Title: The Garden Party
Author: Sarah Challis
London : Headline Review, 2011
Sarah P’s pick
The book is the story of the Baxter family- Alice, David and their four children. Alice is approaching her 60th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary and decides, uncharacteristically, to hold a party to celebrate the occasions and have her family together. Continue reading
Title: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Author: Amy Chua
Sarah P’s pick
This is the account of Amy Chua, a Professor of Law at Yale University and the mother to two girls. Chua follows what she calls the Chinese way of bringing up children rather than the Western way (although she does acknowledge the term Chinese mother or Western parents does not apply to everyone from these cultures). Continue reading
Title: Less than perfect
Author: Ber Carroll
Sarah’s pick
Caitlyn O’Reilly grew up in Northern Ireland. Her father is a professor of ethics and has high expectations for his children. Caitlyn falls in love and goes to university and for a while everything is going well. But then her life, and the lives of many around her, is changed by an awful event. Continue reading
The book read by the 2nd Tuesday evening book club for April 2011 was The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Here are some of their thoughts on this popular 1st volume of the Millennium Trilogy Continue reading
Title – Under the influence
Author – Jacqueline Lunn
NSW, Vintage Books, 2011
Sarah’s Pick
Three girls meet at boarding school in Sydney’s North Shore. Meg is the daughter of a widowed sheep farmer from western NSW. Eve’s parents run the chemist shop in a country town. And Sarah can see the roof of her house from the boarding school but has been sent there by her busy professional parents. The story gives a good account of teenage girls and life in a boarding school. The girls share a secret about another girl from school- the popular and beautiful Rebecca. This secret changes the girls. Continue reading
