Uff. Tomorrow’s the big day. As a result to that I’m suffering from what appears to be chronic sleepiness. No matter what I do, I’m tired and seemingly unable to read – which I really do not need right now.Please send me some positive thoughts.

Ps. I finally found the book last night – And I recommend it to anybody who loves chick-lit and humour.

Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

Anybody Out There is Irish author Marian Keyes third novel about the Walsh sisters.

Following Angels about Maggie, and Rachel’s Holiday about Rachel, this book focuses on the second youngest of the five sisters, Anna, and her compellingly moving story.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read the other books about the Walsh girls – they don’t follow on!

Part One of the story sees Anna back at her family home in Ireland, recovering from an accident, which has left her with a dislocated knee, broken arm and badly injured face.

The accident – although we aren’t told what exactly happened yet – took place in New York, where Anna works as a PR for cosmetic company Candy Grrrl.

What we are told, is that Anna is desparately wanting to return to New York to find Aidan – her partner.

The clever thing about this book is that how it is written, leads you to believe something completely different from what is actually the truth.

In other words, how Anna describes the situation with Aidan makes the reader believe he has left her…the truth is he has left her, but not in the way you are made to think.

SPOILER ALERT: When Anna finally says out loud and directly, Aidan is dead, you as the reader will actually mourn the thought – and that is the wonder of Marian Keyes.

She will make you laugh and cry as you follow Anna’s heartbreaking journey to discovering and finally accepting Aidan’s passing, but a word of warning: every emotion Anna feels, you will feel too.

Throw into the mix hilarious Helen, the youngest of the Walsh girls, along with Anna’s madcap friends and family, this book becomes like a truly funny friend.

Easy to read in one go, a completely enjoyable story that will make you appreciate those you love just that little bit more.

Fingers crossed for a fourth Walsh family book hopefully written all about Helen.

Reviews And Shoes rating: 10/10

Marian Keyes, Last Chance Saloon, Michael Joseph (1999)

The quality of this novel is mid-way between Marian Keyes’ earlier, popular novels, and the more insightful, more recent and mature novels.

The general theme is how two very different thirty-something year old women get a grip on the way they relate to the men in their lives, and learn to “seize the day”.

The plot is relatively light mais il tient la route: it describes the lives and love-lives of a group of three best friends from Knockavoy, Ireland, and how they have grown to be who they are. When Fintan undergoes chemotherapy, he asks his two best friends, Tara and Katherine, to act upon their disastrous love-lives. Each character has a relatively well-defined, individual personality.

If you’re looking for an easy-read, then this novel is perfect. Marian is good at what she does, without the pretence of intellectual literature. It’s the kind of book that you read on the bus, on the way to work (ahem), and i’s quite a fun read. Not very much introspection, but some good bouts of sarcasm at the ridiculous Lorcan Larkin (a couple of amusing pages on how the love-god views himself). Nevertheless, the irony is often a little O.T.T, and the insight remains slightly superficial.

On the whole, this novel paints a slightly ironic picture of the UK’s middle classes in their early thirties, with all the binge-drinking, one-night-stands, addiction to shopping and to ever-lasting lipstick. It is the kind of book that must be fun to write; but not much more.

L’s book-rating criteria

Characterisation: 17/20

Credibility: 16/20

Plot: 15/20

Feel-good factor: 15/20

My subjective opinion: 14/20

Total: 77 %

(to be improved & finished)

EU NÃO POSSO ENTRAR NO SITE DO SUBMARINO ESSES DIAS!!!! hauhauahuaah XD

Coleção Shelock Holmes comentada!!

Lindos *_* de capa dura!!! custa cada um aqui na livraria perto daqui de casa o preço que está a coleção toda no submarino!!! eu sempre passo a mão na capa deles antes de ir almoçar (já q passo em frente a livraria pra ir pro almoço…)! *_* eu sei… é doentio…

Tem alguém aí?

livro novo da Marian Keyes ^^ e ela é seeeemmpre divertida, não é??!!

Torre Negra

tá caro… mas um dia eu os terei na estante de casa! *_* sonho de consumo!!!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

And I’ve just found out about it!  It’s very timely as I collected two reserved books from the library today.

My cover is different to this, it’s gold with a star in the middle, but I like this one too.  Marian Keyes is just about the only “chicklit” novelist I read and I’ve loved her last few so I have really been anticipating this one.

Update: Well, this is the first MK I couldn’t finish. I got 50 pages in and just wasn’t hooked enough to carry on reading. I felt it was too bitty and I couldn’t get focused on any of the characters, although, paradoxically, my attention span is extremely short at the moment. I may come back to this one but for the moment it’s got to be returned to the library as others are waiting for it.

