Synopsis: In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.
Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.
When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.
Average Score: 2.06
Review: The group was pretty split on this book – those that really enjoyed it were in the minority! Positives: The book showed a unique concept of language and wasn’t a traditional representation of the sci-fi genre. Negatives: for the sci-fi fans in our group it didn’t have enough science and the plot could be applied to many different genres. One member described it as a political expression of a dream which is a pretty good summary!
Synopsis: When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.
He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else’s life.
Harold Fry is the most ordinary of men. He just might be a hero for us all.
Average Score: 3.64
Review: Harold made his way into the hearts of many of the book club members and into our top 20 favourite books. Unfortunately for some the story was a bit too bleak and felt like a very British Forrest Gump. Its very well written and engaging though…once you get past all the sad bits!
Synopsis: For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of rare and dangerous books. Books that let a person walk through walls, or borrow someone else’s face; books of magic.
Now, Joanna Kalotay lives alone in the woods of Vermont, their library’s sole protector, while her estranged older half-sister, Esther moves between countries and jobs, constantly changing, never staying anywhere for longer than a year, desperate to avoid the dangerous magic that killed her own mother. She is currently working as an electrician on a research base in Antarctica where she has found love. Maybe, finally, she feels free.
But when someone on-base begins using magic, Esther realizes that she can’t outrun her family’s legacy. The long-separated sisters must work together to unravel the secrets their parents kept hidden, secrets that span centuries and continents, and even other libraries…
Average Score: 2.96
Review: As with all magical realism books that we read, this book split the group a bit. Fans of magical realism enjoyed it, those that prefer their books magic-free were less positive! Its well written but is tied up a bit neatly and quickly when we’d have enjoyed a few more twists.
Synopsis: Jazz Bashara is a criminal.
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.
Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.
Average Score: 3.36
Review: The following review has been crowdsourced by the group.
It was OK.
Synopsis: The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age.
In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic’s heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization.
In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton’s fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age.
Average Score: 3.4
Review: This is a tricky one! Much of the criticism of the book was that it was a bit too to the point, simple and that more build up around the drama of the situation – essentially some of the group would have preferred a fictionalised version! We were all grateful that the story zips through the extended period that they were walking across the ice floes. Universally, we all left with reduced opinion of Shackleton – great leader or incredibly lucky chap? You decide! 😉
Synopsis: From the master of the space opera comes a dark, mind-bending adventure spread across time and space, where Doctor Silas Coade is tasked with keeping his crew safe as they adventure across the galaxy in search of a mysterious artifact.
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it’s up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
Average Score: 2.5
Review: This book almost united book club in a collective dislike but then two members voiced an alternative view! Its hard to explain what we disliked without spoilers…essentially its good concept that didn’t quite meet its potential. There was a bit too much time spent on things we didn’t find interesting and not enough time spent exploring things we wanted to know more about.
One reviewer wanted to highlight that the author has written much better books that are worth reading!
Synopsis: Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.
But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.
From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?
The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.
Average Score for the book: 2.0
Score for Book Club Discussion: 5.0
Review: This book is a little tricky to review. It is an excellent premise, well written, easy to read and led to a really interesting discussion but there’s lots of unfulfilled potential here. Its hard to care about the characters and some of the twists are predictable. The science/mystery behind the boxes and strings is not explored past ‘no one could figure it out’. The ending is a bit of a let down (a trend we often find). If you fancy a philosophical discussion with yourself or your book club it might be worth a read.
Synopsis: Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…
Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?
Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).
But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.
Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.
Average Score: 3.6
Review: Generally this book was well received. Some people found it slow to get going and not necessarily engaging. Others zipped through the book. Universally we disliked Vera at the beginning but grew to respect/like her. Its well written and easy to read. The volume of characters and locations could have been confusing but the author handled it very well. We would potentially have enjoyed a bit more depth to the characters. Personally I’m hoping for a sequel where that will come!
Synopsis: As his many British fans already know, bearded Yankee butterball Bill Bryson specialises in going to countries we think we know well, only to return with travelogues that are surprisingly cynical and yet shockingly affectionate. It’s a unique style, possibly best suited to the world’s weirder destinations. It’s helpful here: Bryson’s latest subject is that oddest of continents, Australia.
For a start, there’s the oddly nasty fauna and flora. Barely a page of Down Under is without its lovingly detailed list of lethal antipodean critters: sociopathic jellyfish, homicidal crocs, toilet-dwelling death-spiders, murderous shrubs (yes, shrubs). Bryson’s absorbing and informative portrait is of a terrain so intractably vast, a land so climatically extreme, it seems expressly designed to daunt and torment humankind.
This very user-unfriendliness throws up another Aussie paradox. If the country is so hostile how come the natives are so laid back, so relaxed? As Bryson shuffles from state to state, he seeks the key to the uniquely cool Australian character and finds it in Australia’s tragicomic past, her genetic seeding of convicts, explorers, gold diggers, outlaws. This is a country of lads and mates, of boozy gamblers–nowadays mellowed by sunshine and sporting success.
Average Score: 3.1
Review: This book is well written (as you’d expect from Bill Bryson) and easy to read. Its funny but a bit relentless in its search for humour in every interaction. Bill uses travel with his friends well to add depth throughout the book. We really liked the historical information shared within the book and (over 20 years later) his still a progressive view of the indigenous population of Australia. The book may be slightly forgettable/easily confusable with his other books.
The Next Chapter Book Club 