The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden was the selection for my Book Club last month and I have to say that when I first heard it was the book we would be reading I wasn't all that excited. I had already read this book when it first came out after reading, and loving, the author's first book - The Shifting Fog (or The House at Riverton as it is named in the UK) and I was disappointed that I was going to be "forced" to read a book that I hadn't enjoyed all that much the first time all over again! I had initially felt let down by Morton's second novel - on my first reading I hadn't felt that The Forgotten Garden was as powerful or as original as The Shifting Fog - but my second reading has definitely redeemed the book in my eyes.

The Forgotten Garden (as does Morton's first book) moves between locations, time periods and characters. As the book starts we are introduced to Nell O'Connor who is living in the Australian city of Brisbane in 1930, about to turn 21 and marry her young sweetheart. On the night of her Birthday party her father tells her a secret that he has been keeping from her since she was a young girl - a secret that will eventually send Nell to the English countryside to discover the truth about her history.

Linked in with Nell's story is the story of her granddaughter, Cassandra who learns some of Nell's story after her death and then travels to England herself to track down more of the story and the story of a two young women who despite growing up in very different circumstances in the early 1900's England are intricately linked with each other and with Nell and Cassandra's story.

Ahh the links! They are really the crux of the success (or failure) of this story and for some reason I felt they worked better on the second reading for me - even though I knew how everything turned out in the end! The stories are woven together with themes of art, fairy tales, the essence of truth and connection and loss. It might have been a case of the right book at the right time for me on this occasion but I felt the themes and links worked well to produce a great story and an enjoyable read.

The Postmistress - Sarah Blake

The Postmistress is the book I chose for our Book Club this month and I honestly don't know what reaction/s I am going to get at our discussion next week.

I find it a big responsibility to chose a book for a wide range of people to read - the pressure is on to find something that (hopefully) everyone will enjoy or get something out of in some way. Another consideration was that a condition of our Book Club selection is that the book has to be readily available in our shops - easy to access is a big plus. With those things in mind I chose The Postmistress because it was a fairly new release and it was a book that although I was hearing mixed things about I thought the premise sounded like a story most people could get into in some way - and I was hoping it was a book I would enjoy!

The Postmistress is set during the time of World War 2 just prior to the Americans becoming involved in an active way. In the small Cape Cod town of Franklin we are introduced to Iris James, the local postmistress who at the beginning of the book is on a day trip to Boston for an appointment with a doctor to have her virginity certified - an hilarious and telling opening scene in terms of characterisation. We are also introduced to the young wife who has newly married the doctor in Franklin - Emma Fitch - who comes into contact with Iris on the bus ride back from Boston.

The other main character in the book is Frankie Bard - a female American journalist who is currently in London reporting back on the bombing taking place in the city. It's difficult to see how it will happen but the lives of these three women are brought into contact with each other and it is this contact that plays out one of the major themes in the novel.

After having finished the book earlier this week I find that I am still pondering it and trying to work out what I actually think of it. Ultimately I think it is a well written book with a good backbone - I think the number of characters and the way the story jumped from settings was a little disconcerting for me though. I found myself wanting to stay with Frankie's story in London and Europe more than I wanted to be taken back to Cape Cod. I felt this way even more when I read the author's notes at the end of the book titled "The Story Behind The Story" which describes how she first came up with the idea for the book and the research she did around female journalists and reporters during World War 2.

So, I will see what my Book Club think of this one next week. It was an enjoyable read for me but one that I think will grow on me more after I have heard what others think.

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

Water For Elephants was chosen as our Book Club selection for this month and I was quite happy about it as it was a book I had always been intrigued by but had never really been tempted to pick up. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to our Book Club discussion this month so this review will have to be based purely on my thoughts and reactions.

Water For Elephants is set in the USA in the era of the Great Depression in the 1930's. The main character, Jacob Jankowski, is a young man about to sit the final exams for his veterinary studies when he is called home by the sudden and traumatic death of his parents. Jacob's father was the local town vet and Jacob was expecting to slip right into his practice as soon as he had passed his exams - after his sudden death Jacob learns that his father's business was broke and so much money is now owed to the bank that Jacob does not even have a house to live in anymore. It is after this discovery that Jacob literally runs away to the circus. Not that this is his intention - he simply runs away from the life that is no longer waiting to him onto a moving train carriage which turns out to belong to the Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show On Earth.

The book alternates between the stories of the young Jacob as he makes his way as an animal carer in the circus and an elderly Jacob many years later - now living in an aged care facility and reflecting on what he saw as the greatest time of his life.

The book has plenty of drama and action - a lot of loss and sadness (the scenes where animal cruelty is displayed were actually the most distressing for me even though human beings were also treated extremely badly in many cases).

I found the elderly Jacob more interesting and engaging than the young man - I found myself being disappointed when the book turned away from these sections and I think I would have enjoyed it more if the whole story was told as a memory rather than being told from the present tense. That being said, I did enjoy this book - mainly because it was something different in terms of subject matter to what I normally would read.

Book Club For Two

I used to belong to a book club with a few of my closest friends and workmates. We would meet every two months to discuss a common book as well as other reading we had been doing. I really enjoyed the discussions and the fact that I discovered books I would not ordinarily have read. Unfortunately that book club came to an end - it died a natural death in a way, other commitments became more important and it became difficult to get everyone together.

I have been thinking about joining another book club/group lately but the reality is that my time is probably taken up even more now and I don't think I really have the time or energy to commit to a new group of people right now.

So, that is when I came up with the idea of starting a book club with my partner! We read VERY different books normally and while we do share with each other stories and quotes from what we are reading it is still a very singular activity for us. When I broached the idea to him this week he seemed to go for it - I was very generous and gave him the honour of selecting our very first joint read - and he has chosen Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. The book is a sporting fan's memoir - Nick Hornby's relationship with his beloved football team, Arsenal (which also happens to be the team my partner supports which I believe may have had something to do with his book selection!).

We don't really have any guidelines for the "club" - we will both read the book at our own pace over the next couple of weeks and have a chat about it (probably during and when we finish). After that it's my turn to choose a book...