Richard and Judy's Book Club

Many of the reviewed books are also recommended reads from Richard and Judy's Book Club or Summer Reads.
These include:
The Interpretation of Murder- Jed Rubenfeld. Book Club 2007
This Book Will save Your Life- A.M. Holmes. Book Club 2007
The Testament of Gideon Mack- James Robertson. Book Club 2007
The Girls - Lori Lansens. Book Club 2007
Getting Rid of Mathew - Jane Fallon. Summer Read 2007
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards Summer Read 2007
Love In The Present Tense - Catherine Ryan Hyde. Book Club 2007
The House at Riverton - Kate Morton. Summer Read 2007
Restless- Willaim Boyd. Book Club 2007
The Other Side of the Bridge - Mary Lawson Summer Read 2007
The Boy in the Striped Payjamas - John Boyne. Children's fiction choice
The American Boy- Andrew Taylor. Book Club 2005

A Swift Pure Cry- Siobhan Dowd

"Beautifully written and deeply moving" Guardian.

Life has been hard for Shell since the death of her Mam. her Dad has given up work and turned his back on reality, leaving Shell to care for her brother and sister. When she can, she spends time with her best friend Bridie and the charming, persuasive Declan, sharing cigarettes and irreverent jokes.
Shell is drawn to the kindness of Father Rose, a young priest, but soon finds herself the centre of an escalating scandal that rocks the small Irish community to its foundations.

Siobhan Dowd has, in her debut novel, written a haunting tale which will appeal to both adults and younger readers. Shell, the heroine, is a delight and an inspiration. Her life is a drudge, and she sorely misses her Mam, yet she soldiers on, looking after Jimmy and Trix, her younger brother and sister, and the relationship between the three is incredibly moving. Her father has been little help to Shell, yet the reader begins to sympathise with him, and his plight, realising that he is a vulnerable and fallible man. The novel really captures smalltown life in Cork, and the prose and dialogue are lilting and lyrical. Although the novel is full of loss, it has at its heart a sense of hope, and an ending which did make me cry.
It is currently shortlisted for the Children's Books Ireland/Bisto Book of the Year Award and the Sheffield Children's Book Award and longlisted for the 2007 Carnegie Medal.

"Written with a fluent, lyrical sprightliness, this poignant novel invests tragic events with humanity and even, in places, humour" The Times.

Love In The Present Tense- Catherine Ryan Hyde

"A remarkable story of the magic of love" Daily Express.

Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force her to trust her neighbour, Mitch. Then one day, with a heart full of agony, Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch and never returns. Pearl, Leonard and Mitch each have a story to tell and as their lives unfold, profound questions arise about the nature of love and family. How do you go on loving someone who isn't there? With Leonard's absolute conviction in 'forever love' always present, Leonard and Mitch grow up side by side and piece together the layered truths and fictions of their almost magical lives. The answers are heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant.

I read this book as it was selected for Richard and Judy's Book Club, novels I have yet to be disappointed by. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, I was suprised to discover is also the author of Pay It Forward an enchanting film (starring Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment) and an even better novel.
The book is riveting from the first page. Beginning the story is Pearl, a neglected and lonely child, hungry for love. "So much of how it was started when that cop got out and came up to me. But I didn't know all this when it first happened. I didn't know there would ever be a Leonard, or that this man would be his father, or that anybody would have to die.
The reader knows Pearl's story, yet Mitch and Leonard are clueless, and throughout the book Leonard tries to find his mother. Despite the fact that she is not around, her son believes Pearl is always with him, and his concept of "forever love" is a sweet one.
I did feel that in places the book was a little twee and sacharine, but the story is a beautiful one, and so I can overlook this.

Eye Contact- Cammie McGovern

"Compulsively addictive...heartbreaking" Daily Telegraph.

