A Visit From the Goon Squad

This was my final London bookclub read. I am extremely sad to have said goodbye to all the wonderful ladies that I have spent the last year getting to know. We had amazing evenings, filled with intelligent chatter, tipsy gossip and yummy food. The best part of the night would be when we would all discuss the last month of our lives. Each person would chat a bit and then everyone would turn to me and say, "So LMM, what crazy, funny, ridiculous stories can you tell us about your patients?" Ha! Their bookclub will definitely not be the same without my patient anecdotes :)

This brings us onto the topic of final read. What can I say about this book? To be completely honest, I cannot even tell you what it is about. Each chapter jumps to a different time with different characters. I thought it would all come together in the end, like an Oprah "a-ha" light bulb moment, but it didn't. There was shoplifting, a music, coffee with gold flakes, but I cannot for the life of me find the gist of the story. Some characters did reappear, but by then I couldn't remember where they came from.I was confused and kept wondering if I was the only person who was retarded enough not to "get" this critically acclaimed novel. If you have read it, please help me out!

I am now on the prowl for capetonian readers to start my very own bookclub.

LMM

xoxo

Pigeon English

In October it was my turn to choose a book for us to read at bookclub. I decided on Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman. One reason is that I wanted to read all the Man Booker Prize Shortlist books and this was one of them and the second is that it has been compared to "Room" by Emma Donoghue, which I loved.

Harri Opoku has just moved from Ghana, along with his mother and sister, Lydia, to England. They live in a South London housing estate, where gangs and crime are rife. They have left behind a grandmother, their father and baby sister, Agnes, who remain in Ghana, unable to immigrate. Harri often reflects back to the simple life he had in Ghana, which fiercely contrasts to the urban life of the Dell Farm Estate. Here he makes new friends, is faced with a school crush and comes into contact with the Dell Farm Crew, a gang of local ruffians. When a boy from their school is killed in a stabbing, Harri and his friend embark on a murder mystery, which results in a shocking outcome.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the London slang mixed in with local terminology from Ghana. I especially liked the pigeon that looks over Harri and the observations it makes. All in all a good read.

7/10




LMM

xoxo

Lolita

This was The Bookclub's choice for August. I had been wanting to read this for a while now, especially since it was on the BBC's Big Read Top 100 book list.

The book was first published in 1959 and I think the fame, or rather notoriety, of the book, lies more in the topic than in the actual written word.

Humbert Humbert is the main character and he becomes obsessed with Dolores (Lolita), a 12 year old girl who lives in the house where he is renting a room. His infatuation becomes so great that he even marries Charlotte (Dolores' mother), in the hope of staying close to his darling Lolita. Charlotte ends up dying in a freak accident and he become Dolores' guardian, travelling all around America with her.

Humbert Humbert is not the most reliable narrator and I often found myself thinking of Lolita as a petulant child, who instigated the whole ordeal. The foreword and afterword shed light onto the intricacy of the novel and the sheer cleverness Vladimir Nabokov's displays with some of his prose.

"Lolita, the light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul."

I raced through the first half of this book, rapt with anticipation, but was slightly disappointed with how events unravelled. I would definitely recommend this as a good, quick and very interesting read. 7.5/10



LMM

xoxo

Officially on Holiday

I am officially on holiday and sorry to gloat but tomorrow I am off to the wonderful and sunny paradise of Croatia...

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I am spending the day packing, getting a pedi and have a great evening of bookclub lined up with the girls.

I will be posting, though not as often!

See you in 10 days :)


LMM

xoxo

When God was a Rabbit

"This is a story about a brother and a sister.

It's a book about childhood and growing up, friendships and families, triumph and tragedy and everything in between.

More than anything, it's a book about love in all its forms."


Sarah Winman's debut novel was my latest monthly bookclub read. The protagonist is Elly and the story spans four decades of her life shared out between Essex, Cornwall and NYC. It is divided into two parts, her childhood and twenty years later as an adult. Colourful characters enhance her daily life: her eccentric family, an aged neighbour, Jenny Penny, who smells of chips and has crazy hair, a Shirley Bassey impersonator and of course the rabbit called God.

Throughout the dark encounters, trials of friendship and different forms of love, her one constant, is her brother, Joe. He has experienced every moment of ectasy and every day of sorrow with her, keeping her untold secret and understanding why she is the way she is.

This isn't a book I would normally choose to read, but I am thrilled that I had the chance to delve into the story that is Elly. I was slightly disappointed with the number of unexplained things, but I suppose those were there for the reader to decide for themselves. All in all a good read and something slightly different.



LMM

xoxo