February book club - The Trouble With Goats and Sheep

Just received mine ......

Just got my copy, thank you. Need to start soon to finish it in time.

Thank you very much for the copy of The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. I am looking forward to reading it.

Where is my copy??!!

Can't wait to start this new book, I must finish my current one.....I must finish it.....

I was so excited to get my first ever book from G.N. that I have already read it! I will be careful not to include spoilers for those currently reading it. I had completely forgotten the long, hot summer of 1976 and the memories all came flooding back as I read -it was my second year of teaching in a primary school, no-one wore uniform ( I taught in jeans and the ubiquitous cheesecloth), and I managed to kill gerbils over a weekend having left them in a mobile classroom!
I was initially thrown by the two 'voices' the author used, but as the tale unravelled it deepened the story. I would be interested to know why the author chose this device.
I enjoyed the story, and didn't predict the conclusion!

Thanks received mine

Oops! Forgot to say thank you for my copy which arrived last Saturday. Am really enjoying it so far and find the language she uses very intriguing. Will post again when I've finished.

Just finished reading this book.....It was very different..nothing in it that could offend and it finishes with a very abrupt ending. I am still trying to work out what the story was about. I did find it amusing and lighthearted and it does highlight how wrong it is to judge and come to our own conclusions as we might not be in possession of all the facts. Its very much like not having all the pieces of a jigsaw in place, you can only see the full picture when its completly finished, up until then you can get it wrong. I still have to alter a few pieces of this jigsaw to work it all out. I did enjoy the memories of the hot summer I remember it well also the other snippits about the food and things we did in past years...Thankyou once again for the book.

A cracking debut novel, I remember well the hot summer of 1976 and could feel it running throughout the book. An era when everybody knew everybody else and their business....or thought they did! The characters were crisp and detailed and kept me intrigued to the very end. Enjoyable.

Thank you gransnet . My copy arrived at weekend and I have started reading, ready to post at end of February.

Thank you, my book arrived yesterday just in time to take on holiday with me!!

Thanks for the book, I was surprised to find that I read it so quickly. This was due to my interest in the developing stories and picking up some of the clues to their relationship. The ending still came as a surprise.

The author managed to describe a serious subject in a flowing, interesting and at times funny manner. Mixing the main thread into the ordinary day to day life of those involved.

I was a bit confused at first by the similarity of the numbers of the two years sometimes missing a year change and having to flick back to check. An outline map of "The Avenue" would have been helpful to show the relative position of the houses.

In summary a good novel. I look forward to Joanna's next one.

I didn't get a copy so will have to buy it but there was an article on the author in a Sunday paper and she has led a most interesting, full and eventful life and writing is only one more string to her bow.

Mine arrived a few days ago. I started reading the same evening. I love it! I remember the summer of 1976 so well. My daughter was 6 months old. It was so hot that year. We had no rain for months. The novel is well written and entertaining. Another new writer to look out for!

I am about 1/4 of the way through and am thoroughly enjoying the story. I love the way she describes things in a quirky way, on my wave length. Can't wait to see how things turn out. The child's eye view is so well written. Children come at situations in such a different way to adults and she captures this so well.

There is an interesting article about the author in today's Times.

I'm delighted to have received the book and have just finished reading it. It was beautifully written and a truly admirable debut novel. I can't wait to read more from Joanna in the future.

I have one question: why the decision to set the book in such large type with wide line-spacing? It made me feel as if I was reading a children's book as well as making the book itself much larger and heavier. For me, it really detracted from the reading experience.

That said, I loved the cover design.

Thanks again. It is a fabulous book.

I'm about 1/4 through this book and really enjoying it. The story is really intriguing making it hard to put down. Best of all though are the memories of 1976 that it brings back. My son was born in December 1975 and we moved into a new build house in the spring of 1976. The heat made the new plaster crack and the newly laid turf in the front garden died as we were not allowed to water it. There was talk of stand -pipes as well. DS was a very grumpy baby as the heat was unbearable.
Did the author have a personal reason for choosing this year?

Thank you so much GN for my copy of this lovely book, I have enjoyed it tremendously.
Set in 1976, the long hot summer which I remember so well as I was pregnant with my second child who was due at the end of August. What a fantastic social history of the time which was really interesting and accurate even before we start considering the storyline.
What an amazing array of characters, some I found very boring, others quite amusing but there were the ones like Dorothy, Mrs Morton and of course poor Walter Bishop who really needed our sympathy. I actually liked Walter very much and hated the way that he was victimised.
I felt that parts of the novel were delightfully amusing and I think that this was partly achieved by using Grace as the storyteller, we were seeing adult lives from a child's point of view.
Quite a surprise ending but I liked the fact that each chapter was dated so there was no confusion when events of ten years earlier were narrated.
The book certainly made me think how life has changed in forty years and especially that the community spirit of the 70s doesn't really exist in the same way because we all lead such busy lives and don't always have time to communicate with our neighbours.
To sum up I would say that Joanna Cannon has written a fantastic first novel and I shall look out for her future books. I shall lend this copy to friends and family and would certainly recommend it to members of my reading group.

Thanks for my copy if was lovely to see it pop though the post box have not had a chance to read it yet but can't wait to start it

I've just finished this amazing book, it kept me entertained, delighted, at times horrified; a great book. I have to thank Gransnet for providing it. All the twists in the story had me guessing until the end, where nothing was as it initially seemed. Certainly one of the best books I've read recently.

For me Ms Cannon has vividly created a time I remember especially well. By liberally sprinkling the story with the sounds, smells and tastes of the 1970s I felt I had been taken back there in a time machine. I could see and taste the Jamaica ginger cake. Lovely. The plot is fast-paced, full of intrigue and left me wondering how it would all work out in the end which was brilliant. I loved all the complications of the characters, each with their secrets, some much darker than others but all told with much humour. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book.
A couple of questions if I may: Most of the characters are carrying guilty consciences, is this how you see people in real life? Has your work in psychiatry influenced your writing? And lastly why does battenburg cake not get a mention?

Book is now almost half read. Love the idea of the story being presented through the perspective of a child. I'd forgotten that some children can be very judgemental. Descriptives are full of imagination eg "I stared at the room. It looked as though someone might have served it into the house with an ice cream scoop". My imagination went into riot mode - fantastic. Well done Joanna Cannon! The characters are so interesting. Some I like, some I don't however I must remember as I continue to read that these characters are seen from a child's point of view.

Received my book two weeks ago; couldn't put it down.