4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Cinnamon]

I am starting the thread for the chat about Little Chickadees book group choice, Ann Pratchetts 'Bel Canto'

 

I am going to post my comments a little later as I have been horribly sick today , but I will briefly say for now that I LOVED this book & its gone straight into my all time top 10 reads

[Tessa the Duchess]

I am about threequarters through the book, and I am not going to look at the comments until I finish it and can join in the discussion.

 

Tessa

[Tina C]

And I have not even started it yet.

 

I was going to try and get this and other books from the library but discovered they are all very popular amongst book clubs. I checked 3 books - including my own selection - and one of them had 36 people waiting for a copy Could be a long wait.

 

I ended up buying The Book Thief from Tesco (and discovered that Tesco has a Book Club ) and have ordered The Kite Runner from Amazon. I may have to give this month's book a miss - but will read the comments anyway and enjoy (?) it vicariously.

[jomaxsmith]

I was going to try and get this and other books from the library but discovered they are all very popular amongst book clubs. I checked 3 books - including my own selection - and one of them had 36 people waiting for a copy Rolling Eyes Could be a long wait.

 

I've just looked on www.greenmetropolis.com and there are loads of copies on there for £3.75

 

Jo

[little chickadee]

Glad you liked it Cinnamon. I'm afraid my brain is very tired today, so I won't wirte about Bel Canto tonight. Hope I'm feeling better tomorrow

[chickencam]

Only just picked up a copy will try to read in the next couple of weeks

[Strepsy]

I've not started yet either. It'll be due to go back by the time I've started it, I'm reading loads of other stuff at the mo too.

[theherd123]

I thought we were supposed to be reading 'The Book Thief'

 

Sorry im obviously dazed and confused!

[Tina C]

No, someone is stealing your brain cells Emma. Along with your iron and calcium.

 

I have been reading the Book Thief too as I thought I would run out of time for this month's choice. I keep hoping it will turn up in a charity shop - I am trying to cut down on the number of books I buy as I still have three boxes to unpack from when we moved over 2 years ago.

[theherd123]

No, someone is stealing your brain cells Emma.

 

Im beginning to wonder if i ever had any!

[MedusA]

Surprisingly, I'm ahead of the game and have actually finished this book in time!

 

I absolutely LOVED it! It has been one of the best books I have read in ages and gripped me from page 1. I did find the epilogue slightly disappointing, in an anti-climax sort of way, but it sort of made sense.

 

I loved the Gen/Carmen story and how the relationships developed between the "terrorists" and the hostages. I loved the domestication showed by Ruben, the Vice-President in his pinny. I also loved the Thibault's back story. A very encouraging tale of finding you'd been married to the love of your life all along. I found Roxanne Coss to be an engaging character, despite the fact that I have no interest in opera. Her relationship with Mr. Hosokawa was sweet, and his death trying to save Carmen was a tragedy. At least he got the chance of a lifetime to spend some time in close proximity with his idol.

 

I thought it was brilliant of Ann Patchett to gradually make you warm to the terrorists, and want them to have happy lives, even though you knew it was unlikely. Carmen wanting to learn to read, Ishmael being "adopted" by Ruben, Cesar showing true singing talent. I even wanted General Benjamin's shingles to get better.

 

A fantastic book I would recommend to anyone! Thank you to the Book Group for introducing me to it.

[Egluntyne]

I thought we were supposed to be reading 'The Book Thief'

 

Sorry im obviously dazed and confused!

 

I'm not surprised if you are online at 3.35am.!!

 

Don't think we hadn't noticed.

 

Bean playing up?

[Cinnamon]

I loved this book too.

 

I have an irrational hatred of Opera & if someone had told me the part Opera would play in the book, I would very probably not read it at all.

But I am so glad I did.

 

I loved the way the hostage situatuion evolved into 'normal' like for both the hostages & the kidnappers.

There was some super charaterisation....I especially loved Gen & his relationship with the terrorist Carmen, & felt a real affinity & sadness for the other young terrorists.

 

The ending was sad - all that death - & to be honest I wanted Gen & Carmen to escape & live happily ever after. I thought that the other hostages may pretend she was with them or something, as everyone seemed to love her.

 

Anyhow, thats just the romantic in me trying to make a happy ending for everyone again

 

It was beautifully written. The sence of claustrophobia in the first few scenes is brilliant.

 

Super,super book, & one I will be recommending to many friends.

 

NEXT BOOK IS 'THE KITE RUNNER'

[Laura & CTB]

I enjoyed this book very much and got drawn in from the start - I mean I was there with them in that room

 

The horror of the first days mellowing out into routine and then even a pleasurable experience was seamless and the characters were varied and very believable.

 

I even enjoyed the ending - it seemed right that two people who had been through so much would end up together

[Cinnamon]

I forgot to add that based on the title & the cover,I was fully expecting a sweeping historical drama

[Olly]

I was one of the people really keen to start the Omlet Book Club - and I missed last month's book and haven't read this one yet! If I can get hold of a copy on my way home, I will try and read it this weekend and join in later.