Again, my cover was different, pretty dark and boring really and not anything like as fabulous as the above.

I used to read Cassandra Clare back in the days when she spelt her surname with an i and was writing the Very Secret Diaries.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a Lord of the Rings parody based on the films and I still click on it whenever I want a good laugh.  (But be warned, it is very irreverent and not for the easily offended). One bit that particularly sticks in my mind is Gollum’s dating advice to the Balrog:

Met up with Balrog in nattily decorated subterranean bachelor pad. Balrog v. mopey. Still carrying torch for Gandalf. Told him best course of action was to try to talk it out, explain to Gandalf that while they are two extremely different people, with value systems and lifestyles that are in complete opposition to each other’s, romance not ruled out. Balrog said this sounded like meaningless New Age claptrap. Told Balrog to get out of Second Age, start living in the now.

Cassandra Clare herself has moved on since then, to traditional publication.  City of Bones is the first of her urban fantasy trilogy, The Mortal Instruments. I’m hoping I’ll like it.

Marian Keyes, queen of the UK chick-lit authors (and a great read – recommended!), has this to say on shopping for Christmas:

This is where I come into my own. At the best of times I’m an excellent spender of money; shopping, buying nice things, running up debt – I’m second to none. But I especially love buying presents. It’s an opportunity to buy lovely things without the consequent guilt and, instead of feeling like a spendthrift, I feel like a generous, giving person.

She adds:

Everyone hates me when I announce at the end of October that I’ve bought all my Christmas presents. Their faces go all cat’s-bum sour and someone usually says, “Well! Aren’t you little Miss Organised?” and you can tell they mean it as an insult.

Despite buying her Christmas gifts months in advance, she maintains this is actually not a good thing, citing some of the things that can befall the very early shopper, like:

• Buying green cushions for your sister’s green-themed bedroom, only to have her redecorate it in pink in October.
• Your mother buying for herself, in early November, the very moisturiser you had already purchased for her
• Being unable to resist giving particularly lovely presents weeks early, only to have the recipient forget, by Christmas Day, that you had already given her her Christmas present. She now thinks you are stingy for not getting her anything.

Further Under The Duvet, Marian Keyes, 2005, Penguin Books

Marian Keyes, Watermelon, 1996

I bought this book because a friend of mine recommended it. But right from the very first pages, I was sorely disappointed. This isn’t the Marian Keyes of 2009, this was the Marian Keyes of 1996, and 13 years is a long time in a female author’s life.

You can tell that this is the novel of a naïve young authoress just from the style. Very short, snappy sentences, striving for wit. Average length of a paragraph? 10 words. The opening two sentences of chapter 1 are  enough to put anybody off, as the narrator confides in the reader all the dreadful things that have happened to her, complaining like your average boring young woman.

And it goes on, and on, and on. Pages after pages of moaning about how her husband left her. The plot is so poor it hurts. It’s the kind of story that a teenager would write (or that I would have written as a teenager).

I forced myself to wait, hoping that something would come out of it. But the novel is just full of conventional stereotypes, like the handsome young Adam, and the villainous accountant (or whatever he was) Jack. For a bus-book, it’s not so bad. It makes time pass on your way to work. But even the twist at the end of the novel was not quite what I was hoping for. It just adds to the cliché.

This novel is almost a caricature of the trashy, popular feminine literature of the 1990s, just without the raunchy details.

And yet, despite all of the aforementioned aspects, the Marian Keyes of today has turned into a funny, insightful and subtle writer. A lady of the extremes, she both tops and tails my chart.

L’s book-rating criteria

Characterisation: 11/20

Credibility: 10/20

Plot: 10/20

Feel-good factor: 10/20

Subjective opinion: 10/20

Total: 51%

It’s always difficult to keep pace with all the new titles appearing, so I’m trying to pick out a few that jump out and say “read me”. The first this week is the new Sandi Toksvig book called Chain of Curiosity [ Sphere £9.99 978-1847443458 ] which is a selection of her writings from her Sunday Telegraph column. I have to admit that I don’t often read the Sunday papers, so this would be new to me. I’ve always been a fan of Sandi Toksvig, especially when she chairs the “News Quiz” on BBC Radio 4. According to reports this new collection is bound to amuse: from the joys of World Pencil Day to the oddest way to meet a sticky end via school report vocabulary and applause etiquette. Sounds like a good one. Click here for a brief biography of Sandi on the BBC website

When Alan Titchmarsh was fifteen years old, all he wanted to do was work in a garden. It was a way of getting away from school where he didn’t seem to fit in. This is the point in his life where the new volume of his autobiography starts, called Knave of Spades [Hodder £20 978-0340953044]. But Alan decided he wasn’t just going to work in the local garden centre and be content with that – no, he wanted a challenge and this led eventually to the first steps in radio and TV via college and Kew Gardens. If you want to read about Alan’s earliest memories, then you will need Nobbut a Lad , which is still available [Hodder Paperbacks £7.99 978-0340831182]. Meanwhile Trowel and Error (awful title!)[Hodder and Stoughton £9.99 978-0340765432], seems to be a selection of memorable moments and episodes from his life so far.

