Roots by Alex Haley and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

October 2015

Roots by Alex Haley

The extraordinary account of Alex Haley's own twelve-year search for his family's origins.

Brought up on the stories of his elderly female relatives—including his Grandmother Cynthia, whose father was emancipated from slavery in 1865—Alex Haley claimed to have traced his family history back to "the African," Kunta Kinte, captured by members of a contentious tribe and sold to slave traders in 1767. In the novel, each of Kunta's enslaved descendants passed down an oral history of Kunta's experiences as a free man in Gambia, along with the African words he taught them. Haley researched African village customs, slave-trading and the history of African Americans in America—including a visit to the griot (oral historian) of his ancestor's African village. He created a colorful history of his family from the mid-eighteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, which led him back to his heartland of Africa.

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Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Born to Run succeeds at three levels. First, it is a page turner. The build up to a fifty-mile foot race over some of the world's least hospitable terrain drives the narrative forward. Along the way McDougall introduces a cast of characters worthy of Dickens, including an almost superhuman ultramarathoner, Jenn and the Bonehead--a couple who down bottles of booze to warm up for a race, Barefoot Ted, Mexican drug dealers, a ghostly ex-boxer, a heartbroken father, and of course the Tarahumara, arguably the greatest runners in the world.

Born to Run is such a rip-roaring yarn, that it is easy to miss the book's deeper achievements. At a second level, McDougall introduces and explores a powerful thesis--that human beings are literally born to run. Recreational running did not begin with the 1966 publication of "Jogging" by the co-founder of Nike. Instead, McDougall argues, running is at the heart of what it means to be human. In the course of elaborating his thesis, McDougall answers some big questions: Why did our ancestors outlive the stronger, smarter Neanderthals? Why do expensive running shoes increase the odds of injury? The author's modesty keeps him from trumpeting the novelty and importance of this thesis, but it merits attention.

Finally, Born to Run presents a philosophy of exercise. The ethos that pervades recreational and competitive running--"no pain, no gain," is fundamentally flawed, McDougall argues. The essence of running should not be grim determination, but sheer joy. Many of the conventions of modern running--the thick-soled shoes, mechanical treadmills, take no prisoners competition, and heads-down powering through pain dull our appreciation of what running can be--a sociable activity, more game than chore, that can lead to adventure. McDougall's narrative moves the book forward, his thesis provides a solid intellectual support, but this philosophy of joy animates Born to Run. I hope this book finds the wide audience it deserves.

I absolutely loved this book.  I couldnt put it down.  I lent it to a slow reader after I had finished, even they handed the book back (read) in record time it was such a page turner.   It certainly made me think about my running and nutrition even more.

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The Wild One by Janet Gover and Us by David Nicholls

August 2015

The Wild One by Janet Gover

Iraq war veteran Dan Mitchell once disobeyed an order – and it nearly destroyed him. Now a national park ranger in the Australian outback, he’s faced with another order he is unwilling to obey ... 

Photographer Rachel Quinn seeks out beauty in unlikely places. Her work comforted Dan in his darkest days. But Quinn knows darkness too – and Dan soon realises she needs his help as much as he needs hers. 

Carrie Bryant was a talented jockey until a racing accident broke her nerve. Now Dan and Quinn need her expertise, but can she face her fear? And could horse breeder, Justin Fraser, a man fighting to save his own heritage, be the man to help put that fear to rest? 

The wounds you can’t see are the hardest to heal...

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Us by David Nicholls

Douglas Petersen understands his wife's need to 'rediscover herself' now that their son is leaving home.

He just thought they'd be doing their rediscovering together.

So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again.

The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed.

What could possibly go wrong?

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Sixty Degrees North by Malachy Tallack and State of Emergency by Andy McNab

September 2015

discuss at October meeting

Sixty Degrees North by Malachy Tallack

The sixtieth parallel marks a borderland between the northern and southern worlds. Wrapping itself around the lower reaches of Finland, Sweden and Norway, it crosses the tip of Greenland and the southern coast of Alaska, and slices the great expanses of Russia and Canada in half. The parallel also passes through Shetland, where Malachy Tallack has spent most of his life.

In Sixty Degrees North, Tallack travels westward, exploring the landscapes of the parallel and the ways that people have interacted with those landscapes, highlighting themes of wildness and community, isolation and engagement, exile and memory.


Sixty Degrees North is an intimate book, one that begins with the author's loss of his father and his own troubled relationship with Shetland, and concludes with an acceptance of loss and an embrace -- ultimately a love -- of the place he calls home.
Those in the group who had read this had mixed opinions.  Some found it slow, others found it interesting and thought provoking.

