Book Buddies

We started a circle of ‘Book Buddies’ to get together at work to share our favourite books. Now, almost two years later, we all work at different places so don’t get a chance to meet as often. We recently got together to swap titles and review.

As you can see, we're a pretty eclectic bunch...

Jolanta
Scarpetta. One of the latest in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell
* * * 1/2
The detective series lost its mojo for awhile but now it is back on track!
Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward... the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.
Further reviews

Outliers The Story of Success (Malcolm Gladwell)
* * * *
Always great food for thought, this latest title is no exception.

Malcolm Gladwell poses a provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? …
Further reviews

Carolyn
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosley.
* * * *
More than 800 pages of letters provide an engrossing, deeply personal group portrait of six idiosyncratic sisters whose political views varied as much as the trajectories of their famous - often notorious - lives. (Kirkus Reviews)
Further reviews

David
Twilight (Stephanie Meyer)
* *
Wanted to check out book in light of its phenomenal success, but it doesn't seem to be as well-deserved as some other best-selling youth titles, like the Harry Potter series.
Further reviews

The Host (Stephanie Meyer)
* * *
The grown-up version is definitely more interesting as it explores the connection between host and vampire.
Further reviews


Laura
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill
****
" I haven’t felt so horrified by a book since reading Alice Sebold’s Lucky. This one is fiction, but I can’t help thinking there’s a lot of truth to it."
Further reviews

BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher
*****
"... Since picking up these books, I feel much more confident modifying recipes... I know what roles the ingredients are playing. The only trouble is that I now want to stock my kitchen with five kinds of flour, pick up a stand mixer, etc etc
Further reviews


Diane
Mister Pip, by Lloyd James
* * * *
I find it magical that the author is a white man telling the story of a black girl hearing the story of a white boy told by a middle-aged man more than a century ago (and read by me, a white woman “of a certain age” on the other side of the planet).
Further reviews

The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill
* * * *
Abducted as an eleven year old girl in Africa, Aminata becomes a slave in South Carolina and eventually returns to the coast of Sierra Leone in a back-to-Africa odyssey with 1,200 slaves. Based on true, historical events.
Further reviews