If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon MacGregor.
Erica Wagner in The Times, was the first published review:
“McGregor takes his time. This novel owes as much to poetry as it does to prose. Its opening, an invocation of the life of the city, is strongly reminiscent of Auden’s Night Mail in its hypnotic portrait of industrialised society: here are ‘Sung sirens, sliding through the streets, streaking blue light from distress to distress, the slow wail weaving urgency through the darkest of the dark hours..’ The writing in the rest of the novel moves from moment to moment in a way that recalls To The Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway: it charts with confidence and subtlety the slight shifts of emotion that can change relationships with seismic force…
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is a dream of a novel. It has the slow-motion hyperclarity of the images that fill our heads in sleep; its liquid prose is precise enough to draw time nearly to a stop, to stretch out moments and describe the spaces between them. It is a novel that is “about” hardly anything at all, and in this very modesty its ambition is revealed.”
We had a very pleasant book club meeting on March 20th, 2014 sitting out in the warm sunshine discussing
The 100 year old man by Jonas Jonasson
Everyone enjoyed this book for its amusing, sometimes incredible tales and life experiences of Alan, the 100 yr old man. A couple of people, who weren’t so enamoured with it at first, persevered and ended up enjoying the book.
It was clever how one meeting seemed to lead on to yet another incredible meeting often giving a good insight into some of the leaders of the 20th century.
And it had a happy ending which seems hard to find nowadays!
The book for May 2014 is on Thursday 15th May, same time and place:
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson when she will be joining us!
It’s The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs and the meeting is on Thursday June 19th
The village of Wolfheim is a quiet little place until the geneticist Dr. Victor Hoppe returns after an absence of nearly twenty years. The doctor brings with him his infant children-three identical boys all sharing a disturbing disfigurement. He keeps them hidden away until Charlotte, the woman who is hired to care for them, begins to suspect that the triplets-and the good doctor- aren't quite what they seem. As the villagers become increasingly suspicious, the story of Dr. Hoppe's past begins to unfold, and the shocking secrets that he has been keeping are revealed. A chilling story that explores the ethical limits of science and religion,
The Angel Maker is a haunting tale in the tradition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein. Brought to life by internationally bestselling author Stefan Brijs, this eerie tale promises to get under readers' skin.
For any more information please check our bookclub page on this blog.
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