Memorable Summer Story

This book opens with a scene female readers of a certain age will adore: Nan Powell, 65, stops for a skinny dip in her absent neighbor's pool, then cycles into a local village smoking all the way, scandalizing a family of tourists.

"What has happened to people?" Nan thinks, as she traverses the cobblestones."When did we become so precious?" A family of six passes her, father, mother, then four little ones, like four little ducklings with sparkly aerodynamic helmets on."When did our children have to wear helmets, When did we all become so scared?"

Nan Powell's great virtue is that she doesn't become scared easily, even after her financial adviser tells her she's in dire straits. After her husband committed suicide, drowning himself one morning, Nan grew tough, raising her son Michael on her own, living her life on her own terms. Now she's become the resident eccentric in a town of tourists, known for her beauty and her trademark red lipstick.

Facing the new challenge, Nan turns her home into a summer bed and breakfast, and draws a circle of new friends around her, all come to the beach to heal themselves -- a divorcee still recovering from her husband's infidelity, a young father of two girls struggling with his sexual orientation, and Nan's son Michael, on the rebound after a disastrous love affair of his own. Soon the rambling old house has come to life with the sound of children laughing, life streaming all around.

The plot takes some unexpected twists and turns -- there are some nasty developers on the scene, naturally -- but this is a sweetly memorable summer story, capturing the relaxing, renewing quality of life at the shore, when we find ourselves on the edge of something new.

It was okay, but...

...kind of boring! Not enough characterization for me. More time was spent on the wedding preparations than on the relationships between the characters. This book was considerably better than the last one, which I was never able to finish, but a loooooong stretch away from Thyme Out (my fav) or Life Skills or Stately Pursuits or The Rose Revived.

I seem to be reading a lot of authors who are cutting way back on the romance elements with their latest books (Mary Kay Andrews, Mercedes Lackey, and now Katie Fforde.) Does anyone out there know why? It is disappointing to me - especially since I buy their books because they do it so well.

not as good as the other books

This book is an ok read if you are a plum fan but i do have to say its not as great as the earlier books, Stphanies life story doesnt really go to a new level in this book

wonderful

an amazingly inspirational book. i have since planted veggies and nowonly buy seasonal produce. a beautiful book with recipes that work.
when will we see a full veggie cook book?

A thrilling thriller

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers. It is easy to read with chapters nicely broken up in to decent sizes. The dialogue is pacy and realistic - as is the intricate plot. It appears well researched and is a super,exciting read and easy to visulize. The ending will leave all fans of the Roy Grace series desperate for more.

One of the best cookery books in years

I'm a big fan of Ottolenghi, having eaten there a few times. I was really looking forward to this book and it didn't disappoint. There's a fresh take on everything and even though some recipes (french beans, mangetout in a hazelnut and orange dressing) are little more than assembly jobs, they're great for inspirations. I love the layout, the recipes, everything. Buy it!

The Artist's Way

The use of the 'notes': paintings and other items, gave the book a interesting structure. It certainly helped to tell the story from the experiences of different characters and to explore their connection with the central character Rachel.

The story gave a strong insight to the difficulties artists and writers have balancing the time and space needed for creativity with the pressures of family life and domesticity.The fact that Rachel also has to manage bipolar depression adds a good dimension to these struggles and this was well researched and portrayed, especially through the eyes of her children.

Perhaps the number of characters was ambitious and led to a little dilution, for example in her relationship with husband Antony but then perhaps he just wasn't that significant, never placing demands upon her - just there.

Good book. Enjoyed it!

A nice read, but that's all

I had been waiting to get my hands on this book for a few months and so probably helped fuel my own high expectations. Unfortunately, they weren't met. I found the book was enjoyable, but not a page turner and something I could put down. Some moments were great, and some were a little frustrating. A good book to read if you've got nothing else on your priority book list.

Different but no less brilliant!

Although I wouldn't say it is my favourite of the series it is certainly a masterpiece, taking Matthew to another level and engaging to the degree it actually frightened me in places. As with Sovereign I felt that if I hadn't established an understanding of the characters from the previosu books (esp. Guy and Matthew) it would have lost some of its magic :)

one hit wonder

They say everyone has a book in them--for Weisberger it was Devil Wears Prada. Even that book seems better than it was because many people know it only from the entertaining film it became.

Her two books since DWP have been lousy. Publishers are probably dumb enough, and greedy enough, to keep giving her big advances. (Her cover art is always similar to DWP, trying to trade on its success.)

Weisberger has proved a one-hit wonder.

Spellbound

Having enjoyed but not been overly struck by Faulks' novels so far, I was thoroughly spellbound by this one. As Faulks' dark, lone anti-hero, Engleby, reveals himself and his background, the reader is invited into his sardonic, autobiographical reflections, his musings on the period in which he is living and the characters (many of them real) that inhabit it. Readers over 50 who can look back on the same time frame will relish Engleby's cynical recollections. I was continually impressed by Faulks' ability to evoke the atmosphere and thinking of the 70s and 80s and his occasional neat trick of applying the irony of hindsight.

However, the principal force of the book is the gradual exposure of Engleby as a brilliant scholar from a poor, violent background who initially seems to have survived early abuse and the atrocities of public school bullying (Faulks' exposé of this is painful and shocking but the reader's sympathies with Engleby take an abrupt turn away when he metes out the same offence on a younger boy) to evolve into a quasi-savant intellectual and then a successful and respected national journalist.

