When is a book like a biscuit? ... let me explain

There is something very comforting about having favourite authors who are still writing, because we can buy their latest creation and feel confident that we have an inkling of the type of book we are getting into and that we will enjoy it (like selecting one of your preferred packets of biscuits : oat & raisin cookie or type of ice cream : white chocolate Magnum).  This is not to say you only ever go for this author/biscuit/ice cream - but you can depend on really enjoying what you are "devouring" when you select it!

Sophie Kinsella is one such author for me - from the the first novel I read by her "Can You Keep a Secret?" I loved it! So swiftly moved onto the Shopaholic series and have since enjoyed her standalone novels, I feel her writing has matured and her style developed  with "Twenties Girl" and "Finding Audrey" - which I read 2 months ago and was captivated by her perception of the troubled teen psyche.  The one I read this week was I've Got Your Number.  This may be an earlier novel, as the style reverts to that of Shopaholic or "The Undomestic Goddess" - some of the sticky situations our heroine Poppy gets into had my heart racing - SK has quite a distinctive knack - she gets you panicking in sympathy with her heroines.

Poppy has been swept up in a whirlwind romance, but there seem to be 'red flags' in the relationship: she is terrified of his high-profile, academic parents, her wedding planner is a disorganized friend of her fiance's family, and her colleague cant forgive her for snagging the eligible bachelor who should have been her client.  Mixed in with this is a comedy of errors where she loses her engagement ring & her mobile phone in the space of one afternoon, but a twist of fate provides a replacement phone from an unusual source, and suddenly the dynamics of Poppy's life are totally changed.

Another 'Favorite' author of mine is Janet Evanovitch - who writes her sassy Bounty Hunter series following the crime fighting antics of Stephanie Plum and her oddball collection of family & friends.  Because I am such a fan of these novels my attention was grabbed when I saw Innocent in Las Vegas: A Humorous Tiffany Black Mystery  by  A R Winters being described as a rival for Stephanie's fans, I had to give this first book a 'spin'.  I was delighted!  The story was gripping from the start, the narrative was fast paced and amusing, Tiffany's family were quirky and she was constantly in and out of danger (which she dealt with in unorthodox ways) so I was equally enthralled and amused.  I shall definitely be downloading her next adventure onto my kindle - why don't you check the books out too?  Tiffany's Grandmother looks likely to give 'Grandma Mazur' a run for her money - she loves to gamble and is a bit of a grifter!.

Where to Begin? ... Again!

Dear Reader - I am sorry I have been absent for a while, I do hope you have not been waiting for my 'recommendations' before you picked a book to read ... otherwise your Kindle will be cobwebbed, your bookshelf dusty and your neglected library card lurking down the arm of the sofa! (or is this just my sad housework-free status?!)  I am back after far too long of a break, and I have read such good books that I hardly know where to begin ... 

I just finished  Emma - an absolute classic by the talented Jane Austen.  It's been on my TBR pile for years - not when I was made to study Mansfield Park for my A Levels (Arrrgh! way back when!) but more recently - since 1995 when I began to love all things Austen, Pride and Prejudice being my favourite (and it's modern-day incarnation Bridget Jones' Diary).

Emma is a young lady, a little bit opinionated and definitely spoilt, but she and her family outrank all her neighbours, and her lone parent (her father) is in weak health, so it is not surprising that she gets a little above herself and runs amok trying to arrange love-lives and friendships as if she was playing a game with dolls.  Austen  apparently decided create a heroine who only she would like, but as reader you are privvy to all the thoughts which run through Emma's mind, so your sympathies and understanding are very much engaged - for this reason the book presents Emma better than the film (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) and the TV adaptation.

 The modernised version of this novel is Clueless (starring Alicia Silverstone) and the parallels are very clever, it remains as witty & well observed in the social "Do's & Don'ts" of its time as the JA original.

It is strange, when you realise that so much of the conversation and action  in the book is not 'live' but reported (as heard by Emma) - this is particularly effective for Miss Bates, who could witter on for England, and win a gold medal!

I highly recommend this book, and it has made me want to read more of JA's writing, perhaps I can finally revisit Mansfield Park - decades after my studies put me off it!


In contrast - although not as different as you might think - the next book I recommend is The Third Wife : Lisa Jewell.  LJ is well known for her books labelled 'chick lit' but they contain so much more than romance & following a lead female character through her life of juggling career & family.  This book in particular has a dark edge to it, a central character is killed off right at the beginning and the story unfolds through the eyes of those left behind, as well as with flashbacks from when she was alive.

The family is large and sprawling - Adrian has married 3 times - so there are complicated family dynamics (which LJ observes so well), secrets galore  and a 'stalker' element which is a little menacing.  Throughout I couldn't forget the mystery of the death at the start, was it an accident or was it suicide? Who can be trusted and who is dangerous, under their veneer of 'nice'?  I found myself imagining this being made into a film - with a great British vibe (that Richard Curtis does so well).  The story was very compelling and kept me guessing until the end, although I had begun to suspect some characters of dark deeds - and was not proven wrong!