Now to fiction and the WHSmith book of the week last week was the brand new thriller from Simon Kernick; Target [Corgi £6.99 978-0552156615]. If you enjoy a book set in a world of drugs barons, prostitutes, hit men and bent coppers, then this is for you. Kernick’s books are centred around the ganglands of North London where wrongs are “put right” by the barrel of the gun or a severe beating. Whilst you will find a sense of humour in the books, the main features are the dramatic elements – shoot outs, torture and the like – these characterise Kernick’s books. In this, his eighth book, Rob Fallon joins  his best-friend’s girlfriend, Jenny, in her apartment in London’s West End after a drinking spree. Then two men break into the apartment, try to kill Rob and carry Jenny off. The police don’t seem to want to know and Jenny’s father claims she has gone abroad. Meaty stuff.

If your stomach isn’t strong enough for that, then perhaps the latest from Marian Keyes might be more suitable: The Brightest Star in the Sky [ Michael Joseph £18.99 9780718149864]. The book opens with someone or something (the narrator) flying over the streets of Dublin and entering a block of flats, describing the domestic situations he/she/it finds. There’s an awkward family gathering in one flat and an argument between flatmates over the cleaning (or lack of it) in another. What this someone or something is you’ll have to read the book to find out – reviews have been a bit mixed, but mostly favourable.

Finally the Diagram Group’s 2009 prize for the oddest title of the year goes to The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais . It beat off several slightly racier titles for top place with a 32% share of the total vote. It is a nevertheless controversial title as the book was produced not by a living person, but by Professor Philip M Parker’s automated authoring invention, which produces a title on the basis of complex internet and database searches. Would that be cheating?

Next time – some new and recent local books

Inspired by some of the things that people have been getting up to recently, we created this new section of the blog on the spur of the moment.

Our first ever member of the month is Carole Mooney who posted the following message in the Chat forum at ideas4writers.co.uk:

“I work in a college library where we used to receive the top ten fiction books regardless of the quality of the writing. Hence we have been sent Katie Price’s ghost written offerings. I have been known to refuse to lend them out (much to the mirth of my colleagues) and have directed the students to something I consider more suitable – usually a Celia Aherne or a Marian Keyes which are at least written by the people whose name is on the cover and the books are enjoyable and accessible. Of course I’m not going to direct a Katie Price fan to Dostoevsky!

“We no longer have the top ten books sent in and I will be the person who will go to Waterstones to buy the college fiction books (yes I will be paid to shop in a bookshop!). As far as I can help it there will be no more celebrity authors in the library!”

Carole – we salute you! Well done for taking a stand and supporting real writers. We hope this will encourage others to do the same.

Our non-member of the month award goes to former ITN political reporter John Sergeant, who returned his advance (reportedly worth tens of thousands of pounds) to his publisher after refusing to write yet another memoir.

John said: “What I was really expecting to do when I left ITN was to write books, because I had a two-book contract with Macmillan. Had I been less well-known, I could have written a book on the history of the police, or something that would have interested me hugely, but all they really wanted was my memoirs.”

“You can’t go on writing the same book – not only is it boring, it’s a terrific strain too.”

After paying the money back, John said that he felt “incredibly free”.

What a nice man!

If you’ve done something that you think deserves recognition from your fellow writers, or you spot a news item about someone else who has taken a stand, please pass the details on to us, and we’ll be pleased to help circulate the story a little more widely.

You can email us at: mail@ideas4writers.co.uk

Dave Haslett, ideas4writers.co.uk

Marian Keyes has got a new book out – The Brightest Star in the Sky – and we’ve temporarily abandoned our more heavy going reading schedules in order to peruse it. Mainly though, we’re loving the reference to our very talented mother on page 472:

“thirty-eight pairs of shoes, a Lucy Doyle painting and two hundred euro in the bank.”

Thanks, Marian!

