Category Archives: Fiction – Light

Sizzling Sixteen – Janet Evanovich

 

I know it’s July because the Tour De France is on and Janet Evanovich has another Stephanie Plum novel out. I was a late arrival to the Stephanie Plum novels a member at my book club recommended them as ‘racy and pacy’. I’ve been addicted since I read the first one.

These are light novels – I think I read this one in three hours – but they’re witty and fun to read.

Here’s the blurb …

It is summertime in Jersey and our favourite bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is up to her old antics, joined by her gang of memorable characters: Grandma, Lulu, Connie, Vinnie and Mooner. Someone wants to kill Vinnie, Lula s involved in a shabby investment scheme while Stephanie is chasing a dangerous crim. Adding even more heat to Stephanie s life are those two sizzling hot heroes… it s Ranger days and Morelli nights (Or perhaps it’s the other way ’round). Get ready for some grand-scale fun. With hilarious capers and action galore, this is a laugh-a-minute Stephanie Plum novel not to be missed!

There are a lot of hilarious moments in this novel and Lula and Stephanie are as incompetentant as ever. However, there isn’t as much Morelli and/or Ranger action in this one and that’s what I like the best.

These novels are a guilty pleasure; completely over the top and a bit trashy. I like to think of them as the white bread of the reading world and I’m definitely looking forward to them being made into movies.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.booksandotherthoughts.com/2010/07/sizzling-sixteen.html

http://tansyrr.com/tansywp/how-stephanie-plum-lost-her-sizzle/

http://lightheartedlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/just-read-sizzling-sixteen-by-janet-evanovich/

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Dancing Backwards – Salley Vickers

 I do quite like Salley Vickers – I haven’t read everything she has written, but the bits I have read I enjoyed. I borrowed a copy of this book from a friend.

Mrs Heatherington sets sail alone on a cruise, with hopes of new experience and replenished independence. Vic, the on-board entertainer, has an eye for lucrative freelance work, and sets his sights on the elderly lady, lonely and vulnerable, whose heart he thinks he can unlock as fast as her purse. In this witty and beautifully written new novel, Salley Vickers uncovers the poetry of self-discovery and the possibilities of change for us all.
I found it quite slow to get going and the bits on the cruise didn’t interest me much at all, but when Vi read her old notebooks and the narrative switched back to a time in the past I was intrigued. The writing is beautiful, the characters well-portrayed and realistic.
Unusually for me (I generally think novels need more editing) I thought some of the threads of the story could be fleshed out a bit more. Particularly the other couples on the cruise and Des/Dino.
Here are some other reviews …

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The Interpretation of Murder – Jed Rubenfeld

My Book club is reading The Interpretation of Murder. One of the member’s library suggested it.

My overwhelming impression is one of confusion. At first I found it compelling, but then I couldn’t seem to get to the end. Here’s the blurb …

In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan’s wealthiest heiresses
Inspired by Sigmund Freud’s only visit to America, The Interpretation of Murderis an intricate tale of murder and the mind’s most dangerous mysteries. It unfurls on a sweltering August evening in 1909 as Freud disembarks from the steamship George Washington, accompanied by Carl Jung, his rival and protege. Across town, in an opulent apartment high above the city, a stunning young woman is found dangling from a chandelier—whipped, mutilated, and strangled. The next day, a second beauty—a rebellious heiress who scorns both high society and her less adventurous parents—barely escapes the killer. Yet Nora Acton, suffering from hysteria, can recall nothing of her attack. Asked to help her, Dr. Stratham Younger, America’s most committed Freudian analyst, calls in his idol, the Master himself, to guide him through the challenges of analyzing this high-spirited young woman whose family past has been as complicated as his own. The Interpretation of Murderleads readers from the salons of Gramercy Park, through secret passages, to Chinatown—even far below the currents of the East River where laborers are building the Manhattan Bridge. As Freud fends off a mysterious conspiracy to destroy him, Younger is drawn into an equally thrilling adventure that takes him deep into the subterfuges of the human mind. Â Richly satisfying, elegantly crafted, The Interpretation of Murder marks the debut of a brilliant, spectacularly entertaining new storyteller.

I found the characters convincing, but the plot was a bit too clever for me. Rubenfeld does a great job of creating early 20th century New York. I enjoyed all of the references to the buildings, constructing the Manhattan Bridge and the social niceties (in fact that bit reminded me of Edith Wharton).  There are many twists and turns in this story (too many for me) and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone by revealing the ending. I will, however, say that, despite my confusion, I did think it was a reasonable ending.

