Sorry for your trouble by Richard Ford (Carolyn July/Aug 201)

 

Sorry for Your Trouble by Richard Ford is a collection of nine linked stories exploring love, loss, aging, divorce, and grief. Most of the characters are middle-aged or older adults confronting the disappointments and regrets of their lives, often after the end of a marriage or the death of a loved one.

Set in places including New Orleans, Maine, Ireland, and Paris, the stories focus on quiet but significant moments of self-reflection and human connection. Former lovers meet again, widows and widowers struggle to move forward, and characters revisit memories that continue to shape their present lives. Written with Ford’s characteristic realism and emotional precision, the collection is a meditation on memory, loneliness, and resilience, showing how people endure loss and find meaning in the later stages of life.

In general it was agreed that short stories don't make the best book club book - difficult to discuss as there are so many different tales to discuss. Most of us felt that these stories were difficult to get into. 

 

Marks out of 10 between 3 and 5 in general with one 7

Words used to describe it: unreadable, uninteresting, I really cannot, overly masculine, disjionted, well observed.

Next Book

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney

Next Meeting 

at Emma's 

Thursday 17th September 

 

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (Jackie 200)

 

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler follows Gail Baines, a 61‑year‑old woman whose life unravels over a single weekend surrounding her daughter’s wedding. Just before the event, Gail unexpectedly loses her job and is shaken by criticism of her personality. At the same time, her ex‑husband Max arrives uninvited, bringing old tensions—and lingering affection—back into her life.

As the wedding approaches, Gail and Max must work together when their daughter Debbie reveals troubling news about her fiancé, forcing them to confront questions about trust, marriage, and their own past relationship. Amid awkward encounters, small crises, and moments of humour, Gail reflects on ageing, regret, and missed opportunities.

Over the three days, Gail gradually reassesses her identity and relationships, and the novel ends on a quietly hopeful note, suggesting the possibility of forgiveness, change, and second chances.

Marks out of 10: between 4 - 9

Words used to describe it: beautifully written, ordinary story, insipid, insignificant

Next book

Sorry for your trouble by Richard Ford

Next meeting 

28th August at Anna's

September Emma

October Rowena 

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (Cindy 199)

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson tells the story of Sophia, a young girl, and her grandmother spending the summer on a small, isolated island. Through a series of brief, episodic moments, the two share conversations, explore nature, and navigate their emotions—particularly the quiet grief over Sophia’s mother. Their relationship blends affection, tension, and understanding, as Sophia’s curiosity meets her grandmother’s calm, reflective wisdom. The novel gently explores themes of childhood, aging, loss, and the passage of time, finding depth and meaning in ordinary, everyday experiences.

Marks out of 10: 9's all round loved by all.

Words used to describe it: Profoundly beautiful, beautifully simple and descriptive, charming, meditative, role model for my old age

Next book

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (Jackie)

Next meeting 

28th June at Carolyn's 

The Overstory by Richard Powers (Naila 198)

 

The Overstory unfolds through the intertwined lives of nine characters whose personal histories are each shaped by encounters with trees—from childhood bonds to scientific discovery to ecological activism. As their paths gradually converge, they become part of a larger movement to defend forests from destruction. The novel reveals how human stories are brief branches of a much older, deeper living system, suggesting that the fate of people and trees is inseparable..

Marks out of 10  between only a couple of marks 7 - 8.5

Words used to describe it: rewards the effort, multi-layered,  difficult, too long, 'almighty nature above all'

Next book

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Next meeting 

30th May at Jackie's

27th June at Carolyn's 

Tender is the Night by Scott F Fitzgerald (197 Mandy)

 

A poignant and lyrical novel set in the glittering world of 1920s and 1930s Europe. It follows the glamorous but troubled lives of Dick and Nicole Diver, a wealthy American couple living on the French Riviera.

Dick, a charming psychiatrist, is married to Nicole, a beautiful heiress recovering from mental illness. Their seemingly perfect life begins to unravel as Dick’s professional ambitions fade and Nicole’s strength grows. The novel explores themes of psychological fragility, moral decay, and the disintegration of love under the weight of personal sacrifice and societal pressure.

Fitzgerald’s final completed novel, it is both a tragic romance and a critique of the American expatriate dream, written with haunting beauty and emotional depth.

Marks out of 10  between 5 -  9 

Words used to describe it: fantastic prose, difficult read, pros

Next book

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Next meeting 

30th April at Cindy's

All that Glitters by Orlando Whitfield (Rowena 196)

All That Glitters is Orlando Whitfield’s sharp, unsettling memoir of his years working inside the contemporary art world — a place he portrays as dazzling, absurd, and quietly corrosive. Beginning as a young gallery assistant full of enthusiasm, Whitfield is gradually drawn into a culture driven by money, status, and manipulation, where relationships are transactional and authenticity is rare.

At the centre of the book is his complicated friendship with a charismatic art dealer whose charm masks a pattern of exploitation and deceit. As Whitfield becomes more entangled in this world, he begins to see how easily ideals can be compromised and how the industry’s glamour often hides moral emptiness. Both personal and observational, the memoir exposes the pressures, illusions, and ethical grey zones of a market that thrives on spectacle. It’s a story about ambition, loyalty, and the cost of looking the other way — and about what happens when the shine finally wears off.

Marks out of 10 between 8 & 9.5 so highly rated. 

Words used to describe it: facinating, interesting, intreguing, droll rose, eye opening, illuminating.

Next book

Tender is the Night Scott F Fitzgerald

Next meeting 

26th March at Naila's

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (Anna 195)

In Ascension follows the life of Leigh Hasenbosch, a marine biologist from Rotterdam whose childhood is shaped by a tense, emotionally distant family and a deep fascination with the natural world. When Leigh joins an oceanographic expedition to study a mysterious deep‑sea organism, her journey begins to stretch far beyond scientific research and into something more existential. As the mission unfolds, Leigh becomes part of a groundbreaking international project that pushes the boundaries of human exploration — from the deepest trenches of the ocean to the outer reaches of space. The novel gradually expands from intimate personal history to vast cosmic scale, asking what it means to search for origins, connection, and purpose.

MacInnes blends science, philosophy, and quiet psychological insight, creating a narrative that moves from the claustrophobia of family life to the awe of the unknown. In Ascension is ultimately a story about curiosity, survival, and the human desire to understand our place in an immense and ancient universe. The book generated a good discussion into life, and the fact we are all stardust. Interesting the way it wove tech and the storyline, although we felt the female protagonist was not accurate, although an interesting character.

Marks out of 10 - between 5 and 7.5

Words used to describe it: awesome, interesting, irritating, frustrating, turgid, chore - but

Next book

All that Glitters by Orlando Whitfield

Next meeting

February 12th at Mandy's