Amazon

Book Review: Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

/ / 1 Comment
Reading Time: < 1 minute
mini-shopaholic-sophie-kinsella I was really excited when I got my hands on my copy of Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. I couldn’t wait to join Becky on another adventure as she enters in to motherhood.

In the book we are introduced to Minnie, Becky and Luke’s two year old daughter. And yes she’s at that stage of the terrible two’s. Minnie gets barred from every Santa’s grotto locally and generally goes around causing havoc.

Then it happens, the banking crisis. One of Luke’s clients is The Bank of London, meaning Luke is extremely stressed at work. So Becky decides to plan him a surprise birthday party, on a budget, as now is not the time for extravagance and recruits Luke’s assistant in to her plans. What follows is a series of hilarious chapters either about Minnie or Becky’s party planning (and attempting to keep it a secret from Luke).

The usual characters are present (Becky’s mum & dad, Suze & Tarkie, Jess and Tom, Elinor, etc.) and seem to develop. However Becky’s character seems to regress. Becky goes back to exaggerating the truth (even all out lying at times) and the reader is no exception this time creating a last minute twist that makes the reader feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Overall Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is worth a read although you won’t find it as satisfying as the previous books in the Shopaholic series.

Blog soon,

Antony

Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, , ,

New books, but is it a good sign?

/ / Leave a Comment
Reading Time: < 1 minute

The publishing industry have released a few books by some of my faviourate authors. I knew about The Dead by Charlie Higson, which I bought this month. I’m about half way through it, so expect a review soon! I’ve reviewed The Enemy which you can read here. I also bought The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank and Everyday Moon Magic by Dorothy Morrison.

Two books I didn’t know about till yesterday were Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella and The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern. I’m trying to live frugally (see Living Frugally) so I’ll have to buy these next month. I think I missed the release of these books because publishers usually release them closer to Christmas.

This got me thinking, does the early release of these books signal that publishers are worried that Christmas won’t be a good time for selling? Are they in a way predicting that they think we’ll take our second dip into recession? Maybe I’m reading too much in to this? But I think if I was a publisher, I’d try and release as many publications as I could before we entered recession. What are your thoughts?

Antony

Click here to display content from Amazon Kindle.
Learn more in Amazon Kindle’s privacy policy (opens in a new tab).

Open content directly

Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, Thinking, , , , , , , , ,

Book Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

/ / Leave a Comment
Reading Time: < 1 minute
the-lovely-bones-alice-sebold The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was a book I decided to read after hearing about it on The TV Book Club. The book starts off by introducing Susie Salmon (like the fish). Susie is a 14 year old who is brutally murdered on her way home from school by Mr. Harvey, the local neighbourhood weirdo. After her death she continues to tell her story: how her family cope with her death, their heartache as the police investigation goes nowhere and she describes what her heaven is like – as she explains that everyones heaven is different.

I found The Lovely Bones emotionally moving as Alice uses Susie in heaven to describe how the family move on over years after her death. From this book I got a warm feeling that came from the notion that when people die they do not cease to exist.

For me I found that the book could have been ended at an earlier point. Alice could have let the imagination of the reader to finish the story and it would have prevented me feeling that the book “dragged” towards the end.

You can buy The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony

Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews, ,

Book Review: The Rapture by Liz Jenson

/ / Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes
The-Rapture-Liz-Jensen I bought The Rapture by Liz Jensen after hearing about it on The TV Book Club. The rapture is a story about the end of the world, yet it has more. The two main characters include Gabrielle a psychologist whose in a wheel chair following an accident and Bethany a psychotic child locked up in an institution after killing her mother.

Gabrielle comes to work at the institution where Bethany is locked up and starts to work with Bethany. After trying all other treatments they begin to try ECT (electric convulsive therapy) which Bethany loves as she claims it helps her see the future. After Bethany predicts several ecological disasters accurately Bethany predicts a big one that will change life for all of man kind. By this point Gabrielle is convinced Bethany can predict the future as is her scientist friend come lover Fraser. Gabrielle and Fraser try to tell people but they will not listen, after all who’d listen from a prediction with no scientific basis from a “crazy person”.

Liz the author does describes scenes and people in so much detail that you can picture them perfectly in this critics have dubbed a thriller. Whereas this detailed description makes reading the story like watching a film, it does at times hinder the stories progression. The most significant incidence of is when Liz goes in to much technical detail of how the ecological disaster Bethany has predicted will happen. Liz goes in to great scientific detail about how it will occur and although I do commend her on her research it felt like too much detail to me.

As the book draws to a conclusion you begin to care about the characters which comes from understanding were the characters have come from and why they are flawed. By the end of the book it makes you question what man kind are doing to the planet and it’s potential consequences. The book was a pleasure to read and gave me much to think about. You can buy The Rapture by Liz Jensen on Amazon.

I am currently reading I am What I am by John Barrowman, One Day by David Nicholls, Look Back in Hunger: The Autobiography by Jo Brand & Astral Travel for Beginners by Richard Webster so expect more book reviews soon.

Signing off for now,

Antony

Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews, ,
Scroll to Top
×