Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Our New books for February

Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexander Fuller.

We loved her previous books, Scribbling the Cat and Lets not go to the Dogs Tonight, so we are looking forward to this one and i get the feeling it will be in great demand amongst us. Alexandra Fuller recalls in her electrifying new memoir that her mother  “Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, as she has on occasion preferred to introduce herself "had always wanted a writer in the family, “not only because she loves books and has therefore always wanted to appear in them (the way she likes large, expensive hats, and likes to appear in them) but also because -  "she has always wanted to live a fabulously romantic life, for which she needed a reasonably pliable witness as scribe " you can read the rest of the NY Times review   here.

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jo Jo Moyes  
We have also enjoyed a couple of her books and this is getting good press. It promises to be a sophisticated, page-turning double love story spanning forty years-an unforgettable Brief Encounter for our times.  It is 1960. When Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital, she can remember nothing-not the tragic car accident that put her there, not her husband, not even who she is. She feels like a stranger in her own life until she stumbles upon an impassioned letter.

Hand Me Down World
Written by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones - this is the story of an African maid working in a hotel in Tunisia meets another African from Berlin there on business. They have a brief affair. She has a child. She believes they will marry. She signs documents she does not understand. One day the man leaves with the child. Thus begins one of the most heart-wrenching novels you will read this year or any year for that matter. Get the tissues out girls!

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
This is a second book by the author of Still Alice, which we have heard great things about but is not yet in our book club. It's my choice this month and I am excited to read it first. The cover says that it is about Sarah Nickersons who has it all a  successful career, a loving family and and a second home. she has it all but in a split second when she takes her eye off the road - her life is changed! I started it as soon as I got home and am already gripped!

....and lastly Karma Suture by R Kendal to keep you in stitches!!!!!

Sue Carey is a driven, 20-something doctor struggling to preserve her sanity, sobriety, and humanity in the corridors of one of Cape Town's biggest public hospitals. Finding imaginative ways of saving patients is her life's work, though finding a man who wants more than a one-night stand would be nice as well. Both harrowing and hilarious, her journey of self-discovery leads to the bedsides of the patients who make her weep and the men who make her weak. Based on the author's own experiences as a doctor in South Africa, this medical drama packs a quirky, feminine punch as it reveals powerful lessons on pain, sex, love, and ultimately, hope. Several of us enjoyed The Angina Monologues and there is already a queue to read this one in Book club.

You may have read some of the above - please comment on your book experience!