Five Minutes Peace

BOOK REVIEW: Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy

Many years ago on holiday I found a book by an Irish author in the cottage's bookcase. I must have been in my mid teens at the time. Little did I know that this writer would fast become one of my favourite authors. Ever. Her words enraptured me, comforted me and I longed to visit places such as Dún Laoghaire or go to university in Dublin. The characters within the book were real. I fell into their lives and truly cared.

So whenever a new book by Maeve Binchy is published I am extremely excited. Yet at the same time, a little nervous just in case the same magic is not there.

Minding Frankie is Maeve’s latest release.

BOOK REVIEW: Della Says OMG by Keris Stainton

Now before I write any words for this review I should point out one very important fact. This is Helen writing this. Not Keris. Because for Keris to be writing a review about her own book would be odd. And quite wrong. 

Perhaps I should also point out that it is inevitable that I loved this book. I know, I know maybe as a friend of Keris I would write a positive review. But in response to (anyone saying) that, I should say that I was attracted to Keris and her writing (at Trashionista) because of her writing, that is how we became friends. As her book is written with the same humour and talent that drew me to her blog posts it is therefore inevitable that I loved her book too.

But enough of the explanations. I am way overdue in my review of this book, so I'll crack on.

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. 

FMP RECOMMENDS: YA New York

This luscious-looking books blog has turned me on to more American YA reads than almost any other site. And having seen them rave about Rachel Vail's Gorgeous, which I also loved, I know I can trust their judgement.

What I'm discovering about YA, and what this website confirms, is that there's such a diverse market out there. I only came to the genre a couple of years ago (under the influence of FMP ed - and YA author - Keris) and at first, I thought it was all Meg Cabot and Louise Rennison, kind of chick lit lite. NOT that there's anything wrong with that - those are two amazing authors. But I'm finding I love Rachel Vail and Sarah Dessen even more, and discovering that - in my opinion, anyway - the messages of self-esteem in these books are more refreshing and more inspiring than those I find in grown-up fiction.

Reading... The Mitfords

There are a lot of books about the fascinating Mitford sisters, six aristocratic girls born between 1910 and 1920 who grew up to become (variously) a Fascist, a Nazi, an American communist/funeral guru, a famous author, the Duchess of Devonshire and a muse of John Betjeman. Like posh Forrest Gumps, they had associations with everyone from Winston Churchill to JFK to Fred Astaire and you could never call them boring. But with all the books about the Mitfords out there, which should you choose and which should you refuse? Let us help you. Here's our guide to Reading...The Mitfords.

The Mitford Girls by Mary S Lovell - Read this before anything else. And that's an order! A truly fascinating history of the sisters, as well as (to a lesser extent) the rest of their clan. It's written in lively prose and has been meticulously-researched (it especially highlights some of the inconsistencies in Jessica Mitford's first memoir, Hons and Rebels). If you don't like this book, you're unlikely to be interested in reading any more Mitfordalia. But if you are, I also recommend...

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford- Despite imagination filling in some of the gaps in "Decca"'s memory, her memoir is a great read, covering her childhood (in which she was desperate to go to school instead of being taught by her governess... but prone to getting into trouble whenever she left the house) up to her emigration to America. Jessica was the sister most interested in social issues and the world outside her privileged upbringing, and JK Rowling counts her as a hero. I just loved this book.

BOOK REVIEW: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

I was so clueless when I bought this book that I actually thought it was based on the life of Jackie Kennedy, which I thought would be fascinating. Wrong First Lady. It's actually based on the life of Laura Bush, which is perhaps even more interesting as much less is known about her, despite her spending much longer in the White House than Jackie. Although Sittenfeld has claimed the book is only very loosely based on Laura's life and that she invented most of the finer details, her eponymous character does share a lot of similarities with the most recent former First Lady. 

Like Laura, Alice Lindgren grows up in a small town and accidentally kills a classmate in a driving accident when she is 17. She trains as a teacher and librarian, marries in her early thirties (late for the era) and her husband, who is more conservative than she, becomes President after quitting booze and being "born again". Where Sittenfeld has to speculate (and where the reader has fun speculating with her) is those finer points: what brought two such disparate personalities together? How hard would it be to integrate into the upper middle classes? And how do you cope when your husband becomes leader of the free world and some of his policies might be at odds with your personal values? 

FMP RECOMMENDS: Momversation

I have no idea why I read so many so-called "mommybloggers" when I don't have a child myself and am not planning one anytime soon (maybe they're interesting people who write well, or something?) but I do. 

And so I have become a little bit obsessed with Momversation, the site where some of my favourite bloggers who happen to have children discuss everything from whether circumcision is cruel to finding time to read (and what their favourite books are when they do get to curl up with one). 

BOOK REVIEW: Secrets by Freya North

How would you feel if a small, defensive, slightly scruffy woman turned up on your doorstep after answering the advert you placed for a house-sitter? Coupled with the fact said woman seems to have accepted the job, even though if wasn't yet offered. Then there is a small matter of the child she is carrying in her arms. I can't say what Joe's exact thoughts were as this is a nice blog, but lets just say they weren't particularly enthusiastic.

Joe, a bridge engineer from The North, was on the verge of offering the house-sitting job to a bustling and doughy Mrs Dunn. Yet, here was this prickly London girl on his doorstep, annoyed with him because he has a dog. He starts to show her around the six bedroomed house, hearing himself tell her to choose any bedroom and that, yes, she can watch his TV.