Category: Literary fiction

Darkmans – Nicola Barker

READ FOR BOOKERTHON A jester haunts this book, possessing the characters at inconvenient moments. They are a collection of interesting folk living in Ashby, England. An erratic, embitted old man; a drug dealer; a chiropodist with mysterious bruises; a man with schizophrenia; a boy building… Continue Reading “Darkmans – Nicola Barker”

Animal’s People – Indra Sinha

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In 1984 Union Carbide released 40 tonnes of lethal gas from its pesticide factory into the city of Bhopal in India, killing thousands and contaminating drinking water. Indra Sinha writes of this atrocity in Animal’s People, replacing Bhopal with the fiction city… Continue Reading “Animal’s People – Indra Sinha”

The Gathering – Anne Enright

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Liam Hegarty has drowned himself a river. He is one of 12 siblings who all like to drink, though he was afflicted more than the rest. His family, a large, Irish kin, come together for the funeral. His sister Veronica narrates events,… Continue Reading “The Gathering – Anne Enright”

The People’s Act Of Love – James Meek

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy A renegade Czech army unit is stranded in a community of religious fanatics in a small, remote town in Siberia.  ⚈ “The People’s Act of Love is set in 1919 in Yasyk, Siberia, a small town on the… Continue Reading “The People’s Act Of Love – James Meek”

The Accidental – Ali Smith

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy Amber—thirty-something and barefoot—shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smart family is renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner. Each family member assesses… Continue Reading “The Accidental – Ali Smith”

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Rachel This seemingly simple story of a Japanese man whose cat runs away is anything but. It is a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II and… Continue Reading “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami”

Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy Everything is Illuminated is the transformation of the author’s own attempts to trace his Jewish-Ukrainian ancestry and the terrible truth about the fate of his extended family who stayed behind in the old country when the Nazis closed… Continue Reading “Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer”

The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Rachel The Blind Assassin is a book within a book within a book and opens with the following sentence: ‘Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove her car off a bridge’. It has four interweaving narratives,… Continue Reading “The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood”

To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Nadine Scout Finch is the young daughter of an Alabama town’s principled lawyer, Atticus. She and her brother Jem learn about prejudice and  upholding human dignity through the example of their father who has taken on the legal defence… Continue Reading “To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee”

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Nadine A fantasy adventure in which the protagonist, Pi, is shipwrecked and must endure life at sea with a Bengal Tiger. Inspired by a true story, the book explores questions about faith, friendship and fiction. It is a unique… Continue Reading “Life of Pi – Yann Martel”