books

Recently I unintentionally read 2 memoirs.  Accidental reading happens when you refuse to look at back covers or reviews before reading, I have spoilerphobia.  Most reading choices are based on recommendations from a readers Facebook group, liking an author, or randomly pulling a book from the library shelf.  Over the past 15 years I’ve been slowly making my way through …

Men write family drama and romance books with more head and less heart.  Not that they lack emotion, but they convey feeling in a different way.  I like that way.  Nick Hornby has become my favourite author, well on most days until I pick up a Joanne Harris or John Irving.  Recently I read The Rosie Project, although it’s very …

I read the first pages of The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarap with a sense of deja vu.  Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) by him, also started with the protagonist being under arrest.  Both books deal with situations where a fantastical amount of money is within reach of our hero or heroine.  Don’t get me wrong both are good books …

This week on a book lovers group, the question was asked ” Which authors of contemporary fiction do you love so much that you will buy their latest book without reading reviews, without even thinking about it? Where the author pull defies restraint and reason?”  I replied “Nick Hornby and Joanne Harris”, briefly forgetting my disappointment with Juliette Naked.  I …

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is more than a story, it is a work of art.  Writing and sketches flow in a living stream.  The reader / observer is carried through 500 odd pages in a few short hours.  Transported into a world of magical imagining. Between the pages, true history and fiction align, clicking together like lock and key, …

The book Anybody Out There, almost put me right off Marian Keyes.  A third of the way through the book I was very bleak about the direction which the story took.  I won’t tell you more as I have an aversion to spoilers.  I stomped and moaned about what a fail it was as a light Christmas read.  My sister-in-law …

I should not be reading at the moment.  I hardly have time to draw breath, the days are a manic race through a to-do list which would make a great scarf if I could wear it.  Crazy as it sounds, at night, when I crash onto my bed past bedtime, I fire up the e-reader.  Sometimes turning it off past …

Recently Mum gave me the Mary Berry recipe book ‘At Home’.  I have only tried one recipe from it so far, the ‘Spinach & Three Cheese bake’ and if that’s an indication of the rest  of the book, we’re off to a good start.  I’m always on the lookout for new ‘meat free Monday’ recipes to try, this will be …

After several recommendations to read ‘The Rosie Project’ by Graeme Simsion, I picked it up last week.  I loved it! It is a humorous romance novel, I believe there’s a movie in the pipeline which should prove to be romantic comedy at its best.   Although I found ‘The Rosie Project’ an absolutely delightful read my only criticism is that I …

Reading provides mental nourishment, it fuels imagination and introduces ideas.  Reading takes us back and forth in time and through the pages of books we discover places and people.   Now and then books are a refuge, a place to escape to.  2 Weeks ago, we discovered that my father has leukemia.   I don’t need to explain how distraught I felt …