On Green Dolphin Street

At this months meeting we dined at Sakura in Deansgate Locks and discussed On Green Dolphin Street. First of all I believe the general consensus is that the food at Sakura is rather decent. Three of us tried the Bento Boxes which were quite fun! You might note that I am keener to talk about the restaurant and food over the book, this is for two reasons... Firstly I didn't make it to the end of the book, secondly, on the whole, none of us were big fans of the book as a whole.

Given I didn't make it to the end of the book I don't really feel that I can give the book much of a review, nor a star rating, but given the consensus of the meeting I've going to award it 2 stars for now, subject to change should anyone come forwards and decide they feel it is worthy of more!

Finally I'd like to wish everyone a peaceful and happy christmas and an enjoyable new year! Our next meeting will be in 2012, details can be found to the left of this site.

The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex

Unfortunately, for the first time in as long as I have been a member of the Manchester Book Group (a few years now), we were not able to hold our November meeting to discuss the latest offering to the literary world by Mark Kemode. Not due to protests, rioting in the steets, terrorist threats, but simply due to everyone being so busy in the run up to Christmas! So rather than keep rescheduling we have decided to skip this months meeting, collate any feedback of the book here and look forward to our next meeting, in December (details can found at the top left of this page).

So, my quick couple of sentences about what I thought about The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex follow. I was quite impressed at the relentless pace that Mark takes throughout the book. I could almost imagine him thinking out loud about what he likes and doesn't like, and with so many years of experience as a film critic, he has many interesting stories to call on. There are certainly parts of his opinion that I agree with, but also quite a few that I do not. A simple example, he feels that digital films (the standard at cinema's these days) have detracted from the old experience of watching a flickery old film, being shown from a real film reel. For me I do not agree with this, if I go to the cinema I typically want to see the film in the best quality possible, I want it digital, looking exactly hot it did when it left the studio. I appreciate the nostalgia of cinemas in the past, and would be happy to relive this on occasion, but as a general way forwards, I'm all for digital! Parts of the book made me laugh (mainly to myself, not out loud) and on the whole it was an entertaining read. In terms of score, I think I'd give it a (possibly slightly harsh) 3 stars.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

For our most recent meeting, we had four attendees, all of which had just about finished this months book. It certainly isn't the first book we have read which has a film based on it, but it quite possibly the first book I've read with book group after seeing the film, so a slightly unique experience for me!

The overall consensus of the book was good. July and I had our worries that it might be quite graphic/gruesome (as the film has some slightly disturbing scenes) however the book actually handled these scenarios well (and they seemed a lot smaller, and a lot less 'over the top' than the film).

Lizzie has already moved onto the next book in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire, so needles to say she enjoyed the first a lot!

Jenny's two sentence summary of the book is 'A great story which kept me gripped and questioning "who done it" all the way to the end...! Well written with some interesting and likeable characters.' 4.5 stars

Lizzie's summary is 'I liked the pace and style of the writing plus I loved the idea of the story all set on that weird snowy island. I think I probably would have fancied Mikael Blomkvist - clearly an essential point to make. And yes I went straight on to read the second book so I must have liked it (on the thrid now).' 4 stars

Despite having previously seen the film, I was also gripped right to the end. I feel Jenny's rating is spot on, so I will follow suit. 4.5 stars

We're back

For anyone who has loyally watched this blog for the last few years you'll be delighted to know that although there has been slow progress in terms of updates to this site, Manchester Book Group has indeed been functioning and running each and every month.

After much neglect I have decided to try and give this blog a bit of a kick start and get back to having monthly posts with a quick round up of the previous months book, along with details for the next meeting!

If anyone reads this and is interested in joining us, please do not hestitate in getting in touch with me via email to rockthesmurf@hotmail.com