For nine years Adam has been the centre of his mother Cara's world. And, she thinks, she has been the centre of his. Until the day he disappears. When he is found in the woods behind his school, beside the body of a little girl whom Cara has never heard of , it feels as if her world has been torn apart. As Adam locks himself in silence, unable to tell his mother what he has seen, Cara's desperation to discover the truth becomes fiercer and more urgent than ever. A heartrending, haunting story of the tangled bond between a mother and her child, Eye Contact grips the mind as it engages the heart.

I adored this book. The description on the back cover in no way describes the intesity and complexity of this novel. At it's heart is a clever, twisting whodunnit murder mystery, yet it is so much more than this. Moving through different narrators, we meet not only autistic Adam, but also the charming Morgan, who, like Cara, is determined to solve the mystery for his own strangely logical reasons. If Mark Haddon gave us an insight into the autistic mind with his The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time, this novel goes further, exploring how a child with what is loosely termed special needs, interacts with the world, and the effect this has others, particularly the mother. The theme is constant throughout the book, with the mothers' of Kevin, Amelia, Morgan and Chris, as well as Cara. The question faced by every mother, irrespective of a child's disabilty, of when to protect and when to let go is confronted throughout the book. Cara's meeting with Olivia, the murdered Amelia's mother left me literally sobbing. Amelia too was on the autistic spectrum, and the similarities and differences between the two unlikely friends is devastatingly moving.
The complexities of high-school are bewildering enough without being on the autism spectrum, and McGovern demonstrates this with insight and clarity. The issue of bullying, central to the novel is dealt with candidly, the cruelties children infict upon each other presented unflinchingly.

"Grasps the complex, often cruel hierachies of childhood" Lionel Shriver, author of We Need To Talk About Kevin.

I loved the sub-plots in the novel, the skeletons in the closet involving Cara's childhood friends, Kevin and Suzette, and the deaths of Cara's parents. Cara and Suzette's reunion gave me goosepimples! I felt completley drawn in to the private world of each significant character, and read slowly, not wanting to miss a single detail. I shall be recommending this stunning novel to everyone I know.
In an author's note at the back of the book, Cammie McGovern, the mother of a nine year old autistic son, tells us what moved her to write this book:
"...I wanted to write a hopeful book- one that reaffirms what I have come to believe: that even in the presence of a devastating disorder like autism, happiness, joy, success, love and even friendships are still possible. That for my son and the countless other children coming of age with this mysterious, isolating condition, there is a place in the world for them and an important role that they will play."
Breathtaking!

"Nobody who knows an autistic cjild could fail to be moved by this fantastic thriller...Wise and moving, as well as gripping" the Times.

The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time- Mark Haddon.

"Outstanding...A stunningly good read" Independent.

Christopher Boone is 15 and has Asperger's Syndrome.He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He likes lists, patterns and the truth. he hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered, he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

I did not know very much about Asperger's Syndrome before picking up this highly lauded novel, but feel that Christopher's character gives a stunning insight into this condition. I enjoyed the inclusion of maths problems, maps and diagrams, contributing to the exploration of an autistic mind.
It is easy to sympathise with Christopher, his naivety and logic is by turn heartbreakingly sad, and hilariously funny. I felt outraged on his behalf when the truth about his mother is revealed, but certainly not pity. It is clear from Christopher's observations about his parents that he does not grasp the havoc his condition has wreaked in the lives of his parents and this innocence makes the story all the more moving. Throughout the book, Haddon uses dramatic irony whereby the reader has more understanding of situations and events than the narrator himself. Christopher's inability to understand social interaction and to respond to social cues makes for some memorable deadpan comedy.
"I also said I cared about dogs because they were faithful and honest, and some dogs were cleverer and more interesting than some people. Steve, for example, who comes to school on Thursdays, needs help to eat his food and could not even fetch a stick. Siobhan asked me not to say this to Steve's mother."

The title of this amazing novel is a quotation of a remark made by Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "Silver Blaze". Christopher's obssession with both this detective and the truth leads him on a quest, piecing together the jigsaw of lies and deceit surrounding his family. This book will appeal to both adults and children alike, and should in every school library. It won the Whitbread Novel of the Year (now called the Costa Book Awards), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the South Bank Show Book Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Christopher tells us, "This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them."
He is wrong, the book is laugh out loud funny, but also moving delightful and extremely memorable.

