Tag Archives: Book Groups

The Little Coffee Shop

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The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

Deborah Rodriguez

 

Summary

In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on earth, five very different women come together. SUNNY, the proud proprietor, who needs an ingenious plan – and fast – to keep her caf and customers safea YAZMINA, a young pregnant woman stolen from her remote village and now abandoned on Kabul’s violent streets a CANDACE, a wealthy American who has finally left her husband for her Afghan lover, the enigmatic Wakil a ISABEL, a determined journalist with a secret that might keep her from the biggest story of her lifea and HALAJAN, the sixty-year-old den mother, whose long-hidden love affair breaks all the rules. As these five discover there’s more to one another than meets the eye, they form a unique bond that will for ever change their lives and the lives of many others.
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The one hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared

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The One hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared

Jonas Jonasson

Abstract

Sitting quietly in his room in an old people’s home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn’t want to begin. His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise. The Mayor will be there. The press will be there. But, as it turns out, Allan will not …Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window, into the flowerbed, Allan makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving a suitcase full of cash, a few thugs, a very friendly hot-dog stand operator, a few deaths, an elephant and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, Allan’s earlier life is revealed. A life in which – remarkably – he played a key role behind the scenes in some of the momentous events of the twentieth century. The one hundred-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared is a charming, warm and funny novel, beautifully woven with history and politics.

Comments

Light hearted, humorous and sometimes obsurd.

Never too old to experience life.

Repetitious, flowed through life.

Average reading, enjoyable.

Not recommended, not funny.

 

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Second Tuesday Evening Book Group

 

Last Thursday Book Group

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Joyful Strains – Making Australia Home

Summary

Joyful Strains collects twenty-seven memoirs from writers describing their expatriation to Australia. These are stories about what they found, who they became and what they now think of Australia – stories that provide entertainment, perspective and cause to celebrate our increasingly diverse nation. This is an insightful, compelling and sometimes confronting collection for all Australians.

Contributors include: Alice Pung, Danny Katz, Mark Dapin and Diane Armstrong, with an introduction from Arnold Zable.

Group Comments

Reader 1 – Interesting to hear stories from migrants when they just arrived, especially the language aspect. Continue reading →

1st Wednesday Book Group

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For the first meeting of the year, the 1st Wednesday Group discussed ‘Silence of the Grave’ by Arnaldur Indriason.

silence of the graveAbout the Author

Arnaldur Indriðason was born in Reykjavík January 28, 1961 and writes crime fiction. He is the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. Arnaldur graduated with a degree in history from the University of Iceland in 1996. Arnaldur’s first published book, Sons of Dust (Synir duftsins) in 1997, is the first in the Detective Erlendur series. Arnaldur’s books have been published in twenty-six countries and have been translated into Russian, Polish, German, Greek, Danish, Catalan, English, Italian, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Chinese, Croatian, Romanian and French. He won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award in 2005 for the novel Silence of the Grave. Arnaldur lives in Reykjavík with his wife and three children. (Bowker Author Biography)

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