A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed our Book Group’s January read here. This week we met, so here’s an update on what the group thought about Riders by Jilly Cooper.
I was the only woman in our group who’d never read a Jilly Cooper novel. The rest had read quite a few over the years, and enjoyed revisiting her very much. The men in the group were less sure of the attractions of this doorstop of a novel, although reading it on a Kindle meant not having to reveal the provocative cover!
We had a spirited discussion (once my daughter went to bed!) about everything this book represents. From the show-jumper as rock-star (with grooms as groupies), to the comedy accents of the international equestrians, and the presence of every upper-middle class character stereotype you can think of. We decided that the only character that was likeable was Jake’s wife Tory – but she was characterised as fat and ugly and too eager to please, whereas all the beautiful people were uniformly selfish, vain and horrid. We enjoyed speculating about Jilly, and her obsession with class. Not a conventional book group choice, but one that was great fun during the bleak months of winter.
Next month, we’re reading something totally different – Stasiland by Anna Funder – Stories from behind the Berlin Wall, a piece of investigative journalism about life in the former GDR. It’s a bit shorter than Riders too!
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I bought my books. To explore further on Amazon UK, click below:
Riders
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
I’m not sure I would have had the patience to get through Riders. I’m too much of a snob. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by Stasiland when I read it in my pre-blogging days (maybe I was too young for it?) but my father still rates it very highly several years after reading it. I hope you enjoy it.
I was not looking forward to it either Yvann, but did get caught up in it and ended up speeding through it and loving it for what it was – a big chunk of racy fun! Starting Stasiland next week, so we’ll see with that!
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