"Superbly realised... A funny as well as a sad book" Guardian.

A Million Little Pieces- James Frey

"Utterly compulsive" Observer.

Aged just 23, James Frey had destroyed his body and his mind almost beyond repair. When he enters a rehabilitation centre to try to reclaim his life, he has to fight to determine what future, if any, he has.
I literally could not put this down and believed it to be the best rehab memoir I had ever read. I was moved to tears by Frey's story, and was fascinated by the other troubled yet colourful characters. I was left feeling desparate to know what happens next and could not wait to read the sequal, "My Friend Leonard". I demanded that practically everyone I know read it. I confess to being horribly disappointed when the truth of Frey's embellishments was revealed. Throughout the book, Frey's apparent honesty and candour made him a lovable anti-hero, yet we now know that some of the events in the book never took place. This knowledge somewhat colours my review of this "memoir".
I liked the style of writing Frey uses, choosing not to use quotation marks to denote conversation, and often the writing mirrors the confusion and chaos Frey faces. I applauded his rejection of the AA principle of being powerless over an addiction and loved Frey's rebelliousness in finding his own way in recovery from his addictions.
This book was selected for Oprah's Book Club in September 2005, and when the controversy over Frey's embellishments was made public he appeared on her show to defend himself. He admitted that the same "demons" that had made him turn to alcohol and drugs had also driven him to fabricate crucial portions of his "memoir"; it first having been shopped as being a fiction novel but declined by many, including Random House itself.
Despite all the controversy, A Million Little Pieces is a wonderful, heartbreaking and moving story about triumph over addiction, the nature of frienship, family love and the strength of human spirit. Well worth a read.

"Harrowing, poetic and rather magnificent" FHM.

The American Boy- Andrew Taylor

"A wonderful book, richly composed and beautifully written, an enthralling read from start to finish" The Times.

England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to an American boy and the boy's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes caught up in her family's twisted intrigues. Then a brutal crime is commited, with consequences that threaten to destroy Thomas and all that he has come to hold dear. Despite his efforts, Shield is caught up in a deadly tangle of sex, money, murder and lies- a tangle that grips him tighter even as he tries to escape from it. And what of the strange American child at the heart of these macabre events- what is the secret of the boy named Edgar Allen Poe?

I Have for the last 2 years, been picking this book up at the library, only to replace it on the shelf, believing that it was not my kind of read. How wrong I was! The prose is masterful and put me in mind of Dickens, evoking a compelling portrait of early 1800's London society, with all it's corruption. Edgar Allen Poe's character is peripheral, yet his role in the story is central to the events that unfold. The characters are extremely vivid, epsecially the villainous Carswell, and Shield, as the narrator has the readers sympathy and respect. I liked the short chapters, most of which ended with mini cliff-hangers, making it impossible not to read on. Both the immaculate attention to historical detail, and the twists of plot make for a deeply satisfying read, and that the ending allows the reader to draw their own conclusions enhances rather than detracts from the finished work.
Andrew Taylor's novel, "The Office of The Dead" won The CWA Historical Dagger for Fiction and featured in Richard and Judy's Book Club, 2005. I will definitely be reading more Andrew Taylor.

"A most artful and delightful book, that will both amuse and chill" Daily Telegraph.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian- Marina Lewycka

"Mad and hilarious" Daily Telegraph.

"Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukranian divorcee. He was 84, and she was 36. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside."
Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their emigre engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit for Western wealth.

This book was laugh out loud funny and it's characters an absolute triumph! The use of the language spoken by many of the characters-half English, half Ukranian- really brought them to life. Lewycka brings humour to the struggles of immigration, but really captures a sense of these difficulties without seeming flippant. For me, some of the less likable characters, Vera, and Valentina for example are made vulnerable and human leading you to empathise with their take on the world. Despite the humour of the book, there is a darker theme, the past adversities suffered by the older generations. An evocative portrait of early twentieth century Soviet Union emerges, and is an education and a delight to read. This novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction.
Fantastic.

