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  • The Final Round by Bernard O’Keeffe 17th June 2021Margaret Hawkes
    This is a nice, quick read. Very enjoyable, and enough puzzles to keep the interest. We are introduced to D I Garibaldi, Jim Garibaldi, and his personal life. Fairly straightforward character, bit Dixon of Dock Greenish, great at understanding people. Genial, humane. No black dog in attendance, just a man who is about to embark on a new life after the end of a 25 year marriage. Setting the scene is the particularly gruesome murder of Nick Bellamy. There is a symmetry in the book, just as Jim Garibaldi’s marriage unravelled after 25 years, so too do the bonds of ...
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  • Downton Abbey – the film 27th September 2019Margaret Hawkes
    We originally started watching Downton Abbey in box set form – and there are a lot of episodes. Great entertainment, but in the end, we stopped watching. Like any soap opera, the twists and turns in the plot seemed more to do with maintaining peak audiences rather than telling a story. And then Downton Abbey the film appeared in our local cinema. Great. Watch the finale, and cut out the box sets. We had seen enough to know who the main characters were. We had followed the story of Lady Sybil and the romance with the chauffeur, Tom Branson and cried ...
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  • What the Wind Knows by Amy Hamon 2nd September 2019Margaret Hawkes
    I must admit, I was giving up with finding a good read. There is an awful lot of dross out there. But this book is different. A love story, an historical account and a little bit of time travel. I must admit that at times I was reminded of “The Time Traveller’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger at times. Once time travel enters into the equation, questions about predestination arise, and the circularity of time, and as is so often in Dr Who plots, the question of if and how the timeline can be changed. This book is a glorious mix ...
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  • The Last Lie by Alex Lake 16th August 2019Margaret Hawkes
    I had just finished reading Jodi Picoult’s The Storyteller. This book would be completely different. Or so I thought. Until the ending, then it was a case of Déjà vu. Woman metes out revenge. Woman is empowered. And a moral question. Is vengeance to be applauded in a woman, where it would not be so in a man? Dial M for Murder and the marriage of Tony and Margot. Hmm. Similar premise, husband Tony, funded by the wealth of his wife, Margot, wishes to dispose of Margot and divorce is not an option. Different means of achieving end. But in the ...
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  • The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult 12th August 2019Margaret Hawkes
    I enjoy reading Jodi Picoult’s books, for here is an author who understands that human beings are not two dimensional, simple beings but multi-dimensional, complex beings, capable of good and bad, love and hate, fear and courage. The Storyteller was no exception to this and is a story that will haunt me for a long time. But I found the ending disturbing, but not surprising. Yes, the Jodi Picoult twist was there, although by halfway through the book, I had wondered about the identity of Josef Weber, the elderly German teacher who had befriended Sage Singer, a young woman in ...
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  • Donald and growing up 1st February 2017Margot
      Last week the script writers and producers were at work at the White House. The star of the show was to be a former reality TV show presenter and star. The intended audience, from whom approval was sought was the American populace. And the stage? Ah, this is where the audacity of the producers knew no bounds. The stage was to be the world. There was to be self choreography, all liberals and left of centre political supporters would take to the streets to join in a communal act of protest with a global dimension. And the American President would ...
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  • The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain 31st December 2016Margot
    A novella. Not my choice, but I hope to join a reading group which will be discussing this book. There are two cities called Paris, the city that gets all the headlines, the city of Charlie Hebdo, of the Bataclan attacks. The city where Francois Hollande prances around, a vain peacock, and where Marie le Pen aims to replace M. Holland. And the other city called Paris, where the Seine sweeps through gently, the city of light, the city of culture, with cafes and small shops, a city where beauty and culture are appreciated. Are they really the same place? Laurent ...
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  • This Happy Breed 31st October 2016Margot
    A play by Noel Coward at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. October 2016 Thoroughly enjoyable. A story of the suburban classes, and perhaps this is where its greatest charm lies. Of course, the Gibbons may be a suburban family living in a standard semi, that strata of society which so many of us inhabit. The squeezed middle as it is sometimes called. But the house was large enough to house 3 teenagers, one grandmother and one aunt as well as Ethel and Frank. Five bedrooms? Plus, there was a maid. Quite a large establishment – not the standard 1930's three bedroom ...
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  • The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman 7th February 2016Margot
    There are several categories of books, serious books that you are supposed to read, dreary books that are so dire that they are never finished, great books which live with you and change your life, page turning books which leave you wanting for more, not always great literature, but very enjoyable. The Invisible Library falls into the latter category. This Who can resist a book where science fiction meets fantasy, where there are dragons and vampires, magic and science, and a Victorian world exists in an alternative universe. This is an extremely enjoyable read, so much so that I have acquired ...
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  • The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman 27th January 2016Margot
    There are several categories of books, serious books that you are supposed to read, dreary books that are so dire that they are never finished, great books which live with you and change your life, page turning books which leave you wanting for more, not always great literature, but very enjoyable. The Invisible Library falls into the latter category. Who can resist a book where science fiction meets fantasy, where there are dragons and vampires, magic and science, and a Victorian world exists in an alternative universe. This is an extremely enjoyable read, so much so that I have acquired the ...
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