Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

I have a love-hate relationship with Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood). She must be one of the most frustrating characters in chick lit fiction. She’s silly, selfish and runs off on the wildest tangents, getting herself into all sorts of trouble…yet I pick up the latest book in the Shopaholic series at the earliest opportunity. Why? Is it because Becky shops the way we would all like to- buy now, remorse much, much later? Is it because she can’t –or won’t- restrain her shopping habit? I don’t know.

Shopaholic fans will be pleased to note that Becky hasn’t restrained her shopping habits despite the addition to the family of her daughter, Minnie. Minnie loves shopping too (her favourite word is ‘Miiiiiiiiiiiiiine!’) and has the ability to hail cabs, bid on eBay and get her way at two years old. To me, she seems rather feral and Becky’s husband Luke seems to think so too. Enter a nanny and then a Supernanny to sort her out.

But there’s big chunks of the book where Minnie seems to be missing (or being unusually well-behaved in the background) when Becky is sorting out shopping in a recession (including going to a pound shop for the first time- imagine what she’d be like in Daiso!) or organising a party for Luke’s birthday, which all goes wrong in true Becky fashion. The twist at the end was a little un-Becky like to me, perhaps it proves that Mrs Brandon is growing up after all. Of course, there is a nice setup for a sequel too…

Fans will be pleased to see the return of Jess, Tom, Becky’s parents, the next door neighbours and Luke’s mother, Elinor.

The writing is easy to read and gets the point across well. It’s a fast read and would suit a holiday read or something to chill out with after work.

8 out of 10.

Teaser Tuesday 28/9/10

Another Tuesday, another teaser! I’m reading something a bit lighter this week – Homecoming by Cathy Kelly (still going on the Michael Palin though…it’s a hefty book!). A light Irish fiction, it centres around four women who live near each other. (You can’t probably tell I’m not very far into this!)

This teaser is from page 29:

‘ Prudence’s smile faltered at this. She was entirely unaccustomed to people receiving  her carefully aimed gossip with politeness. Normally, the recipient would look stunned or hurt or on the verge of needing a restraining order.’

Thanks for visiting – I do appreciate it!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

(The wisteria in my backyard- sneezy but oh so pretty)

I want to start off this review by saying that I’m no stranger to Murakami, but perhaps I am when it comes to some of his more surreal novels. I’ve read Norwegian Wood, After Dark and after the quake but The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is the biggest Murakami I’ve tackled to date.

Murakami has one of the most beautiful ways with words that I’ve ever seen (although I suppose Jay Rubin, the English translator helps to maintain the beauty in English) and his prose paints perfectly detailed pictures in your mind. This book is no exception and I could picture everything – Toru’s, the well, May Kasahara and Kumiko as I read.

The plot starts out in a linear fashion – Toru is recently unemployed and his wife, Kumiko, is upset that their cat has gone missing. The search puts him in touch with the quirky teen May Kasahara and the odd Malta and Creta Kano. Over Toru looms the figure of Kumiko’s brother, Noboru Wataya (which also happens to be the cat’s name).

Everything starts going a bit surreal after that. Why does Toru go down the well after the Lieutenant mentions his experience? Why do Malta and Creta disappear halfway through the book? What exactly is going on with Nutmeg and Cinnamon? What’s the significance of the woman on the phone? Is there any significance?

I am of a fairly scientific mind and it threw me a little to try and justify all of Toru’s adventures in reality and tie up all the loose ends- which isn’t possible I think, you need to wonder and discuss this book. Toru’s character frustrated me in that he was so passive of almost everything- being trapped in the well and joining Nutmeg and Cinnamon. His fixation on Kumiko was also a bit strange but I guess it was sweet that he was willing to wait for her no matter what.

May Kasahara was my favourite character. Her ability to blurt out morbid and strange thoughts as well as take anything in her stride was uplifting. I’d love to mind out how she ended up.

This book was mesmerizing and although at times I wanted to put it down because I couldn’t figure it out, it wasn’t possible. I think the trick is not to force it to be linear and just accept that you can’t explain anything. Rather like life, really.

8 out of 10.

Have you read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle? What were your thoughts?

I read this book as part of the Japanese Literature Challenge 4- a great way to read some of your TBR list!