"Thought provoking, uproariously funny, a comic feast." Economist

Thin- Grace Bowman

"Powerfully written, beautifully articulated, gripping" Independent on Sunday.

"If I share a secret with you, do you promise to tell everyone?"
Grace Bowman lived a perfectly ordinary life as a pretty, popular teenager until one day, aged eighteen, she went on a diet- and didn't stop. Then couldn't stop. Her weight plummeted to less than six stone. Starving herself had become an addiction.
A poignant account of surviving the urge to self-destruct, and growing into a shape of her own, Thin exposes the secrets and dispels the myths that surround anorexia nervosa. An extraordinary account of one young woman's courage to face up to her illness, it is also an inspirational story that reaches out to others lost in the wilderness- those still suffering and those who just want to understand.
I loved this book. I have read many memoirs of those, suffering and recovering from eating disorders and this is the most honest and insightful that I have come across. It seems that as well as trying to explain to others, Bowman herself is trying to make some sense of her journey to hell and back again. It is a rare and brave account of the workings of the eating disordered mind, one which sufferers and carers alike will identify with. Especially effective is Bowman's use of the inner voice, the anorexic voice that drives her. She deviates from a straightforwrd narrative with play extracts, and medical fact which I found very innovative. Her work shows huge amounts of self-awareness, but unlike other memoirs of this kind, never descends into self-pity.
Everyone should read this book.

"Bowman describes her descent into anorexia with clinical skill; if you heven't understood it before, you will now...brave, revealing and shocking." William Leith, Guardian.

The Testament of Gideon Mack- James Robertson

"Superb" The Times.

"If the devil didn't exist, would man have to invent him?"
For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies. Until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself. Mack's testament - a compelling blend of memoir, legend, history and, quite probably, madness - recounts one man's emotional crisis, disappearance, resurrection and death. It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief.
Initially, I was disappointed in this book. I found the descriptions of the Scottish Highlands and the church, a little tedious and was impatient to get to Gideon's alleged meeting with the devil. This does not occur until about the last quarter of the book. However, the narrative of Gideon's childhood and the history of how he formed his ideas began to enthrall me. The characters all seemed very real and often I felt as though I was living these events with them. There were very many beautifully written, moving and exciting scenes. By the time I reached the end I was savouring every word.
This novel is another Richard and Judy's Book Club page turner and was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006.
Exquisite!

"Fascinating, extraordinary, strange, rich" Sunday Telegraph.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven- Mitch Albom

"This book is a gift to the soul" Amy Tan.

Eddie is a grizzled war veteran fixing rides at a seaside fairground. His days are all the same, a mix of lonleliness, regret and sadness. On his 83rd birthday he dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl. As he takes his final breath he feels 2 small hands reach out for him, and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is in fact a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people you have met. As the story builds towards it's stunning conclusion, Eddie desparately seeks to discover whether his last earthly act was a success.
A beautiful book that moved me to tears. The novel tackles the age old question of "why are we here?" Eddie is a lovable character, with whom the reader feels a strong bond. An achingly moving and inspirational thought provoking story that will stay with you long after the last page. It is now the most successful hardcover first novel ever, selling 8 million copies worldwide.

"Sincere. . . . A book with the genuine power to stir and comfort its readers." New York Times

We Need To Talk About Kevin- Lionel Shriver

"Few novels leave you gasping at the final paragraph as if the breath had been knocked from your body. Such is the impact of We Need To Talk About Kevin" The Bookseller.

"A child needs your love most when he deserves it least" - Erma Bombeck.

