Jan – 2021 – The Overstory – Richard Power
BG 1 met via Zoom on 29th January 2021 The Overstory by Richard Powers The Overstory is a 2018 novel by American novelist, Richard Powers, who says that he wrote it because of a powerful encounter he had with a giant redwood tree. Powers describes this as a “religious conversation”, and you can truly feel […]
Jan – 2021 – A Golden Age – Tahmima Anam
BG 2 Review – met January 27th January via zoom A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam A Golden Age is the first book of a trilogy by Bangladesh-born British writer Tahmima Anam, about the 1971 war with Pakistan (then known as West Pakistan). Also called Bangladesh’s independence war, this struggle is depicted through the experience […]
Nov – 2020 – Night Tiger
Book Group 2 – Review by Barbara Angell Meeting held via Zoom in November 25th The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo We have just finished reading and discussing “The Night Tiger” by Yangsze Choo and we rated it high, 8.5/10! It is a busy book that begins, follows and ends with a severed finger! There […]
Nov – 2020 – Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
Pachinko review – Book Group 1 Pachinko is a story of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family’s fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew. Profoundly moving and gracefully told, Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the […]
Oct – 2020 – We, The Survivors – Tash Awe
We, the Survivors by Tash Aw Book Group 1 – October 2020 In his latest novel, We, the Survivors, Tash Aw brings his readers full circle, back to Malaysia, which was the setting for his first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory. Lee Hock Lye, the central character, has committed a murder, which we learn on […]
Sept – 2020 – Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie Book Group 2 – September, 2020 Home Fire, written by Kamila Shamsie, is a book that reflects entirely on what is currently happening in the world. A story about Islamophobia and terrorism, it touches many people because it is relatable and brutally true. This book gives readers an exclusive perspective […]
Sept – 2020 – Celestial Bodies – Jokha Alharthi
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi Book group 1 – Sept, 2020 Celestial Bodies, by the Omani author Jokha Alharthi, traces the lives of three sisters and three generations of their wealthy Omani family. It is about love and marriage,family relationships, and relationships between owners and slaves and how this is reflected in Omani Society as […]
August – 2020 – Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa
Review of Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa Book Group 1 – August 2020-10-03 Memory Police’s story begins on an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, roses – until things become much more serious. Most of the Island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with […]
July – 2020 – The Night Tiger – Choo Yangsze
The Night Tiger by Choo Yangsze Book Group 1 – July 2020 Choo’s second novel is set in the Kinta Valley in1930s Malaysia during the British Colonial period. Variously described as a murder mystery, an historical fiction novel, a coming of age novel and a ghost story; it combines elements of all four. As the […]
June – 2020 – Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Book Group 1 – June 2020 Set in idyllic planned community, Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA Little Fires Everywhere tells the story of Elena Richardson, a woman who thrives on structure and rules, and her family. When Mia Warren, an artist who has been living a nomadic lifestyle as a […]