Day 3 and a half : Book Club Books

'The Gentleman from Peru' by André Aciman was our book club book in April. I am pissed that I spent my hard earned money on it. The premise must have seemed interesting since we must have voted for it at an earlier meeting but it only took a couple of pages for me to know it was going to annoy me. A group of affluent young Americans are stranded at a hotel on the Amalfi coast by a boat breakdown and they meet a fellow resident, the gentleman from Peru. The minute he rests a hand on one of the young men's shoulders and appears to cure a nagging injury I admit I developed a bad attitude to it. I hate this kind of tosh. The use of a description for the character rather than his name to create some kind of fake 'mystery' was annoying too. His magical abilities seemed many and various and were never questioned, but mostly he had contrived their presence in order to befriend one of the women, and proceeds to tell her she is the reincarnation of his lost love. He wines and dines her and takes her to places he used to go with his former love, until she begins to remember her past life. But he is old and dying and tells her that their lives are out of synch and it will be three hundred and something years before the two of them will be reincarnated and young at the same time. Bleurgh ... I notice now, looking at the book, "Readers adore the Gentleman from Peru" it claims but that nobody has put their actual names to the 'recommendations' on the cover. We did have quite an interesting discussion about the book, the young woman leading the group had plenty of questions to keep the chat going, and I love the fact that people are there for the books and have opinions they are happy to share.

Then this month's book was 'To The Dogs' by Louise Welsh, that I fortunately ordered from the library and read in pretty much one sitting. It was a crime thriller set in Glasgow about a university professor who hasn't quite managed to escape the criminal roots of his family, as he discovers when his son is arrested for drug dealing. It was fast paced and well plotted but I hate it when characters make stupid choices and behave in irrational ways. So while I'm going to go to the meeting next week I am disappointed that this was the second book in a row that I found weak and uninteresting. I am sticking it out thanks to Irena Rey, because I do love having people who want to talk about books, and hoping that there will be other good reads in the months ahead.

Stay safe. Be kind. See you tomorrow.