Read this for Reading Group. I chaired the meeting so ended up reading it quite in-depth; after I’d finished it I went back to the beginning and re-read a lot of it.

Indigo seems very childish for an 11 year old. I found her very irritating and sulky, although I liked the way she isn’t yet conditioned to be ‘nice’ i.e. socially acceptable. I enjoyed Karen’s story more. Her timeline jumped around but it made more sense when I went through the book again. The gradual uncovering of her illness was very clever. Indy’s story is set in South Africa, which adds another element of interest.

The book is a decent coming-of-age story. I don’t know if I would go so far as to recommend it, but I enjoyed reading it.

Read this for book group. I enjoyed Part 1, delighting in the language and sharp observations of his characters’ encounters with each other, but the book quickly became tedious and I was frustrated with so many new characters being introduced. It seemed absurd that so many of the characters were gay men. At the end, I didn’t know what I was supposed to learn, if anything. I’ve come away feeling that this is probably a good book but maybe I’ve missed something…

Read this for the September reading group meeting but I was in Dorset on holiday at the time of the meeting.

I really enjoyed the book and found it compelling from the start. I love gangster stories anyway but this book was well-crafted with five interlocking tales, each from a different character’s point of view. It’s very evocative of 60’s London; I felt like I was there. I was glad that the central character is gay. It threw something a little different and unexpected into the mix. A good read.

I read this for reading group. I enjoyed how it transported me to different worlds with its powerful descriptions of landscapes. Unlike many post-apocalyse stories, this one didn’t cover the immediate aftermath, instead we are given glimpses into the times just before the virus and also twenty years on through the eyes of the characters. I loved the connections that are gradually revealed between the characters. Surprisingly, it’s a book that gives hope.

An excellent portrayal of schizophrenia. Agree with Jo Brand that it’s touching and sad but I felt it fizzled out a bit at the end. Similar to Elizabeth is Missing in that respect; extremely detailed and convincing portrayal of an illness but unsatisfying ending, although in this case, the author does specifically say it’s a beginning rather than an end so perhaps I’ll concede for that reason. I would recommend this book. It makes me feel sorry for Vijaymama.

This was a reading group choice. It’s a page-turner and very absorbing. There’s an interesting idea of a group of recent graduate friends decide to live self-sufficient lives in a deserted cottage in the Peak District. But the characters aren’t well-drawn, at times are completely unbelievable and some aspects of the plot I saw coming a mile off.

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* I knew about halfway through the book that Mac would be William.
* As soon as Freya became pregnant I knew the baby was Lila.
* I found it very difficult to believe that Kat would love Simon even after Freya told her that he raped her.
* It was difficult to believe that Kat, by trying to pull Lila back, ended up pushing her down the stairs.

I really liked this book. I read most of it but I listened to some parts while working. It’s got all the romance of One Day but this book is about a family rather than a couple, so there are parent-child relationships as well as the couple’s. The book goes back and forth between past and present and all links together beautifully. Like in One Day, the characters are real, whole and utterly believable and, in spite of the sadness, the book is life-affirming. Recommended.

This was recommended to me by Kay the reading group leader. I found the book to contain a wonderful, very realistic portrayal of dementia, showing both a sufferer’s and carer’s point of view. I didn’t get any satisfaction from the solution to the mystery at the end of the book. I would recommend it though, purely for the dementia aspect; I really felt the terror and frustration of it.

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You don’t know for sure how Sukey died. Elizabeth turned out to be in hospital: