World Book Day 2024 saw the return of the Birchwood Park Book Club.
We meet every 6 weeks or so for coffee and general book chat.
We managed to get through a small library of books in 2024 and hopefully have more to come in 2025. We like to take members suggestions so that we read a mix of genres and something that we wouldn’t generally chose ourselves.
We meet in the Engine Rooms from 12:15pm. If you are interested in joining us please get in touch with me on ehoult@birchwoodpark.co.uk.
Check out our reads from 2024 and join us to get involved!
Snap- Belinda Bauer
I wanted to start of easy with a good thriller that everyone could enjoy. Snap by Belinda Bauer was a good start. Pretty much everyone in the group enjoyed it as a first read. It opened with some gripping few chapters and we all agreed that we loved the main character in the story- Jack. On the other side we did think there were a few plot holes that didn’t get tied up which is frustrating!
Salt to the Sea- Ruta Sepetys
This one was a suggestion from one of our members and as soon as I looked in to it I knew I wanted to read it. It’s based on true events and we didn’t realise until later on but this is actually classed as a Young Adult novel. Though the format was easy reading, with the story being based around WW2 some of the themes were very hard to read. Other than that we all loved this one- even numerous people admitted it was something they wouldn’t usually pick up themselves but couldn’t put it down.
All the Pretty Horses- Cormac McCarthy
So this one was a real Marmite one! It was a pretty much a 50/50 split some people loved it and others really did not enjoy it. Cormac McCarthy’s style of writing is a bit of a struggle sometimes and this definitely is not an easy read. But worth a go for anyone who’s into Westerns- and a gruesome adventure.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue- V E Schwab
This was a bit of a lighter read especially after the previous read. It’s a fantasy set through numerous centuries and again comments were made as to people saying it’s not something they’d usually read. It was a great storyline and I think most enjoyed it!
Bright Young Women- Jessica Knoll
This was chosen as a Halloween read. It’s based on the crimes of serial killer Ted Bundy and the 1970’s societies treatment of the victims and people affected by the crimes. At times it made for a gruesome read as you can imagine. I think this was one of my personal favourites from the year and I enjoyed it very much. As well as the rest of the group. I think it’s a good read for anyone into true crime.
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year- Ally Carter
This was a bit of a wildcard pick. I wanted a Christmas themed read for the festive period and found this one that was likened to Agatha Christie in some reviews I saw online. I love a murder mystery and this one was set at Christmas time so it all came together well. We all seemed to enjoy it even though it was not as we expected- the book takes a bit more of a romantic turn between the two main characters. We were in agreement that although it was a good story line murder mystery it was not! And those who have read Agatha Christie also couldn’t see where the reference had come from.
Strange Sally Diamond- Liz Nugent
This was our final read of 2024 and we will be meeting up on Thursday 30th January to discuss and to have more book chat about anything else we’ve read recently.
