Five Minutes Peace

Jen Lancaster's upcoming memoirs will make her knowledgeable and kind... maybe

We're big ("huge!") Jen Lancaster fans here at FMP. So much so that when I read about Jen's new two-book deal, I started to hyperventilate a little. From excitement, you understand. And maybe a touch of envy, because she keeps on having such. great. ideas. for books.

Her next two memoirs after this year's upcoming Pretty in Plaid are tentatively called My Fair Lazy (hee) and Involuntary: My Year of Giving Dangerously.

Due out in 2010 and 2011 respectively (gotta love a writer who can type fast) the first will detail Jen's attempts to educate herself and become more refined, Eliza Doolittle-style. The second will be all about her attempts to involve herself in charity work. (And if you've read any of this Reagan-loving, pampered princess*'s earlier memoirs, you'll know how eye-poppingly brilliant that could be).

Uh-oh, I'm starting to hyperventilate again... Read more via Jen's blog.

*I say that with love.

Book cover snap!

One of my favourite things on Trashionista was writing about similar-looking book covers. And do you know what? I'm going to keep doing it here at Five Minutes Peace!

I'm not a fan of Freya North's books, but I love the cover for her new one, Secrets. People criticise the pink covers of chick lit books so I love that North's publishers have obviously thought, "Pink? We'll give 'em pink!"

The cover of Lisa Jewell's new book, The Truth About Melody Browne, is less pink, but just as pretty and similar in the leaves at the top and seating at the bottom.

Pink Loves Brown bookplates

 

I like the idea of bookplates. They're so much smarter than scrawling your name on the inside cover. Pink Loves Brown has some rather fab designs including my favourites 'Don't blame me. My bookclub picked it out' and 'From the library of the lovely...' both of which can be personalised with your name and are self-adhesive. An 8 pack costs $8 or get 24 for $21.

BOOK CLUB: February - The Thrift Book by India Knight

Yes, it's book discussion time again. It's come around fast, hasn't it?

I thought last month's chatting in the comments worked fine, didn't you? So should we just do that again (unless someone comes up with a better idea)?

Hope you all got a chance to read this month's selection - find my thoughts over the cut.

BOOK REVIEW: Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton

Having not read any of Rosy Thornton's previous novels I didn't know what to expect, but was intrigued by the description of an old fashioned fairy tale. The fairy tale evolves around two characters. Mina, a single parent working in a call centre in Sheffield, and Peter, a widowed professor from Cambridge with twin daughters.

The story is a slow starter but in honesty this isn't designed to be a fast read. It's a gentle and intriguing tale which eventually grips onto you, so you look forward to your evening visits and glimpses into their lives.

WIN! Prince Jake books

Yes, it's our first Five Minutes Peace competition!

We've got five copies of each of these wonderful Sue Mongredien's Prince Jake books to give away.

And all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is email your name and address to keris@fiveminutespeace.co.uk before midnight GMT on Saturday, 28 February. Good luck!

Introducing WordGirl!

On Bloom, our sister site, Camilla recently lamented kids' TV's lack of positive role models for girls, but I've just discovered WordGirl, a new series on PBS Kids in the US (not being shown over here yet, but surely it's just a matter of time - in the meantime, you can check it out on YouTube).

The alter-ego of "5th grader Becky Botsford", not only is WordGirl a superhero, she uses her "love of vocabulary" to save the day! Cool!

Read the entertaining theme tune lyrics over the cut and check out the opening titles at Bloom.

Writers: want to raise a TwitterTitter for Comic Relief?

Please pardon me a moment of self-promotion for a very good cause: I'm very happy to be involved in a new project (set up by journalist Linda Jones) to put together a book of funny stories for Comic Relief. Called TwitterTitters, we'll be raising awareness of the book on Twitter and we're hoping we can even get some famous Twitterers to endorse it...

Published and unpublished writers of all ages and levels of experience are encouraged to send in their submissions asap (we want to go to print in just over a week!) with a suggested word limit of 1400 words. Writers will keep their copyright of course and the submissions which are selected will become part of the TwitterTitters book, which will be available to buy on Lulu.com with proceeds going to Comic Relief.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Find out everything you need to know here.

It would be great to hear from some of the talented women I know read this blog...

Amazing ideas from Maggie & Rose

I'm intrigued by the idea of these books by Maggie Bolger and Rose Astor. They are two versions of the the same story, but one told by girls and the other by boys (I don't need to tell you which is which, do I). Read more here.

And because I was intrigued by the books, I had to check out Maggie and Rose themselves and learned that they are the brains behind a private family club (in London, natch) that sounds amazing, if a little too "yummy mummy" for the likes of me. Still. Great ideas, don't you think?

BOOK REVIEW: Someday by Alison McGhee

A while ago, I discovered a classic American picture book called Love You Forever. By Robert Munsch, the book featured repetition of the lines "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." I'd not long had Harry when I bought it and I couldn't read those lines without crying. However, the illustrations in the book were kind of ... peculiar. And it ended with the mother phoning the son to tell him she was dying and him cradling her on his lap like a baby. I couldn't read it myself, let alone to Harry.

So I was thrilled to be sent a copy of Someday by Alison McGhee.