Category: Literary fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Rachel A class of women, known as handmaids, are kept for reproductive purposes in a reality radically overturned by a theocratic revolution. ◉ “This read was a return to one of my all time favourite books. I wondered would it be… Continue Reading “The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood”

Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Becks Marco Polo describes the cities he visited on his expeditions to Kublai Khan, emperor of the Tartars. ◉ “A small strange little book that needs to be read slowly as if you have all the time in the world. Calvino packs… Continue Reading “Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino”

The Childhood Of Jesus – J M Coetzee

READ FOR TEN YEAR BOOKCLUB REUNION Chosen by Rachel A haunting and surprising novel about childhood and destiny in which a boy and a man cross vast oceans to arrive in a new land. They are each assigned a name and an age, taught… Continue Reading “The Childhood Of Jesus – J M Coetzee”

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

READ FOR TEN YEAR BOOKCLUB REUNION Chosen by Suzy Plath’s shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional novel about Esther Greenwood, a brilliant, beautiful, talented, and successful woman who is falling into the grip of insanity. … because wherever I sat—on the deck of a ship… Continue Reading “The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath”

2017 – Hot Genres

Genres are in accepted abundance these days. Gone are the days when crime, romance and fantasy were about all the classifications local librarians were willing to use. Today, not only are books cryptically catalogued, but classics are gaining new reclassifications too, as their historical significance becomes… Continue Reading “2017 – Hot Genres”

2016 – End Of Year Thoughts

2016 was New Zealand lit heavy for The FreeRange Bookclub. Not only did Kiwi novels litter the schedule, the NZ Book Awards re-emerged, inciting fresh excitement amongst book lovers about our home-grown talent. With our immersion into New Zealand books, we discovered there were… Continue Reading “2016 – End Of Year Thoughts”

2016 Bookerthon

In a year in which many established authors and their highly anticipated books (McEwan, Coetzee, Barnes, Tremain to name a few) didn’t make the shortlist, nor the longlist some of them, we were expecting big things from the 2016 Man Booker. We hadn’t even… Continue Reading “2016 Bookerthon”

His Bloody Project – Graeme Macrae Burnett

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Roderick Macrae admits to a triple murder in a remote Scottish community in 1869. A memoir written by Macrae makes it clear he is guilty but it’s up to the police and courts to try and uncover his motive. A memoir… Continue Reading “His Bloody Project – Graeme Macrae Burnett”

Eileen – Ottessa Moshfegh

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Eileen Dunlop is an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father’s caretaker in a home of squalor and her day job as a secretary at a Boston boys’ prison. A character study of a lonely… Continue Reading “Eileen – Ottessa Moshfegh”

The Sellout – Paul Beatty

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In a bid to reinstate his hometown on the map, the narrator in this American satire initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school which lands him in the Supreme Court. ➤ “I honestly started… Continue Reading “The Sellout – Paul Beatty”