I think this novel would make a great movie and I might even read it again to see if I can follow all the twists.

Here’s the novel’s website …

http://www.interpretationofmurder.com/

A reading group guide …

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/interpretation_of_murder1.asp

and another review …

http://mybookshelf.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/the-interpretation-of-murder-jed-rubenfield/

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Knit Two – Kate Jacobs

I’m a bit of a knitter (see my knitting blog), so I read the Friday Night Knitting Club which was OK – certainly light entertainment (but I don’t have a problem with that).

Once I’d finished the Bronte, I decided I needed something that could be read quickly with little concentration so I picked up Knit Two  the sequel to Friday Night Knitting Club.

Here’s the blurb from Penguin …

The Sequel to the Beloved #1 New York Times Bestseller The Friday Night Knitting Club
The sequel to the number-one New York Times bestseller The Friday Night Knitting Club, KNIT TWO returns to Walker and Daughter, the Manhattan knitting store founded by Georgia Walker and her young daughter, Dakota. Dakota is now an eighteen-year-old freshman at NYU, running the little yarn shop part-time with help from the members of the Friday Night Knitting Club.

Drawn together by the sense of family the club has created, the knitters rely on one another as they struggle with new challenges: for Catherine, finding love after divorce; for Darwin, the hope for a family; for Lucie, being both a single mom and a caregiver for her elderly mother; and for seventysomething Anita, a proposal of marriage from her sweetheart, Marty, that provokes the objections of her grown children.

As the club’s projects—an afghan, baby booties, a wedding coat—are pieced together, so is their understanding of the patterns underlying the stresses and joys of being mother, wife, daughter, and friend. Because it isn’t the difficulty of the garment that makes you a great knitter: it’s the care and attention you bring to the craft—as well as how you adapt to surprises

I liked it. I liked how the focus was on finding what it is you want and then doing that. I also liked all of the knitting references and the sense of community created by the women.

Having said that, I’m not sure I’ll read the third (if there is a third).

http://seattlecoffeeintherain.blogspot.com/2009/11/kate-jacobs-knit-two.html

http://esheley.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/does-the-dog-die-a-brief-review-of-knit-two-by-kate-jacobs/

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

elegancehegehog

I think I bought this book based solely on the title. Here is the blurb …

Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building on the Left Bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated – an ideal concierge. But Renee has a secret. Beneath this conventional facade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her self-important employers.

Down in her lodge, Renee is resigned to living a lie; meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid a predictably bourgeois future, and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.

But the death of one of their privileged neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7, Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever.

By turn moving and hilarious, this unusual and insightful novel is now an international publishing sensation, with sales of over 2.5 million copies.

I found this novel to be quite difficult to read and very slow going. It required concentration, which is in short supply in December in a house with two small children. I had to force myself to read it rather than move onto something easier.

It was a slow moving novel – the neighbour (mentioned in the blurb) doesn’t die until half way through, so that’s a lot of scene setting. Having said that I did enjoy it (except the ending – but I won’t ruin it for anyone). This is a book that should be read slowly and savoured. Not read like I did between Christmas shopping and watching swimming lessons.

Here are more thoughtful reviews …

http://reviewsbylola.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/book-review-the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/

http://scatteredpaper.blogspot.com/2009/12/elegance-of-hedgehog.html

http://bookishlyfabulous.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/

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The Blythes are Quoted – L M Montgomery

theblythes

I’m a keen L M Montgomery fan – so keen I’ve travelled from Australia to Prince Edward Island. When this book was released I wasn’t entirely convinced I wanted to read it – I had already read The Road to Yesterday which I believed contained all of the stories, but I read a review on the Kindred Spirits email list which convinced me I should read it. As it’s not available in Australia yet, I bought my copy from the Canadian Amazon and it arrived within a week!

It’s a book of short stories with poetry bits in between (attributed to Anne and Walter) and conversations with the Blythes. It is spilt into two parts; the first contains stories set before World War 1 and the second stories set after. There is a forward by Elizabeth Epperly and an afterward by Benjamin Lefebvre.

