The Golden Oldies Book Club – A review

The Golden Oldies Book Club by Judy Leigh

I loved this story of a group of older women who come together in a book club. The main character is 72 year old Jeannie who runs her family’s cider business but is beginning to feel that life has passed her by. She lives with her 95 year old mother and two teenage grandchildren. She has lived in the village of Combe Pomeroy all her life but is beginning to wonder what she has left to look forward to.

The village book club of the title is run by the librarian Ruth and I enjoyed the discussions that they had about the books such as Wuthering Heights and Tess of the D’Ubervilles. There were some very spirited exchanges between Jeannie and her friends and Mark with his very dated attitudes.

Other members of the book club are also feeling unhappy with their lives and so after discussing The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ruth decides to organise a trip to Brittany for herself and her friends. The five women set off to Normandy where they will stay on a local cider farm. The scenes in France were my favourite parts of the book especially the scene where they go sand yachting. The trip makes each of the women really think about what they want from life.

This was a lovely story about the fact that it is never too late to follow your dreams. I loved each of the five main female characters. As we got to know them we found that each of them had their own particular demons to deal with. We saw how the friendship between the five of them deepened during their stay in France and each of them had a satisfying story arc.

Jeannie’s family is the real backdrop of the story. Her mother Violet provides a lot of the humour in the story with a constant stream of jokes and puns. I think that living with her would be more than I could cope with but the relationship between her and Jeannie was full of affection. The two grandchildren also both have important roles to play as Jeannie begins to see that her future holds more than just more of the same day to day routine.

I really loved this story. It’s refreshing to have older characters as the main protagonists but I also enjoyed the real mix of ages in this novel. I haven’t read any of Judy Leigh’s previous books but I certainly will look out for them after reading this one.

Thank you to Net Galley and Boldwood Books for my ARC.

The Golden Oldies Book Club was published on December 6th 2022

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WWW Wednesday Nov 23

It’s Wednesday again and that means that it’s time for WWW Wednesday. This is one of my favourite memes and I love taking part in it and reading everybody else’s posts. It’s currently hosted by Sam and it can be found on her blog Taking on a world of words which can be found here.

The weather here has been very dull and wet but the weekend was gorgeous and sunny so we took a quick drive down to the New Forest and the coast. It was lovely walking in the forest and the beach as well as eating lots of lovely food that I didn’t have to cook.

The idea of WWW Wednesday is just to answer three simple questions about what you are reading, have just finished and are about to read so here goes for this week.

What I’m currently reading

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
This isn’t my normal type of read but I’ve seen a couple of good reviews for it so I thought I would ask for it at the library. It also seems appropriate to read a book about two people creating a computer game after The Ink Black Heart where the online game was such a big part of the plot.
It’s a brilliant read and I found it really hard to put down. Sam and Sadie met in a hospital and then didn’t see each other for years. They finally bumped into each other again at Harvard and renew their friendship. Sam’s backstory gets told gradually along side the real time story and I just want to keep on reading to find out what happens (or what happened next).

What I have recently finished reading

The Ink Black Heart took ages to read and I am totally convinced that it didn’t need to be that long. I think that this was the most disappointing book in the series so far. The online chats went on for pages and were quite hard to follow and the story itself seemed to be too padded out. I love Cormoran and Robyn but this wasn’t their best outing.

I really enjoyed Agatha Christie and will review it soon as part of my Non Fiction reader challenge. Lucy Worsley is a very easy author to read.

The Golden Oldies Book Club was a fun, cosy read that I polished off in an afternoon while we were away. I loved the fact that the main character was 72 years old. It’s a lovely story about a group of 4 women who are all dissatisfied with their lives and end up doing something about it. The section where they all go on holiday to a cider farm in Brittany was excellent.

Devils Way by Robert Bryndza
I love Robert Bryndza and was really excited to be approved for an ARC of his latest Kate Marshall mystery. Kate is an ex police officer who is now a Private dectective. While in hospital, she meets a woman whose grandson went missing eleven years earlier and agrees to look into his disappearance. In contrast to Ink Black Heart, this was a brilliant read and I would definitely recommend Robert Bryndza to anyone who loves crime thrillers.

What I am intending to read next

I just have one of the books that I hoped to read over the weekend left so The Ivory Tomb is definitely next on my list.

What are you reading this week?

Stacking the Shelves 69

It’s Saturday again. Doesn’t it come around quickly? This weekend we’ve treated ourselves to a weekend on the south coast. I’m enjoying typing this while looking out at the sea from my hotel bedroom window. Then we’re off out for a walk along the beach. Apparently, the temperature is about 5 degrees C so we need to wrap up!

View through my hotel room window

The Christmas decorations are already up and lit too which means that’s really pretty at night time.

Saturday means it’s time for my weekly Stacking the Shelves post. Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality and details are on her blog. The gorgeous graphic is also used courtesy of the site.

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

My STS posts are generally my library books. I’m a great supporter of libraries, mainly because I could never afford to buy all the books that I want to read, and visit mine every week whenever possible. I love the fact that I can look at the online catalogue and request books to borrow. This is great for books that are recommended to me by different bookbloggers.

However this week, as we’re away on the coast for the weekend, I haven’t been to the library. As I haven’t got any new library books, this week’s post is the books that I have recently added to my Net Galley shelf.

I keep trying not to add books as I’m trying to keep the numbers down so that I can review them all before their publication dates. It’s so difficult though. Especially when I see reviews on blogs of ARCs and then I go and see if it’s available here in the UK. It is! Ooops, that’s another book added to my shelf😲
The books are so good though and my review rating is still at 90% which I ‘m pleased about.

These are the ARCs that I have been approved for in the past couple of weeks. I’ve been requesting a few more light hearted books lately rather than my normal crime or epic fantasy. I think my brain needs a rest after Babel and the latest Robert Galbraith!

The Golden Oldies Book Club Judy Leigh
A book club formed mainly of older women and the second chances that they get to find love and romance. I love Judy Leigh’s books and I’m really looking forward to this.

The Ivory Tomb by Melissa Caruso
This is the concluding novel in the Melissa Caruso’s Rooks and Ruin trilogy. I’ve enjoyed this although not quite as much as the previous trilogy but then it was always going to be hard to beat that as I loved it so much.

Sunrise with the Silver Surfers by Maddie Please
60 year old Elin Anderson is newly single and decides that it’s time for an adventure so she heads off to Australia to visit relatives. While she’s there, she joins the Silver Surfers club and heads off to the coast and the waves.
Another book about older people having fun which definitely appeals.

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
Seances and murders all set in 1873 in Paris and London. This one sounds like a brilliant read.

That’s what I’ve added to my online shelves over the past couple of weeks and I am so looking forward to reading all of them.

What’s been added to your bookshelves this week?