Mailbox Monday 27/9/10

Yay for public holidays and the opportunity to sleep in! Now I have the opportunity to tell you what’s landed on my shelves of late. Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of The Printed Page and is now on tour at Bermudaonion’s Weblog (love the name). Marcia states that “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.” I’m going to twist the rules because I haven’t been shopping this previous week and I’m trying to get my TBR pile down. Here’s my offerings for the last month:

These books are all from my Sydney haul. I’ve read Campaign Ruby already (definitely worth reading- see my review here). The two Barry Maitland books are part of the Brock and Kolla detective series, set in modern London, investigating murders. They are brilliantly written and I highly recommend the series. The last book, The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon is set in post-WW1. I’ve read Confinement by the same author and found it very powerful.

The next lot was the weekend after. My review on Mini Shopaholic is coming soon (Becky is still up to the same tricks) and I’ve just started Homecoming by Cathy Kelly, which promises to be light, comfortable and enjoyable. The classics were a deal at Dymocks (2 for $10 I think)- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was recommended by my mother. I read some instore and it looks good. Sons and Lovers will be my first foray into D.H. Lawrence.

Then I had a little splurge at The Book Depository and bought Max Pemberton’s Trust Me, I’m a Junior Doctor which I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. It follows junior doctors in the UK from their first day out. I also purchased Lauren Weisberger’s Last Night at Chateau Marmont which looks a little different to expected (I thought it would be about a group of girls, much like her last novel) but it’s received some good reviews so far.

What books have you received recently?

Book Blogger Hop 24-27/9/10

Wow, the weekend again- isn’t it great when the week flies by? The only problem I have is that being busy means not a lot of time for reading. This week’s Book Blogger Hop comes courtesy of Crazy-for-books.com and this week’s question is from Elizabeth of Silver’s Reviews:

When you write reviews, do you write them as you are reading or wait until you have read the entire book?

I wait until I’ve finished the book- I like to read uninterrupted and for me , reading and jotting down notes, adding Post-Its etc is too much like being back in school again. I might scribble down an interesting page number for an interesting quote or something I want to look into further but that’s it. Also, my opinions change as I read the book from disliking to loving a character, how easy I find the writing to read etc. If I reviewed as I read, you might worry about my thought processes! I like to also reflect on the book after I’ve finished it.

Happy weekend, especially if it’s a long one or holiday for you!

Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd

Australians probably would have heard about this book recently as it’s scarily prophetic. Shafted prime minister’s daughter writes a book about an Australian prime minister being ousted from office by his female colleague who then calls a snap election- it all reflects our recent political climate. But is Jessica Rudd cashing in on her father’s name and fate?

No! Even though I am an ardent Kevin Rudd fan (geeks and academics can be prime minister…hope for us all, but that’s another story for another blog) Jessica Rudd has done a wonderful job in producing a truly funny chick lit where politics is anything but boring.

Campaign Ruby centres around Ruby Stanhope, an investment banker who is sacked as part of the credit crunch. She goes home, gets blind drunk and books herself a ticket to Melbourne. (Why Ruby has a Qantas Frequent Flyer number even though she’s never been to Australia is never explained). It’s too expensive to get out of the ticket, so luckily she flies in to a stinking hot summer where she is met by her aunt. By luck, she meets the Leader of the Opposition (leader of political party not in power) and is offered a job on the election campaign. Here Ruby makes the most of her Englishness and lack of knowledge regarding Australian slang, leading to some awkward (and funny) moments. Will the Leader of the Opposition win? Will Ruby realise which of the team has her best interests at heart in time?

Ruby is a very likeable character (even though she has a better knowledge of Australian fashion labels than most Australians) and the supporting cast (particularly the aunts and her niece Clementine) are skillfully written and unique.

Jessica doesn’t have the literary verbosity of her father (phew, I hear most of you say) but she does have an incredible talent for humout- I don’t think I’ve ever giggled my way through a chick lit as much.

It was interesting to read this in the wake of the recent Australian federal election, when we didn’t know what was going to happen in regards to who would form government- I was hoping that Jessica would predict the result!

If you’re in Sydney and would like to read this, many of the CBD bookshops (Dymocks, Kinokuniya and Abbey’s to name the ones I saw) have autographed copies (like mine, below).

