Post boom club review Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellers

POST BOOK CLUB THOUGHTS

Enjoyed discussing this book as lots of layers to discuss. My opinions are largely the same.

The big revelation was that in the original Frankenstein he was not the monster but the maker of the monster, who was trying to do good and create a super human race but it went right. I think Frank was trying to support Cleo but funding her and not encouraging her career ultimately made her unmotivated and was not good for her.

We also discussed the book been brought to the screen. I think it would be better as a series than a film. I’m excited by the thought of a series, I think it would bring the book to life and make the characters I found confusing clearer.

PRE BOOK CLUB THOUGHTS

I’m read this book for an in person book club and will be discussing it later this week. I read it several weeks ago and the detail has not stayed with me so I need to refresh my memory. I have seen some of the discussion questions and started thinking about them. Also I wanted to do a CAWPILE rating, in case anyone asks during the discussion. My ratings may be swayed during the discussion!

Characters

These question has been written for the book club:

How would you describe the different characters in a few words? How were the characters different from each other and similar to each other? Can you relate to any of the characters?

Do you find the protagonists attractive? Is that important in a romance novel?

What were the key decisions the characters made that had the biggest impact on their lives and the lives of those around them?

When I read this it seemed to me that Frank came across as the bad guy in the Cleo and Frank relationship. Did you get the same impression?

I’m struggling to remember any of the characters clearly and therefore describe them in a few words. I can remember Cleo and Frank fairly clearly but not enough to verbalise words. Perhapas this is a good thing and shows complex characters had been developed? The supporting cast of characters, are vague in that can not even remember names although remember some things gs about other characters. Therefore I would not say I could relate to any characters.

I do not think I was attracted to either character. I not sure 🤔 I have ever been attracted to a character. So I’m not certain this is essential for a romance novel, it is more about being able to see why characters are attracted to each other.

I was thinking calling Frank, Frankenstein was an indication he was a monster. So I get that the person writing the question about Frank being portrayed as a bad guy, saw that and I think the author may have hinted he was a bad guy. But I did not see him as a truly bad guy. I think Frank definately had a caring side like how he cared and looked after young women; Cleo and his half sister Zoe.

I have googled Cleopatra because I did not know anything about her other than her being something to do with Egypt. Plus I did not think you would normally put Cleopatra and Frankenstein together so I wanted to try and understand why the authors had chosen these monikers for the characters. So it seems Cleopatra means ‘Father loving goddess’; this makes sense in the context of the book that the author was trying to show her as a beautiful young woman who desired a Father figure. Although I read something that seemed to suggest that it was a myth that the original Cleopatra married her Father but that she did marry her older brother and later when he died married another brother (this would seem to be echoed in the book!)

Overall I think that the characters are somewhat well developed and rounded characters so I will score characters 7.

Atmosphere

The book is set in bohemian New York, do not personally know for sure whether accurate but it was believable. Will score atmosphere 7.

Writing Style

What do you think about the pacing of the book and how we change viewpoints each month/chapter

What did you make of the way different drugs were portrayed throughout the book? (alcohol, weed, cocaine and meth)

How do you feel about how mental health was portrayed in the book? Did it feel realistic? Glamourised? Relatable?

I’m not fully convinced by the writing style I think the same story could have been written better. I think it lacked clarity; the parts about drug taking just seemed a bit repetitive and dragged.

Changing viewpoints each chapter could have worked really well to tell the story but I think in this case it felt a bit disjointed; especially the chapters that were not Cleo or Frank. The chapters from Eleanor I especially disliked reading as they seemed to interrupt the flow and were not fluent so skimmed those a bit and then went back at the end to read in more detail when could put them properly in context.

Writing style will score 5.5

Plot

Enjoyed the first chapter of Cleo and Frank meeting but then did not like skipped 6months to their wedding. I would have liked to have read what those 6 months were like.

Reasonable plot but not exceptional so will score 6.

Intrigue

Yes it was intriguing first what would happen after their first meeting. Then what would happen after they married.

Logic

What were the key decisions the characters made that had the biggest impact on their lives and the lives of those around them? How did they make these decisions and what was the impact of those decisions?

Will not spoil what key decisions there were but think the decisions, the characters made whilst not necessarily wise, made sense for their characters.

Will score logic 7.

Enjoyment

I like this was not a fluffy romance and contains some grit. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened but as mentioned some parts did not enjoy working through parts like drug taking and Eleanor’s chapters. Will score enjoyment 6.

Summary

Total score decided by 7 gives a score of 6 for the book.