As the mystery of the girl's disappearance unfolds, it is inevitable that the reader will predict the outcome and inexorable fate of Engleby's solitary and impaired personality. Any other possibility would reduce the novel's power and purpose. It is a chilling account of deep psychological damage hidden for many years beneath an `acceptable' individual. Finally, Faulks' fascinating portrayal of our current fixation with finding `psychobabbly' causes for Engleby's mindset and behaviour emphasises our limited understanding of the human mind and simply serves to nourish this cold and superior individual's narcissism and self-obsession. Nothing fits, and right to the end he keeps us guessing.

Normally, I am able put a book down (well, one has to work, eat and sleep eventually) but this one was hard: the story gripped me slowly but persistently. I found Faulks' style to be concise, witty and moving - I have tagged several pages to revisit. Definitely, worth a second read.

We all dance to a different beat

Giles Andreae is the respectable side of Purple Ronnie, so it is no surprise that this poetry is an instant hit with pre-schoolers. My daughter already has Commotion in Ocean and Rumble in the Jungle (our copies came with a Hugh Laurie CD), so this is another sure fire winner. The illustrations are lush and warm, the story is one of triumph of self-doubt, and it is neither too long nor too short.

A welcome addition to the story shelf.

A worthy sequel

Making Money sees the return of the lovable rogue Moist van Lipwig. Going Postal was a hoot and Making Money is almost a remake rather than a sequel. That said, Making Money still delivers; it contains some spot on humour, heaps of entertaining dialogue, bags of originality, a score of new characters and a finale you won't see coming. Pratchett is definitely definitely making the most of Moist, which is no bad thing. It's not his funniest work, it's not his most inventive, but that doesn't stop it being a cracking read. Plenty of cameos to keep the hardcore fans happy, although this is a standalone read. Recommended to everyone.

Against The Grain

OK I'm fighting a losing battle here, and I hold my hands up.

All the reviews of this book are great except perhaps mine.

I gave up after 100 pages because the writing style was not easy on the mind, and it didn't flow at all, almost as if the book had been translated from another language.

At this point I surrendered, finding the experience of this book annoying.
Perhaps I didn't give it a fair crack, as I'd just finished Ellory's A Quiet Belief In Angels - a book that simply left me stunned by it's magnificence.

Journalist has his eyes opened in Africa

This is a terrible book, please do not bother to read it never mind to buy it. The author approaches the task which he sets himself to 'follow the footsteps of Stanley' as an ordeal and consequently the whole book takes on an extremely narrow, dismissive and almost patronising slant, in which the the writer seems to find no pleasure whatsoever and simply get to his end goal - that is out of DR Congo. The result is a negative and unhelpful book which is not reflective either of the country or its people. Worst of all - the book becomes irritating after a few pages and gets worse as it goes on.

Very useful

Was creating my own simple receipes for a while but when straggled got this book and found it really helpful. Lots of nice and easy ideas for baby meals. My boy is now very good eater.

"Here it is, as promised, not tidy but true: the notes of a pirate's daughter."--Navy Island, December, 1976.

May Flynn, the daughter of actor Errol Flynn and a beautiful Jamaican girl, has always wondered about her roots. Brought up by her mother Ida, grandfather Eli, and, for four years, a foster family, May is clever and tough from a young age. Always an outsider, she could pass for white, though she is not part of the white world of her father and maternal grandfather. Not part of the black world, either, though she considers herself"colored," she is often mocked by her dark Jamaican peers. Frequently alone, she keeps journals, filling them with stories of pirates, inspired by the films starring Errol Flynn which she sees at the local cinema.

As May discovers more about Ida's life before, during, and after her birth, she creates the story of her own life, revealing it through flashbacks. When Errol Flynn's yacht gets blown ashore at Port Antonio during a 1946 hurricane, her grandfather Eli drives to his aid, soon becoming Flynn's social secretary, guide, confidant, and real estate broker. Flynn finds the relaxed atmosphere of Jamaica a welcome contrast to Hollywood, where he faces charges related to his affairs with underage girls. He soon buys a ranch and a hotel, along with Navy Island, just off the coast of Port Antonio. There he builds Bella Vista, the palatial estate where he entertains Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Truman Capote, and a host of other Hollywood stars.

Ida, May's mother, is only thirteen when she first meets Flynn, making an indelible impression. When she is sixteen, she gives birth May, Flynn's child. The second part of the novel follows Ida as she tries to support her family, find work in New York, and hold to her values. Her return to the island, and the changes she introduces into May's life, parallel some of the changes occurring on the island itself. Cuban refugees swarm to Jamaica to escape Castro's takeover. An economic downturn and, eventually, Jamaica's own independence from the British lead to competing political movements, violence, and atrocity over the next twenty years.

Filled with colorful characters, the patina of Hollywood, and the violence of political change, the novel is a fast-paced melodrama and family saga. The author's style is clean and simple as she traces lives across generations, providing enough description to enable the reader to create vibrant pictures of the action without bogging down the narrative in detail. Illness, death, financial disaster, smuggling, secret lives, ghost stories, rumors of hidden treasure, a mysterious grave, drug addiction, thwarted love, May-December romances, and shootings are among the many elements which keep the action moving--and keep the reader in a constant state of anticipation. Author Margaret Cezair-Thompson tells the story for its own sake, not to illustrate complex themes. The novel is entertaining, filled with non-stop excitement, and sure to appeal to a wide audience. Mary Whipple

you will be cheated!!!

My mum (bless her), bought this book without knowing the focus of the recipes. It should have been titled"How to treat the British cooking public like idiots and make more money at the same time." Evidently, 'Cheat!' was a shorter title. Stick to getting drunk and slurring over the PA system at footy matches Delia. I've lost all respect for you.