[Cinnamon]

Its not a huge book Olly & its very hard to put down- a weekend will be fine

[crazygal]

I've got Bel Canto but have not started it , this month there have been several other books that I've wanted to read first so haven't got round to it.

 

However, my real life book club (that a group of us started 2 months ago)- I don't know, you wait for a book club then two come along at once is doing The kite runner in May (funny that ) so I will join in the discussion for that one.

[Louise]

I am a third of the way through I have just been so busy at work etc and haven't managed to knuckle down to it

 

Also because my hands are feeling better I have picked up my sewing again it has been more than a year since I was able to do any so it is a novelty at the moment

 

I am going to make the effort to finish it this weekend so I will be back

[Basset]

I must say that it is a book I wouldn't have chosen by myself and at first I found it difficult to get into. But once I reached the half way mark I found I couldn't put the book down, as I really wanted to know how it would end. I loved the way the relationships evolved and how the terrorists became people the reader could really warm to. The relationships between the hostages and their captors were very touching. The end to the hostage situation was heart wrenching (I won't say more, so it doesn't spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet!!).

 

I found the epilogue disappointing, it didn't seem a credible ending to me.

[little chickadee]

Bel Canto was my book choice, so I’m glad that people have enjoyed it! It’s actually quite nerve wracking waiting to see what people think of your choice !

After I’d chosen it, I looked on the reviews on Amazon and people seem to either give it 5 stars out of five, or one star out of five, so I guess it’s love it or hate it.

 

It’s a book I first read a few years ago, I think when I had just started having to listen to audio books rather than ‘read’. My criteria for choosing books now are 1 – Have I read it already? 2 – Is it Unabridged. If I haven’t read it and it’s unabridged, it goes in the library bag!

 

This is a book which stayed with me for a long time after I had finished reading it. I think most people would be put off if they read it was about terrorism and opera, but I found the relationships which developed completely compelling. It fascinated me how the author gradually made you see the terrorists as human beings and so that you actually really cared what happened to them. Ann Patchett mentions at several parts of the books that the whole thing ends very badly, but still I found myself hoping against the odds that there would be a happy ending. There never is in these situations, but I cared so much for the terrorists by the end that I was in floods of tears when the ending came – especially when Beatrice was killed with her hands up, even though she was one of the least likeable characters for me.

 

This is the third time I’ve listened to this book now (I listened to it another time with my husband too) and had no idea it had won the orange prize when I chose it, or that it was popular with other book clubs. I’m glad I’ve introduced it to some more people who otherwise wouldn’t have picked it up!

 

I know what people mean about the epilogue – but I think that it maybe is believable. We got so used to the characters as hostages whilst they had got used to and were enjoying their life away from real life, and do not see how they react/ cope with the loss of everything they have come to hold dear. The thought of seeing so many people you know and love being killed before your eyes doesn’t even bear thinking of. If Roxanne and Gen were ever with anyone else, all that would have to be discussed or locked away forever apart from in nightmares (like so many war veterans do) I can see why they might cling together, although it may not seem like a good idea.

Anyway enough of my waffling. I look forward to reading this month’s book

[little chickadee]

Anyone else finished yet?

[Olly]

Yes - bought this on Monday, finished it tonight on the train home. Thank you so much for suggesting it, I'd never heard of it but it's an absolutely brilliant book - I'm in the five stars fan club! I even missed my stop on the Tube one day this week, I was so engrossed in it.

 

I kind of knew the ending was going to be like it was, but was shocked all the same - you sort of felt, like Gen and Carmen, that it could all go on for ever. I thought the epilogue was a bit weak, but that was almost deliberate - life could never be the same for any of them after this, and so they just had to patch things up and make a way to live somehow, and it would be natural to stick together in this way because they had so much in common.

 

There were a few points where I had to suspend disbelief - the whole siege going on so long without intervention - but this was an absolutely gripping book. It's also made me want to track down some of the music mentioned, I know odd bits of opera but not enough to identify some of the songs. Thanks for the choice, I loved this!

[Strepsy]

I got into this book really quickly and thought I was going to really enjoy it but after the initial scene-setting it just completely turned me off. I just found the characters so unbelievable and clichéd. And the interaction between kidnappers/hostages was fantastical. To me it just felt like a below-average romantic novel, where there's a perfect woman who everyone's in love with, and nothing can ever stand between two people in love, yep, even a machine gun... but without the pretence that it's something other than what it is.

[Louise]

I found this hard to get into like Cinnamon I have a real aversion to opera and the first 100 or so pages took me an eternity to read

 

Towards the middle I did start to warm to it and the last 100 or so pages I raced through as I was starting to enjoy it

 

I will have to read this one again as I am not sure how much if at all I really liked it

 

I did like the story it was an interesting concept but I felt the siege had gone on too long for reality given the part of the world it was set in and because of the fame of one of the hostages the thing would have been ended by the men with guns way before that but because the characters were so lovable I was sadened by the ending even though anything else by that point was not believable

 

I found the epilogue a real disapointment though and wish I had not read it as it really spoiled the ending for me Especially Gen given that Carmen was the complete love of his life I just don't think the whole rebound with a wedding so soon was very realistic