Quando a Mia de O Diário da Princesa um dia fala para alguma criatura (no momento não me lembro quem  ) que ela não aguentava mais o Rocky assistir a Dora a aventureira achei um barato. A Meg colocou de um jeito tão engraçado que nunca mais esqueci ( exceto pra quem ela falou… )

E agora que estou lendo Sushi da Marian Keyes me deparo com Clodagh numa conversa com Ashling que lembra muito o que a Mia disse.

…”Agora, detalhe: só faço coisas insignificantes – tipo trocar de roupa porque vomitaram em cima de mim ou assistir a um vídeo do Barney atrás do outro… Se bem que – disse, com um brilho maligno nos olhos – eu tenha dado um fim no Barney.

-Como?

-Disse a Molly que ele morreu.

Ashling soltou uma gargalhada homérica.

-Atropelado por um caminhão – prosseguiu Clodagh, séria.

-Você não fez isso, fez?

-Fiz, sim – disse Clodagh, ocm ar de esperteza. – Já estava cheia daquele filho-da-puta roxo e todos aqueles fedelhos irritantes dando lições de moral e me dizendo como viver a minha vida.

-Molly não vai ficou mal?

-Ela vai superar. A vida é assim. Estou certa?

-Mas… mas… ela tem dois anos e meio.

-Eu também sou gente – defendeu-se Clodag. – também tenho direitos. E estava ficando louca com aquele dinossauro, juro que estava.” …

Lembrei de quando eu assistia ao Barney e cantava aquela canção – Eu te amo, você me ama … Velhos tempos… HA HA

Told by a mysterious and all-seeing narrator, Marian Keyes’ new novel delves into the lives and loves of the inhabitants of an apartment block in Dublin. As we learn more about each character and their relationships, we find that their seemingly cosy and uncomplicated lives conceal darker truths. Marian deftly handles a large cast of characters, and her novel is accessible and enjoyable, without shying away from deeper issues. $32.95. Fiona

I am almost there- I was slacking a bit when school started, but I’m back on track.  I am now aiming for 75 by year’s end (and no, I do not count books I read to my class such as Horrible Harry, Farley Farts, and The Ugly Pumpkin.)

55th book: Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes  LOVED IT!  Note: I would spell Rachel Rachael because that is my personal preference.  However, that would be incorrect in this case.

Image from: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:_DxAjXS6tap8oM:http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/0293-1/%257BAEA8E4BA-245B-486F-916F-D6041F7FABAD%257DImg100.jpg

Marian Keyes loves Divine

“What a feel-good story, what a great thing they’re doing.  And what lovely chocolate” said the gorgeous Marian Keyes when she discovered Divine. And we love her stories here at Divine!

There’s nothing like  snuggling up with a good book and a bar of chocolate ,  so look out for special competition bars of our 100g Dark Chocolate in supermarkets which  offer the chance to win hoards of chocolate and signed copies of Marian ‘ s wonderful new book out 29th October.  Not only that, but when you buy a copy of Marian’s new book from Waterstones bookshops  there’s another chance to win hampers full of chocolate!

Watch Marians video on chocolate here.

Find out who else is loving Divine….

I was reading mj’s blog about the latest Dan Brown, and realised that I too had been reading a bestseller over the weekend – the latest Marian Keyes to  be exact.  Not quite in the league of Dan Brown, but close enough for some  to turn up their literary lips.

I’ve pretty much enjoyed all her books, light, but not too light, a touch of serious issues mixed in with some funny one liners, characters that you love to love, or love to hate, and a story engaging enough to keep the whole thing rollicking along nicely.

The Brightest star in the sky has all of this, but unfortunately not in bucket loads.  Lots of good characters, but I felt that Keyes was just trying to deal with too many wayward souls for me to really get a grip on all their idiosyncracies. There is also one little character that remains elusive and somewhat annoying, but I will leave that for you to find out about.

All in all still a great weekend read, and if you like Marian Keyes you will enjoy it, but possibly not as much as her others.  (And don’t be put off by the thickness of the book, you will skip through it nice and quickly).

I can be a picky reader: sometimes I’ll walk into a bookshop and walk out with nothing. Sometimes I find it hard to find anything to read, or I just can’t find anything I’m in the mood to read. But at the moment, several of my favourite authors have new books out or books that are just about to be released. I don’t know where to start!