Here’s the description from Amazon …

Adultery, illegitimacy, misogyny, revenge, murder, despair, bitterness, hatred, and death—usually not the first terms associated with L.M. Montgomery. But in The Blythes Are Quoted, completed shortly before her death and never before published in its entirety, Montgomery brought these topics to the forefront in what she intended to be the ninth volume in her bestselling series featuring her beloved heroine Anne. Divided into two sections, one set before and one after the Great War of 1914—1918, The Blythes Are Quoted contains fifteen episodes that include an adult Anne and her family. Binding these short stories, Montgomery inserted sketches featuring Anne and Gilbert Blythe discussing poems by Anne and their middle son, Walter, who dies as a soldier in the war. By blending poetry, prose, and dialogue, Montgomery was experimenting with storytelling methods in ways she had never before attempted. The Blythes Are Quoted marks the final word of a writer whose work continues to fascinate readers all over the world.

I must confess that I don’t really like Montgomery’s poetry so I tended to skip those bits. I did like the conversations with the family members it gave you a feel for how their lives continued after Rilla of Ingleside.

I haven’t compared each story with how it appeared in the Road to Yesterday, but it seems to me that there are more Blythe references in this version (and not all positive).  To me it contained the essence of all Montgomery novels and I want to go back and read them all again. If you’re hesitating about reading this novel because you’ve read all of the stories before, I would encourage you to give it a go.

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Love Letters – Katie Fforde

loveletters

I’ve been a Katie Fforde fan for a long time. When I hear about a new novel I pre-order it so I can get it quickly. They are very formulaic (and there is something comforting in that) and easy to read.

Here’s the information from Katie Fforde’s website …

With bookshop where she works about to close, Laura Horsley, in a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, finds herself agreeing to help organise a literary festival deep in the heart of the English countryside. But her initial excitement is rapidly followed by a mounting sense of panic when reality sinks in and she realises just how much work is involved – especially when an innocent mistake leads the festival committee to believe that Laura is a personal friend of the author at the top of their wish-list. Laura might have been secretly infatuated with the infamous Dermot Flynn ever since she studied him at university, but travelling to Ireland to persuade the notorious recluse to come out of hiding is another matter.

Determined to rise to the challenge, she sets off to meet her literary hero. But all too soon she’s confronted with more than she bargained for – Dermot the man is maddening, temperamental and up to his ears in a nasty case of writer’s block. But he’s also infuriatingly attractive – and, apparently, out to add Laura to his list of conquests …

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was also disappointed with Marian Keyes latest novel, so it might be me rather than these novels.

I didn’t feel much sympathy for Laura – in fact I thought she was a bit pathetic. I also thought everything was a bit too contrived.

Here are some other reviews …

http://chicklitreviews.com/2009/09/07/book-review-love-letters-by-katie-fforde/

I thought this next review was great … particularly about the dull as dishwater heroines.

 http://www.viewfromheremagazine.com/2009/06/love-letters.html

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The Bronte’s Went to Woolworths – Rachel Ferguson

brontes2

I bought this book based on a few blog entries. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting. It was a fun, light and entertaining novel, but just a bit strange. This novel is about imagination and group flights of imagination and family ties. It has a definite upper-middle class English feel to it.

This novel was first published in 1931 and has been re-released as part of the Bloomsbury Group of lost classics.

This is the Amazon description…

As growing up in pre-war London looms large in the lives of the Carne sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and young Sheil still share an insatiable appetite for the fantastic. Eldest sister Deirdre is a journalist, Katrine a fledgling actress and young Sheil is still with her governess; together they live a life unchecked by their mother in their bohemian town house. Irrepressibly imaginative, the sisters cannot resist making up stories as they have done since childhood; from their talking nursery toys, Ironface the Doll and Dion Saffyn the pierrot, to their fulsomely-imagined friendship with real high-court Judge Toddington who, since Mrs Carne did jury duty, they affectionately called Toddy. However, when Deirdre meets Toddy’s real-life wife at a charity bazaar, the sisters are forced to confront the subject of their imaginings. Will the sisters cast off the fantasies of childhood forever? Will Toddy and his wife, Lady Mildred, accept these charmingly eccentric girls? And when fancy and reality collide, who can tell whether Ironface can really talk, whether Judge Toddington truly wears lavender silk pyjamas or whether the Brontes did indeed go to Woolworths? The Brontes Went to Woolworths is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/08/brontes-went-to-woolworths-by-rachel.html

http://bronteblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/brontes-went-to-woolworths-review_02.html

 

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The Brightest Star in the Sky – Marian Keyes

thebrighteststarinthe-sky

I’m a keen Marian Keyes fan. I’ve read them all – they’re one of my guilty pleasures. 