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State of Emergency by Andy McNab

3 AM on a frozen winter’s night, only hours after the results of the general election. A small craft skims the Thames closing in on London’s most exclusive new riverside hotel. On board is a lone assassin, his target - Britain’s most powerful new politician. In a nation threatened by extremist jihadis and torn apart by civil unrest, Vernon Rolt has just been catapulted into government on an extreme anti-terror platform.

Rolt’s plans for a zero-tolerance crackdown on ethnic violence has touched a popular nerve. But his move into politics has made him some unlikely enemies – British ex-servicemen, once his most committed supporters who now want him dead.


Ex-SAS trooper turned MI5 operative Tom Buckingham is undercover inside Rolt’s organisation. His mission: to neutralise the rogue assassins for whom he also has become a target, and to discover the deadly intentions of Rolt’s new financier, shadowy Crimean oligarch Oleg Umarov. But all too soon, Tom gets caught up in a far more devastating plot which will change the political landscape of Europe - for ever...

Never having read any of Andy McNab's books before I did not know what to expect.  I was grabbed straight away.  The descriptions were so detailed I really felt that I was viewing the scenes for real.  Gripping from the start and no hint of what the ending would be.
Others who read the book felt that although it was good it could have been written by anyone and was not out of the ordinary.

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July 2015

July 2015

Read one or more of the books presented in April 2015

Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland

In 1937, young Lisette Roux and her husband, André, move from Paris to a village in Provence to care for André’s grandfather Pascal. Lisette regrets having to give up her dream of becoming a gallery apprentice and longs for the comforts and sophistication of Paris. But as she soon discovers, the hilltop town is rich with unexpected pleasures.

Pascal once worked in the nearby ochre mines and later became a pigment salesman and frame maker; while selling his pigments in Paris, he befriended Pissarro and Cézanne, some of whose paintings he received in trade for his frames. Pascal begins to tutor Lisette in both art and life, allowing her to see his small collection of paintings and the Provençal landscape itself in a new light. Inspired by Pascal’s advice to “Do the important things first,” Lisette begins a list of vows to herself (#4. Learn what makes a painting great). When war breaks out, André goes off to the front, but not before hiding Pascal’s paintings to keep them from the Nazis’ reach.

With German forces spreading across Europe, the sudden fall of Paris, and the rise of Vichy France, Lisette sets out to locate the paintings (#11. Find the paintings in my lifetime). Her search takes her through the stunning French countryside, where she befriends Marc and Bella Chagall, who are in hiding before their flight to America, and acquaints her with the land, her neighbors, and even herself in ways she never dreamed possible. Through joy and tragedy, occupation and liberation, small acts of kindness and great acts of courage, Lisette learns to forgive the past, to live robustly, and to love again.

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Hotel Quadriga by Jenny Glandfield 

Before the glittering facade of the hotel Quadriga at the Brandenburg Gate, the eventful life of the hotelier family Jochum plays. The first part of the trilogy is about the early days in 1870, the construction of the hotel, the balls, artists festivals and scandals of the imperial period, the tragedies of World War I, the Roaring Twenties and of the political turmoil until Hitler came to power 1933rd

"Hotel Quadriga" is the self-contained first volume of a large three-volume family saga that, impressively told German history through the hotel Quadriga, which is similar to the Adlon in Berlin confusingly.

Further volumes: "Viktoria" ranges from 1933 to the end of World War II, "Victoria's Heritage" tells of the reconstruction until the fall of the Wall in 1989th

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Dear Louisa by Dr R E Gordin

History of a Pioneer family in Natal 1850-1888 by Dr RE Gordon (TW Griggs, 1970) It's a compilation of Ellen McLeod's letters to her sister in England from the Byrne Valley (in the Richmond area) and includes notes on Hosking, Peel, Fayers, Fearne, Tarver, Talbot, Biddulph and Ratsey families who came out with the Byrne settlers 1848-51 as well as interesting details about the area and graveyard.

The Island by Victoria Hislop

On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more.

Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga - Greece's former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip...

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The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

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Bird Brain by Guy Kennaway

It begins for Basil 'Banger' Peyton-Crumbe the day he dies in a pheasant-shooting incident.

A tragic shooting accident, thinks the local constable, but Banger's gundogs and Buck, the police dog, exhibiting a level of intelligence vastly superior to that of their owners, suspect murder. And for Basil, proud slayer of over 41,000 birds with the cheap old 12-bore he's had since childhood, things go from bad to very bad.

