Esbjerg International Ladies Group Book Club

Have I mentioned this before?  Here in the metropolis of Esbjerg I attend a book club.  It is  a small, select gathering of international ladies who try to meet once a month to discuss a book.  Maria, who got the group up and running, asks one of us each month to choose three books and then the rest of us vote.  This month's book, chosen by Nadia, is a new release entitled, 'Before I go to Sleep' by SJ Watson.  Apparently this is Ms Watson's first novel and when I was in the UK I noticed it was the number one selling book in Watestone(')s.  Ms Watson attended a creative writing course and this book was the outcome.  Has to be a wonderful marketing tool for creative writing courses everywhere ;-).

The story is about a woman whose memory essentially resets itself every night while she sleeps.  She wakes up each morning with no recollection of what has happened to her in about the last 15 years.  Gradually you find out she had an accident of sorts that has caused this condition.  She has childhood memories and some memories from her days at university; she is being helped by a doctor who encourages her to write a journal so she can read each day what she has been doing and this process gradually helps her access more recent memories.  I won't spoil the ending but it is essentially a thriller and as you proceed to the denouement you start to question the motives of the people in her life.

I had a few minor quibbles; there are some inconsistencies that irritated me.  I'm not sure if they were examples of sloppy writing and/or editing or reinforcing the point that the main character telling the story, because of the condition of her memory, is an unreliable narrator (as an example, at one point she is experiencing an 'under the duvet moment' and both she and the chap are naked, then she feels his hand under her blouse!)  That said it is certainly a page turner and although the book comes to an end, her story clearly doesn't leaving the reader to come to their own conclusion.  A good first novel and a good read.

I was asked to provide the list for the next vote.  I had ducked this last time round - choosing three???  Thirty-three and I might have stood a chance.  Well, Maria got me in a headlock and told me to grow up so I gave in and chose three books that are unread on my bookshelf, namely:

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

I am pleased to announce the winner is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.  More anon ............