Five Minutes Peace

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!

BOOK REVIEW: Jumping in Puddles by Claire Allan

It seems fitting that this review is my last one for 2009. Because, quite simply, Jumping In Puddles by Claire Allan is my favourite book of the year. All the things I look for in a good book are there.  Great plot, great characters coming together with their own stories and that fabulous Irish warmth and humour. I was completely and utterly enraptured.

Detta O'Neill has returned to Rathinch to set up a support group for four lone parents (or Mad Mammies as one lone mum's friend calls it). Except it isn't just for Mad Mammies. There is also a struggling Daddy too.

Keris's Top 10 books of the year

I was only going to do five, but as I went back through the archives I picked out more and more that I just couldn't resist and ended up with a nice round 10. They're not necessarily the best books I read this year, but they're the books I didn't want to put down, the books I took up to bed or read in the car or told the children, "Hang on, let me just finish this chapter..."

In no particular order...

    

50 Ways to Find a Lover by Lucy-Anne Holmes; The Lost Child by Julie Myerson; Twilight by Stephenie Meyer; The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. 

     

It Sucked and then I Cried by Heather Armstrong; Unsticky by Sarra Manning; The Disengagement Ring by Clodagh Murphy (review coming soon); Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (review coming soon); One Day by David Nicholls. 

BOOK REVIEW: When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James

Oh Eloisa James, you make me so happy. I only discovered Eloisa James's Dangerous Duchesses series a couple of years ago, but I get totally overexcited each time one comes out and I pretty much drop everything until I've finished reading. 

When the Duke Returns follows Isidore who has been waiting for the duke she was married to by proxy at the age of 13 to return from his travels overseas. They've never met, but Isidore is keen to get on with married life. At 23, she's getting to be a bit long in the tooth to not actually have a husband by her side. But when Cosway does return (to "rescue" Isidore from Lord Strange's shocking house party, as featured in the third book in the series, Duchess By Night, he is not at all what Isidore was expecting. Yes, he's a duke, but his behaviour is far from refined. He doesn't powder his hair, he runs around in short trousers and, most shocking of all, he doesn't seem at all tempted by Isidore's legendary beauty. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes needs no introduction (which I'm glad of, cos I'm rubbish at introductions), so let's just launch straight into her latest novel, The Brightest Star in the Sky. Before I started reading it, I knew two things: it's based around a group of people all living in the same house - 66 Star Street, Dublin - and it's narrated by someone mysterious (and you don't find out who until nearly the end).

It made a nice change to sit down and read a book I was pretty clueless about, but I have to admit, for the first 100 or so pages I was a bit worried. Various characters were being introduced, but nothing much was actually happening. Character is always more important to me than plot, but I did worry that I was in for 600 plotless pages.

BOOK REVIEW: Heaven Can Wait

I'd been looking forward to the gorgeous looking Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor for ages and I wasn't disappointed. I laughed - out loud (unheard of for me) - at a sentence on the very first page. Good start, I thought, then went on to laugh even more towards the end of the first chapter.

Cally has written short stories for various magazines and anthologies and won competitions for her writing but Heaven Can Wait is her debut novel. It is about Lucy Brown who, on the eve of her wedding day, has a fatal accident. Yes, that's right. Fatal.

So this isn't your regular chick lit. As you may have guessed from the title - this is chick lit with a supernatural twist. 

BOOK REVIEW: Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Reviewed by Stella

In a dystopian future, Toby and Ren are two former members of God's Gardeners, a cult which prefers to grow their own food from the ground and only resorts to eating meat in the very direst of straits. Separately, however, it seems that Toby and Ren are in the direst of straits since they seem to be the only two people on earth who have survived "the flood", a catastrophe foretold by the leaders of God's Gardeners which has wiped out civilisation as they knew it.

In their two separate voices, Toby and Ren tell their stories of life as members of the cult, life after the cult and how they managed to avoid falling foul of the catastrophic events which lead to their current predicaments.

BOOK REVIEW: The Lost Guide to Life and Love by Sharon Griffiths

When food writer Tilly Flint has one too many arguments with her boyfriend Jake, she ends up abandoned in a cottage miles from anywhere. The couple had planned a working holiday in the Penines, but Tilly ends up watching him drive away, leaving her newly-single and very much alone.

However, Tilly is surprised at the excitement that bubbles in her stomach along with the terror, and, having discovered she once had family in the area, she she vows to make the best of things and to spend time getting to know the bleak landscape and its inhabitants.

The story moves up gear when Tilly has a chance encounter with a premier footballer, Clayton Silver. He is entranced by her and her no-nonsense attitude to celebrity, and the two begin a whirlwind relationship. Soon, Tilly's life includes glitzy parties, flashy romance, and mystery...

BOOK REVIEW: A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff

When Phoebe Swift opens up a vintage dress shop in Blackheath she is also opening up another chapter in her life. Except the last chapter was marred by tragedy and Phoebe is struggling to come to terms with that whilst also being plagued by a guilty secret.

Phoebe is passionate about vintage clothes, believing them to create fairy tales. She sifts though dresses like an archaeologist, imagining their past, their owners and the parties they would have attended.

Soon after opening, with the business starting well, thanks in large part to Dan the journalist, she is contacted by Therese, an elderly french lady. She has some clothes she would like to get rid of. Everything, in fact, except a blue coat. Phoebe is intrigued. Why is the blue coat, made for a child, so important? And so Therese tells Phoebe her story. And with the story that happened a lifetime ago, Phoebe is able to come to terms with her own, more recent events.

BOOK REVIEW: The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

Regular FMP commenter (and author) Alison Bond (hello!) said in the comments for American Wife that she really enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld's second novel, The Man of My Dreams in the same week that I spotted it in my local library. I took that as a sign and serendipitously checked it out and rushed home to read it. My expectations weren't high, as I didn't hear much hype about it when it was released but actually I think this may be my favourite of Sittenfeld's oeuvre.