Book Babblers babbles in July 2010

What our Book Babblers at Maroochydore Library have been reading in July 2010

Helen and Jane have both read Khaled Hosseini’s A thousand splendid suns and while it was good, they found it not as enjoyable as The kite runner.

Geraldine Brooks’ A year of wonders: a novel of the plague tells of an isolated village in England and how its inhabitants dealt with the coming of the plague in1666. Sue, Jane and Helen read and loved this one.










Swedish crime writer Henning Maknell’s Italian shoes looks at the impact of an unexpected visitor on the isolated life of surgeon Fredrik Welin. Mankell’s works include the Inspector Wallander mysteries. Helen recommends this one.

Helen enjoyed The elegance of the hedgehog by French author Muriel Barbery, which tells of Renee, the concierge at a block of luxury apartments in Paris who hides her superior intelligence from the tenants. Paloma, a twelve-year old tenant, and a Japanese businessman named Kakuro Ozu are the other main characters in this ‘different’ and engaging story.

In Norwegian author Per Pettersen’s Out stealing horses, an elderly man reminisces about his childhood in German occupied Norway. This book won the British ‘2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize’ and Helen recommends it too!

Rose Tremain’s novels Music and silence (Whitbred winner), The road home (Orange Prize winner), and Trespass all have main characters who are coping with life in a foreign land. Helen says read them!

Lionel Shriver’s The female of the species is set in Kenya where a female anthropologist falls in love with the wrong man. Sue listened to & liked this audio book, by the author of We need to talk about Kevin.








Margaret Atwood’s Bodily harm didn’t live up to expectations for Sue and Helen. Sue thought it had a confusing plot, and she felt no connection with the main character.

Jane read Australian writer Cate Kennedy’s The world beneath. In it, a man makes contact with his daughter on her 16th birthday, and takes her bushwalking. He and his ex-wife were activists in the campaign to save the Gordon below Franklin many years before, but the man has not been a bushwalker for many years, and he and the daughter become lost. Jane said although she could appreciate that the book was well written, she didn’t feel much for any of the characters except the daughter.

Michael Robotham is, according to Jane, Australia’s most translated crime writer. His novels include Bomb proof, The drowning man and Shatter, which Jane says is an easy, enjoyable read.

Helen Garner’s The spare room is available from the library as an audio book. Jane liked Helen Garner’s honesty in this true story of a dear friend who comes to stay, and is in denial about the fact that the cancer she has is terminal.