While on holiday (here) I read in the paper that she had a new book out, so I popped down to the local Book Store and picked up (what I think might have been their only copy) a copy.

This novel is what I’ve come to expect from Marian Keyes – a humourous look at relationships with something serious thrown in as well.

Here is the blurb from the back …

At 66, Star Street in Dublin, someone is watching over the lives of the people living in its flats. But no one is aware of it – yet . . .

One of them is ready to take the plunge and fall in love; another is torn between two very different lovers. For some, secrets they want to stay buried will come to light and for others, the unveiling of those secrets will have tragic consequences.

Fate is on its way to Star Street, bringing with it love and tragedy, friendship and heartbreak, and the power to change their lives in the most unexpected of ways.

It’s a quick read, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I liked the fact that there were several ‘leading’ characters, but I didn’t feel particularly sympathetic to any of them. In my opinion it was lacking Keyes usual wit and I feel she is trying too hard to write about ‘serious’ subjects. I’m not sure to whom I would recommend this book – it’s not for people who like light bright and sparkling, but it’s also not for people who like books with a bit of edge.

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Saplings – Noel Streatfeild

saplings

My reason for selecting this book is slightly odd. I wanted to buy three books from Persephone and so selected this as my third because I had recently watched an adaptation of Ballet Shoes. That being said, I enjoyed this novel. She has a wonderful way of getting inside peoples’ heads.

Here is what Persephone say about it:

Saplings(1945), her tenth book for adults, is also about children: a family with four of them, to whom we are first introduced in all their secure Englishness in the summer of 1939. ‘Her purpose is to take a happy, successful, middle-class pre-war family – and then track in miserable detail the disintegration and devastation which war brought to tens of thousands of such families,’ writes the psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Holmes in his Afterword. Her ‘supreme gift was her ability to see the world from a child’s perspective’ and ‘she shows that children can remain serene in the midst of terrible events as long as they are handled with love and openness.’ She understood that ‘the psychological consequences of separating children from their parents was glossed over in the rush to ensure their physical survival… It is fascinating to watch Streatfeild casually and intuitively anticipate many of the findings of developmental psychology over the past fifty years.’ ‘A study of the disintegration of a middle-class family during the turmoil of the Second World War, and quite shocking’ wrote Sarah Waters in the Guardian.

At the start of the novel the family is a prosperous, middle-class family with a nanny, governess, parlour maids etc. There is a hint of war – Alex, the father, is changing his factories over for war work. When war breaks out the children are sent to live with their grandparents in the country. Lena, the mother, refuses to leave Alex – she is a wife first and then a mother. The two oldest children are sent to boarding school.  Alex dies in an air raid and the family falls to pieces. The progress of their decline is brilliantly portrayed. Lena is simply not able to cope on her own – first she turns to drink, and then to men and finally she tries to kill herself by overdosing on sleeping pills. If Lena was a stronger character the family might have kept it together. As it is, all of the children develop coping mechanisms that aren’t going to be good in the long term. For example, Kim is an incurable show off who needs to be the centre of attention, Tuesday has an imaginary friend and Tony just seems to have given up on everything. The other members of Alex’s family try to help (apart from Lindsey), but they are busy with war work and their own children and don’t have enough time or energy to spend on the Wiltshire children.

I thought the way Streatfeild wrote about behaviour and the motivations behind it was brilliant – for example:

Tony hung onto his point. The excitement of the move and the general fuss had exhilarated him all day, but underneath was a wretchedness that, now bedtime was near, had risen to the surface. He could not explain how he felt so he hung his need for expression on to a recognisable grievance.

‘I’ll simply have to come here because of all of my trains.’

Alex remembered in his childhood trying futilely to put off a long stay with relatives dyring some epidemic on the ground that his rabbits would die, that absoluoutely no one would feed them if he didn’t. He knew even as he answered that a solution of the train situation was not what Tony was asking.

‘It was hardly worth adding to your luggage taking them up now that your holiday’s almost over, but I think you can fix up with Gran to clear a space somwhere.’

Tony believed this to be true and grew angry as his legitimate ground for being miserable was being chipped away.

I also love the incidental social history (contemporary detail). All of the information about clothing coupons and evacuations.

I’ll be looking for more Noel Streatfeild novels to read.

Here are some other reviews …

 http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/08/saplings-by-noel-streatfeild.html

http://abookaweek.blogspot.com/2007/03/saplings-by-noel-streatfeild.html

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