Even More Books from Wine, Books & More

You can tell we’ve a few from the group who are participating in the Turn up the Heat library winter reading challenge. Several books based on a classic turned up for discussion at the July session. And like classic literature in general, they were as varied as you could imagine. We went from Dickens to Mark Twain and then on to Ovid.

Many will be tipping James by Percival Everett to be nominated for this year’s Booker Prize. It’s a reinvention of Mark Twain’s famous character Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Our reader says it’s the story of Jim as an adult and found it to be excellent. It is written in the Mississippi dialect which does take a wee while to get your head around, though.

Barbara Kingsolver’s modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s famous novel, David Copperfield, has been a popular choice at book clubs. Demon Copperhead is a five-star read from our reader, the story set during the opioid crisis in America. A journey of poverty in the foster system, it’s a gripping story with a couple of challenging sections due to the subject matter. However, it has a lovely, hopeful ending.

Madeline Miller is famous for her retelling of ancient classical literature, as with her novels, Circe and Song of Achilles. Galatea is a quick read, but packs a lot into its fifty odd pages. It’s a feminist take on the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. Originally a marble sculpture, a goddess has granted Galatea human life, but can she live up to the expectations of Pygmalion, her sculptor husband?

Nothing like a classic retelling, but a new story from a classic author is Eruption by Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park fame) and James Patterson. This fast and easy read is a story completed after the death of Michael Crichton by the mega-popular author, James Patterson. The story involves a volcano set to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii, but that’s not the only problem. A terrific suspenseful thriller.

There were a couple of stunning historical reads on the table, beginning with Kristin Hannah’s latest, The Women. The story takes us to the Vietnam War where young nurse Frankie McGrath volunteers when her brother is serving. The story involves the changing times, the trauma of war, and what it was like to come home to an America and where nothing will ever be the same.

Another historical novel and another war. This time it’s WWII, with Kiwi author, Olivia Spooner’s novel, The Girl from London. Based on a true story, the novel follows Ruth who volunteers to escort evacuated children from war-torn England to Australia and New Zealand. But on the way back, her ship is attacked by German raiders, the survivors taken prisoner. There is a more modern-day story thread following Hazel, travelling to Europe to find out more about her grandfather’s story.

There was a bunch of lighter chick lit that cheered our readers up over the cool winter nights too. First up was The Unhoneymooners by Christine Lauren, a delightful, fun read about twins Olive and Ami, one of whom is lucky, and the other constantly lucks out. Throw in food-poisoning at Ani’s wedding, a best man who is Olive’s sworn enemy, an all-expenses paid honeymoon and some little white lies and you’ve got a fun read.

Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews is a second chances story with an “enemies to lovers” storyline. Kerry is newly single and has lost her job, so fetches up back home at her family’s Christmas tree farm. Selling trees in New York City she comes across Patrick, the annoying Mercedes owner who keeps stealing her parking spot. Both are ready for new beginnings in this amusing feel-good read which impressed our reader with its laugh-out-loud moments.

Yours Faithfully by Sheila O'Flanagan looks at the thorny topic of bigamy. Iona and Sally meet at Frank’s hospital bedside where he is lying in a coma. Neither know about the existence of the other and each thinks that they are Frank’s wife. A really interesting story according to our reader.

A couple of more meaty reads include Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton, author of Boy Swallows Universe, which you might have seen on Netflix. His third book describes a girl and her mother who have been on the run for 16 years. They live in a derelict van, where the girl dreams of life as a famous artist. The story takes you to some dark place with crime, drugs and danger but there's also a magical world based on reality. Our reader gave it five stars.

Then we heard about Colum McCann’s Apeirogon, a novel about a Palestinian and an Israeli, both fathers of daughters who become victims of the ongoing conflict. The novel is based on the real-life friendship between the two men and has an experimental structure, 500 short paragraphs. It’s a really good story but allow yourself plenty of time to read and think about it.

The only mystery novel that the group shared was Exiles, the latest novel by Jane Harper and the third to feature Melbourne detective, Aaron Falk. Set in wine country, the story starts out at a small town festival, where one year ago, young mother Kim Gillespie disappeared. This is a terrific read, with plenty of threads to make it an interesting story and with a plot twist at the end you won’t see coming.

There was just the one non-fiction book at Wine, Books & More this time around: Going Off Script, a memoir by Giuliana Rancic, a red-carpet correspondent, A-list interviewer and reality show star. This is a funny, candid and poignant memoir with plenty of goss. The author’s quirky and cheeky personality shines through, says our reader.

Wine Books & More is the library book group that meets once a month on the third Tuesday of the month in Hastings Library at 5:30pm. (Next meeting is 20 August) New readers welcome.

25 July 2024

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