Shortly before his 16th birthday, Kevin Khatchadourian kills seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher. He is visited in prison by his mother Eva, who, in a series of letters to her husband, narrates her account of Kevin's upbringing. Was Kevin just born bad, or were there other factors contributing to this tragedy? This "whydunnit" novel presents a harrowing study of the nature/nurture debate.
Although the subject matter is of a Columbine type high-school massacre, the main theme of the book is Eva's relationship with her son, tackling the sensitive, almost taboo, proposition that mothers can be unmoved by, and even dislike, their own children.
This book, the winner of the Orange Prize For Fiction 2005, had a profound effect on me, and I would rate it as one of the best books I have ever read. This novel makes for some harrowing reading and almost unbearable suspense.Lionel Shriver's prose is intelligent, observant and very brave, which is made all the more phenomenal by the fact that she has no children herself.
The book leaves the reader with more questions than answers, and provokes debate. A classic book-group read that will haunt long after it is finished.

"Forces the reader to confront assumptions about love and parenting, about how and why we apportion blame, about crime and punishment, forgiveness and redemption" Independent.

The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas- John Boyne.

"A small wonder of a book... A particular historical moment, one that cannot be told too often" Guardian.

The front inside flap of the hardcover edition of this novel reads as follows: "The story of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about............".
I think I would have preferred not to have read the deatil on the back cover of the paperback edition.I agree and will not give away too much detail of this heartbreakingly beautiful story.
Nine year old Bruno cannot understand why he has been uprooted from his lavish Berlin home to live in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no-one to play with. And who are all the people on the other side of the huge fence who all wear the same outfit of striped pyjamas and caps? One day, whilst exploring, Bruno meets Schmuel, a boy in striped pyjamas who lives on the other side of the fence. The two become friends with heartbreaking consequences.
I literally could not put this book down. Bruno's character, his innocence and childlike take on things were an absolute delight. The lightness of the prose is in sharp contrast to the horrors of war that are at it's heart. In some ways, the writing is reminiscent of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and is equally good, if not better.
A truly brave and deeply moving novel.

"A powerful and emotionally-charged piece of literature" Yorkshire Evening Post.

This Book Will Save Your Life- A.M Holmes

"Very funny and engaging....packed with unexpected pleasure" Guardian.

Richard Novak, L.A stocks and shares trader, is having a mid-life crisis. Following an episode of excruciating pain, he winds up in the emergency room to realise that he has cut out of his life, everybody other than those he pays. As his emotional thaw begins, he encounters bizarre situations and characters and turns into something of a hero. he befriends, Anhil, a doughnut shop owner, Cynthia, a woman crying in the produce section of a store, and Nic, a reclusive writing genius. At the same time, he repairs his relationship with his teenage son, whom he left after his divorce. This aspect of the novel makes for some very poignant reading.
Some of the events in the book are pretty unbeliveable, and I did find myself wondering why Richard was so nice! Despite this the book is a real gem, and the characters endearing and colourful.
Another Richard and Judy Book Club winner!

"Funny, peculiar, heartening, this book might not change your life, but it could radically enhance a few days of it" Financial Times.

The Interpretation of Murder- Jed Rubenfeld

"Spectacular...fiendishly clever" Guardian.

On the same morning that Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung arrive in Manhattan to deliver a series of lectures, a debutante is found bound and strangled in her Broadway penthouse appartment. The following day, beautiful heiress Nora Acton is discovered tied to a chandelier at her parents home. Nora is unable to speak, and has no memory of her trauma. Freud and his American protege Stratham Younger are called upon to psychoanalyse Nora in order to help her regain her memory and to uncover the murderer's identity. The ensuing mystery is a real page turner, exploring Freud's ideas and the heated resistance to them combined with a beautiful evocation of New York in the early 1900's. Although Freud's visit to America was successful, it is widely believed that he suffered some form of trauma there, blaming the country for some of his pre-existing ailments. Rubenfeld has skillfully combined fact and fiction, producing an exciting crime novel with attention to historic detail. The whodunnit element of the story is fastly paced and keeps you guessing.
Another Richard and Judy's Book Club classic.
I loved the analysis of Hamlet and Freud's Oedipus complex, as well as the based on fact squabbles between the two psychologists. The author's note at the end of the novel clarifies which parts of the book are historical fact, and which are complete fiction as well as explaining any adjustments he made.

"Rubenfeld writes beautifully...an intriguing mystery" Sunday Telegraph