Monday, October 02, 2006

A good read?

One good thing about a lazy holiday is the opportunity it provides for reading.

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
Ms Binchy usually tells a good story but this was so contrived and neat, it was beyond belief.

The Wives of Bath by Wendy Holden
I enjoy the frothy nonsensical novels by Wendy Holden as a rule but this was another one that failed to live up to expectations.

Not Married, Not Bothered by Carol Clewlow
Read the first three chapters then thought: I'm on holiday; I don't have to read this. So I threw it to one side and it will be going back to the charity shop from whence it came.

Sophie's Bakery for the Broken-hearted by Lolly Winston.
Brilliant. A must-read. Fabulous descriptions of loss and grief and depression and anger. Which makes it sound dreadfully depressing but it's done in such a light way that you just care for the narrator and want her to get through. Not at all morbid but very life-affirming. (I just thought of that phrase; it's very trendy these days!)

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.
Still have to finish this. A promising start that went off the boil a bit so I will wait until I've finished to comment properly.

That was all my holiday reading. All lightweight and frivolous. Last year I took Possession by A.S. Byatt with me and, though I'm sure it's a wonderful book, it's not suitable for the sun.

And I came home to finish off The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Wonderful! Gosh, Anne Boleyn was a cow. I shall hurry to return it to the library today and look for another of hers. Isn't it wonderful when you discover a new author you enjoy and have a whole load of books to look forward to?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Marian Keyes books tend to go off a bit in the middle I've found!