Book shopping today ...

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 8:45 pm

I nearly bought Marian Keyes's new book The Brightest Star in the Sky. Only I didn't because I already ordered it from the library. Only I wanted to because she is the only chicklit author I read, all her previous books have been keepers and I really don't wanna wait. Plus it has this really nice goldy cover. So basically, I didn't buy it but I might not hold out much longer.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 9:24 pm

Posted by Miss Moppet

I nearly bought Marian Keyes's new book The Brightest Star in the Sky.

I've just bought a copy of this for my daughter-in-law's Christmas present. I'm trying to be good and restrain myself from sneakily reading it before I wrap it up--

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 9:37 pm

[quote=""annis""]Posted by Miss Moppet

I've just bought a copy of this for my daughter-in-law's Christmas present. I'm trying to be good and restrain myself from sneakily reading it before I wrap it up--[/quote]

That is a family failing of ours. One year my father didn't give his brother all of his Christmas presents till January because he had to finish reading them himself first.

nona · Post by **nona** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 9:40 pm

lol, I wish I had readers in my family unfortunately besides myself there is only my six year old and she only reads Barbie and horse related things.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 9:51 pm

[quote=""annis""]Posted by Miss Moppet

I've just bought a copy of this for my daughter-in-law's Christmas present. I'm trying to be good and restrain myself from sneakily reading it before I wrap it up--[/quote]

I'm in and out re Marion Keyes. I loved Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, then I tried another - something to do with a melon? Or had a melon on the cover and I was bored to bits. Haven't tried any since. But then I probably only read this kind of genre once a year. One is good. Two I can cope with. Three and I start twitching...

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 10:22 pm

[quote=""EC2""]I'm in and out re Marion Keyes. I loved Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, then I tried another - something to do with a melon? Or had a melon on the cover and I was bored to bits. Haven't tried any since. But then I probably only read this kind of genre once a year. One is good. Two I can cope with. Three and I start twitching...[/quote]

MK's titles are in order of publication:

1. Watermelon
2. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
3. Rachel's Holiday
4. Last Chance Saloon
5. Sushi for Beginners
6. Angels
7. The Other Side of the Story
8. Anybody Out There?
9. This Charming Man
10. The Brightest Star in the Sky

I started off reading MK as a fun fluffy read but got to thinking, 'actually she's really good.' As I said I've kept them all but the ones I re-read are Rachel's Holiday and the rest from Angels onwards. If you felt inclined to try one more, EC, I'd make it either Rachel's Holiday or The Other Side of the Story. I once saw RH displayed in Waterstone's on a table with the theme 'Summer Fun' or something like that, which shows they don't always know what they're selling, because it's mostly set in midwinter in a rehab clinic. Basically it's about drug addiction, but it manages to be very funny as well. The Other Side of the Story I recommend simply because it's set mainly in the world of publishing so might have some added interest from that point of view!

Personally I need something 'extra' to make me read chicklit and with MK it is the darker themes she has in the background, which she deals with honestly and intelligently. Plus she has the humour to liven it up, which makes me choose her rather than, say, Jodie Picoult. I'm fussy...my books can't be too dark or too fluffy, they have to be a sort of dark fluff! Almost no-one provides this.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 10:58 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]
Personally I need something 'extra' to make me read chicklit and with MK it is the darker themes she has in the background, which she deals with honestly and intelligently. Plus she has the humour to liven it up, which makes me choose her rather than, say, Jodie Picoult. I'm fussy...my books can't be too dark or too fluffy, they have to be a sort of dark fluff! Almost no-one provides this.[/quote]

Dark fluff - I like that

Thanks for the list.
Now I can and do read Jodie Picoult and when I'm reading one I am glued to it -even if some are rather samey, and I go back for more. I love her work. Marian Keyes I will have to try again when I am in the mood. If I read the 'Chick-Lit' genre I tend to go for Jill Mansell or Katie Fforde or Christina Jones. I loved her novel Stealing the Show in particular.
I suppose with the genre as a whole, I can get my fix just by stepping outside the door and talking to my neighbours - or my family, and their lives are way more interesting than any contemporary women's fiction author could invent,(like the mixed darts team I play for where there's a mother of 6 children all by different dads and the eldest 15yr old daughter is pregnant by the 14yr old boyfriend, and a player's nephew is up on a murder rap, and another team member has just had his wife run away with another woman, having decided she's a lesbian after 20 years of marriage, leaving him with 4 kids to look after, and someone else is having an affair on the sly and another one lives next door to a drug dealer and.... well you get the picture and that's not the half of it!) so I tend to look to historical fiction, or fantasy, or other worlds and lifestyles for my reading.

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat November 7th, 2009, 11:16 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Dark fluff - I like that

Thanks for the list.
Now I can and do read Jodie Picoult and when I'm reading one I am glued to it -even if some are rather samey, and I go back for more. I love her work. Marian Keyes I will have to try again when I am in the mood. If I read the 'Chick-Lit' genre I tend to go for Jill Mansell or Katie Fforde or Christina Jones. I loved her novel Stealing the Show in particular. [/quote]

Hadn't heard of Christina Jones. I'll look out for her.

EC2 wrote: I suppose with the genre as a whole, I can get my fix just by stepping outside the door and talking to my neighbours - or my family, and their lives are way more interesting than any contemporary women's fiction author could invent,(like the mixed darts team I play for where there's a mother of 6 children all by different dads and the eldest 15yr old daughter is pregnant by the 14yr old boyfriend, and a player's nephew is up on a murder rap, and another team member has just had his wife run away with another woman, having decided she's a lesbian after 20 years of marriage, leaving him with 4 kids to look after, and someone else is having an affair on the sly and another one lives next door to a drug dealer and.... well you get the picture and that's not the half of it!) so I tend to look to historical fiction, or fantasy, or other worlds and lifestyles for my reading.

Gosh, so would I if my friends' lives were that colourful. There is nothing of great interest going on in my social circle, if you don't count my father's ongoing feud with the squirrels.

Kasthu · Post by **Kasthu** » Sun November 8th, 2009, 12:23 am

Today, bought a copy of Tulip Fever, by Deborah Moggach.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Sun November 8th, 2009, 3:50 am

I bought Leandra de Lisle's book on the Grey sisters, The Sisters Who Would Be Queen. (I'd already read the ARC, but I wanted a finished copy.)