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Post by Oonagh on Feb 12, 2007 21:59:00 GMT
And a few new ones to me as well!!
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Post by Shirley on Feb 13, 2007 0:20:36 GMT
Hi girls, I am in London at the moment so I'm sorry I missed the bookclub. It's a while since I read this book, and I don't have it in front of me as I brought very little over with me, so I'll have to do this from memory - forgive me if my memory fails me. The one that stood out the most for me as the most ambiguous was the one by Anna McPartlin - I thought the ending was really open to interpretation, and I didn't know what definitive conclusion to draw from it. I thought of at least 3 different meanings to the ending! I read somewhere that short stories should be like that and they should let the reader draw their own conclusion, but I would still have liked to have known what the actual conclusion was to the story as per the author - I like to know where the author is coming from, and I didn't in this story. I liked Mary Hosty's story 'Get Lost', because it was completely different to the material I had read by her before. It was lovely to see Mary go off in another direction with a first person story. And I was also glad that the woman did not capitulate in the end. I was so disappointed that Marian didn't write a new short story for this book, but I read somewhere before that she doesn't like writing short stories and finds them very difficult, so fair enough - at least she admits to finding them difficult! That is the beauty of Marian - she's as honest as the day is long. I enjoyed Sarah's Bumps, and also Maeve's story. It was quintessential Maeve in my opinion. I also liked the Dinner Party story. I thought the awkwardness of hanging out with people you don't know well was described very effectively. I enjoyed Alison Norrington's Costa del Solo - I think she is like the voice of hope for women who find themselves disillusioned with love and men in general. I vaguely remember a short story about a visionary woman who fixed up wedding dresses, and I remember thinking it was a sweet story. Loved Melissa's story with the customary twist! Jacinta's story was the saddest of them all in my opinion - that must have been a tearjerker to write. When I get home, I will have a guise over the book and comment on anything I missed.
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Post by Oonagh on Feb 13, 2007 0:23:31 GMT
he he melissia 's story!! do u remeber the two of us reading it at the readers day??
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Post by Shirley on Feb 13, 2007 0:25:40 GMT
Oons!! It's great that you're online! Yes, I do!! Melissa read out a bit of it, and we were skimming through the pages to get to the twist!!! :-)
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Post by Oonagh on Feb 13, 2007 0:30:20 GMT
just decided to check in before bed time!! hope all is well. hitting the sack will talk soon girl for all the gossip!! xx oons night
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Post by Shirley on Feb 13, 2007 0:33:52 GMT
Coolio, all is grand thanks. Got to London at 8 and went for a lovely meal with the lads from work with loads of wine. I better hit the hay myself, as I have to do loads of marketing talk tomorrow! LOL! You can just imagine me now Oons at that lark - it's not my cup of cha at all! Get me talking about a book and I can talk for hours though! Have a good day tomorrow. xx
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Post by claire on Feb 13, 2007 12:24:00 GMT
The one that stood out the most for me as the most ambiguous was the one by Anna McPartlin - I thought the ending was really open to interpretation, and I didn't know what definitive conclusion to draw from it. I thought of at least 3 different meanings to the ending! I read somewhere that short stories should be like that and they should let the reader draw their own conclusion, I really enjoyed this one Shirley, 'This Place', to me the ending was that they were in the womb and about to be born again as twins, two girls, so they were going to spend this life together for ever. The only thing was that on being born they would forget about their past life together.
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Post by claire on Feb 13, 2007 12:26:52 GMT
I liked Mary Hosty's story 'Get Lost', because it was completely different to the material I had read by her before. It was lovely to see Mary go off in another direction with a first person story. And I was also glad that the woman did not capitulate in the end. I enjoyed Sarah's Bumps, and also Maeve's story. It was quintessential Maeve in my opinion. I also liked the Dinner Party story. I thought the awkwardness of hanging out with people you don't know well was described very effectively. I enjoyed Alison Norrington's Costa del Solo - I think she is like the voice of hope for women who find themselves disillusioned with love and men in general. I vaguely remember a short story about a visionary woman who fixed up wedding dresses, and I remember thinking it was a sweet story. Loved Melissa's story with the customary twist! Jacinta's story was the saddest of them all in my opinion - that must have been a tearjerker to write. I enjoyed all of these too. I read Jacintas just be fore I had to go for a smear test, it sent shivers down my spine reading that one. looking forward to chatting when you get back
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Post by Shirley on Feb 15, 2007 1:02:25 GMT
Hi Claire - thanks for sharing your opinion on 'This Place'. Interesting story. When I get home, I am going to take out the book again and I'll jot down a few notes on the other stories that I didn't mention. It was a very good collection of short stories all in all, wasn't it - a very diverse selection.
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Post by Shirley on Feb 16, 2007 23:43:41 GMT
I knew there was something else I really wanted to say about this book! I thought Tracy's story 'Still Crazy After All These Years' and Emma's story 'Seeing Red' were very similar - which is a compliment to both of you ladies!
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Post by megan on Mar 16, 2007 20:00:39 GMT
I really enjoyed this book. The first story I read was Maeve Binchy's. I found it stunningly good! I loved the twist at the end! And the way it was written was very clever - a one sided conversation. Martina Reilly's A Christmas Tale was lovely and made me cry. I loved the story of the family running alongside the activities of the scientists studying the Star. Tracy Culleton's 'Still Crazy' was great and I really liked the way Jacinta McDevitt's was written - short snappy sentences. The Dinner Party really disappointed me as I normally like Nicola Lindsay's writing. It didn't work for me. Another one I really enjoyed was by Anne Marie Scanlon - her writing made me laugh. I found it very honest and inspiring too. About a woman who dreams of how her life might have been had she made a different decision in her early twenties. I can imagine that story helping women to let go of regrets.
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