Graham Joyce: The Silent Land: A novel
Chilling, beautiful, sad and deeply thought-provoking. Also oddly it makes us want to go skiing despite the opening avalanche. Book Club LOVED this one and the twist at the end evoked much feeling. To love someone that much is something you would wait and wait for.
Marina Lewycka: A Short History of Tractor in Ukranian
The person in charge of marketing this book must have had some sleepless nights over this title. It does lead you to believe it to be about foreign machinery. Clearly we have a thing for large chunks of Eastern European metal as we LOVED every page. The story will draw you in immediately and envelop you in the author’s dilemma. This teaches us to be more open-minded when selecting books based on their covers.
David Nicholls: One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original)
Langtry Book Club LOVED this. They meet at university and the same day every year you find out where they went from there. It is a very honest book and reminded us of all the things we should have said and done but never did.
Barbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)
As a Book Club we found this quite difficult to discuss, partly due to the fact that half of us had skim read it, and partly because it is very gritty with lots of separate story lines and we didnt really know where to start. A personal read but a very good book.
Lily Koppel: The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal (P.S.)
We read this book and had such a strong desire to start walking round art galleries and owning couture dresses. We misspent our youth if this true story is a reflection into the possibilities of young womanhood. Such a lovely read if not slightly risque.
Edith Wharton: The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence will be part of our Langtry Club Film Club season, so we thought it best to read the book first. The story is quite heartbreaking and gives a fascinating insight into how the morals of society have shifted since the 1870's. You do want the ending to evolve in a certain way, but we are hopeless romantics.
Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife
A brilliantly bizarre concept, and one which kept this book at the top of the literary charts for simply ages. It takes a while to get your head round what is actually going on. The love story is realistic, although we personally would have thrown in the towel and been completely exasperated with the Time Traveller by page 2. A marmite book - you will love it or loathe it - but all the fuss was about something.
Daphne Du Maurier: Rebecca
Classic book so one to tick off on the lifetime literature list. The Langtry Club Book Club felt the main character was weak and we were utterly bemused by her husbands allure - also he nearly let a little dog be drowned - not attractive. Generated some lively debate about whether you would marry a widower and be able to live in a late wife's shadow. Worth reading with a good twist at the end.
Stephenie Meyer: Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Okay, so we saw the film first...but it was a BIG mistake. DO watch the film (Robert Pattinson is beyond yummy if not a little too intense), but read the book FIRST. Basically a vampire who has been alone for hundreds of years finally falls for a girl. The girl falls for the vampire - now he looks like Robert Pattinson so no shock there. It isn't straightforward due to said vampire's penchant for sucking blood - sort of an obstacle (unless you are into that sort of thing, hey, we're not judging). Apparently it is all meant to be a metaphor for promoting abstinence. Now, there is a MAJOR flaw in this plan by the author - as soon as you read this book/watch film all you want to do is pounce on the next attractive male/female available. Or is that just us? Anyway, read it.
Lauren Weisberger: The Devil Wears Prada
We read this about six months before the film came out - and we are SO pleased we did. This book is a favourite. Unlike the film, the conflicts the female character experiences are very realistic...and heartbreaking at times. It is also laugh-out-loud funny at many points too. We actually worked in that industry in London - it was cutthroat & crazy and all we ever got was a lousy free Vogue AND i'm a Glamour magazine reader! Anyway, buy it - read it.
John Grogan: Marley & Me
Ok, so I saw the film first, but then i did buy and read the book so I can legitimately write a book review on it. Its a nice story and autobiographical so you get lost in the story knowing the events actually happened. Worth a read but not my favourite book - and the film is sunday afternoon, rainy day viewing.
Various: Love Letters of Great Men
I had a poem written for me once, I was 8 and it went along the lines of 'roses are red, violets are blue...'. No one has written one for me since, (despite the fact now if they did they might get more in return than a daisy chain made in the playground field). So, as no-one is writing them for me, im reading ones written for other women. This collection of poetry was put together following the Sex and the City film but the poems were written long ago. Who knew Napoleon had such a way with words - maybe i should stop ruling out those short men afterall. So pour yourself a glass of red and curl up on the couch with this beautiful book. Lose yourself in a time when men poured their hearts out onto parchment with a quill, instead of texting 'lol' while slightly drunk at the football.
Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics)
Bought this book as it is meant to be his (the author, Gustave Flaubert's) greatest work. Also I always think if you buy a book which has been made into a film you can always cheat if it becomes dull. Well, this one doesn't and the film version does not do it justice (what! I watched the film afterward, I promise - it even has a different ending!) The story is basically about a women who has read too many great works of romantic poetry, gets married too young and then becomes restless when her life does not resemble anything she dreamed it would. She goes on to have a series of ill-fated affairs. A modern day version would be me watching Dirty Dancing a million times, then marrying Butlin's version of Patrick Swayze, only to find he has a penchant for Liza Minelli & Steps. My version isn't written quite as eloquently as Madame Bovary so I suggest you buy the book and give it a read.