Here’s what’s on my ‘to read’ list right now:

• The white queen by Philippa Gregory. This latest from the powerhouse historical fiction writer is the first in a new series.
• Noah’s compass by Anne Tyler. If you haven’t read any Anne Tyler before, I recommend Digging to America.
• Remarkable creatures by Tracy Chevalier. Fiction about art history is ‘my thing’, so it goes without saying that Girl with a pearl earring is one of my all time favourite books. I don’t know that Chevalier’s subsequent novels have lived up to the standard set by that particular story, but they are always an enjoyable read.
• The lost symbol by Dan Brown. Ok, so it’s kind of a dirty little secret, but I really enjoy Dan Brown. One can’t be literary all the time!
• The year of the flood by Margaret Atwood. My introduction to Margaret Atwood was via Alias Grace, which I read at uni. I found it a bit slow, I must admit. But I revisited Atwood a few years later when a friend bought me The handmaid’s tale as a birthday gift (read it – extraordinary!), and that’s when I became a true Atwood fan.
• The brightest star in the sky by Marian Keyes. Eeek! I already had my moment of unliterary-ness, didn’t I? But I can’t tell a fib – I am a die hard Marian Keyes fan. Incidentally, I recently reorganised my book shelf and created a designated ‘chick lit’ area. By virtue of space constraints, Margaret Atwood ended up on the ‘chick lit’ shelf, right next to Marian Keyes. I wonder what Atwood would think of that!
• And the book I’ve been waiting for with the most anticipation: Her fearful symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Is there anyone left in the world who hasn’t read The time traveller’s wife? Surely not! I have waited and waited and waited for this second novel from Niffenegger, buying everything else she offered in between (she has a couple of fabulous graphic novels) – and here it is! While it’s last on this list, this will be the first one I read.

Some of these hot new titles are yet to arrive at branch libraries – but some of them are on the shelves now. (Of course, Dan Brown has the requisite extensive waiting list.) All of the titles are available on the catalogue for you to place your holds, even if they’re not yet on the shelves.

I see lots of lazy Sunday’s on the couch in the weeks to come!

Semana passada terminei de ler O Chá de Bebê de Becky Bloom, que encerra a saga publicada da shopaholic londrina. E to sentindo falta… Mas agora meus dias serão preenchidos por uma irlandesa que atende por Rachel Walsh (quando sóbria).

        Sonbaharın ilk yağmurları başladı burada. Dün akşamüzerinden beri yağmur çisil çisil yağıyor. Balkona çıkınca burnuma keskin bir çam kokusu geliyor. Nasıl da özlemişim! Önceden hiç sevmezdim yağmuru. Yağmurda kesinlikle evden dışarı çıkmamam gerekirmiş gibi gelirdi. Aslında hala rahat rahat yağmurda dışarı çıkabildiğim söylenemez. Yağmurda yürümeyi beceremiyorum ben, baştan aşağı ıslanıyorum çünkü. Çok yağışlı memleketlerde, mesela İngiltere’de insanlar işe, alışverişe, okula, sinemaya ve bilimum yerlere nasıl gidebiliyorlar ve hiiiç ıslanmıyorlar anlayabilmiş değilim. Sanırım bana yağmurda yürüme kılavuzu lazım

        Ama şimdi yağmur varken içim garip bir huzurla doluyor. Pencerenin önüne oturup, yanıma kahvemi, elime kitabımı alma arzusu uyandırıyor içimde yağmur. Belki de evden çıkmak zorunda olmadığım içindir. Belki de uzuuun zamandır tatil yaptığım ve artık kış moduna girmek istediğim içindir.

         Evet bu sene ne zamandır yapmadığım kadar uzun bir tatil yaptım. Sınav stresinden, ders çalışmaktan dolayı bunalmıştım. Sonrasında neyse ki tatil beni bekliyordu. Eğer kuzenlerimle, arkadaşlarımla geçirdiğim zamanları saymazsak, yaklaşık 3 hafta boyunca, amaçsız bir biçimde ,neredeyse tüm günümü sahilde kitap okuyarak geçirdim. Aahhh güzel günler! Sabah erkenden kalkıp , hemen denize koşup, sahilde kısa bir yürüyüşün ardından kendimi sakin sulara attım. Sonrasında güneş yükselene kadar okudum tabii. Öğleden sonra, güneşin etkisi geçmeye başlayınca yine sahile gidip, gölgede kitaplarıma gömüldüm, ta ki güneş batana kadar. Gerçekten terapi gibiydi benim için. Bir daha böyle bir şansım olur mu bilemiyorum ama gerçekten en güzel yazlarımdan biriydi sanırım.