Looking forward to discussing it and seeing whether others connected to the book better than me. I think I will be the only over 40 at this book club so I may have to different opinions to others. Think the others are more Cleo’s age and I’m Frank’s age.

Pre book club preparation for Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellers

I’m read this book for an in person book club and will be discussing it later this week. I read it several weeks ago and the detail has not stayed with me so I need to refresh my memory. I have seen some of the discussion questions and started thinking about them. Also I wanted to do a CAWPILE rating, in case anyone asks during the discussion. My ratings may be swayed during the discussion!

Characters

These question has been written for the book club:

How would you describe the different characters in a few words? How were the characters different from each other and similar to each other? Can you relate to any of the characters?

Do you find the protagonists attractive? Is that important in a romance novel?

What were the key decisions the characters made that had the biggest impact on their lives and the lives of those around them?

When I read this it seemed to me that Frank came across as the bad guy in the Cleo and Frank relationship. Did you get the same impression?

I’m struggling to remember any of the characters clearly and therefore describe them in a few words. I can remember Cleo and Frank fairly clearly but not enough to verbalise words. Perhapas this is a good thing and shows complex characters had been developed? The supporting cast of characters, are vague in that can not even remember names although remember some things gs about other characters. Therefore I would not say I could relate to any characters.

I do not think I was attracted to either character. I not sure 🤔 I have ever been attracted to a character. So I’m not certain this is essential for a romance novel, it is more about being able to see why characters are attracted to each other.

I was thinking calling Frank, Frankenstein was an indication he was a monster. So I get that the person writing the question about Frank being portrayed as a bad guy, saw that and I think the author may have hinted he was a bad guy. But I did not see him as a truly bad guy. I think Frank definately had a caring side like how he cared and looked after young women; Cleo and his half sister Zoe.

I have googled Cleopatra because I did not know anything about her other than her being something to do with Egypt. Plus I did not think you would normally put Cleopatra and Frankenstein together so I wanted to try and understand why the authors had chosen these monikers for the characters. So it seems Cleopatra means ‘Father loving goddess’; this makes sense in the context of the book that the author was trying to show her as a beautiful young woman who desired a Father figure. Although I read something that seemed to suggest that it was a myth that the original Cleopatra married her Father but that she did marry her older brother and later when he died married another brother (this would seem to be echoed in the book!)

Overall I think that the characters are somewhat well developed and rounded characters so I will score characters 7.

Atmosphere

The book is set in bohemian New York, do not personally know for sure whether accurate but it was believable. Will score atmosphere 7.

Writing Style

What do you think about the pacing of the book and how we change viewpoints each month/chapter

What did you make of the way different drugs were portrayed throughout the book? (alcohol, weed, cocaine and meth)

How do you feel about how mental health was portrayed in the book? Did it feel realistic? Glamourised? Relatable?

I’m not fully convinced by the writing style I think the same story could have been written better. I think it lacked clarity; the parts about drug taking just seemed a bit repetitive and dragged.

Changing viewpoints each chapter could have worked really well to tell the story but I think in this case it felt a bit disjointed; especially the chapters that were not Cleo or Frank. The chapters from Eleanor I especially disliked reading as they seemed to interrupt the flow and were not fluent so skimmed those a bit and then went back at the end to read in more detail when could put them properly in context.

Writing style will score 5.5

Plot

Enjoyed the first chapter of Cleo and Frank meeting but then did not like skipped 6months to their wedding. I would have liked to have read what those 6 months were like.

Reasonable plot but not exceptional so will score 6.

Intrigue

Yes it was intriguing first what would happen after their first meeting. Then what would happen after they married.

Logic

What were the key decisions the characters made that had the biggest impact on their lives and the lives of those around them? How did they make these decisions and what was the impact of those decisions?

Will not spoil what key decisions there were but think the decisions, the characters made whilst not necessarily wise, made sense for their characters.

Will score logic 7.

Enjoyment

I like this was not a fluffy romance and contains some grit. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened but as mentioned some parts did not enjoy working through parts like drug taking and Eleanor’s chapters. Will score enjoyment 6.

Summary

Total score decided by 7 gives a score of 6 for the book.

Looking forward to discussing it and seeing whether others connected to the book better than me. I think I will be the only over 40 at this book club so I may have to different opinions to others. Think the others are more Cleo’s age and I’m Frank’s age.

You are here by David Mitchell Review

I’m yet to find a David Mitchell I have not enjoyed, so no surprise I enjoyed this one. One day still by far holds the number one spot in my heart ❤️.

I enjoyed You are here because:

– Definately related to the characters as they are at a similar stage in life to me having gone through a pandemic whilst single in late 30s and therefore not being sure of their futures. Then they are put together on the coast to coast walk!

