January books
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 31 January 2009 22:26:57
Like last year I have decided to blog about all the books I read but I am going to do it at the end of each month. I have to admit I have been really surprised by how many books I have managed to get through this month, I hope you manage to trawl through all my reviews... you just might find a gem or two in there!
The Nanny by Melissa Nathan is a rather fun, if slightly predictable novel about a married couple and their nanny. The couple are having marital problems, exacerbated by the appearance of his son by his first wife. The nanny is a capable and entertaining young woman, who happens to fall in love with the aforementioned son. The disasters that follow are centered around these relationships. Quite funny and kept me entertained.
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The Devil You Know by Louise Bagshawe is what I consider good chick lit. It is about identical triplets separated when they were still babies by their scheming Italian uncle. They grow up in separate families, two in America and one in Britain and despite many trials they are high achievers in their fields of writing, the record industry and property development. I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and thought it was a good read. The Amazon reviews though pan it which surprised me.
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Strictly Love by Julia Williams is a rather silly book with the most improbable storyline. It involves several different characters, all of whom have disfunctional relationships; a handful of lawyers, a dentist who is being sued by a mental celebrity, a frumpy woman and her husband who turns out to be gay. Not exactly a genius story, but there were bits of it that were quite amusing. All the characters lives are sorted out by dance classes. If only life was so simple.
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On her 14th birthday Lois is given a manual for life which was written by her father before he died when she was five years old. The Manual gives her instructions and advice and has an entry to be read on her birthday every year until she is 30. By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye is a saccharine sweet read. The story is quite sweet, but I didn't think the author was a particularly great writer, and then ending was rushed in an attempt to tie everything up in one go. Not a great read.
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The Second Wife by Elizabeth Buchan picks up a few years down the line from where her book The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman left off. It features two women, Rose, the wronged first wife, and Minty, the husband grabbing second wife. However, when the two-timing husband of these women die they are forced to confront their feelings about each other in an attempt to survive. I really enjoyed this book, especially the comparisons that were made between the two marriages to the same man, and how they learned to live with all the "saids", and the "unsaids" between them.
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The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith was made into a TV show which was directed by Anthony Minghella. I loved the programme and the book has been on my reading list ever since.
Precious Ramotswe was left her father's cattle after he died and she sold them and set up a detective agency in her home country of Botswana. This book charts her first cases and the ingenious ways in which she goes about solving the problems that are presented to her.
The book is so beautifully written, and having watched the programme I could almost hear the beautiful accents of the people in the text. I loved it and think that Mma Ramotswe is such a wonderful, warm-hearted character. I have the next couple of books in the series on my bookshelf too, so watch out for more the The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on this blog!
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Rachel and Darcy are best frineds since school. rachel has always been the academic high-achiever, and Darcy has always got whatever she wants, including men. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin is a story about the sudden and unexpected affair that Rachel starts with Darcy's fiancee and the final demise of their relationship.
I started off really enjoying this book, but as time went on I got more and more irritated with the characters. Quite frankly if Darcy was my friend I would probably slap her whiny face, and if Rachel was my friend I would probably slap her as well. She was the most unbelievably self-obsessed character, as much if not more than Darcy, who I initially didn't like very much. I suppose in some ways it is quite clever writing. You go from feeling sympathies for one character and then having to switch halfway through the book to feeling sympathies for the other character.
The other thing that irritated me was that the resolution of the story was far too simple and tidy and it was a bit like the author was trying to wrap everything up too quickly.
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell is a curious book about a woman called Esme Lennox, funnily enough. When she was 16 years old she was put in an institution by her family who thought she was mad because she didn't quite fit into the social norms if the 1930's. She remains in this institution for the next 60 years until it closes and a great-niece who didn't even know she existed has to look after her.
This is quite a clever book with lots of twists and turns and in parts it is really quite sad. My only real complaint is that often it is really hard to work out who is speaking. It flits backwards and forwards between the 1930's and the present day and between the characters. It is especially hard to work out what is going on at times because the writing seems to be just a stream of conscious (and unconscious) thoughts which are in Esme's head. I am still not sure I really know what happened in the story!
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See is just a gorgeous book. Set in the 1800's Lily is matched at the age of 6 with her friend for life, known as her old same or her laotong. They are matched because of their birth dates and astrological charts and they are a perfect match. The story covers their relationship and the messages that they send to each other on a far, messages that are written in nu shu, a secret language devised by women for women. They are matched in every way, except that Lily is from a very poor family and Snow Flower is from a rich family.
Their relationship is deep and intense and more important than their relationship with their husbands. The book covers the horrifying ritual behind foot-binding, something that I have found fascinating, but I never realised just how barbaric the whole procedure is.
This book was both an education and a lovely read. I was fascinated by the culture and the rituals they followed every day. Well worth a read. This one will be going back on my bookshelf to be read again in the future.
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Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall-Smith follows on directly from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
In this book Mma Precious Ramotswe is working hard at her detective agency, solving problems such as wayward cheating wives and a missing son of an American woman. She also manages to acquire herself a fiancee, a lovely mechanic who wants to look after her. It is terribly sweet. Oh, and her fiancee also gets persuaded to foster two orphans, a brother and a sister, the latter of which is in a wheelchair.
I love these stories. They are so charming and make me desperately want to visit Africa. I am keeping my eyes peeled at the charity shops because I am sure I can collect the whole lot from there. Lovely book.... read it!!!
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I listened to Paradise House by Erica James on CD on my recent drive to Oop North. Having said that, the story has lasted for the last two weeks and every time I got back into the car I wanted to find out what happened next.
The story is about the Baxter family and is set over several decades. It tells the tale of Genevieve Baxter and her first love, Christian, who she met whilst on holiday at Angel Sands in South Wales when she was a child. A betrayal by her best friend at her 17th birthday party meant that she never saw him again until many years later when she and her family have moved back to Angel Sands to run a B&B. She has a mad and loving family, and they kind of reminded me of my family. Slightly mental but very loving.
I started out thinking this was going to be quite a dull book, but the characters so grew on me. The author also sensitively and skilfully dealt with issues such as deafness and dyslexia. This is a very sweet book if you want a nice gentle read. It didn't hurt that the woman reading it on the CD had a lovely Welsh accent too!
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