The Reading Group [Paperback]

Elizabeth Noble (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Perennial / Harper-collins; Later Printing edition (2007)
• ASIN: B001O01P54
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Noble is the internationally bestselling author of The Reading Group, The Friendship Test, Alphabet Weekends, and Things I Want My Daughters to Know. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BOOKLOVERS DREAM READ, January 6, 2005

By 

Maudeen Wachsmith "BeachReader" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

I adored this book! Any booklover should. I loved how

each book was discussed (pro and con)and how they were able to relate the books read to their life experiences and the things that were going on in their lives right at the time.

For instance with the last book, GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING at the book discussion one of the characters says "I wish they would put what the book was about on the back. It's really off-putting when it's just quotes. You want to know what the story is about, not whether it's won loads of prizes or critical acclaim. That just makes it pretentious, doesn't it? This is a classic example of a book I would never have picked up if it hadn't been for the reading group." (something I agree with as a reader).

I should have marked all the passages in the book that had me nodding in agreement, the aforementioned was just one of them. The fact that not all the members had a chance to read each book was really great as well - just like my own f2f book and many online books.

Although the character of Clare wasn't as clearly fleshed out as the others, I found myself feeling that I knew each of these women. The book is told not only from the POV of the reading groups members, but others in their lives as well. There are some real surprises here and everything isn't as what it seems originally. Dealing with such domestic issues as infertility, teenage pregnancy, caring for an elderly parent, adult sibling issues, adultery, boredom, caring for young children, the women in the book deal with many of the same things we do everyday.

This is the best women's friendship book I have ever

read and I have read (and enjoyed) many.

Just to entice you the books read and discussed are:

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Atonement by Ian McWan

The Woman who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle

Guppies for Tea by Marika Cobbold

My Antonia by Willa Cather

The Memory Box by Margaret Forster

Eden Close by Anita Shreve

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

I own and/or have read, all but four of the books and plan on picking up the others (The Woman who Walked into Doors, Guppies for Tear, The Memory Box and Eden Close).

Read this book - I guarantee you won't be sorry you did!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Female Bonding- Well, I Guess!, February 7, 2005

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

This novel is the English version of an Oprah's Book Club. It takes place in small community outside of London. However, this group of women needed a place and reason to meet, drink wine and talk. What better idea than to talk about a book they have all read? That's how it started, and it all evolved into a look into each of their lives. Everyone thinks the grass looks greener on the other side, well, no, it isn't, we learn.

Five women, four of them friends and one pushed into the book group by her mother:

Harriet, co-founder of the group- thirty something with a husband who adores her and two children who adore her.

Nicole- friend of Harriet and co-founder of the group. Her husband is a problem but her three children are not.

Polly- a single mother who wants the best for her college age daughter.

Susan- Polly's best friend and all around great person. Married to a physician and mother to two grown boys.

Clare- the women who was pushed into this group by her mother. She is a midwife, unable to have children of her own and she and her husband are at a crossroads.

Into this book group, come 12 books, one for each month. Books, they talk about, love or hate and then they relate to the book in some fashion. And, then they discuss their individual lives. Many problems abound, as you can imagine. The book is slow to get into, but after awhile you enjoy hearing about how their lives are progressing or not as the case may be. The stories are funny, sad and honestly stated. But, some are overstate and surreal. How could this happen to this smart woman, well, you know, you love a man and then you don't always see what is under your nose.

I found myself rooting for several of these women and feeling sorry for some. True life, maybe not, but a fun read. Recommended. prisrob

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories read and stories lived, October 31, 2004

By 

Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

When these five women get together to form a reading group, little do they realize that they will experience more changes and turmoil in their lives than those of the characters in the books they discuss: infidelity and divorce; infertility, abortion, and pregnancy out of wedlock; forging of new loves and rekindling of older ones; even a revelation about one's roots. Through it all, these women forge strong bonds of friendship that support them through the rough times and help them celebrate their successes.

The novel is divided into twelve sections, one for each month that the reading group meets. At the start of each section is a summary of the book the group will discuss. Very little of the story actually takes place at the group's meetings, however. Nor does it draw many parallels between the titles read by the group and the lives of the women in the group. The one warning I have to give about this novel is that it divulges spoilers about the endings of the reading group's books. So although you could use this novel for suggestions for your own reading group or list, it might spoil the fun of discovering the stories for yourself.

In spite of that shortcoming, this is a great book for women about women that's sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and always entertaining.

Eileen Rieback