– Lot’s of familiar to me Wainwright illustrations.

– It is about walking the English coast to coast and starts in the Lake District so as a walker those features interest me.

– It has some grit, some humour and is about characters being physically and emotionally challenged.

So if you like One Day then yes try this one. I will likely reread at some stage!

If you have not read it start it and stop 🛑 reading this because spoiler ahead!

So if you have read it what do you think?

So the spoiler ….

The ending ….

Well I did not expect to turn the page to find just an illustration! I felt kind of disappointed as was enjoying reading and then there was no more. Plus it felt like a non ending.

But they say a picture says a thousand words so in this case guess those words are ones for the reader to imagine. Presumably the illustration means that they completed the coast to coast. Became a couple / remained friends or used it as a character building exercise then moved on? Not sure as since read it not given the book much thought. I enjoyed whilst reading but it has only made a minor impact … on the first read.

CAWPILE for my favourite book One Day by David Nicholas

I’m still trying to get to grip with star ratings for book / CAWPILE system as I think to score properly you need some kind of scale. So I’m thinking top of scale would be a book absolutely love, so in my case that would be One Day. It is a book I have reread (and cried both times at a certain point!), listened to the audio, have multiple copies of it with different covers and have even in blog posts attempted to write sequelae to it as want more of it! So it must be worth a 10 right?

CAWPILE is an acronym 7 categories. Each category is rated out of 10 then the total is divided by 7. As below I think I can justify each category getting a 10 and therefore overall score of 10!

C – characters. They are flawed and relatable. Their characters develop and fluctuate realistically over the chapters that look at that one day over a series of years.

A – atmosphere. The book has many settings; Edinburgh, London, Greece and France and I think they all seem authentic so justify 10.

W – writing style. Yes love it.

P – plot. The plot definately makes sense. As each chapter is the one day, a year apart it is well paced.

I – intrigue. Definitely wanted to follow their lives and see what next chapter holds.

L – logic. The actions and decisions made by the characters may not have always been the wisest but they made sense for these flawed characters.

E – enjoyment. Of course it is a 10 as I love it.

CAWPILE Review of all my family has killed someone by Benjamin Stephenson

Testing the CAWPILE system on a book read for a book club.

About Cawpile

It is hard to rate this book, because the style of the book. The premises is that is written by a character in the book who writes books about how to write mutrder mysteries. It is kind of a parody of murder mysteries. At times it is difficult to know whether it is really clever or contrived.

Characters

On one hand don’t feel fully understood motives of characters. But as book narrated by one character makes sense that he did not know what other characters were thinking. Even bearing in mind that reason why characters may not seem fully developed; I still do not think it accounts for the Mother’s actions and to be this also makes the plot problematic see below.

The narrater told story as he was writting a book, I think the writting style showed he was a flawed writer which makes sense as he wrote books about how to write books rather than writing his own books therefore would not expect his writting to be perfect.

Score: 6

Atmosphere

The atmosphere of a classic murder mystery was definately portrayed. Characters trapped in a snowy place.

Score: 8

Writing style

I did not fully enjoy way book wrote. It was very chatty which I found irritating and this is not how you would write a good book. However there was a note from the editor to tell writer needed to streamline so, kind of clever that writer portrayed self as imperfect writer.

Score: 5

Plot

It is a typical murder mystery with lots of twists and turns but with a subversion of the genre due to way written, so clever to some extent or maybe contrived?

As mentioned actions of Mother presents a big plot hole to me that does not make sense. not wanting to introduce spoilers but she and others live with knowledge for years and that brings up questions of both how and why. I may after book club do a second discussion post including spoilers.

Score 6

Intrigue

Definately there is intrigue as want to find out how each person has killed.

Score: 7

Enjoyment

Score 7

Total 39 divide by 7 = 5.5 rounds up to a 6.

Top 5 Tuesday books with Neurodiverse characters

Well we are all neurodiverse are we not? So any books could be on this list? But going for books that I most people would recognise the characters as neurodiverse.; do you agree?

1. Rosie project series by Gramme Simsion

2. Boy made with clothes by Keith Stewart

3. The girl with dragon tattoo etc series

4. The curious incident of a dog in a night by Mark Haddon

5. House Rules by Jodie Piccoult.

Trying CAWPILE for Stay by Me

Recently read Stay by Me. for a book club and when we were discussing someone raised question of marks out of 5. The rest of us argued against rating that way and we compromised on marks out of 10. So reluctantly, pushed into giving a score on the spot, I said roughly 6 or 7. Now having decided to give CAWPILE a go will see if works out the same.

