{"id":8240,"date":"2020-09-04T11:32:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T10:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8240"},"modified":"2020-09-04T11:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T10:46:02","slug":"book-of-the-month-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8240","title":{"rendered":"Book of the Month – September"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Off the Shelf –<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Book of the Month<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"This month\u2019s book was Olive Kitteridge<\/em><\/strong> by Elizabeth Strout. This book was winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Elizabeth Strout offers profound insights into the complexities of human relationships \u2013 its various chapters share the conflicts, tragedies and joys of life from the smallest incidental moments to people\u2019s exploration of their life\u2019s journey. In both the darkest and joyous passages of the book we can find our own parallels of emotions.<\/p>\n

Olive Kitteridge, is a retired schoolteacher, living in the town of Crosby, Maine. She doesn\u2019t always recognise the changes in those around her and the bluntness in her responses can almost knock the reader off balance. At times this results in the most poignant and sensitive scenes which continue to play out in the reader\u2019s mind long after the book has been put down. Olive\u2019s relationships with her grown up son Christopher and husband Henry are extremely complex as both parties feel unbalanced by her irrational sensitivities.<\/p>\n

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life \u2013 sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Elizabeth Strout is magnificent in allowing us to slip into a character\u2019s viewpoint. She can leave us sensing something dark or life sustaining but always there is hope. There is a simple honesty that weaves itself throughout the book: that we need to try to understand people even if we don\u2019t particularly like them. The Book Club members loved it and gave it an overall score of 9\/10<\/p>\n

Your contributions <\/strong>– We would love to receive a review or synopsis of a book you are reading during lockdown. Please email your contributions to wenvoelibrary@outlook.com<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Off the Shelf – Book of the Month This month\u2019s book was Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This book was winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Elizabeth Strout offers profound insights into the complexities of human relationships \u2013 its various chapters share the conflicts, tragedies and joys of life from the smallest incidental moments to people\u2019s exploration of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-28U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16357,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16357","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":0},"title":"“Tell Me Everything ” by Elizabeth Strout","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st December 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Tell Me Everything \" by Elizabeth Strout \u201cWe match up for a moment - or maybe a lifetime - with somebody because we feel that we are connected to them. And we are. But we're not, in a certain way, because nobody can go into the crevices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for December 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for December 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=428"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DecBook.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1076,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1076","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":1},"title":"The Children Act by Ian McKewan, and other Reads","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fiona Maye is a successful, middle aged, High Court Judge in the Family Court, requiring her to make decisions about children and families in crisis. Fiona and Jack have been married for 39 years when she is confronted with his revelation that he is about to embark on an affair\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8054,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8054","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":2},"title":"The Book Character I Would Most Like to Meet","author":"Alan Williams","date":"12th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Page Turners The Book Character Page Turners Would Most Like to Meet A survey for World Book Day asked \u2018leading lights of literary luminaries\u2019 to name the characters who gave them the greatest reading pleasure. The list included Pip (Great Expectations), Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice), Sherlock Holmes (Hound of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6822,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6822","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":3},"title":"Elizabeth and Her German Garden","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Book review: \u2018Elizabeth and Her German Garden\u2019 by Elizabeth Von Arnim This book is a delightful read which gave a glimpse into the life of a wealthy German lady in the 1800s, who gently mocks the conventions of marriage and motherhood. The chapters show her life through the seasons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5597,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5597","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":4},"title":"Seven Good Reads","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This month, we each reviewed a book of our own choice that we had enjoyed. \u2018The tattooist of Auschwitz\u2019 by Heather Morris. This book is based on the real life of Lale Sokkolov a survivor of Auschwitz, interviewed by Heather Morris. It is the love story of Lale and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10567,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10567","url_meta":{"origin":8240,"position":5},"title":"Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 OFF THE SHELF This month\u2019s reading was a classic novel written in 1852. Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe was the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century. One million copies were sold in Great Britain alone. The emotive story features Uncle Tom,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8240"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8250,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions\/8250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}