All The Light We Cannot See

I thoroughly enjoyed reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr which is set during WWII.  The two main characters are Marie-Laure a little Parisian girl who lives with her doting father until the Germans are set to invade and occupy their city.  They leave the city to move to a seaside town to live with an uncle.  Marie-Laure's father teaches her how to get around the town by building a miniature version and testing her as they walk outside.  The other main character is Werner, a German boy, who lives with his sister and others in an orphanage.  Werner becomes passionate about radios and teaches himself how to repair them.  Both these characters experience the horrors of war as they mature in to young adults.  The story goes back and forward in time, particularly during the war years.  This is a beautifully written exceptional book as the reader becomes immersed in the lives of these characters. 5/5

The One Plus One

I very much enjoyed The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes which is set in England.  Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character.  Jess is a single mum with two children, Nicky and Tanzie.  Every day is a struggle and balancing the budget almost impossible.  One job Jess has is cleaning the home of a wealthy man, Ed, whom she later gets to know.  One character I should mention is Norman, their slobbering huge dog who sheds fur and smells.  He is a great character.  Tanzie is a brilliant mathematician far beyond her years and she is invited to a mathematics competition in Scotland.  Jess is determined to get her daughter there as there is a cash prize which might be enough to get her in to a private school.  Ed has problems of his own, accused of insider trading, when he meets Jess and her family.  Then we treated to a delightful road story, getting up to Scotland.  There is romance and some disappointments along the way.  That's all I'm saying.  I've enjoyed this author's other books and this one did not disappoint. 41/2/5

Bones of the Lost

I enjoyed reading Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs which is about forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan investigating the death of a young girl.  Before she can solve that mystery she is asked to go to Afghanistan to conduct an exhumation of two village men.  An American officer is charged with murdering them as they were unarmed.  A witness does not corroborate the officer's actions and Brennan has to work out the direction of the bullets etc. by examining the Afghanis' bones.  When she returns to America, she continues her investigation of the young girl's death.  She finally unwrangles the clues together with the police officer, Slidell, who is a great character.  4/5

V is for Vengeance

I enjoyed V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton which is set in the mid-1980s in the USA.  Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone investigates the apparent suicide of a woman she caught shoplifting.  The victim's fiance refuses to believe she suicided.  Kinsey's story is told in the first person and two other characters, Nora and Dante are told in the third person.  In the first part of the book the reader does not see a connection between these characters until it emerges the shoplifting is done on a large scale with mafia links. As it is set in the 1980s, a lot of "technology" is absent which is interesting. 31/2/5

The Memory Trap

I enjoyed The Memory Trap by Andrea Goldsmith which is the story of two families who grow up next door to each other - one has two girls, the other has two boys.  It is about their relationships with each other as they grow up and also the people who come in to their lives along the way.  Nina is living and working in New York when she meets her husband Daniel.  Zoe has had a "good" marriage with Elliot whom she met in New York.  Sean has tried to live away from the shadow of his pianist brother Ramsay.  Nina's life becomes "complicated" and she returns to her hometown of Melbourne, spending some time with Zoe and discovering that Zoe's marriage is threatened.  There is some beautiful writing in this book and the reader becomes familiar with all the characters who are not all likeable.  We can feel sorry for Ramsay whose whole world is himself and his piano and what that does to the people who love him. There is sympathy also for other characters as their lives seem to fall apart. 4/5

August Book Club

Many thanks to our host this month.  She welcomed us on a chilly evening and we warmed up in her lounge room.  For the first time that I can remember, all members were present.  So lovely to see them all.  We talked about the books we'd read in the last month and our host introduced the new books she'd
bought to add to our collection.  I picked a few books to read and am enjoying my first pick so far.  We enjoyed a discussion about various topics including internet dating - some hilarious anecdotes about people we knew.  Some of the ladies will be off overseas soon so hope they have a wonderful time.  Our host provided a very inviting supper included a Malteser topped chocolate cake.  It was delicious and very decadent.  This year is flying by so quickly.

The Chemistry of Tears

I read The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey which is set in two time periods - 19th Century and 21st Century.  A museum conservator, Catherine, learns that her married lover has died and is inconsolable.  Her supervisor gives her a new project to work on to help with her grief.  She finds she has to restore a  motorised swan and there are accompanying notebooks written by Henry, the man who travelled to Germany to have this built to take home to his very ill son.  So the reader learns about both characters and what they are enduring.31/2/5