Books within a book-wonderful ideas for booklovers and reading groups!

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	• The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.) Elizabeth Noble Perennial / Harper-collins, 2005 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 63 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Books within a book-wonderful ideas for booklovers and reading groups!

"The Reading Group" is a good attempt by first-time author Elizabeth Noble. It traces the lives of five women over a year as they traverse family problems, personal dilemmas etc and how the reading group keeps them connected to each other and acts as a form of catharsis. The women in the reading group comprise Clare whose marriage is facing problems, Harriett who is a disenchanted married woman [with a husband who adores her], Nicole who is beautiful and keeps an immaculate home but who also has personal problems, Polly who is in a happy relationship with her boyfriend but who receives a shocking news, and Susan who finds herself caring for an ailing mother.

The women in the reading group meet once a month to discuss a chosen book and whilst waiting for the next meeting, each character's story is explored in more depth.

The books covered are themselves very interesting and well-presented by the author. When the characters discuss them, the reader is engaged and i for one made a list of some of the books I wished to read. Though i would advise caution here - some of the books are discussed to such an effect that even the endings are given away, so some readers might want to be aware of that. The titles of the books discussed in this novel are: Heartburn [Nora Ephron], I Capture the Castle [Dodie Smith], Atonement [Ian McEwan], The Woman Who Walked Into Doors [Roddy Doyle], Guppies for Tea[ Marika Cobbold], My Antonia [Wila Cather], The Memory Box [Margaret Forster], Eden Close [Anita Shreve], An Instance of The Fingerpost [Iain Pears], Rebecca [Daphne Du Maurier], The Alchemist [Paulo Coelho],and Girl With a Pearl Earring [Tracy Chevalier].

All in all, 'The Reading Group' is a well-written debut novel that not only makes one care about the women who are members of the group but also provides lots of ideas for those of us who are keen on forming our own reading groups or who are already members of one.

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The Reading Group

It was a fun read but lots of fluff! If you like the TV Series "Desperate Housewives" you will love this book! The author creates a relationship with the reader and the characters, though some are difficult to like. I am not sure I would have finished it if I were not reading it for a book club.

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Of course it's a good read!

It is a book about a reading group and what happens to them while they live life. They go to their reading group for healing, support, laughs, and general comfort. Just like those of us lucky enough to be a part of a group. I love my book club and I loved this book.

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Good book

I just read this book for the second time and enjoyed it even more. I liked the characters and atmosphere.

A big disappointment

I picked this up for a reading group, and actually was enjoying it for the first quarter of the book. It certainly kept my interest in the characters, and was well written enough to be a page turner. Then when a character leaves, it all goes down hill. It becomes a chance for the characters to all whine about their lives, their marriages. The monthly meetings no longer are about the book, but the gossip that they are dying to share, no matter how much it hurts others. By 'October', I'd had it. I tried reading the rest but found myself bored and uninterested in anything else that happened to these people. I have taken many notes tho, and I suspect this will be an interesting discussion with my own reading group - who actually read the book and talk about it in depth.

I am giving it a three instead of the two I think it deserves, because honestly its well written, and much of the first half was rather interesting, and because I think it fits for a certain group of readers that would love the book.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Reading Group follows the trials and tribulations of a group of women who meet regularly to read and discuss books.Over the course of a year, each of these women become intertwined, both in the books they read and within each other's lives.

Inspired by a shared desire for conversation, a good book and a glass of wine-Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly, and Susan undergo startling revelations and transformations despite their differences in background, age and respective dilemmas.

What starts as a reading group gradually evolves into a forum where the women may express their views through the books they read and grow to become increasingly more open as the bonds of friendship cement.

In The Reading Group, Noble reveals the many complicated paths in life we all face as well as the power and importance of friendship.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

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