Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

When Daniel Stone was a child, he was the only white boy in a native Eskimo village where his mother taught, and he was teased mercilessly because he was different. He fought back, the baddest of the bad kids: stealing, drinking, robbing and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush - where he honed his artistic talent, fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself - jettisoning all that anger to become a docile, devoted husband and father. Fifteen years later, when we meet Daniel again, he is a comic book artist. His wife teaches Dante's Inferno at a local college; his daughter, Trixie, is the light of his life - and a girl who only knows her father as the even-tempered, mild-mannered man he has been her whole life. Until, that is, she is date raped and Daniel finds himself struggling, again, with a powerlessness and a rage that may not just swallow him whole, but destroy his family and his future.

I adore Jodi Picoult, she is one of my all-time favourite authors. Each new book of hers that I read becomes my favourite, and The Tenth Circle is no exception. It is a masterpiece in characterisation and slowly building tension to what is a very realistic yet shocking conclusion. Picoult's strength lies in her ability to get inside the minds of her characters, whether it be a 40 year old single father or a 5 year old girl. She writes from each character's perspective in turn, giving the reader a thorough understanding of the complexities of human relationships. Her courage in tackling really difficult and controversial issues, where there is rarely a clear line between black and white, makes for compelling reading. In this book she tackles the issue of date rape and isolation - both teenage and adult - and forces you to consider the situation from every angle. I found it to be gripping to the point where I was trying to read it while cooking supper and walking to the station,... it's that good!

Buy this book at Amazon UK, Loot or Kalahari

Daddy's Girls by Tasmina Perry

The Balcon sisters are London's paparazzi darlings. Serena, the country's most beautiful actress, Venetia the glamorous designer, Camilla the rising political star and Cate the feisty magazine editor. They have wealth, privilege and sizzling sex lives. But money doesn't buy you love. When their aristocratic and tyrannical father Oswald Balcon is found dead, the finger of suspicion points towards his glamorous daughters and their dazzling lives. Suddenly we find that beneath the ritzy façade of the Balcon family lies a web of deceit and betrayal that hides a thirty-year-old secret that threatens to destroy them all. From the sun drenched beaches of Mustique to Manhattan's elite society circuit. From the exclusive fashion houses of Milan to the star-studded streets of Cannes, the Balcon Sisters play out their lives in a whirl of glitz and the ultra chic. But as tragedy and danger stalks each one of them, the scene is set for a stunning climax.

Move over Jackie Collins, there's a new girl in town! Tasmina Perry's debut novel is what the British like to call a 'bonkbuster', the modern-day alternative to the genre formerly known as 'bodice-rippers.' Basically, you take the pages of Heat magazine, pick out a couple of beautiful A-list celebrities, give them pseudonyms, write an imaginary tale of how fabulous their lives are and throw in bit of mystery and a lot of sex. There you have the bonkbuster. A perfect, escapist beach read, which I have to read in the comfort of my lounge considering there are no beaches for miles. Good fun if you're a tabloid junkie and thrive on soap operas!

Buy this book from Amazon UK, Loot or Kalahari

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

How To Kill Your Husband by Kathy Lette

All women want to kill their husbands some of the time "Where there's a will, I intend to be in it," wives half-joke to each other. Marriage, it would appear, is a fun-packed frivolous hobby, only occasionally resulting in death. But when Jazz Jardine is arrested for her husband's murder, the joke falls flat. Life should begin at 40 - not with life imprisonment for killing your spouse. Jazz, stay-at-home mum and domestic goddess; Hannah, childless career woman; and Cassie, demented working mother of two are three ordinary women. Their record collections are classical, not criminal. Cassie and Hannah set out immediately to prove their best friend's innocence, uncovering betrayal, adultery, plot twists, thinner thighs and toy boys aplenty en route but will their friendship survive these ever darker revelations? Sexy, funny and wise, Kathy Lette's irresistible new novel is about women not Having It All But Doing It All. It's about how today's mother is often a married lone parent. It's about the fact that no woman has ever shot her husband while he was vacuuming.;This is Kathy Lette at her brilliant best, casting her trade mark caustic eye on what goes on in the bedrooms and kitchens of ordinary married couples. A novel which will strike a cord with married women everywhere and ensure that, from now on, they all read the small print on their marriage licenses.

Loved this book, absolutely loved it. The number of times (many, many!) I found myself reading out loud (over the phone even) paragraphs and sentences from this book to my boyf ... it was a truly hysterical read. Definitely good for light entertainment if you're between deep and dark reads and one I could definitely recommend as a holiday read or just to lift your mood. Although, I must say it does leave those of us (me) who are more than a little cautious about spending the rest of our lives with one person a little skittish ... based on the disarray marriage aflicts on these women's lives. But still, a fabulously entertaining book!

