Friday 21 April 2017

Decisions, decisions...

Which book will be our next choice?  Miss Corbishley has been given the difficult task of choosing from four very different (and very well-argued) novels.

Megan put forward the case for The Fault In Our Stars

"I've not read it, but I've heard from other people that it's a gripping storyline, but that it's also very sad.  Apparently, it's one of those books that you can't put down.
I really want to see the film, but I always like to read the book before I see the film, so I think this would be a good one to read."


  • Miss Corbishley says - it would be excellent to read a book that no-one in BookClub has read before.  Also, it has a reputation as being a soppy romance which is really outside of some members' comforts zones - always a good thing! 


Poppy went for The Hunger Games trilogy

"We've all read the first one in year 7 and I've nearly finished reading the third one.  It's told in a realistic way - you can imagine yourself being there.  Once you get into it, you can't put it down.  It's one of those books that I could just read for hours and hours.
The characters are well-written - you like them and they are believable.  Also, there are bits in the story that seem irrelevant when you first read them, but then later on you remember them and you understand that everything has a reason for being included in the story."  

  • Miss Corbishley says - everyone is familiar with the first book so it would provide a nice sense of closure to read the third and final one together as a group.  

Holly had lots of recommendations but decided on Grandpa's Great Escape

"Like all of David Walliams' books, this is really funny but it's also quite touching at the same time.  The grandpa in the story has an illness where he keeps forgetting where he is and what he's supposed to be doing - he thinks he's back in the 1940's fighting in World War II.  Grandpa goes missing...
The next thing, the boy's class go on a school trip to a War Museum and he thinks his Grandpa is somewhere in the museum - asleep on one of the planes.  
It's also really interesting because there are lots of old people who lose their memory and it's interesting to see how it might affect people around them."  

  • Miss Corbishley says - David Walliams is a big favourite at home!  It's good to have something that doesn't just give you laughs and adventures, but also makes you think about how other people might view the world.  

Eleanor couldn't contain her enthusiasm for Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief 

"First of all, don't believe the films.  They are nothing like the books.  The books are a million times better!  Percy is 12 years old when he finds out that he's a half-blood:  half-mortal (like a normal human being) and half-God.  There are monsters which are based on mythical creatures and they can smell half-bloods so Percy has lots of battles with them.  
The setting is brilliant - they're on a special camp - it's amazing; really exciting.  As you read the books in the series, the characters grow up and get older, as you get older, so it's like you grow up with them and really get to know them."  

  • Miss Corbishley says - Fantasy adventures are always exciting.  Despite Megan saying she thought the blurb was really boring, this could definitely be a book that the club could whizz through - it's good to have divided opinion before we even start reading.  Discussion is what it's all about!  
So now we need to decide...  Which one should we choose?