Rebecca’s Comments (group member since Nov 02, 2019)

Rebecca’s comments from the Read/Not Read Book Club group.

I’m left wondering this month if I’ve accidentally chosen a book I’ve read before or if the storyline was just that predictable. I was expecting a comforting read with this book, but I’m left a little unsatisfied – the ‘twists’ were foreseeable, the romance syrupy and the happy endings forced.

But then I question if I’m being overly cynical – there were moments when the author seemed to acknowledge the clichés in the storyline and the typecast characters that made me hope for better, but they were left unsubverted.

Whilst I’ve read worse, I’ve also read much better.
Not one I’d recommend or read again (unless of course I just did!).

I saw the film The Lady in the Van at the cinema and not long after bought the book. I didn’t want to read it straight away as that seemed rather pointless and this is how it ended up on my Not Read pile.

I read the book in one night and I’m not sure how I feel about it – I was clearly drawn in enough to want to keep reading and there were things that either weren’t included in the film or that I didn’t remember, but I think the story is better suited to a visual medium – not something I often think.

As it is a true story it feels odd to comment on the characters, especially as the lady in the van is not the easiest of people to imagine as real, but one thing I am comfortable saying is the film casting of Maggie Smith was perfection – at complete odds with the Dowager in dress and circumstance, the same sense of dignity is present in both Miss Shepherd and Dowager Violet Crawley.

A short book, a short review – I look forward to March and will make a little more effort to actually post at either end of the month!

The Uncommon Reader sees the Queen, the most uncommon of us all, stumble across a mobile library and become an avid reader, oftentimes to the detriment of her royal duties. It is a brilliantly written short story that should be read on a Sunday with a cup of tea whilst wearing something cosy.

My first experience of Alan Bennett was The History Boys - I saw the play and the film and thoroughly enjoyed them. Similar to one of Bennett’s quotes, “Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have”, I was aware of the name Alan Bennett as someone I should know about, but when I look at tv, film and book lists I didn’t watch anything before this. Nor did The History Boys inspire me to do so – that enjoyment was filed under my love of school stories and put to one side – perhaps because it wasn’t a reading experience, but one enjoyed very much in the moment. When reading I’m far more likely to look up other or related works.

The Uncommon Reader introduced me to short stories and led to further reading. When considering a well written short story I am always impressed by how the author creates a world the reader believes in and characters the reader is invested in, in a much shorter time frame. I think it must be harder to be an excellent author of short stories as there is no room for dead weight.The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Read also sparked an interest in books about books and reading – the all-encompassing joy of reading is captured so well by Bennett. It led me to further books about readers, bookshop owners and characters that are aware they’re fictitious, as well as non-fiction books and articles by booksellers, culture theorists and journalists looking at why we read, why some people collect books, and the importance of reading in creating our own character.

I definitely, and often do, recommend The Uncommon Reader. And I also look forward to later months where I indulge the interests it sparked, in both short stories and books about reading in my Not Read reading list for this year.

This book had me reading well into the early hours of the morning – it gave me what The Handmaid’s Tale left me wanting – more details about Gilead in the early days and different characters’ perspectives.
The Testaments follows on from The Handmaid’s Tale, though not directly. We leave behind Offred’s story and instead have the testimony of three different women – Aunt Lydia, a Daughter and a free Canadian – several years after the cliffhanger ending of The Handmaid’s Tale.
I really like that this story gives us more than one perspective, whilst still presenting the information as found evidence several years later. But, whilst I like this format, I find it puzzling (or grating, I’ve not decided) that there are still some questions left explicitly unanswered – I can’t say more without revealing key plot information, but I think those that have read it will probably understand what I mean. Is this a commercial choice to tease at the possibility of further books, or an alternate commercial choice to leave the HBO tv series room for maneuver as the ending The Handmaid’s Tale did? Or is it a continuation of the dystopia we are presented with – it isn’t like a fairy tale with a happy ending and all loose ends tied together in a neat bow. That would utopian after all.

I've not posted as I meant to, though I have read as I meant to ... my somewhat late book review

I read this book in December to ensure it could be included in my Read reviews. It seemed the logical companion to January’s Not Read selection, The Testaments, also by Margaret Atwood. I wasn’t sure if I’d read it before; it was included in one of my university modules, but we may have only studied exerts rather than read the whole book. So, with doubt put to rest in the run up to Christmas – on with the review.
For those who do not know the premise, The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of Offred, a Handmaid in Gilead, a new state in North America. Gilead is a pseudo-religious state that takes (and twists) verses from the Bible to support its key purpose of making women subservient to men. This is most easily demonstrated in the existence of handmaidens – women who are believed to be able to conceive and exist simply to become pregnant and provide a child to the family she is positioned with.
Atwood said when writing the story, she only used things that had happened in history to create her dystopian world, and it is this element that makes the story resonate uncomfortably - it can’t be passed off as ridiculous or impossible. It is our reality that the passage of time has not equated to an evenly paced increase of women’s rights and freedoms. That the symbol of the handmaid is now being seen at protests shows that the threat the story describes is not inconceivable. The element I like the most about the creation of this dystopian world is that it did not come about in a bloody revolt, but that ideas were introduced slowly, freedoms eroded in stages, and only when in a position of certain success, was the final step taken to break with the old way of life.
I find it difficult to say what I don’t like, other than the premise as a possible future. I would like more details of those early days of Gilead, but as someone hungry for more detail rather than because I feel its lack detracts from the story.

I've updated the group's bookshelf with my Not Read plans for the year! I've tried to have as much of a mix of genres as my shelves will allow, and I've definitely varied the length and (my expectation of its) seriousness of the stories.

I'll add the Read books to the shelf as I post the review rather than add them all at once.

I hope some people join me, though I'm excited to get started either way.
If you've stumbled across the group (or know me and the update on my feed intrigued you) say hi and let me know what you think of my planned reading for the year.

I've surveyed my shelves and now have an alarmingly long list of Not Read books (and I've only looked at the fiction!).

I was originally planning an extra book in the summer months so I could get half way through the alphabet this year, but I don't have any author surnames beginning with I in the Not Read list, so it works out at an even one book a month.

January - A - Atwood, Margaret - The Testaments
February - B - Bennett, Alan - The Lady in the Van
March - C - Connelly, Victoria - A Weekend with Mr Darcy
April - D - Didierlaurent, Jean-Paul - Read on the 6.27
May - E - Eyre, Lucy - If Minds Had Toes
June - F - Fleming, Ian - Casino Royale
July - G - Gregory, Phillipa - The Red Queen
August - H - Hislop, Victoria - Loss
September - J - Joyce, Rachel - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
October - K - Kaufman, Andrew - Born Weird
November - L - Lee, Harper - Go Set A Watchman
December - M - McEwan, Ian - Atonement

I've tried to provide variety of genre, length and 'heaviness' though am obviously limited by what is on my shelves.

Please feel free to comment on the list - in my defense at some of these unread books, they've been on my shelf with the intention, but other books distracted me ... the Read list of planned reviews demonstrating that to follow.