A Month of Sundays in Aussie Readers

Jun 15, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 5000-books, uncorrected-proof, reviewing-by-request, contemporary-fiction, 2018-release, own-read, arc

The four women; Ros from Sydney, Adele from Adelaide, Judy from Mandurah near Perth, and Simone from Tasmania have had their weekly book club meetings via Skype, always online, never having met one another. The group had been larger but had dwindled over the years; the four were friends but in saying that, hardly knew one another. When a friend of Adele’s asked her to house-sit in the Blue Mountains – take some friends if she wanted – Adele immediately thought of the book club ladies. Her trepid The four women; Ros from Sydney, Adele from Adelaide, Judy from Mandurah near Perth, and Simone from Tasmania have had their weekly book club meetings via Skype, always online, never having met one another. The group had been larger but had dwindled over the years; the four were friends but in saying that, hardly knew one another. When a friend of Adele’s asked her to house-sit in the Blue Mountains – take some friends if she wanted – Adele immediately thought of the book club ladies. Her trepidation at sending the email to them all was unwarranted, as all three gave a resoundingly positive yes!

Each member was to choose a book that had meaning to them; to bring four copies and when it was that person’s turn, hand out the copy leaving a week to read it. Then come Sunday, it was discussion time. As the days moved forward, in among the brisk walks in the sunshine; the sharing of the beauty of the area; and of course, the joy of having Ros’ dog Clooney to fuss over – everyone realized that these women in their sixties and seventies, had a past which had affected their current lives, and themselves. They were at the stage of needing to learn why they were as they were, and whether it was possible to let the past remain in the past – to make peace with it.

Would those very special books, chosen with love by the four book club women, help in defining them? And would four women, previously unknown to each other, other than an online presence, manage to get on for four weeks in the same house?

A Month of Sundays by Aussie author Liz Byrski is an exceptional, emotional and brilliant read! I can’t fault the writing, the story, the fabulous women – and of course being about books, I’m going to look up each and every book they read for their book club get together each Sunday (and I won't say what they are here as it'll spoil the element of surprise for a new reader). I want to be taught yoga by Simone – I identified so much with Adele – I felt a deep empathy for Ros; and loved Clooney – and wanted to give Judy a big hug. Such an excellent read – Ms Byrski doesn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Pan Macmillan AU for my uncorrected proof ARC to read and review.
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May 14, 2020 Kathryn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, ebooks, 5-stars, australian-authors, 2020-reading-list, aty-2020, ps-2020

I don’t think I’ve read a Liz Byrski that I haven’t enjoyed, however this one was my favourite of hers so far. A book about a bookclub in the Blue Mountains - what’s not to like?!!!

I was also interested by some of the books that were chosen for the book club, and am now considering reading some of them myself!

I liked finding out more about all the women and their backgrounds and what had led them to where they were in life. I felt I knew the least about Adele by the end of the story, but I could ...more

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Jul 04, 2018 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, australian, contemporary

It’s hard to find something more appealing than a book that celebrates books and that was a large part of the reason I jumped to read A Month Of Sundays, the 10th fiction novel from Australian writer Liz Byrski. It centres around four women who have been part of an online book club for over a decade, meeting regularly via Skype regularly to discuss their chosen book. They have always kept those conversations focused on the books and know relatively little about each other’s day to day lives. Tha It’s hard to find something more appealing than a book that celebrates books and that was a large part of the reason I jumped to read A Month Of Sundays, the 10th fiction novel from Australian writer Liz Byrski. It centres around four women who have been part of an online book club for over a decade, meeting regularly via Skype regularly to discuss their chosen book. They have always kept those conversations focused on the books and know relatively little about each other’s day to day lives. That changes when Adele invites the three other women to spend several weeks with her in the Blue Mountains while she house sits. A very organised person, Adele also requests they each bring a book special to them that will help the other women understand the person they are better.

All of the women are in their sixties or early seventies and they’re also all experiencing periods of change in their lives. Some of those changes are health related and the downsides of getting older, some are to do with transitioning to the next period of their lives and some are due to events of the past that are still haunting them. These are not things that they’ve ever discussed with members of the book club before but with their staying together in the same house, slowly they begin to confide their stories.

I haven’t been to the Blue Mountains for many years but it’s a beautiful setting for such a retreat. There are long walks to take, lookouts to see and the surroundings are full of beauty and the local shops quirky and interesting to explore. But what I really loved about this story was the talk of the books the women had chosen and the way in which their discussions explored the character of the women and their issues, fears and traits. I haven’t read any of the books that the women chose to bring and share as saying something about them but I found myself adding them to my Wishlist and looking them up, to learn more about them. It also made me think about what book I would take in that sort of situation. I think that for someone who reads as much as I do, it’s hard to narrow it down like that. It’s not a favourite book (although that would actually be just as difficult probably) but a book that also helps the others reading it understand something fundamental about the person who has chosen to share it. It would have to be a book that I identified with strongly as exploring something relative to me or that was deeply a part of my personality. It’s not an easy decision and to be honest, I still haven’t decided! I had such fun thinking about it though, books that I’ve read at various parts of my life. I love a book that references other books (and there’s plenty of that in here, not just the four books the women chose) and one that pays homage to a love of literature and how it can bring people together, engage spirited debate and build a strong friendship between four women.

