Latest reads

I have been a bit slack with my reading and my blog lately, the main reason being that I am studying and working full-time and just ran out of time. I also have two other blogs, both work-related and I guess those have to take priority. Anyway, I have been reading. On my Kindle, I am reading Lord of the Rings. I promised my husband that if he read Twilight, I would read LOR. He honoured the agreement, and I am just getting round to honouring my part of the deal. I have to admit, I am enjoying it. However, my Kindle had a terminal crash, which was disappointing, but the fabulous support at Amazon Kindle, in particular Melanie, replaced it immediately. I am so impressed with the service provided by Amazon Kindle. No hassles, no issues, just a good, fair, and friendly, personal service. Anyway, my Kindle issue is all resolved now and I am back into reading LOR.

In the meantime, however, I have also been reading paperback books. The first was The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I have read her other books (The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton) and really enjoyed them. I did enjoy this one too, but I have to admit that I did prefer the others. I am not sure why, but I felt the characters were stronger in the other two books and I cared about what happened to them. This one, I didn't become as attached. The story is very good and the twists and turns keep you guessing to the end, but it just feels a bit frustrating. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood.

The Sunday Times is currently offering Waterstones vouchers enabling you to choose from a different title every week and buy it for 99p. I bought Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. I absolutely love the film, and I am delighted to say that it was pretty true to the book. The story focuses around a published author who has been writing his next best-seller for the past seven years, while spending most of that time stoned, teaching, and getting married or having affairs. It got a little bit lost in the middle, but it was actually really good to read. I have to admit the film version of Grady Tripp was far more tolerable than the book version, but Crabtree remains the same in both. At one point, I really didn't like Grady in the book, and I did wonder why I was reading the book, but I was determined to persevere, and as it came to the end when everything came together, I found that I had discovered a new and interesting author. I also enjoyed the way the author focused so much on the skill of writing. Anyway, I shall be checking out some of his other books in the future.

And, if you fancy something fresh and new, check out Padraig De Brún (my husband), who has launched his novel and his short stories via three blogs:

• A Good Man - his novel
• Songs, Poems, Stories - short stories based on folk songs
• Tumbledown Fairies - gorgeous, children's stories.

Enjoy :-)

Complex cookery

Amazon were having a special offer on e-books, and being the type of girl that likes a bargain, I went and had a browse. One of the books I downloaded was The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. It was very interesting and covered many topics, and if there is a flaw with this book, I would say that that is it...the story just had too many facets. The book's title does make you think that the main subject is the cookbook collector, who Jessamine meets while working part-time in an antique book shop, but that is only one of the many topics, and this is where I think the book could be better. The two main characters are Jess, who can't seem to settle in life or love and her sister, Emily, a clever entrepreneur, in a loving, and supposedly trusting relationship. The people interactions in this book are quite complex and you do wonder how one family can be so complicated! However, the saving grace of this book are the descriptions of the collection of cookery books, which are wonderful and the book just comes alive. The collection has books from the 15th century, and the descriptions of recipes and ingredients are divine, entirely mouth-watering, and had the book focused on this theme, then I think it would have become one of my favourites. However, the book also dwelled upon her sister, owner of highly successful IT company, and in competition with her boyfriend. On top of that, the story brings in family secrets including their Jewish faith, which is very interesting, but again, a lot to focus on and detracting from the main story, which was the cookery book collection. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, but I think the author could have got three books out of it. It is a good book and well-written. It just felt very hectic, and when I finished it, all I was ready for was a very simple romance.

Which brings me on to my next book: A Mother's Gift by Debbie Macomber. I have spoken about Ms Macomber's books before. They are romantic, easy-to-read, and always have a happy ending. Just right for a rainy weekend. This one was no exception, and comprised of two stories. Both were about schoolfriends match-making their parents, and both stories had at least one of the parents widowed. In the first story, the children were in their early teens who wanted complete families and in the second story, the children were in their later teens, preparing to leave the nest, and not wanting to leave their parent alone. The stories are just nice. They cover difficult issues, like death and domestic violence, but they also demonstrate kindness and they are full of love. If you are looking for something deep, then this probably isn't the book for you, but if you are looking for a story with a happy ending, then, go for it and enjoy.