For Basil has been reincarnated. As a pheasant.

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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Single, childless, fifty and deemed economically worthless, Dorrit leaves behind her married lover, her beloved dog and her ramshackle house and joins the residents of the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material, resigned to making her contribution to society by giving herself, organ by organ, to the ‘necessary’ population outside the Unit.  

Despite constant surveillance and the regular disappearance of inmates making their ‘final donation’, Dorrit and her new friends eat well, sleep well, keep fit, play hard and even make love, their fears deadened by the luxury of their surroundings, their new-found companionship, the atmosphere of calm, their freedom from financial worries. Is it possible that against all the odds, real happiness can exist in the Unit?

When something truly extraordinary happens to Dorrit, highlighting the grotesque reality of her situation, she faces the hardest decision of her life. Will she exchange one nightmare for another?

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Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. 

Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, Karen Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm and her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs. 

Out of Africa is the story of a remarkable and unconventional woman and of a way of life that has vanished for ever.

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Blue Labyrinth by Preston Anchild

A corpse, stiff with rigor mortis and bound in heavy ropes, has been dumped on the doorstep of FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.

The murder has the hallmarks of the perfect crime - no witnesses, no motive, no evidence - save for one enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased.

The gem leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California's desolate Salton Sea where an ingenious killer is determined to make him pay for the long-buried sins of his forefathers.


But Pendergast already knows what is at stake, for the dead man left on his doorstep wasn't just anyone, it was his son.
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Traveling to Infinity by Jane Hawking

In this compelling memoir his first wife, Jane Hawking, relates the inside story of their extraordinary marriage. 

As Stephen's academic renown soared, his body was collapsing under the assaults of motor neurone disease, and Jane's candid account of trying to balance his 24-hour care with the needs of their growing family will be inspirational to anyone dealing with family illness. 

The inner-strength of the author, and the self-evident character and achievements of her husband, make for an incredible tale that is always presented with unflinching honesty; the author's candour is no less evident when the marriage finally ends in a high-profile meltdown, with Stephen leaving Jane for one of his nurses, while Jane goes on to marry an old family friend. 

In this exceptionally open, moving and often funny memoir, Jane Hawking confronts not only the acutely complicated and painful dilemmas of her first marriage, but also the faultlines exposed in a relationship by the pervasive effects of fame and wealth. 

The result is a book about optimism, love and change that will resonate with readers everywhere.

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House of Joy by Sarah Kate Lynch ,The Cuckoos Calling and The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

June 2015

House of Joy by Sarah Kate Lynch 

Bubbly, creamy, a perfect deep gold - this was the champagne of the venerable House of Peine, one of France's oldest and most distinguished chateaux. Russian Tsars had begged for it, English Kings had toasted with it, but now Clementine Peine, the last of the line, fears that the days of the House are numbered. Her father Olivier spent more time at the local bar than tending to the vines , and her long-lost sister Mathilde has never shown an interest - until Olivier's untimely death , when Mathilde turns up determined to make the most of this dwindling asset. And then, out of the blue, a third sister appears - lovely young Sophie - and ancient family rivalries, long-ago love affairs and forgotten scandals all come bubbling up to the surface. Clementine, Mathilde and Sophie, daughters of Champagne, have nothing in common but broken hearts - yet if their birthright is to survive they need less peine and more joie - or a miracle...
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I loved this book.  

The Cuckoos Calling by Robert Galbraith 

The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case. 


A war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike's life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger . . . 
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Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) is very good at describing the characters so that you really think you know them.  I felt compassion for Strike - you could tell that he wasnt normally such a slob but he had been through hard times.  The story was good and had me guessing whodunnit until the end.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . .

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Susan Lewis -Silent Truths and Ben Elton - Time and Time Again

March 2015

Susan Lewis -Silent Truths 

When journalist Laurie Forbes turns up on Beth Ashby’s doorstep, minutes after Beth’s husband, political high-flier Colin Ashby, has been arrested for murder, neither can even begin to guess the shocking repercussions that have just been triggered in both their lives.

Beth attempts to escape from her shattered life by throwing herself into the kind of reckless high-living that seems destined for disaster, while Laurie finds herself being threatened, terrorised and even taken prisoner for what she knows.

As the dangerous truth draws closer, Laurie realises that if she is to save Beth from those already preparing to destroy her, she must put her trust in hated rival journalist Elliot Russell and face up to a ghost from the past.
Those that had read the book enjoyed it but thought it got slow in the middle.

Ben Elton - Time and Time Again

It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.

Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history.

Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war. A war that will begin with a single bullet. But can a single bullet truly corrupt an entire century?

