I must congratulate myself on finishing 4 books in about 2 months. And not all chick lit some more, ha ha. It is quite a record for me, and it was partly due to spending endless hours in bed for 2-3 days due to a strange ailment.
Bought this on the recommendation of a fitness magazine. About a newspaper columnist who enjoys a great following because she is anti-thin, i.e. argues against dieting, slimming down, etc. However, she is asked to be a consultant to a handsome actor for his nip-tuck kind of movie and secretly goes on diet + exercises to lose weight before they meet, hence 'betraying' her cause. Predictable storyline. Lovely cover. Regret buying.
About 15-year-old David who, one 'fateful' day, happens to glance up when his baby brother is perched on a window trying to 'fly'. He grabs - and saves - the little boy but the incident propels him into a world of anxiety, paranoia and depression as he tries to run away from 'fate'. In the literary sense, this book is skilfully crafted -- well constructed, well thought out and well written. However, I can't really say I 'enjoyed' it, though the story is engaging. Too 'dark' for me, all the angst, identity crisis and everything. I loved the (few) parts when the little boy 'talks' to his older brother. He can't actually speak yet, but the writer writes what he is thinking as though he is communicating with him. Instructive for parents, teachers and anyone who has anything to do with teenagers.
About a 30-ish primary school teacher, her favourite pupil (boy) and her school, family and personal relationships. Cute story but very long. There were 3-4 sub-plots (yes, there were that many sub-plots!) which I didn't really care about but overall, the book is enjoyable and I really like the dad-and-son (same boy) plot. I'm also full of admiration for the author, who completed this book while suffering from cancer. This story would make a good movie, I think. I'd choose Reese Witherspoon or Kate Winslet for the main character and because my movie repertoire is really limited, I can only think of Colin Firth for the widower dad, unless Brad Pitt can do the British accent. Anyway, since Colin Firth has been Mr Darcy and Mark Darcy, he might as well be Mark Samuels here, ha ha.
I was, as Jane Austen would say, astonished to find subtle (much subtler than in BJ's Diary) Jane Austenish parts in this book. That definitely makes Jane Austen the queen of chick lit, of course, since she's every other chick lit writer's role model.
Looking for Mary by Beverly Donofrio
About the writer herself, a lapsed Catholic, who collects Mary (i.e., Mary, the mother of Jesus) paraphernalia through her many years of unbelief. She joins a pilgrim group to Medjugorje (in Bosnia-Hercegovina) as an 'outsider' writing an article (she's a journalist). The experience draws her back to God. And the entire experience (of searching, finding and coming back) helps her come to terms with her relationship with her son (by then in his 20s) and indirectly helps heal him (the poor boy had many issues arising from being the child of teenage parents who got divorced, then growing up with a young single mum who never gave him a sense of security). Moving.
Time to pick another book...
For some odd reason, it turned out that 3 of the books happened to feature 'boys'. More about them later. I'll start with the lady.
Fat Chance by Deborah Blumenthal
(chick lit for sure)
Bought this on the recommendation of a fitness magazine. About a newspaper columnist who enjoys a great following because she is anti-thin, i.e. argues against dieting, slimming down, etc. However, she is asked to be a consultant to a handsome actor for his nip-tuck kind of movie and secretly goes on diet + exercises to lose weight before they meet, hence 'betraying' her cause. Predictable storyline. Lovely cover. Regret buying.I did not purposely look for a 'bad' review but I googled the title and this came up.
Just In Case by Meg Rosoff
About 15-year-old David who, one 'fateful' day, happens to glance up when his baby brother is perched on a window trying to 'fly'. He grabs - and saves - the little boy but the incident propels him into a world of anxiety, paranoia and depression as he tries to run away from 'fate'. In the literary sense, this book is skilfully crafted -- well constructed, well thought out and well written. However, I can't really say I 'enjoyed' it, though the story is engaging. Too 'dark' for me, all the angst, identity crisis and everything. I loved the (few) parts when the little boy 'talks' to his older brother. He can't actually speak yet, but the writer writes what he is thinking as though he is communicating with him. Instructive for parents, teachers and anyone who has anything to do with teenagers. The Learning Curve by the late Melissa Nathan
(chick lit + dad lit)
About a 30-ish primary school teacher, her favourite pupil (boy) and her school, family and personal relationships. Cute story but very long. There were 3-4 sub-plots (yes, there were that many sub-plots!) which I didn't really care about but overall, the book is enjoyable and I really like the dad-and-son (same boy) plot. I'm also full of admiration for the author, who completed this book while suffering from cancer. This story would make a good movie, I think. I'd choose Reese Witherspoon or Kate Winslet for the main character and because my movie repertoire is really limited, I can only think of Colin Firth for the widower dad, unless Brad Pitt can do the British accent. Anyway, since Colin Firth has been Mr Darcy and Mark Darcy, he might as well be Mark Samuels here, ha ha. I was, as Jane Austen would say, astonished to find subtle (much subtler than in BJ's Diary) Jane Austenish parts in this book. That definitely makes Jane Austen the queen of chick lit, of course, since she's every other chick lit writer's role model.
'Actually, to be honest,' she confessed, 'I can't make you out at all.'
'Well,' his voice was suddenly serious, 'I'm glad you're trying.'
a la Mr Darcy and Elizabeth at the ball... sigh...
Looking for Mary by Beverly Donofrio
About the writer herself, a lapsed Catholic, who collects Mary (i.e., Mary, the mother of Jesus) paraphernalia through her many years of unbelief. She joins a pilgrim group to Medjugorje (in Bosnia-Hercegovina) as an 'outsider' writing an article (she's a journalist). The experience draws her back to God. And the entire experience (of searching, finding and coming back) helps her come to terms with her relationship with her son (by then in his 20s) and indirectly helps heal him (the poor boy had many issues arising from being the child of teenage parents who got divorced, then growing up with a young single mum who never gave him a sense of security). Moving. More here.
Time to pick another book...
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