I’m a lot younger than the women in the story and quite a lot of their concerns and issues are not mine but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t connect with them and all of their stories. They are all quite different and their budding friendships are not without their troubles as they get to know each other but as their little holidays rolls on they share so much about their lives, both past and present and they confide their fears for the future. I felt for each of them in their various situations – I think of them all I probably related to a combination of Judy and Adele. Their ways of dealing with things are quite similar to my ways and I can see myself possibly becoming something like Judy, quite isolated.

All in all this was a charming and thought provoking read that I enjoyed a lot. It’s written with warmth and humour but with an exploration of quite serious issues facing women who are at this stage in their lives.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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Jan 21, 2020 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, australian-author, books-about-books, australian-women-writers, aus-women-writer, contemporary-fiction, australian-fiction, act-library, 2020-read

Adored this novel! Four women each coming to terms with their own lives, discovering themselves and each other through the books they discuss and 6 weeks of holidaying together.
It helped of course that some of the books they discuss are written by authors who's work I admire.
I'd read a couple of the books and found myself nodding in agreement with what each character was saying. I was so immersed in the story I felt like I was there.
Thoroughly excellent, straightforward, articulate fiction.
I ...more

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Sep 07, 2019 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: aussie-author, arc-are, provided-by-publisher

A Month of Sunday’s, Liz Byrski’s tenth novel, is told with warmth, humour and wisdom.

When Adele is offered an opportunity to housesit a cottage in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales for a month, she nervously decides to invite the other three members of her online book club, whom have known each other for a decade, but whom have never met in person, to join her. Simone, from Tasmania, is excited by the prospect, while Judy, from Western Australia, is uncertain, but in desperate need of a bre A Month of Sunday’s, Liz Byrski’s tenth novel, is told with warmth, humour and wisdom.

When Adele is offered an opportunity to housesit a cottage in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales for a month, she nervously decides to invite the other three members of her online book club, whom have known each other for a decade, but whom have never met in person, to join her. Simone, from Tasmania, is excited by the prospect, while Judy, from Western Australia, is uncertain, but in desperate need of a break from her business. Usually Ros, who lives in Sydney, would never agree to spending weeks with women who are essentially strangers, but bad news has left her with a need to escape. At a crossroads in their lives, the retreat becomes an opportunity for the women to not only get to know one another better, but also themselves.

Thoughtfully exploring the themes of ageing, memory, personal growth, and friendship, A Month of Sunday’s by Liz Byrski is an engaging character driven novel. I love that this book features women in their late 60’s to 70’s, I was moved by the author’s examination of the issues facing these particular mature women, such as retirement, illness and grief, and the support and strength they find within each other.

“We’re all single and we’re all getting older; each of us has had to face something serious since we’ve been here. That’s a bond. This is no longer just a book club. It can be much more; it can have a life long after we leave here.”

This is also a novel that celebrates the ways in which literature can enrich our lives. So that the women get to know one another during the retreat, Adele suggests that each chooses a book of personal significance to share each week. The resulting lively discussions allow the women to communicate and explore who they were, who they are, and what they want moving forward.

“This is us, this is what we do. We talk about books, we make them work in our own lives: walk through the doors they open for us, cross the bridges they lay out for us, and pick and choose what we need to take away from them.”

While I think A Month of Sunday’s is particularly suited to a mature aged readership, who are more likely to identify with the characters and their issues, I also think it would be an excellent bookclub choice, and any bibliophile can relate to the author's observations about the value of books. ...more

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Sep 28, 2021 Catsalive rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2021, aww, 2019

I love Liz Byrski's books & this one is no exception. I think it's because she writes about older women with such compassion & her characters are believable & relateable. I've read this one twice now & I reckon it was even better the 2nd time around.

The book discussions are brilliant - what does your choice of book tell us about you? I'd have to think very hard before I could come up with one. Worth thinking about, though. ...more

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Jul 26, 2018 Dzintra aka Ingrid rated it really liked it

A thoroughly enjoyable read!

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Jun 06, 2019 Rina rated it liked it

It was what I expected from a book like this. Heartwarming, cozy and full of personal reflection stories. I liked the plot idea where a group of women got to know each other through books.

I liked the characters, the diverse background stories for each person, and the setting. Unfortunately, the character voices seemed to blur a bit for me - although they were given different personalities, the thought process and language used were very similar I sometimes had to double check the sentence I was ...more

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