U3A Book Group 2 Average Voting Scores 2024
| Book
Title |
Author |
Style |
Content |
Good Read |
Range |
| Small
Pleasures 2020 |
Clare Chambers |
7.7 |
7.7 |
7.9 |
7-9 |
| Amsterdam
1998 |
Ian McEwan |
7.7 |
7 |
6.1 |
4-9 |
| Bel
Canto 2001 |
Ann Patchett |
7.1 |
6 |
5.8 |
2-9 |
| Regeneration
1991 |
Pat Barker |
6 |
6.8 |
6.1 |
1-9 |
| Still
Life 2021 |
Sarah Winman |
6.4 |
6.9 |
6.6 |
3-10 |
| Act of
Oblivion 2022 |
Robert Harris |
8.4 |
8.4 |
8.1 |
3-9 |
| Leonard
and Hungry Paul 2019 |
Ronan Hession |
6.8 |
6.4 |
7.1 |
5-8 |
| Flight
Risk (NF) 2018 |
Dr Stephanie Green |
5.1 |
5.8 |
5.7 |
2-7 |
| The
Handmaid’s Tale 1985 |
Margaret Atwood |
7.7 |
7.7 |
7.6 |
2-10 |
| Lessons
in Chemistry 2022 |
Bonnie Garmus |
6.3 |
5.6 |
6.4 |
1-10 |
| Two
Kinds of Truth 2017 |
Michael Connelly |
5.1 |
6.1 |
6.1 |
3-9 |
All the books we read this year were written in the last 40 years, seven in the last decade. One was Non Fiction and several were set in the past, including the most popular book of the year, Act of Oblivion. The author, Robert Harris, has been rated highly by our group before. In the 1660s, under the Act of Oblivion, the people involved in the trial or death sentence of Charles 1st were found guilty in absentia of high treason. Most of the characters were real people apart from the man who had personal reasons for being obsessional about pursuing the Puritans Whalley and Goffe across America, where they were sheltered by many locals. We found the speculative ending a bit weak but we all liked the style of writing and could visualise what was described. Some of us were turned off by the violence of those times or by the more extreme Puritan views but most of us rated it highly for the well-researched historical content and the way it made you question and sympathise with both sides. Royalists and Parliamentarians all believed they were right and felt justified in being cruel to their enemies. In our discussion we related this to current issues.
The second most popular book of the year, Small Pleasures, had the most consistent response as all votes were between 7 and 9, in contrast to votes ranging from 1 to 10 for Lessons in Chemistry. Clare Chambers set Small Pleasures in the 1950s with lots of little domestic details recalling that era. It opened with a factual account of a fatal rail crash in London in 1957 but the characters were all fictional. A journalist, Jean, investigated an intriguing mystery when a woman, Gretchen, claimed that her 10 year-old daughter was the result of a virgin birth. Although the eventual explanation of that mystery stretched credulity we enjoyed the period details and felt involved in the characters. The other main plot line was about the feelings growing between Jean and Gretchen’s husband, Howard. We felt for Jean as a single woman with previous bad experiences of men and a life dominated by obligations to other people. When Gretchen left Howard we wanted his relationship with Jean to work and felt sad when it was strongly implied that he died in the train crash so she had to go back to finding small pleasures in her humdrum life.
In January we had a meal at The Plough in Effingham. In December we followed the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflodid, a secret Santa where we exchanged recycled books and a chocolate.
It costs £3.50 to order a set of books from the library so it only costs each of us about £4 a year to borrow books.
We do have 2 vacancies in our group so if you are free on the second Thursday afternoon of the month please contact Anne Eagle for more information
Updated 07/08/2025