I hope everyone read May's choice because it's one of my favourite books of all time. I discovered this book thanks to Diane when we were both writing for Trashionista and I completely fell in love with it... and then with everything Amy has done and continues to do.
Straight out of the ideas-I-wish-I'd-thought-of-first box, Encyclopedia... is so simple, but so effective: a chronicle of an ordinary person's ordinary life or, as Amy puts it:
I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.
I've been disappointed with Adriana Trigiani's last few novels (although her newest, Very Valentine, looks good), but her first, Big Stone Gap, is one of my favourites.
I've just heard Adriana interviewed on Radio 4's Loose Ends and she let slip some info about the forthcoming Big Stone Gap movie. First of all, Adriana is directing it herself (she is a seasoned movie director as well as a novelist). Ave Maria Mulligan will be played by Ashley Judd. The sexy Jack Mac will be played by the sexy Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And Whoopi Goldberg is taking on Fleeta.
Any Big Stone Gap fans? What do you think?
(If you haven't read Trigiani's Lucia, Lucia, run - don't walk - to the book shop! Or click here!)
Thanks to Harry learning the Easter story at school, he's become obsessed with death.
Not surprisingly, he's a bit confused about a) Who/what can die ("My light has died." "The Cheerios have died."); b) Whether or not you can "come alive again" (I say no, he says yes - because Jesus did); and c) Why we have to die.
I'd quite like to read him something with a bit more detail than I've so far managed to provide, but he's not five yet so I'm not looking for a serious bereavement book, just a picture book in which someone dies... and it's okay.
Unbelievably I wasn't in a rush to read Marian Keyes' latest book, This Charming Man. I knew it was about domestic violence and, because of this, I couldn't quite bring myself to buy a copy. The release of the paperback however brought the book back to my attention and this time I thought right, I'll give it a go.
The book is told from four women's perspectives. Lola - a stylist, Grace - a journalist, Marnie - Grace's sister and Alicia - fiancée to Paddy de Courcy. And it is this Paddy that ties these four women together.
Paddy is a politician. An extremely charismatic politician. His girlfriend, Lola, is head over heels for him. So it was obviously a bit of a shock for her when he said he was marrying someone else.
Spotting the first cover (on the left) on GoodReads, I was immediately intrigued. It's such a startling and atmospheric cover. Realising it was for a foreign edition, I looked the book up on Amazon.
The middle cover above was for the hardback with the cover on the right being the paperback. I quite like all of them, but where I think the original cover conveys an air of menace (the book is a thriller), I think the hardback cover looks like women's fiction and the paperback cover chick lit.
I love, love, loved Julie Powell's Julie & Julia, the blog-turned-book which chronicled Julie Powell's attempt to cook everything in Julia Child's iconic The Art of French Cooking, Volume I in the space of a year.
I'm hugely excited to see the film of the book of the blog (!) which splits the story between Julia Child's journey to become a cookery writer in Paris and Julie Powell's year-long New York odyssey, showing how both women were transformed by their new callings. Oh, and it's directed by Nora Ephron. Whoop!
It is released in the US next month but doesn't hit the UK until 11 September (pah). However, you can see a preview of the film right now as the trailer was leaked last week. See:
(Kudos to Meg Cabot for tipping us off on Twitter).
One thing I'm less excited about is the launch of Powell's next memoir. Although I've been eagerly anticipating what she would do next, I never thought this would be it... Powell's new book, released on 6 August, is called Cleaving and tells the true story of a love affair and a passion for... cleaving. As in butchery. Expect graphic tales of cutting into animal flesh and bones and all that lovely stuff.
Vegetarians (and those with sensitive stomachs) beware.
The Kinsella Sisters has a lot going for it – not least a fabulous endorsement from the queen of Chick Lit Marian Keyes.
With that recommendation on board, I settled down for a good read and I’m glad to say that Kate Thompson does not disappoint.
The book is a nicely paced tale of two sister Rio and Dervla, reunited when their father dies after a 20 year estrangement (you just know a man is involved, don’t you?).
But thrown together, and realising how much they have missed over the years, the sisters soon find their lives thrown into turmoil with the discovery of a huge family secret.
