The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
Category: UK author
A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
Posted on December 4, 2012 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo A Severed Head is a 1961 satirical novel about marriage, adultery and deception within a group of civilised and educated people. The six characters are unpleasant, their morals questionable and their actions immoral especially the main character, 41-year-old… Continue Reading “A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch”
Category: Classic literature, Satire, UK author
Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel
Posted on October 13, 2012 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON The sequel to Wolf Hall, charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, a minister in the court of King Henry VIII. © “Bring Up The Bodies is the sequel to Wolf Hall, about the life of Thomas Cromwell who was influential… Continue Reading “Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel”
Category: Booker Prize, Historical Fiction, UK author
The Bell – Iris Murdoch
Posted on August 14, 2012 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo A lay community of mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, a home of sequestered nuns. An old bell is rediscovered, causing change in everyone. © “A former teacher establishes a sanctuary for those looking for a “refuge from… Continue Reading “The Bell – Iris Murdoch”
Category: Classic literature, UK author
Under The Net – Iris Murdoch
Posted on April 24, 2012 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Jo A 1954 book about struggling writer Jake Donaghue sponging off his friends and hunting for a missing manuscript. The Hospital was deserted, yet strangely alive. I could hear it purring and murmuring like a sleeping beast, and even… Continue Reading “Under The Net – Iris Murdoch”
Category: Classic literature, UK author
The Pregnant Widow – Martin Amis
Posted on November 2, 2011 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Rachel The setting for The Pregnant Widow is a pastoral Italian castle in a hot dry summer. Here, beautiful young people are draped around the pool, smoking cigarettes, drinking wine, discussing literature, sex and freedoms. It is 1970, the start of… Continue Reading “The Pregnant Widow – Martin Amis”
Category: Feminism, Historical Fiction, UK author
The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
Posted on February 2, 2010 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy Charles Arrowby retires to the seaside to write his memoirs but is constantly under visitation by ex-lovers and friends ☁ “Published in 1978, The Sea, The Sea is the story of an eventful summer late in the life… Continue Reading “The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch”
Category: Literary fiction, UK author
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
Posted on October 8, 2009 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON The Little Stranger is a mixed genre story set in a dilapidated mansion in Warwickshire, England in the 1940s. It features a country doctor who calls on an old family of declining fortunes who own the old estate that is crumbling… Continue Reading “The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters”
The Glass Room – Simon Mawer
Posted on October 1, 2009 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Based on a real villa in Czechoslovakia, the house in this book is a minimalist masterpiece with a transparent glass room as its centre. Built for Liesel and Viktor Landauer in the 1920s, the house becomes the central character and the… Continue Reading “The Glass Room – Simon Mawer”
Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
Posted on September 27, 2009 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON A fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. ❚ “Wolf Hall is primarily about Thomas Cromwell who in real life was a disliked man who worked for King Henry. He orchestrated… Continue Reading “Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel”
The Quickening Maze – Adam Foulds
Posted on September 20, 2009 by thefreerangebookclub
READ FOR BOOKERTHON The true story of poet John Clare’s incarceration in London’s Epping Forest, a mental asylum run on the reformist principles of occupational therapy. Lord Alfred Tennyson had his brother treated there and the book bases its storyline on the speculation of… Continue Reading “The Quickening Maze – Adam Foulds”
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