UK Book Club discussion

Thought I'd start with a hard letter.

X - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet by Xinran

I have that on my list for this month, Ian.....I read another of her books a little while ago and liked it, so I have high hopes for this one.

A - Driftnet by Lin Anderson

The master list for 2012 - all done with the addition of the letter V.

A - Driftnet by Lin Anderson
B - Boxer Beetle by Ned Beauman
C - Predator by Patricia Cornwell
D - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
E - A Quiet Vendetta by R.J. Ellory
F - Spitting Devil by Brian Freeman
G - In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
H - The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
I - Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden
J - Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
K - Fatelessness by Imre Kertész
L - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
M - No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
N - The Mind's Eye by Håkan Nesser
O - Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon
P - Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Q - The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
R - Present Danger by Stella Rimington
S - The Secret in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri
T - The Key by Simon Toyne
U - On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe
V - The Reunion by Simone Van der Vlugt
W - Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wilson
X - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet by Xinran
Y - The Latehomecomer (A Hmong Family Memoir) by Kao Kalia Yang
Z - Guardian of the Dawn by Richard Zimler

Finished The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Disappointing. I agree with what he says, but it was very dull.

Loved No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

Finished by Harper Lee. Slightly disappointing I thought.

Just finished by Redmond O'Hanlon. A gently amusing travelogue of 2 ex public schoolboys travelling into the heart of Borneo in search of proof of the existence of the Borneo black rhino. Not really my thing, but I quite enjoyed it in the end after initially being put off by the jolly japes after lights out attitudes type behaviour of the 2 travellers.

Completed by Eduardo Sacheri.

Just read the short story by Annie Proulx.

Managed to complete by Ned Beauman. Had lots of good reviews but I really didn't like it at all.

Finished by Robert Wilson which was a Chandleresque thriller set in West Africa. Have nearly finished by Matthew Quick and have just started by Kaui Hart Hemmings.

Finished the short story - by Brian Freeman. Kindle freebie.

Finished my Y author - always a difficult letter I find - by Kao Kalia Yang.

That's R done. by Stella Rimington.

You are racing through this.

Seem to have put a spurt on.

C - by Patricia Cornwell, and now reading an I.

I done - by Conn Iggulden.

Noticed you reading that, it looks good, is it?

I enjoyed it.

Have added it to my TBR

U - by Chika Unigwe..........just T and V left to find and read.

You've just read a T haven't you?

Gold star H........and the bonus prize is:

T - by Simon Toyne.....one to go yippeee!!!

Struggling with V - any suggestions people??

Jules Verne

Jack Vance? Not read any myself though. Surely there must be a 'Van'something to merge with your foreign climes.

In the search box at the top of the page, type van, then when it takes you to the confused page select author. Quite a few come up.

Kurt Vonnegut for your V?

Vendela Vida is what I've lined up - the book is called: Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name - I think it was reasonably priced on Kindle and involved a bit of travel to Helsinki and Arctic Circle so thought it could double up for around the world.

Ta for ideas, but I've now got by Simone van der Vlugt which will also give me Holland as a bonus.

by Dan Vyleta is what I'm reading now and it seems promising. It's situated in Berlin 1946.

Thanks for the idea Danielle - sounds better than the one I started last night which hasn't inspired me yet, but early days and I've started so I'll finish.

And I'm glad I did because it turned out to be really good little suspenseful crime thriller.

So that's my A to Z completed for 2012 with:

V - by Simone van der Vlugt.

Well done Ian, I have one to do, U then I may do it again as I have lots of new authors I have read this year.

Ta Lynne - have you got any ideas for your U yet?

Ian wrote: "Ta Lynne - have you got any ideas for your U yet?"

Not yet - Tried John Updike but couldn't get on with him last time we did A-Z.

Well done Ian!

I may catch you up in another year or so... I've got quite a few left to go.

Ta Em.

Already finished A-Z for 2012 - congrats, well done. It might get harder each year though ! Lol

I was thinking I'd give it a go, but was laughing about future bookclub selections : "No sorry I can't read that, it sounds amazing but I already completed 'M' on my reading challenge" lol

Haha Nikks, that'd be fun to hear! You could get your book club doing the same challenge ;-)

Zoe - that's a really good idea - I am going to suggest it.

:D

Nikks wrote: "Already finished A-Z for 2012 - congrats, well done. It might get harder each year though ! Lol"

Thanks Nikks. I just sort of plan it out at the start of each year. Mind you I don't restrict myself to new authors(although most are)as Zoe is planning to do.

I guess you'd have to plan it, although I imagine when you look at your list in January its a daunting prospect to have to read them all. At my next bookclub meeting I will suggest it, it will add an interesting dimension, especially to the people unfortunate enough to get the awkward letters.