Buy this book online at Amazon, Amazon UK, Kalahari or Loot

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Chart Throb by Ben Elton

This book was originally reviewed on 10 April 2007 by phillygirl. Read both reviews here.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Flyleaf by Finuala Dowling

Lying quietly in Marina’s spare room, you can hear the sea, tell the tide. When I first stretched my toes down into Marina’s sheets, they encountered sand. Someone else had slept there before me, come straight to bed after a day on the beach. I curled up like a mollusc, like a purple-lipped dog whelk, and let the bleakness of my life wash over me. What would become of me?

A wonderful book. The images are evocative of life in Cape Town, certainly for anyone who's ever lived here. The story is lyrical and well-written. Violet, the main character, is a teacher that is paid by the hour. She's just separated from her husband, who got another woman pregnant, and this is her story. The book is littered with half-formed characters that you'd love to learn more about. If only Violet would just ask the right questions, then maybe you'd know. But she doesn't, and the characters remain enigmatic, as the rare glimpses and snippets of their lives that Violet sees are all that you are given. Written with the pacing of life in Cape Town [by which I mean it is slow], the writing clearly communicates the feeling of drifting on the ocean that has recently enveloped Violet's life. More enjoyably, Violet is an English teacher and the book is littered with observations, witticisms and simple lessons on the English language and how it's used.

Buy this book online at Amazon UK, Kalahari or Loot

Friday, October 12, 2007

A Lion in the Bedroom by Pat Cavendish O'Neill

Here Pat tells the story of her charmed life among the glittering names of the twentieth century – Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Gianni Agnelli, Princess Grace and the Hollywood crowd – and the day everything changed for her, when she was presented with a tiny lion cub and she entered a world more magical and inspiring than anything she had known before.

Pat Cavendish O'Neill was born into a world of enormous riches, eccentricity and intrigue. She tells the story of her glitzy expatriate life in Kenya, where scandal and affairs were commonplace among the wealthy aristocratic foreigners...

And of how it all changed for her when she was presented with a tiny lion cub. This was her beloved Tana.

This book has taken me absolute ages to read, and not by any means because it was a dull story (it's just pretty lengthy at 600 pages)! I chose it as an out-of-the-ordinary read for myself but after my recent trip to Kenya (and a visit to Joy Adamson of Born Free fame's house), I thought it would be worth it ... and I was right.

It is a well-written easy to read book and a fascinating life story. Pat Cavendish O'Neill has certainly lived to experience a many-varied lifestyle. From being a decadent heiress (although a naive one), with enough money to travel around the world many times over (which she did) and have family homes in so many countries to being a dedicated "mother" to more lost animals than one could count.

Her story takes you back to a time I can hardly imagine, with experiences I could barely relate to with the common-place-ness of the Royal guests and the long list of famous friends. But in the end, nothing can prepare you for the depth of emotion she manages to convey when she tells the stories of her beloved Tana and the incredibly bond they have.

I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a good biography, because this woman has truly lived!

Buy this book online at Amazon UK, Kalahari or Loot

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Under The Duvet by Marian Keyes

A real treat - the incredibly funny jottings of a hugely bestselling and much-loved author Her books are read and adored by millions around the world - now read the collected journalism of the woman who writes them: the woman under the duvet. Marian loves shoes and her LTFs (Long Term Friends), hates estate agents and lost luggage, and she once had a Christmas office party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit, the Moroccan way. She's just like you and me...


I love Marian Keyes. Reading her books is like splashing through puddles in wellington boots on a rainy day, or stretching out on a deck chair in the sun with a cocktail - utterly satisfying. You feel like you're doing exactly what you're meant to be doing in that moment.

Under the Duvet, so named because the author likes to write in bed, is a little different to the other Keyes books I have read before, in that it is a selection of magazine articles, columns and personal essays rather than a work of fiction. Marian reveals the woman behind the label of World Renowned Chick Lit Author; her trials and tribulations, her views on life and family, her inimitable Irishness and her obssession with shoes. She writes with a healthy dose of good humour, even when discussing her descent into alcoholism and her subsequent struggle to recover.

Most of you reading this like blogs... well, this is like taking a brilliant blogger's top 30 posts and compiling them into a book. Light, easy and highly enjoyable reading.

Buy this book online at Amazon, Amazon UK, Kalahari or Loot

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Related Website: BOOK SA

BOOK SA is an online SA Lit Daily, dedicated to covering matters literary - in English and beyond - in Southern Africa. BOOK SA reports on local fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biography, book reviews and happenings and more.

Definitely handy if you enjoy the occasional Book launch or reading since they have an up-to-date Events calendar.