Book Club January 2015

I haven't posted my Book Club reviews for a few months so I must get back into it!  I'll start with the first one of 2015, The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.  This was chosen by myself & another friend as it was Waterstones' Book of the Year for 2014 & it really piqued my interest!

Set in 17th century Amsterdam, it tells the story of 18 year-old Nella Oortman as she starts her new marriage with the wealthy merchant trader Johannes Brandt.  She arrives at his grand house to be received by his less-than-welcoming sister Marin, as Johannes is away on business.  On his return, he seems very cold towards her but she is appeased when he gives her a magnificent cabinet-sized replica of their home as a wedding gift.  Nella then employs the services of a talented, yet elusive  miniaturist to furnish the house with eerily accurate creations.

As Nella discovers the secrets of the miniaturist's replicas, she begins to understand what fate awaits all who live within the house.  It's very hard to talk about the story without giving away spoilers so I won't go in to too much detail in case anybody wants to read it but I really enjoyed this book.  It engaged me from the start with great characters, especially Marin & it's fair to say that there were a few shockers along the way!

However, there were a couple of bits in the book that annoyed me slightly.  I found the ending rather disappointing as it finished so abruptly, I felt like someone had removed the last chapter of the book as, in my opinion, there was more to tell.  Also, I was expecting this book to centre around The Miniaturist when in actual fact, she is mentioned very little.  This I found really frustrating as I needed to know her story too!!

Having said that, this book is still enchanting & full of suspense & I would highly recommend reading it.

February book club review

A member of our book club mentioned at January's meeting that during the month of February, there was going to be a literary festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.  After looking at the dates & finding out which would be a suitable day for everyone to attend, we chose Saturday 22nd February & one of the guest speakers was to be the tv broadcaster & writer,  Sally Magnusson.  She was going to be talking about her new book Where Memories Go, her story of her beloved mother's demise due to dementia.

Unfortunately, I never got to read the book before we went as the library didn't get it in time but the talk she gave was thoroughly moving, heartbreaking at some times, uplifting & humourous at others & we all really enjoyed it.  She's understandably really passionate about the research into dementia & the care given to sufferers, mentioning how important music can be to them, how it can ground them.  She went on to set up her own charity Playlist for Life which encourages families & caregivers of a person with dementia to create a playlist of meaningful music on an iPod which can be listened to any time, day or night whether in the first or later stages of the disease.

I will read the book at some point even though I'll find it an extremely difficult read due to the fact my own grandmother passed away with dementia but I do want to have a better understanding of this horrid disease that robs loved ones of their memories.