Two Mini Book Reviews and Book Club Reports

I feel bad. I've neglected the book club books for the past two months. This is a post to try and fix that!

Book Club September: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Genre: Dystopian
My Rating:★★★★☆

This book, about a young woman surviving a new government regime that has taken over, was a re-read for me. I was surprised how much of the detail I didn't remember. I think on re-reading, I felt pretty much the same as the first time through. It's a shocking and disturbing story (women are assigned different roles in society, including the handmaids, who's job it is to have the babies) but fascinating at the same time on how this character (we never learn her real name) deals with it.

What the book club thought: A lot of readers wanted to know more about this new society and what made them the way they are, we needed more background or something. Also, we wondered if the author was trying to make a statement and we couldn't decide if it was pro-feminist or anti!

For more book club member thoughts, check out Jenni Elyse's review here, and Jenny's review here.

Book Club October: The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

We read this book for a member in our club who loves these sort of thriller/suspense/detective stories. (She has to deal with our love for fantasy, dystopian and classics all the rest of the year!) So, for many of us, it was very much out of our comfort zone. In fact, many book club members (even the diehards!) decided to forgo this book in the end. But I ended up reading the whole thing, and found it to be suspenseful enough to keep me turning the pages.

It's about a famous criminologist (I can't even remember if that's the right term!) who has suffered an injury three years prior that left him a quadriplegic. At the opening of the book, he hopes to find someone to help him end his life. Before that happens, however, his friends have come to him for help in a fascinating case. Along with them they bring newcomer, Amanda Sachs. He (Lincoln) trains her how to do his job... be his eyes and ears and legs so to speak, and within a day or two they solve it all, together. But the question remains, is it enough to make Lincoln think his life is worthwhile?

While I found the graphic descriptions of the murder scenes a bit too much to stomach, and being inside the head of the murderer a bit too creepy,  and the detail of the crime scene investigation a bit too detailed, I did enjoy the human parts of the story... the connection between Lincoln and Amanda  the struggles Lincoln faces , and the all the thought process parts of actually figuring out the mystery.

What the book club thought: Those that actually read it, enjoyed it for the most part! Though many said that's enough of that author for them for now. (There's several more books about this character.) We talked about if we had figured out "whodunit" by the end. I don't think many did. And I asked the question, is the culprit of a mystery ALWAYS someone you've already been introduced to in the course of the story? And is it almost ALWAYS someone the solver of the mystery knows already? I'm just wondering....

We also did a lot of comparing this one to the movie (which I for one have not seen.) Apparently, they changed things up a lot for that. Good thing though, because then those that HAD seen the movie where still surprised by the ending!

Also, we agreed, there were too many F bombs in this book for our level of tolerance.

For more book club member thoughts, check out Jenni Elyse's review here.

Up next for book club: Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman


What's your book club read lately that everyone enjoyed? Or even something they didn't?