       Kitaplara gelecek olursak maalesef hepsine burada ayrıntılı olarak yer veremeyeceğim, ki blogun asıl amacı buydu, ama bu kadar uzun bir ara verince hepsini tek tek anlatmak hakikaten çok uzun bir iş. 2009 yaz kitapları;

•         Beni hatırladın mı?- Sophie Kinsella : Geçirdiği kazadan sonra hafızasını kaybeden ve son 3 yılını hiç hatırlamayan bir kadının kendini tanıma ve son 3 yılda neler olduğunu hatırlama çabasını anlatıyor. 
•         Aşık ve Gururlu – Melissa Nathan : Aşk ve gurur’un modern versiyonu denilebilir. Benim gibi Jane Austen kolikler sevebilir.
•         Sen yeter ki iste! – Alexandra Potter :  ” Ne istediğine dikkat et çünkü gerçek olabilir!”. Buna ben de çok inanırım. Gerçi kitapta çok basit şekliyle durulmuş konu üzerinde, idare eder.
•         Kırmızı kazak – Glenn Beck
•         Sonsuza kadar – Judith McNaught
•         Kusursuz -  Judith McNaught
•         Gelin – Julie Garwood: Yazarın Düğün adlı romanını okumuştum ve çok beğenmiştim. Bu da ona çok benziyor. Sevdim. Gerçi iki adet Judith McNaught romanından sonra okuma gafletine düştüğüm için uzun süre bu tür okumayı düşünmüyorum. Üst üste 3 aşk romanı bünyeme fazla geldi.
•         Solup giden aşklar – Sveva Casati Modignani
•         Güneşin doğusu – Julia Gregson
•         Örgü kulübü – Kate Jacobs : bu kitabın filmi de çekilecekmiş. Okurken insanın örgü öresi geliyor. Güzel bir hikaye.
•         Kız kardeşim için – Jodi Picoult : Yazarın okuduğum ilk kitabıydı. Zaten aynı dönemde filmi de vizyondaydı. Okuduktan sonra gidip başka bir kitabını daha aldım. Kitaptan etkilenmemek mümkün değil. Olayları birkaç kişinin gözünden aktarıyor ve hepsinin psikolojisini ayrı ayrı çok güzel yansıtmış.
•         Limon ağacı – Sandy Tolan : Filistin ve İsrail’in nasıl bu hale geldiğini anlamak için okunması gereken bir kitap. İsrail’in kuruluşunu, Filistin- İsrail çatışmalarını, insanların yaşadıklarını yansıtmaya çalışmış. Roman denemez. İki ailenin ışığında politik olayların gelişimini aktarıyor. Bazı yerlerde tarihi devamlılık sağlanamıyor sanki ama yine de okunmalı.
•         Orada kimse var mı? – Marian Keyes : Marian Keyes’in okuduğum ikinci kitabı. Güzel bir kitap, hem hüzünlenip hem gülüyorsunuz.
•        Hayat beklemez – Sheila O’flanagan : Eh!

                Yukarıdan da görüldüğü gibi genel anlamda chick-lit tercih etmişim ki deniz kenarı için en uygun kitaplar da onlar sanırım. Yoksa sağınızda bir grup genç muhabbet ederken ve solunuzda da çocuklar bağırışırken limon ağacını okumaya çalışırsanız benim gibi gereken verimi alamayabilirsiniz. Ama sanırım ben biraz abartmıştım o nedenle sonlara doğru chick-lit ve aşk romanlarından sıkılmaya başladım ve yanımda olan kitaplar izin verdiğince biraz tarzı değiştireyim dedim ki limon ağacını da bu esnada okudum ama aslında dediğim gibi sahilde okumasam sanırım daha iyi olacaktı. Tatilden döndükten sonra okuduğum kitaplara gelirsek;

