The Colour

by Rose Tremain.


Three emigrants arrive in New Zealand from Norfolk, husband and wife and his mother. This is the story of how they tried to find a new beginning. Joseph, the husband, finds some gold in his creek, and becomes obsessed with finding more, neglecting his duties. His wife, Harriet, a much stronger and more interesting character, soon falls out of love with Joseph, and realises that she'll never be happy with him.

Their adventures are beautifully chronicled, this is a very readable book.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A towering book, great read. I had enjoyed the Kite Runner, but this is better. He really knows how to tell a story, almost Dickensian. Wonderfully told story of female suffering in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Very good.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

Astounding book, I literally couldn't put it down. This is one day in the life of Henry, a neurosurgeon, and we see what happens to him in one, very crowded day. The story is gripping, I couldn't wait to see what happened next. The way he avoids being beaten up in a deserted street in London after a run in with some yobs must be unique! Worth reading again to catch up on the bits I missed first time round.

There a passage where he goes to visit his 78 year old mother, in a home in Perivale suffering from dementia. This is so moving it literally had me in tears. Even more moving was when he describes going swimming with his class at school and his mother, who had been a competitive swimmer, was finishing up a training session and all the boys watched her flashing through the water and doing tumble turns. His pride in her was overwhelming. Wonderful book, I loved it.