. The bonobos are sold to a porn producer who puts them on a television reality show.  Isabel… Continue reading Jan’s Summer Reads →

1.  Verghese, Abraham (2009) Cutting for Stone (May Picks) 2.  Agassi, Andre (2009) Open (April Picks) 3 = Stockett, Kathryn (2009)  The Help (July Picks) 3 = Mawer, Simon (2009) The Glass Room (August Picks) HONOURABLE MENTIONS Lewycka, Marina (2010)  We are all made of glue (August Picks) Mitchell, David (2010) The thousand autumns of David… Continue reading Our Top Reads for 2010 →

Osborne, Frances (2005) Lilla's Feast: One woman's true story of love and war in the Orient.  Random House.  At the end of her life, Frances Osborne’s one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother Lilla was as elegant as ever–all fitted black lace and sparkling-white diamonds. To her great-grandchildren, Lilla was both an ally and a mysterious wonder. Her bedroom was… Continue reading Lynne Recommends →

        Cameron, Kirsty (2010) Kiwi Bach Companion.  Random House.  Tells you how to enjoy this kiwi icon from fixing a leaking tap to filleting a fish. It helps you brush up on your angling technique and fishing rules, identify shells and shorebirds and become an expert on the night sky. It circumvents rainy-day boredom… Continue reading Techbooks Recommends →

Jan's been reading: Weir, Alison (2010) The Captive Queen; a novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Hutchinson.  It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, rides like the wind southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to King Louis of France.  This… Continue reading October Picks →

  Barb's been reading: Davies, Glyn & Kirstin Kennedy (2009) Medieval and Renaissance Art: People and Possessions. V&A Publishing.  This beautiful book accompanies the re-opening of the V&A's Medieval and Renaissance galleries. Presented thematically, it explores the social contexts responsible for some of the museum's most captivating objects, both commonplace and precious, to recover the… Continue reading September Picks →