•             Şeytanın Müridi – Glenn Meade : Dediğim gibi tarz değişikliği. Eğer Grange’ın kiaplarından hoşlanıyorsanız bu yazarı da seveceğinizi söyleyebilirim. Ben de gerilim türü ararken kitapçıdaki çocuk tavsiye etmişti bu kitabı. Gerçekten sevdim, bir çırpıda okudum. Okurken aklımdan sürekli bu kitaptan çok iyi film olacağı geçti, sanki sahneler gözümün önüne geldi. Kitabımızda bir adet seri katilimiz ki kendisi idam ediliyor, bir adet de FBI ajanımız var. Katil yani ona taktıkları ad ile şeytanın müridi idam edildikten sonra yine onun yöntemleri kullanılarak cinayetler işlenmeye başlıyor. Peki acaba katil kim? Zaten bu kitap hoşuma gidince gidip Buz Kapanı‘nı da aldım bakalım o nasılmış.
•           Karpuz – Marian Keyes : Bu kitap da yine Barbara’nın kitaplığından bize ödünç. Yazarın okuduğum ilk kitabı ingilizce orjinalinden Angels idi. Türkçeye Çapkın Melekler diye çevrilmiş ama artık basılmıyor sanırım. Kitapta Maggie Walsh’ın kocasından ayrılıp Los Angeles’a arkadaşı Emily’nin yanına geldikten sonra yaşadıklarını anlatıyor. Şimdi önce diğer kitaptan giriş yaptım çünkü bu kitap ile de alakası var. Karpuz’da ise önceki kitaptaki Maggie’nin kardeşi Claire’in hayatına göz atıyoruz. Claire doğum yaptığı gün kocası tarafından terkediliyor ve ailesinin yanına geri dönüyor. O bunalımları ile boğuşurken annesi, babası, kız kardeşleri Helen ve Anna ona yardımcı olmaya çalışıyor. Bu arada yukarıda bahsettiğim “Orada kimse var mı? “ nın aynı zamanda bir başka yayınevinden baskısı da var ve adı Senden Başka Yok. Neden farklı bir isimle basmaya karar vermişler bir anlam veremedim. O kitapta da bir diğer kız kardeş Anna’nın hikayesini öğreniyoruz.  Bu ailede 2 kız kardeş daha var ama onların kitapları var mı onu bilmiyorum. Başlamışken bütün aileyi bitirseydik fena olmazdı..

      Bir daha ki yazıda görüşmek üzere diyelim bu kadar aksatmamak dileğiyle…

Adoro escritoras Irlandesas…Romances pitorescos…História inimagináveis…
Melhor que contos de fadas…com ‘Felizes para Sempre’!!!

Marian Keyes é autora de 7 livros:
Férias
Um Bestseller Pra Chamar de Meu
Melancia
Casório ?!
É Agora … Ou Nunca
Sushi
Los Angeles

Nenhum é continuação de nenhum…histórias completamente independentes…

Dos 7, já li 3: Melancia, Sushi e Casório…e estou no meio do Um Bestseller Pra Chamar de Meu.
Ainda não tenho um preferido e nem um personagem preferido…me identifico com um pouco de cada.
Histórias de adulto contada para adolescentes. Adoro!

Suas personagens principais são sempre mulheres, em torno de 25 – 30 anos…com amores roubados, corações partidos, filhos inesperados, amigas inseparáveis, pais complicados…geralmente solteironas…

As histórias giram na temática: Amor, Trabalho, Família e Amigos.
É incrivel a capacidade que ela tem de criar um personagem com a qual você se identifica!!!

Seja pela experiência profissional que já teve, se apaixonar pelo amor da melhor amiga…pais separados…se apaixonar pelo chefe.

Ela ainda trata de problemas sociais de uma maneira criativa e divertida…pai alcolatra, namorado vagabundo, mendigos.

Amigos ricos, restaurante de luxo, bares mais badalados.

Apenas para Resumir:

Melância:
O 1º que eu li….fala de uma mulher de quase 30 anos com uma filhinha recem nascida e o marido tendo um caso com a vizinha….muito engraçado….porres fenomenais…lagrimas que dariam para abastecer uma pequena cidade…
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Sushi:
O 2º que eu li….se passa em torno de 3 garotas: uma sofisticada editora de revistas que se decepciona com algumas reviravoltas em sua carreira e seu coração partido. Uma editora assistente cheia de problemas pessoais/psicológicos…E uma garota muito bem casada, com um belo marido e belos filhos…porém, insatisfeita com sua vida!

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Casório:
O 3º que eu li….Se passa em torno de uma garota que vai se casar. Mas…Quem é o noivo??? Hilário…aposto que muitas pessoas já viveram o que ela vive nessa história! A maioria das coisas acontecem dentro de um apartamento divido por 3 amigas…Porres, brigas, sexo, papos de mulher…Tudo que pode acontecer em um Clube da Luluzinha!

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Um Bestseller Pra Chamar de Meu:
Estou no meio…narra a história de 3 garotas…Amigas, não amigas, ex amigas, futura amigas…Enfim…Depois conto mais sobre ele!

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Provavelmente eu escreva um novo Post para falar dos outros livros…

Mulheres, garotas, jovens e jovens senhoras…querem um pouco de diversão…e semelhança com momentos de suas vidas…leiam Marian Keyes…é divertidissimo!!!

Beijo…

I am now an official user of the library.  I went there during my lunch break and got out 5 books.  I was pretty impressed I didn’t get more – you can have up to 12.  12 books – imagine…

I got a couple of books for holiday preparation: one on France and one on North Italy (anyone guess where I’m off to…?); and three fiction books:

The Dirty Secrets Club by Meg Gardiner

Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern and

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.

