2015 July meeting - Crossing to Safety

Once again our numbers are a little lower again, but Denise's home was cosy and the supper yummy!

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner 

This book has established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the 20th century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage. [Taken from book cover.]

2015 June meeting - The world beneath

A rare evening when everyone was able to attend.  Dianna shared her photos related to her hike through the Tasmanian bush from the novel's setting.

The world beneath by Cate Kennedy

A hiking trip into the Tasmanian wilderness is intended to be a journey of both discovery and rediscovery for Rick. This is the chance for him to connect with his estranged daughter Sophie and to revisit the beautiful landscape where he met her mother twenty five years earlier when they were protesting against the building of a dam. It is in this majestic but unforgiving environment that past choices are questioned and future paths determined.

With its vivid portrayal of both landscape and characters, this is a riveting and insightful examination of family.

Winner of the People's Choice Award, NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2010

2015 May meeting - A history of silence

Thank you Freda for agreeing to host at such short notice.

A History of Silence by Lloyd Jones

As Christchurch lies in ruins after the catastrophic earthquake of February 2011, Lloyd Jones begins a search for his past, a search that takes him through childhood memories of puzzling events to Pembroke Dock in Wales, and finally to the discovery of a devastating court transcript.

On this extraordinary journey, he pieces together the fragments of a story that has been buried in his family for a lifetime. A mother who gave up her daughter, a naval captain drowned at sea, a marriage to save a child.

And a truth that changes everything. [Taken from book cover.]

2015 April meeting - The 10pm question

It may have been a smaller group with Marlene and Yvonne being away.  But the hostess Jackie did a great supper as usual.

The 10pm Question by Kate De Goldi

Frankie Parsons is 12 going on an old man: an apparently sensible, talented Year 8 with a drumbeat of worrying questions steadily gaining volume in his head. Only Ma takes seriously his catalogue of persistent anxieties; only Ma listens patiently to his 10 pm queries. But of course it is Ma who is the cause of the most worrying question of all, the one that Frankie can never bring himself to ask. [Taken from book blurb.] A "Coming of Age" novel. Winner Montana NZ Book Award; Reader's Choice, NZ Post Children's and Young Adult's Book Award; Young Adult fiction.

2015 March meeting - The birth house

The fiest book for the year was an interesting read based in Novia Scotia.  Marlene was the gracious hostess.

The Birth House by Ami McKay 

For the women of Scots Bay, Novia Scotia, the village midwife was a fellow traveller and companion in their unrelentingly hard lives. Apprenticed to the midwife, Dora Rare enters her vocation in the tumultuous World War 1 era as the medical profession turns its sights on revolutionising childbirth. Caught between traditional practices and medical science, Dora champions the rights of the women in her care.

2015 February meeting - Summer roundup

An new year, and time for the regular gatherings of the Taylors Road Book Group to start again for 2015.  Yvonne hosted the first meeting, during which we discussed books that we had read or heard about during the summer.  These included

Robin

Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney and Aroha Harris

Jackie

The road between us by Nigel Farndale
Eyrie by Tim Winton

Jan

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Marlene

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach

Yvonne

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon 

2014 December Meeting - Middlesex

The final meeting of the year was held at a local food stop - Sal Rose.  It may have been a bit noisy and cramped, but the food was great and the company was amazing.  And there appears to have been a photographer or two in our midst!

We did manage to discuss the book while enjoying the food and drinks.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The story of Calliope Stephanides' transformation into Val begins, "I was born twice: first as a baby girl in January of 1960; and then again as a teenage boy in August of 1974." Middlesex spans three generations, crosses two continents, from a small Greek village to the streets of Detroit, covers historical events and reveals family secrets as Cal sets out to discover himself by tracing the story of his family.