Debbish

Book review: The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village by Joanna Nell

Saturday, October 20, 2018 Permalink

This blurb on the backcover of this likens it to the TV show Grace and Frankie and book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. None of which I’d watched or read, or really found appealing.

That’s not to say I don’t like books about ageing ‘disgracefully’ or the quirks that come with old age. One of my favourite books is one called Elizabeth is Missing, about a woman grappling with dementia, in addition to Fredrik Backman’s books about grumpy old men and women (A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here).

When you don’t like the person you’ve become

Thursday, October 18, 2018 Permalink

I’ve spent a lot of my life not liking myself. Not thinking myself worthy of love, relationships, success, happiness. You know, the usual stuff. But it was only recently I disliked the kind of person I’d become. (#spoileralert: it’s fixable. I think!)

Better stronger and healthier

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 Permalink

Completely irrelevant backstory: I developed an irrational hatred of men (anyone, but mostly men) with clefts in their chins because when I was at University (living at a residential college) a guy – who was perfectly nice to me – made a comment that has stayed with me. It was during a game of netball and I was an okay player so I’m assuming he was just trying to be funny when he said…. “We’ve made her better, stronger, fatter than she’s ever been before….”

Fuckwit.

Book review & giveaway: Treasury of Bedtime Stories by Enid Blyton

Monday, October 15, 2018 Permalink

I suspect if you asked many people of my generation (and perhaps those born a decade or so before / after) we’d say that Enid Blyton was one of the biggest influences on our reading lives.

I have VERY vivid memories of going to our former library to borrow Noddy books and I LOVED the Faraway Tree, Wishing Chair, Secret Seven and Amelia Jane (though her less so, cos she WAS naughty) but most particularly The Famous Five.

Book review: Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson

Sunday, October 14, 2018 Permalink

Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson was released just before I went on holidays. I usually receive info about upcoming books a few months before their release but suspect I assumed the book was in fact a ‘true crime’ / non-fiction book, rather than a fictional account of a true crime documentary. (Cos I don’t ‘do’ non-fiction.)

Anyhoo… I was revoltingly stressed before my holidays so only got to many August / September emails in October (on my return) and had one from Penguin Random House about this book. I knew the book had been released to glowing reviews so I snapped up a copy when it was offered. And what a great debut novel it is.

Book review: Bright Young Dead by Jessica Fellowes

Saturday, October 13, 2018 Permalink

Last year I reviewed The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes…. which I described as ‘faction’…. a fictional account of a murder set around real life characters and events.

I’d not heard of the Mitford sisters at the time and was somewhat intrigued.

More interesting though was that the main character wasn’t one of the sisters, but rather their nursery maid or companion, Louisa. And in my review I commented that the Mitford sisters, particularly the elder, Nancy seemed to play a bigger role on the mystery-solving front along with an ambitious young police officer, Guy Sullivan. (And – at the time, as it was billed as #1 – I wondered who might feature in the next book in the series….)

5 ways I plan to bring the holiday vibe back home

Thursday, October 11, 2018 Permalink

I talked a little about this while still on my recently holiday… the fact that there were so many moments I attempted to commit to memory so that I’d have comfort on the long hard cold winter nights after I returned to the stark fun-free desert that is Australia. (Joking obvs… cos it’s almost summer here!)

There were moments, but there were also experiences. And ‘things’. Things that – I realised – I could actually be doing in my everyday life.

Book review: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

Tuesday, October 9, 2018 Permalink

I probably should start this review by confessing that I haven’t read the much-lauded The Book Thief (regular readers of my reviews will know how I feel about historical fiction!). I did see the movie however and yes, know it’s not the same thing, though it did give me a sense of the book’s themes.

I was happy to receive an advance copy of Markus Zusak’s Bridge of Clay, but it wasn’t until I read this interview with him the weekend before its release that I REALLY wanted to read this book which was 13 years in the making.

And I was most certainly not disappointed.

Book review: All That Was Lost by Alison May

Monday, October 8, 2018 Permalink

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from All That Was Lost by Alison May. I suspect I was drawn to the blurb; about past secrets coming back to haunt their keepers (thinking there was a mystery to be solved).

But it was quite different to what I was expecting. Not in a bad way…. it was just a different sort of book from my usual read, which is probably a good thing.