And, if so, could another single bullet save it?
I absolutely loved this book from the first chapter.  A very thought provoking piece of writing and very well written.  The general opinion from the group (those that had read the book) was that it was a good book.

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi and Half Broke Horses by Jeanette walls

January 2015

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi 

Trudi Montag is born to a mentally-disturbed woman and a loving father who fought in World War I. The mother immediately rejects her daughter, and continues to do so until Trudi is a toddler, when she suddenly decides to embrace and love her. Trudi has dwarfism, and learns early that she is called a Zwerg, the German word for dwarf, by everyone in the village, and that most people are made uncomfortable by her physical difference. Her father is a librarian of his own pay library in their village of Burgdorf, running the library out of their home and charging patrons to borrow books. Trudi is deeply resentful of her physical difference, but learns to use her uniqueness in a variety of ways to her advantage, mostly to discover the secrets of various villagers, but also to enact vengeance toward others. She discovers various gifts she has, from her own bravery in the face of mass evil to being able to see into people's hearts. By the end of the story, Trudi reflects on the positive relationships she has had and the ways in which she has contributed to her own suffering and that of the others. The young girl soon realizes her impact over others by the end of this novel.

It took me a while to get into this, but when I did WOW - I could not put it down.  The detail she goes into to describe events and people.  I wonder what happened to Max?  I was glad that Trudi finally accepted her body and stopped wanting to be "normal". Life in Germany during the war - seeing how some Germans felt about the atrocities happening and not just to the Jews.  Well worth a read.

Half Broke Horses by Jeanette walls 

A debut novel based on the extraordinary life of Jeannette Walls' maternal grandmother - a sassy, straight-talking heroine for whom saving lives, taming wild horses and beating ranch hands at poker are all in a day's work. Born in 1901 in the rolling grassland of West Texas, at the age of 15, with very little formal education, Lily Casey Smith left home to begin teaching in a frontier town, riding 500 miles on her beloved pony, Patches, all alone, to get to her job. She went on, with her husband, to run an 180,000 acre ranch in Arizona and to raise two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls. Readers will love and marvel at this intrepid woman, for her fearlessness, her courage, her wicked sense of humour. A true adventurer!

How glad was I to read this book.  What a strong woman Lily was.  Hard work and persistance got her through.  It definitely left me wanting to read more of her Granddaughter's books.

I am Malala and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

February 2015

I am Malala 

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
In 2009 Malala Yousafzai began writing a blog on BBC Urdu about life in the Swat Valley as the Taliban gained control, at times banning girls from attending school. When her identity was discovered, Malala began to appear in both Pakistani and international media, advocating the freedom to pursue education for all.
On Tuesday 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. Shot in the head at point blank range while riding the bus home from school after gunmen boarded Malala's school bus and shot her in the face, a bullet passing through her head and into her shoulder, few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in Northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. 
At a very young age, Malala Yousafzai has become a worldwide symbol of courage and hope. Her shooting has sparked a wave of solidarity across Pakistan, not to mention globally, for the right to education, freedom from terror and female emancipation.
I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

WOW what an insight to the other side of life in Pakistan.  How strong a girl Malala is and also her family to support her in all that she has done.   And how important she was thought of by the world to get the treatment that she did.  I wonder if she will ever get back to her home.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

There were people on the banks of the river. 

Among the tangled waterways and giant anacondas of the Brazilian Rio Negro, an enigmatic scientist is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women for ever. Dr Annick Swenson's work is shrouded in mystery; she refuses to report on her progress, especially to her investors, whose patience is fast running out. Anders Eckman, a mild-mannered lab researcher, is sent to investigate.
A curt letter reporting his untimely death is all that returns.

Now Marina Singh, Anders' colleague and once a student of the mighty Dr Swenson, is their last hope. Compelled by the pleas of Anders's wife, who refuses to accept that her husband is not coming home, Marina leaves the snowy plains of Minnesota and retraces her friend's steps into the heart of the South American darkness, determined to track down Dr. Swenson and uncover the secrets being jealously guarded among the remotest tribes of the rainforest.

What Marina does not yet know is that, in this ancient corner of the jungle, where the muddy waters and susurrating grasses hide countless unknown perils and temptations, she will face challenges beyond her wildest imagination.

Marina is no longer the student, but only time will tell if she has learnt enough.

I loved this book.  I could not put it down.  I did however feel that the last couple of chapters were rushed and missed the details of the other chapters.  I loved the way the author wrote as I felt that I was there with Marina - such are her writing skills.  I recommend this book to anyone.