Whodunit Book Club Nov. 30, 2010

Sorry, this one is late being posted. I wrote it after the meeting and forgot to upload it to the blog. My apologies.
November's meeting was particularly enjoyable. It was our last meeting of 2010 and there were 23 members in attendance.
The magical question this month: "Have you ever made a New Year's resolution that was book related?" As usual the answers were both interesting and varied. Some responses were: To read one book per week for the next year ; To count and keep track of the books read over the year ; to read books by authors with names that begin with A thru Z so as to broaden reading horizons ; to stop buying so many books and use the library more ; to weed personal book collections and give excess to charity ; to finish one series before starting another ; to try a new genre than one which you presently read ; to read more poetry ; to increase number of books read per year.
This month's book was "The forgotten garden" by Kate Morton. This is a book that I personally enjoyed so much, I wrote a separate blog entry about it on my Fictionophile blog.
We learned a little about the author, Kate Morton. She holds a degree in English Literature and Kate is currently enrolled in a PhD program researching contemporary novels that marry elements of gothic and mystery fiction. She is a bestseller in the United Kingdom as well as her native Australia and has sold more than 3 million books! She used her grandmother's experience as the basis for this novel.
What Whodunit thought of "The forgotten garden":
Some members loved it (myself included). These found the different perspectives of the narrative to be like a 'kaleidoscope'. The language and style was admired as was the seeming ease and smooth transition with which the author handled the time shifting. This group found the novel sentimental and magical and approved of how the author incorporated fairy tales as clues to the plot line.
Other members didn't enjoy the novel and found it 'sappy', slow and tedious.
Most members would read another book by Kate Morton, though some had read her first novel "The house at Riverton" and deemed it a disappointment.
Her latest novel "The distant hours" is on shelves now.
The lucky winners of this month's bookaways were: Margaret, Trish, Heather, Terena, Regis and Laird.