Category: Literary fiction

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”

The Godwits Fly – Robin Hyde

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo The Godwits Fly vividly evokes the complexities of family life and the intensely felt world of Eliza, a single-minded young woman in 1920s Wellington. Eliza has affairs and a breakdown and turns to writing for meaning. Like the Godwits,… Continue Reading “The Godwits Fly – Robin Hyde”

Coming Rain – Stephen Daisley

READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Lew McLeod and Painter Hayes have been travelling Western Australia since they were boys, shearing, charcoal burning, whatever work comes. They take shearing jobs for a large farm, where the younger of them, Lew, falls in love with the… Continue Reading “Coming Rain – Stephen Daisley”