I’m so excited!  Lots of reading.  They’re not all to read on holiday (I’m sure the man will be glad to hear!) but it gives me a choice of reading material (if I get a chance to read at all).  The Meg Gardiner is off my ‘To read’ list, so that’s good, the others are just ones I saw there and fancied.  I just need to finish the book I’m reading now. 

I did something I’ve never done before yesterday.  I was waiting for some family members at the tube (we were going for a drink), with nothing to do.  I was a little bored and looked down at the folder I was carrying and found a note pad.  So… I did a little bit of writing.  Granted not much, but every little helps.  Maybe this could be a start of extra writing.  If I can remember to do this every time I’m waiting, or have some spare time I could increase my word count a month by loads.  And probably think up quite a few scenes.  I was proud of myself. 

Well that’s about it for today – short and sweet as they say.  I’m going on holiday Saturday morning, so may be too stressed/busy to blog tomorrow, then who knows when I will after that.  As I said before I’m not going to put any pressure on myself to blog when I’m away, but who knows, I might really want to.  We’ll see…

It seems like I haven’t written a book review for a while now.  So I decide to put on a chick lit.. one of my favourite ones.  Apparently, someone said that I read too much “geeky” books which makes me an overanalytical, overthinking girl.  Oh well, perhaps this will tone down my collections.  I read this book when back when I was in high school.  It was the first book by Marian Keyes that I read and I have had all her books ever since.. but this remains her best.

Typically, this is a book about 3 women and their battle with relationships.  All sorts of woman and the irony of the relationships they are in.  Would you take whatever you can get when you don’t have anyone? And the other one who doesn’t really care but have a gorgeous, out-of-this-world, your prince charming in your fairy tales (with big bucks and big cars). Or someone just struggling with life and defined relationship as something more – not just between a girl and a boy but with herself, her friends and the world.

The linchpin of the story is someone being diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and using it as an excuse to force their friends to make changes in their lives so that they can be happy before the aforementioned sick person pops off this mortal coil.  Cues a lot of people saying that they really are very happy just the way they are, thank you very much.

I think this book really represents a woman at a different point in time of her life as you can somehow relate to each of the characters.  Or perhaps I am the one with the multiple personality disorder thinking that she’s living a 3-persons life.  But for sure it’s a goof

Marian Keyes, Michael Joseph (2008), Penguin Books (2009) – 85%

Mmm. I had hesitated before picking up this one. The wonderful thing about living in France is that when you want a new novel to read, you are obliged to go out and buy it in one of the rare English-selling bookstores. It’s my little feel-good factor.

I love the cover. Silly. It’s fun. A nice pale grey with plenty of multi-coloured little stars. A bright pink title. And a cheesy one at that.  (Only once you’ve got into the novel do you realize that it’s probably sarcasm). I bought it thinking never mind what impression it gives. (Am in therapy – learning to accept the image I give of myself).

Admittedly, it took me a while to get carried away by the story. There are several narrators, all different women (hence chick lit?). The first narration is probably the least enticing of the book. Lola, a stylist, has just learnt that her boyfriend, Paddy de Courcy, is getting married, and hadn’t let her know. Marian varies styles quite convincingly for each of the four women. But at the start, you just want to get into the plot and let yourself be carried away. Here, you spend 80 pages-or-so waiting to see what all the fuss is about.

It’s convincing : Lola speaks in semi-sentences, omitting pronouns and so forth.  But it does make you wonder what’s going on.

The women’s narrations are punctuated by short 1-page descriptions of violent abuse. I usually hate this kind of description but you definitely wonder what’s going on, who is the man doing it, and how Paddy de Courcy brings these women together (other than the fact they all dated him).

… a few days later

I was so sad finishing this novel: such a shame it had to come to an end! I admire Marian Keyes for having spent so much time refining it. Probably one of the rare books I’ll read again.

This is the type of novel that starts off slowly but comes to a great climax. It was definitely worth the wait. The 4 women each have their own story, style and personality. Grace brings them together.

The whole “trannie/cross-dresser” theme is hilarious, because Lola the stylist finds herself unwittingly helping out these men, and a friendship grows out of it.

The alcoholism theme is really well dealt with, lucid, touching, but not overtly pathetic. The multiple-narration means that you actually relate to both women, the alcoholic and her sister, and feel their different points of view.

So to conclude I’d say this is a wonderful feel-good / slightly feminist novel, for the women who like a long story to indulge in (- 900 pages).

L’s book-rating criteria

Characterization: 17/20

Credibility: 17/20

Plot: 16/20

Feel-good factor: 18/20

Subjective opinion: 17/20

Total: 85%