More about CAWPILE

C – characters

Not sure fully understood any characters.

I felt sympathy for the main female. The main male more complex as to whether was meant to be a likeable character so think that shows depth of character as not black or white.

So think I’m more than 50/50 on this one so going 6.

A – atmosphere.

The book was set in Nigeria. But at the beginning in my mind I was thinking of it as India so it that me being dense or the book not creating the appropriate atmosphere?

The book was also Set in 80s against background of political unrest in Nigeria but did not feel immersed in that and gained no understanding of that.

So atmosphere did not come across strongly so going for 4 on this one.

W – writing style.

Bit confusing in places as not clear who’s point of view chapters were from.

Scoring this 5.

P – plot.

Plot made sense but not convinced about pace as felt slow in places and slightly rushed in others; so going 5 again.

I – intrigue.

The prologue gave glimpse of the future so was intriguing how would unfold. So give it 6.

L – logic.

The book, mostly made sense overall. But big part of how fertility issues not realised sooner jars and questions the actions of characters (trying to avoid spoilers there!).

Logic scoring 6.

E – enjoyment.

Think would go 6.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

TOTAL of 7 categories = 33

Divide 7

= 4.7

Even rounding up to 5 that is lower than original as this system made me mire critical.

CAWPILE for deciding rating of books

I’m always reluctant to give star ratings or marks out of 10 for things like books or days out when they are multiple factors. Especially when some factors are subjective like how you were feeling at the time rather than the thing itself. Also I do not like distilling a thing down to one number without having evidence about how that number arrived at to back it up (I’m a scientist)

5 reasons I do not star rate

However, I have been told about the CAWPILE system for rating books which breaks down scoring into categories which seems a little more scientific to me. So I will try the system out.

CAWPILE is an acronym of the categories (see below for more details) . Each carergory is rated out of 10 then the total is divided by 7. One catergory is enjoyment which is a subjective catergory but depending how extreme the enjoyment score it could be evened out by the dividing of the total of the scores.

C – characters. For example Were they well developed/ identifiable / likeable if depicted as such.

A – atmosphere. Did the book feel like where it was meant to set

W – writing style.

P – plot. Including whether the plot of the book make sense and was well paced / built to a climax.

I – intrigue. As in did the book hold interest, in other words how hard was it to put the book down or pick it back up?

L – logic. Did the book make sense? Did the actions or decisions made by the characters make sense? Did the developments in the story make sense within the world the story was set in?

E – enjoyment.

Top 5 Tuesday: Books with punctuation marks Scavanger

One of my challenges on my recent book Cllub challenge was a title with a punctuation mark in. From my casual observations most book titles, do not have punctuation in them. From what I saw looking for challenge book’s in charity shops the most common punctuation in titles was an apostrophe ( ‘).

1. For my challenge I found one with hashtags and hyphens (Confessions of a 40-something f##ck up Punctuation book club challenge

Looking back at books read last year; I found the following:

2. With an ampersand: Ivy & Abe by Elizabeth Enfield. Loved this one.

3. With the common apostrophe: The midwife’s secret by Emily G.

4. With a question mark: Are you awake? By Claire McGowen.

5. With a hyphen: The No-Show by Beth O Leary.

A Sheffield set play in London: Standing on Skye Edge

I set off from Sheffield station near Park Hill flats to see the play about them; Standing on Skye Edge in London.

This was my third time seeing it after seeing it twice in Sheffield. In my review the first time I saw it I could not see it transferring to London!

Standing on Skye Edge first review

Now it has transferred to London and the audience seems to get it! Lots of big laughs! My first review explains what Park Hill flats are and the concept of the play.

Standing on Skye edge 2nd review

After seeing the play again I now feel connected to it. Since I saw the play the first time I have been lucky to tour park hill flats and think it is a place which has so many stories to tell! The I love you sign is part of the current chapter of my story! Since the first time I’m increasingly fond of Henderson’s.

I have now live in Sheffield half my life and therefore feel like a Sheffielder and I’m proud that there are two fabulous shows that are set in London and premiered in Sheffield; the other being Everybody’s talking about Jamie. I still prefer Jamie for the music; however with the band in London the music did feel more upbeat.

Although I love Everybodies talking about Jamie more; I’am curious about the characters in Skye Edge and far from bored of them. I want to know what happens to the characters in the play after it ends in 2020. How the pandemic treats them! Or I could see it being a long running tv sit com starting in the 60s and going and going by keeping key characters in as they move from Park Hill where they still have a strong connection to Park Hill!