Author: 730bookclub

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 →

        Debbie's been reading: McCullough, Colleen (2008)  The independence of Miss Mary Bennet. Harper Collins.  McCullough's sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Mary Bennet now thirty eight years old, unmarried, gets a makeover. Freed from her daughterly duties of caretaker to Mrs. Bennet, the new and improved Mary Bennet has independent plans for… Continue reading August Picks →

Raewyn and Lynne have been reading: Wood, Patricia (2007) Lottery. Penguin.  With an IQ of 76, Perry L. Crandall is often mistaken for retarded. But he knows the truth: “You have to have an IQ number less than 75 to be retarded. I read that in Reader’s Digest.” Abandoned by his mother at a young age,… Continue reading July Picks →

Alborn, Mitch (2004).  The 5 People You Meet in Heaven. Hyperion.   By the author of Tuesdays with Morrie this powerful novel recounts the life of a simple yet dignified old man Eddie.  After dying in a freak accident on his 83rd birthday, Eddie finds himself in heaven where he encounters five people who have… Continue reading We have been recommended to read… →

        Jan's been reading: Walker, Martin (2010) Bruno, Chief of Police. Vintage.   Bruno cooks, hunts, builds his own house, grows his own food and is a pillar of the local tennis and rugby clubs.  He is the town’s most eligible bachelor.  He organizes  parades, festivities and fireworks displays, registers births and deaths,… Continue reading June Picks →