9 out of 10.

Book Blogger Hop September 17-20, 2010

Hello! What a crazily busy week it’s been- so busy, that my workplace made headlines. (I didn’t see the cameras- too busy running around).  I guess that’s just the way things happen- some days it’s quiet, some days it’s just crazy. But now it’s the weekend and we can all relax and read!

Today’s Book Blogger Hop is brought to you by Crazy-For-Books.com and this Hop’s question is:

In honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, let’s take time this week to honor our favorite book bloggers and why we love them!

Well, where to start…I have been gathering a growing list of book bloggers who provide me with fantastic reviews and an ever-growing wishlist. I have to give a big thanks to Dominique of Coffee Stained Pages who gave me lots of encouragement and support in convincing me to start my own blog. Do take a moment to visit Coffee Stained Pages and enjoy the fantastic reviews and the gorgeous photos!

Down Under by Bill Bryson

(Once again, image from Goodreads. I must remember to take more photos!)

I wasn’t a big fan of Bryson’s Notes From a Small Island. I found the humour depreciating and his treatment of others distainful. Other encouraged me not to write him off entirely and suggested something closer to home, namely Down Under, a subject I know a lot about as I’m Australian.

Firstly, I found Bryson’s treatment of fellow Aussies a lot better- there are only a few he gets snarky with. Maybe this is because of our dry humour- and the fact he would get cut down to size pretty quickly.

I found it highly amusing that he had no concept of the distances involved between cities- Sydney is not two hours away from Brisbane for instance- surely he would have discovered this in his research? (Plus I’d like to know what speed he was doing to suggest Perth to Shark Bay is an eight hour drive- it’s nearly 900 km and our maximum speed limit is 110 km/hr!) Still, kudos for going to places that other tourists would not- such as the Shark Bay stromatolites, Broken Hill, Daly Waters and Canberra. His history of Australia is also very good, especially the explorers, which brought me back to primary school social studies.

If you’re not from Australia, you might find Bryson’s obsession with dangerous and venomous snakes/spiders/whatever a little worrying. Honestly, you can walk down the street here without confronting a deadly snake or spider, plus we do have anti-venoms!

I thought that this was a pretty good travelogue of Australia, even though Bryson did leave some areas out, namely the north west of Western Australia. Maybe he’d like to return? I’d certainly read it.

8 out of 10.

Teaser Tuesday 14/9/10

And so another week goes by! I hope you’re having a fun week. I still haven’t finished The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami yet (last week’s Teaser), so today I bring to you my current non-fiction read- Michael Palin’s  Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. It’s another chunkster.

Wednesday, September 20th, 1972 (page 98)

As we drove through the silent and deserted stone archways of the castle, there was but a single light shining high in the dark walls. Ludicrously clad, wearing a silly false nose and carrying a crate of beer for the unit’s supper, I was led through echoing passages and through stone-vaulted halls towards the filming.

Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

(Image from Goodreads as I forgot to take a pictiure in my holiday rush)

I’ve heard others discussing how much they loved this book, so I was pleased to hear that it was one of the latest releases in the Popular Penguins series. A short novella, I thought this would be a perfect short read before I went on holidays. Well, I’ve returned from my holidays and I still can’t really work this one out.

Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher at an Edinburgh school. She picks some of the girls from her class to be part of her set- some intelligent, some pretty and some neither. She is not a traditional teacher, telling them long stories about her ‘prime’- loves and losses. She is somewhat controversial- having an affair with a fellow teacher and suggesting that a schoolgirl should become the lover of one of her former lovers. Her ‘girls’ idolise her, even going so far to make up romantic fiction stories about her. The book follows her ‘girls’ to adulthood, until she is betrayed by one of them and forced to retire from teaching.

I’m not really sure what the fuss is about. Certainly teachers shouldn’t act like that in any time period and Miss Brodie is ahead of her time- rather a feminist, having affairs and travelling alone in the 1930s, not to mention idolising Mussolini! It is well written and the characters are well drawn. I’m not one to deeply analyse what I read for pleasure (I leave that to students) but while it’s enjoyable, it’s not life changing literature.

6.5 out of 10.