Larbert Library Book Group discussion

Greetings, all!

Here is the breakdown of the books discussed at our last meeting :)

The Good:
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Anything by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.
There are 6 books in the Þóra Guðmundsdóttir (Thóra Guðmundsdóttir) series of crime novels, set in Iceland:

1. Last Rituals

2. My Soul to Take

3. Ashes to Dust

4. The Day is Dark

5. Someone to Watch Over Me

6. The Silence of the Sea

But she also writes supernatural thrillers, the two that were noted at our discussion were:

I Remember You
"In an isolated village in the Icelandic Westfjords, three friends set to work renovating a derelict house. But soon they realise they are not alone there - something wants them to leave, and it's making its presence felt.

Meanwhile, in a town across the fjord, a young doctor investigating the suicide of an elderly woman discovers that she was obsessed with his vanished son.

When the two stories collide the terrifying truth is uncovered . . . "


The Undesired

"Aldis is working in a juvenile detention centre in rural Iceland. She witnesses something deeply disturbing in the middle of the night; soon afterwards, two of the boys at the centre are dead.

Decades later, single father Odinn is looking into alleged abuse at the centre following the unexplained death of the colleague who was previously running the investigation. The more he finds out, though, the more it seems the odd events of the 1970s are linked to the accident that killed his ex-wife. Was her death something more sinister?"

These books were described as being really scary, with all the dots being joined by the end, and the stories depicted as remarkably plausible. The crime novels were describes as fantastic, but with no gratuitous violence, which is something that can really ruin a novel for some of us, so, for those in the mood for an Icelandic thriller, this is the author for you!

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The Children Act
Ian McEwan
Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge, presiding over cases in the family court. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude and sensitivity. But her professional success belies private sorrow and domestic strife. There is the lingering regret of her childlessness, and now, her marriage of thirty years is in crisis.

At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case: for religious reasons, a beautiful seventeen-year-old boy, Adam, is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life, and his devout parents share his wishes. Time is running out. Should the secular court overrule sincerely held faith? In the course of reaching a decision Fiona visits Adam in hospital - an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. Her judgment has momentous consequences for them both.

This book was described as thought provoking , and very well written and researched. Has anyone else read any Ian McEwan?


Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson:
"Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets."

We had been talking about the difficulty of getting caught up in more simplistic summer reads, either thrillers or chick-lit type books, and this is a book that was described as being a book of substance, but in a good way. For those who are looking for a book with a bit more to offer :)

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The Lightkeeper's Daughters
"Though her mind is still sharp, Elizabeth's eyes have failed. No longer able to linger over her beloved books or gaze at the paintings that move her spirit, she fills the void with music and memories of her family—a past that suddenly becomes all too present when her late father's journals are found amid the ruins of an old shipwreck.

With the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenager performing community service, Elizabeth goes through the diaries, a journey through time that brings the two women closer together. Entry by entry, these unlikely friends are drawn deep into a world far removed from their own—to Porphyry Island on Lake Superior, where Elizabeth’s father manned the lighthouse seventy years before.

As the words on these musty pages come alive, Elizabeth and Morgan begin to realize that their fates are connected to the isolated island in ways they never dreamed. While the discovery of Morgan's connection sheds light onto her own family mysteries, the faded pages of the journals hold more questions than answers for Elizabeth, and threaten the very core of who she is."

We had been talking about Margaret Atwood and this book came up as another Canadian author to try - also fitting in with our Travel theme for next month's meeting! Reminiscent of The Light Between Oceans, or The Shipping News.

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Craig Robertson was also discussed again, this time

Random
Again, many of us have been reading his work both before and after his visit to us, but

The Last Refuge
might also be a good one for our travel theme :) for those who haven't already read it.


A Pagan Place, Edna O'Brian
"A PAGAN PLACE is Edna O'Brien's true novel of Ireland. Here she returns to that uniquely wonderful, terrible, peculiar place she once called home and writes not only of a life there--of the child becoming a woman--but of the Irish experience out of which that life arises--perhaps more pointedly than in any of her other works. This is the Ireland of country villages and barley fields, of druids in the woods, of unknown babies in the womb, of mischievous girls and Tans with guns. Ireland has marked Edna O'Brien's life and work with unmistakable colour and depth, and here she recreates her homeland with a singular grace and intensity."

This book led on to a discussion of Irish novels including:

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, Roddy Doyle


The Heart's Invisible Furies, John Boyne.
"Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from and over his many years will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.

In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit."

This book was has a lot in it to make us think. The central character is searching for his mother, and the mother is at various important points in his life without either of them knowing, and this privileged knowledge is very engaging. Whilst the main character was not exactly likeable in many instances, the story was heartwrenching in places and it highlighted aspects of intolerance in Dublin society towards homosexuality.

This led us on to talking about Patrick Ness and

Release
"Inspired by Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever, Release is one day in the life of Adam Thorn, 17. It's a big day. Things go wrong. It's intense, and all the while, weirdness approaches...

Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything. It's a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won't come out of it unchanged. And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course. "

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I have read Last Rituals in the last month from this list. Really enjoyed it, especially with not long coming back from Iceland. Liked the main characters enough to want to go on to the second book.
I'm about to finish the first book of another Icelandic crime writer.Reykjavík Nights: Murder in Reykjavík
Not sure whether this writer is as good as Yrsa, though I may still read the second one in the series so I can compare!
June :)