From the Bookshelf of The Reading For Pleasure Book Club…

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman

Start date: August 1, 2014

Finish date: March 31, 2015

Discussion: Book Club Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: This is our winner for our first Book Club group read Selection for the month of August. It is also the W…more
[close] This is our winner for our first Book Club group read Selection for the month of August. It is also the Winner of our Book club group read for March 2015.

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Book Club Monthly Group Reads

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* Directory of Group Reads
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What Members Thought

Jul 08, 2013 Alejandro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, novel, paranormal, magic

Can a pond being an ocean? Sure! Why not?

DON'T THINK IN LIMITATIONS BUT POSIBILITIES

Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside.

Once you can get to accept that a pond likely can be a whole ocean, you will then enjoy this wonderful book.

I think that Neil Gaiman, the author, was a genius even deciding the length of the book.

Sure, the initial intention was to make a short story that ended inton being a novel, but at 181 pages of length, it's most likely a novella.

Howev ...more

205 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2013 Shelli rated it liked it

Shelves: book-i-own, ni-group-read, magical-realism, read-in-2013

This one is hard for me to review. I liked it. I thought the writing was very good. Typical Gaiman where a small setting with just a few characters becomes something larger than life. Some tricks of the trade done well.
However, I write my reviews so I can go back and see what I thought about a book and remember how I felt. My favorite books by this author are the ones that made me laugh out loud and smile through much of the rest. The crazy characters and the smart humor that combine for a fun ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 29, 2013 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, fiction, novellas, read-2013, fantasy, british-literature, audio-books

From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
Story about memory and the enchantment of childhood.

...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2013 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: busy-as-a-bee-books-group, _own-ebook, fiction, read-in-2013

What a fantastic read! I find that Gaiman is hit or miss for me but this one was definitely a hit! Great story! I highly recommend this one!

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 02, 2013 Renata rated it liked it

I love Neil Gaiman, but this one just didn't do anything for me. And calling it a novel is a stretch, I think. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2014 John Warner rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, mythology

A middle-age man is drawn back to Sussex, Eng., where he lived with his family when he was 7 years old. The reader relives that time as he narrates the story of an introverted boy who longed for the adventures found in the many books that he read. The family home sat at the beginning of a country land which ended with the Hempstock farm. The Hemptocks comprised three women: a crone, housewife and 11 year old girl, named Lettie. The crone states that she existed before the Big Bang while Lettie c ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Jennifer rated it liked it

I wanted to love this but did not. I think I'm just not a fantasy reader. I kept reading looking for the subtext off what really happened to this boy. ...more

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May 27, 2013 Kathleen rated it it was amazing

I read this straight through. Started yesterday evening and finishing just now. What a delightful short novel/really long short story. Beautiful and creepy and magical and normal. What an imaginative story told with only just so much fantasy.
They story of a man remembering parts of his childhood that he had forgotten long ago. Memories that hold unbelievable events.

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