Our next meal is on Wednesday, 16th October at The Horseshoe, Warlingham.  I shall book a table for 12.15 p.m.

Please reply by Friday, 11th October as to whether or not you wish to attend.

Kind regards,

Margaret

We were reviewing 'I See You ' by Claire Mackintosh. Our overall score was 8.25 out of 10.

Some comments were:

'A good easy read.'

'I couldn't put it down...it sucked you straight in.'

'There were so many twists and turns, it kept you hooked.'

'I read it really quickly.'

'I liked the fact that the characters were normal, bog standard people!'

'I enjoyed trying to work out who the baddies were as there were only a limited number of suspects... didn't get it right but enjoyed trying!'

'I thought the mum came over exactly as described, always unintentionally upsetting her daughter with her remarks.'

I thought the policewoman was very lucky her boss was so supportive.'

'There were a lot of red herrings along the way.'

'It became too far fetched at the end, why did Melissa decide she suddenly had to murder Zoe? She leapt from money laundering to murder.'

'The ending was not plausible'

'The ending was really disappointing, it was obvious that nothing had happened to Katie.'

'It highlighted that some peopl...

“Most of the group really enjoyed this story including those reading it for a second time. All of us found the information about leprosy, its treatment and Spinalonga really interesting. A couple of readers thought that parts of the book felt a little rushed or had other small reservations” Average score 8.36

Thanks,

Karen

“Whilst the group acknowledged that the book was clever and inventive all found it just too confusing with the large number of characters and the way it jumped from one day to another. Most felt that it was a long slog to read although a few readers did quite enjoy it overall” Average score 4.4

Karen 

We were discussing ' Ordinary Thunderstorms' by William Boyd. Our score was 8.75 out of 10.

Some comments were;
'I enjoyed it and kept looking forward to the next part'
'Initially I kept wondering why Adam, after finding Wang dying ,decided the best option was to buy a tent and camping stove and become homeless'
'I then revised my opinion after discussing the book with my husband and he agreed he would hide!'
'I enjoyed the book very much, it kept my interest and I wanted to know what was happening with each person. However it was a little too detailed in some places.'

'Why did he pull the knife out?...He was such an intelligent man , he should have known this was the worst thing to do.'
We had a general discussion about the 'knife incident'. Someone thought it was because the scientist wanted to die quickly and knew this would speed up the process. Someone else thought that he knew he would be targeted and killed anyway so there was no point trying to survive. We all felt that Adam totally p...

It was a lovely summer evening, ideal for a local 2.5 miles in the countryside surrounding Caterham followed by an enjoyable evening meal at the pub.  10 of our WI ladies were there.

Picture was taken by our WI lady from the camera group: Isabelle.

This book achieved consistently good scores and all of the group enjoyed the story and the descriptions of the Australian outback and way of life. A few readers felt that it was a bit overlong and that the denouement was a little unrealistic.

Average score 8.38

Demonstrating the technique of cutting a particular shape as you can see from the example below.

“Most of the group found this memoir interesting and some really enjoyed it but others found it hard to read due to the subject matter. A few of the group thought that the book was a bit overlong or found sections hard to believe, but all were impressed with what she had achieved.” Average score 7.92

Thanks,

Karen

Hi, the ladies came today and they made copies of these cards. They could have turned them into Father’s Day Cards, so they left them blank and didn’t put the happy birthday on. 

This month were were reviewing 'The Children Act' by Ian McEwan. This book certainly gave us some food for thought and lots to discuss. Murial and Kathy were not able to join us but sent me their scores out of 10 and a few of their thoughts which I will add in.The overall score was 7.5 out of 10. Our scores this month ranged from 3 all the way up to 10 out of 10 , so quite diverse feelings about this book.

Some comments were:

'I struggled to read this, it didn't draw you in'
'The book made me think alot. Interesting twist about the judge deciding Adam must have a transfusion and so the family were overjoyed that he could live'
'The parents feelings that they had followed God's word and the decision was taken out of their hands.They were absolved of any responsibility and could still hold their heads up to the church community '
'There is a Chinese proverb that says "if you save a life , you are responsible for that life" which I feel is what happened with the judge'
'I didn't enjoy it and wo...

A Place Called Winter scored an average of 7.2.

“A few of the group took a while to get into this book but most enjoyed the story and were interested in the depiction of the harsh life of the Canadian settlers and the difficulties of being a gay man in that era. Some readers struggled to relate to the characters or felt that they were unconvincingly portrayed”

Thanks,
Karen 

We discussed the book 'Dissolution ' by C.J.Sansom. We gave the book a high score of 9.6 out of 10! 

Some of the comments were:

'I thought it was a historical novel, not a detective novel'
'It was well written and flowed'
'It was eloquently written with evocative descriptions'
'Lots of new vocabulary...dictionaries at the ready!'
'I really wanted to keep reading , it drew you in'
' I read a few pages and decided it was not for me'
'The torture descriptions were horrible but food for thought about the horrors of the time'
'I have enjoyed it and it was interesting to read about the period...but...a bit like a Midsommer Murder!'
'I will definitely read more in the series of books'' 

The ladies came on Wednesday and they made the card you see below. We used an edging die of butterflies, all white with sparkles!!!
Next meeting June 5th.