Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black 'stand-in mother', Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina - a town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey. And there Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world as about the mystery surrounding her mother. (Waterstone online review)

Words used to describe it:  enriching, charming, intriguing, heartwarming, gentle, simplistic, unchallenging, ordinary

Marks out of 10:  between 7 - 8

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Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan

Next Meeting

4th July at 130 Harbord St

Self Made Man by Norah Vincente

We have still to review this book

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

What she doesn't write, but what we see, is the march of time, relentlessly trampling every moment into the past; the ash-spiral fragility of memory; the transience of passion; the fact that even when we burn brightest we are already dying … Claudia, the protagonist of this book writes her own history, her intense incestious relationship with her brother, the bright doomed love affair of her 20's the grief of Tom's death coloured the rest of her life.  Her distant and harsh treatment of the child she wanted but never loved.  Not an easy book to read, but the language is beautiful.

Words used to describe it:  carry on, kalidescopicscaberous, historic, cutting, difficult, vicious

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 9

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Self Made Man by Norah Vincent

Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn

The interview by the Guardian writer Stephen Moss of Edward St Aubyn is revelling and obfuscating at the same time and this perfectly ecapsulates the book.  Edward writes about his abusive, upper class childhood,where his father rapes him and continues to abuse him from the age of 5 to 8.  It's a hard book to read,  where a child scared by his treatment moves to teenage years and the casual use of drugs to hide the scared and disturbed child beneath the drug abuse to enable him to forget. 

Words used to discribe it:  cutting wit, explosive, over rated, authentic, characterless, horrendous, corrosive,

Marks out of 10:  between 6 - 10 so highly scored

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Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

Next Meeting

18th April