October books.

A mixed bag of reading this month, including a couple of books by favourite American authors. Both Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout write about the emotions and confusions of the everyday, the lives of 'unrecorded' people. Their characters are entirely credible, their actions, or inactions understood. Anne Tyler's Liam Pennywell is one such person, a blundering, inept sort of man who wanders into a clearly unsuitable relationship that had me saying, oh, no!

Elizabeth Stout's, 'Tell Me Everything' had me completely in it's thrall. It is a meandering story, dotted with characters that I have met before in her earlier novels. The ending is a beautiful heart breaker. It is a handsome hardback book, sent to me as a present from a friend. I told her that I was reading it slowly because I didn't want it to end and when I did get to the end I wanted to start all over again.

A book club choice up for discussion was "Monsters'. A very thin, disappointing read which I think must have stemmed from her studies as a student and was totally undiserving of the praise on it's cover..

Autumn reading.

The library provides the books for their reading groups and this is good as it stops an accumulation of books that I shall never read again. The downside is that many of the library offerings are not what I would describe as literature! Once read they are instantly forgotten. I took a photo of the recent 'Hope to Die' that we have discussed but can't now recall the foggiest thing about it!

Today we are going to discuss, 'Old Baggage'. I like the cover and the story rolls along nicely enough.

The author clearly enjoys period detail. It is a gentle read with what I felt was a rather unlikely ending. I have seen a screen adaptation of one of her novels which I enjoyed, 'Their Finest' which is set in war time Britain. It will be interesting to find out what the other readers think of it. While in Yorkshire I read a trio of Irish novels. The Dales group discussed 'Old God's Time' by Sebastian Barry. I found some of the signalling very heavy handed. When you are told that the main character is a skilled sniper and then learn that a shot gun is in place in the flat above him you know pretty well how it is going to turn out! Up for discussion next is 'The Bee Sting' and it comes heaped with praise all over the cover.

No praise from me. I found it corny in the extreme with wildly over-drawn 'Oirish' characters. I re-read, to restore my faith in Irish writing, the sublime 'Brooklyn' by Colm Tóibín, whose characters you can believe in and care about. Now I'm waiting to sink into the follow-up of Ellis' life. I would love it to be happy but I fear not! Earlier in the year our group read 'Siblings'.

I had great hopes for this novel, set in East Germany in 1960, a time when I was very alert to the world about me. I was expecting more insight than the novel provided and found the behaviour of the central character nothing more than that of an indulged adolescent.

Recent reads.

I used to enjoy and respect Margaret Atwood's work, both her novels and her poetry. As her writing has become ever more dystopian my enthusiasm for her writing has waned and this book I positively disliked. It felt manipulative and sour in tone. I missed the reading group meeting so I don't know what the other members thought of it.

Another book group offering, this time by an author that is new to me. Quite a distinctive style, I shall have to read more of his work to find out is it is particular to this novel or is his regular pattern of writing. I enjoyed it.

I was lucky enough to be in Yorkshire for a meeting of the Dale's book group which meets in the village pub. I had thought that the choice of book was linked to the recent D-Day commemorations but that was not the case. Edgar, who choose the book, had first read it at the age of eighteen when he was a schoolboy about to embark on what was then compulsary national service. What an astonishing and moving book. I knew the story, having seen the equally impressive film of the book. Imagine having read this book after the First World War and then having to go and fight in the second! (I was delighted to learn that Remarque had escaped those horrors and gone to live in America, complete with a Hollywood wife!)