Five Minutes Peace

BOOK REVIEW: A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer

I loved Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer and thank goodness for that because otherwise I would've looked at the cover of this book and thought 'meh' and probably passed it by... Contrary to the jaunty cartoon image, A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents is a gutsy story of a young woman reconnecting with her family over her estranged father's deathbed.

Yes, it's very funny. Yes, it is packed with quirky characters and witty dialogue. Yes, it is immensely readable. But it's also utterly convincing, emotionally honest, and says many wise things about the nature of family, relationships and loss. 

Women dominate prize list - for once!

Five out of the six authors on the shortlist for the Dylan Thomas prize are female. The founder of the prize, Professor Peter Stead, said the judges were "both surprised and pleased" to see the final six are mainly women.

The Dylan Thomas prize is worth £30,000 and is open to any young writer (under the age of 30) writing in English. It commemorates the Swansea-born poet (pictured) and is funded by the University of Wales.

The 2010 shortlist represents a diverse range of writing including two poetry collections. Hop over the cut for the list in full.

BOOK REVIEW: Operation Sunshine by Jenny Colgan

When I reviewed Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend I said it was my first Jenny Colgan but that it wouldn't be my last... True to my word, I just finished Operation Sunshine.

Evie is desperate for a good holiday. She's tired, overworked - as administrator at a Harley Street cosmetic surgery - and haunted by the ghosts of disastrous holidays past. When her employers invite her to attend a conference in the the south of France, Evie thinks that her dream might've come true.

The conference turns out to be exciting in ways Evie never imagined. She becomes embroiled in an investigation after discovering that her employers are involved in something more morally-questionable than lunchtime Botox.

BOOK NEWS: The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry

Happy publication day to the multi-talented and charming cultural phenomenon known as Stephen Fry. It's thirteen years since the memoir of his childhood - Moab is my Washpot - hit our shelves, and I'm beyond ready for the next installment.

The Fry Chronicles promises to be just as touching, honest and entertaining as Moab and it's going straight to the top of my to-be-read pile.

Hooray for book shops!

Hooray for book shops! Especially when they are independent lovelies like this one, battling (and winning) in uncertain financial times.

In my other life (one of the many I dream of), I run a book shop just like The Mainstreet Trading Company.

It has everything on my list; light and bright decor, a little cafe with homemade delicacies, gifts and antiques for sale alongside the books and a beautiful location (St Boswells in Scotland).

Oh yes, and a healthy dose of industry recognition. The shop scooped The Children's Independent Bookseller award at The Bookseller Industry Awards 2010.

Booker prize shortlist announced

Well, the longlist for the Man Booker Prize has been whittled down and the shortlist announced... Interestingly, the two titles tipped as front-runners to scoop the prize are not on it (David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap).

Instead, the six finalists competing for the £50,000 prize money/literary prestige are:

Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America

Emma Donoghue's Room

Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room

Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question

Andrea Levy's The Long Song

Tom McCarthy's C

[Via The Guardian]

BOOK REVIEW: 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

I was aware of this book - of course I was - and I'd seen the film many years ago (Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, delightful). What I'd failed to grasp, however, was that the book wasn't fiction.

84 Charing Cross Road is the true story of a twenty year correspondence between New York writer Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, the chief buyer for an antiquarian book shop in London.

Hanff first contacted the shop in 1949, searching for classic and British literature editions, and a friendship evolved between her and Frank, and many of the other staff members at the shop.

BOOK NEWS: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

Eep! After writing three action-romance collaborations with Bob Meyer (Don't Look Down, Agnes and the Hitman and Wild Ride) Crusie treats her fans to an all-Crusie title.

However, Maybe This Time isn't a return to 'classic' Crusie. She is following a recent fascination with the paranormal, mixing a spooky old house, ghosts, and a story loosely based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

The first chapter is available for free on Jennifer Crusie's website.

It's out (in the UK) at the end of the month and has a fabulous - very red - cover. Look out for our review soon.

BOOK REVIEW: Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

This memoir has been recommended to me many times but I'd somehow never got around to reading it.

Well, I'm glad I finally did. Glad and a little bit freaked out... It's the tale of Burroughs's childhood and, as it's a real life story, I'm sure I shouldn't have found it so entertaining and funny. His mother (a psychologically-unhinged poet) left his alcoholic father and proceeded to get Augusten adopted by her therapist. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a nutter who may have 'looked like Santa Claus' but was the bizarre patriarch of an incredibly dysfunctional family.

Diane's top ten books of 2009

I aimed to read 100 books this year. I totally failed, "only" racking up 86, but that still left a lot to choose from when whittling it down to ten. So I narrowed it down to the best books I read that were published this year. (For the purists among you, some of these were first published last year in hardback, this year in paperback; others were published in 09 for the first time.)

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

An epic novel (based on the life of Laura Bush) which aims to answer the question "what do you do when the man you love has completely different political views than you do... then becomes President?" Intriguing, compelling, and yes, important.

The Family Man by Elinor Lipman

A welcome return from a favourite of mine, The Family Man is definitely one of her best. Easy to read and full of Lipman's trademark Austen-esque wit.

Speed Shrinking by Susan Shapiro

First (but not the last) novel from the American memoirist. Not much happens but all it's well-written, funny and charming.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Simply my favourite book of the year. Read it!