Some non-fiction this week

This week I felt the need to pick some books off my non-fiction shelf. I spent a week off work on sick leave and was looking for something light and fun to read. What better books than Jen Lancaster's hilarious memoirs. This week I am reading Pretty in Plaid. She has 7 books in her series of memoirs. I'm on her 4th and each one has not yet disappointed me.

Monday Reads: Book purchase from eBay

This is a book I have been looking forward to reading for quite some time now. A couple of years ago I picked up the first volume of short stories in this series The Book Lovers’ Appreciation Society for $2 on the bargain table at Chapters. I didn’t think too much of it and it sat on my shelf for quite a while. The reason I bought it was because I noticed some famous chick-lit authors on the list of short story contributors. I threw this book into my bag on my trip to NYC that fall and completely fell in love with the stories. I am more used to reading novels, but there’s something so great about picking up a book of short stories. It’s so easy to read a whole story on a lunch break or before bed. I recently found out that there is another book of short stories by many of the same authors called The Sunday Night Book Club. It seems to be out of print everywhere, but I managed to snag a copy off of eBay for $2 a few days ago. I cannot wait for it to come in the mail. Some of the authors included in this collection of short stories are: Wendy Holden, Maggie O’Farrell, Cathy Kelly, Adriana Trigiani, Patricia Scanlon, Andrea Levy, Joanne Harris, Alexander McCall Smith, Claire Bolan, Katie Fforde.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (a review)

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

Synopsis: Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.  


Review: Wow! I absolutely loved loved loved this book!! I read reviews about this book a few months ago, and although I was intrigued, I was worried that it would just be another cute story with no real substance. For a story spanning only 24 hours, it really had depth. I related to Hadley and her feelings on so many situations that were brought up in this short story. Oliver was swoon worthy and I fell for him the second he appeared in the story. This is definitely a sweet well thought out story that does not disappoint!


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Monday Reads: A girly read

One of my favourite authors is Jill Mansell. Ever since I picked up one of her books a few years ago, I have been collecting all her books. She writes witty and funny girly reads that are never predictable and can always make me smile. She has 23 books in total and I have been trying very hard to not read them all...trying to save them. I know it's kind of silly but they are so great that I want to savour them for as long as possible! This week I am reading one of her earlier books.

Synopsis: Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie
Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie
to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating
whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel
and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women
have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be.
With
Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered
hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable
for all concerned...

Thursday: Things I like this week - Book Haul

Today I made a stop at Chapters on my way home and picked up some books. I have been reading ebooks for the past little while and was missing holding real books. Chapters was having their buy 3 get 1 free sale so I could not resist! They also had a ton great bargain books!

 Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

I have started reading Cassandra Clare's first series the Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls) and have loved the books I have read so far. I heard that this series is even better than that one (if that is even possible). I found Clockwork Angel for $4 so I picked up both today. I am excited to read this prequel series!

 Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster

I absolutely adore Jen Lancaster. Her books always make me laugh out loud. She is funny and witty and not afraid to say what's on her mind. I have loved her other memoirs and I am sure this one will not disappoint.

 Finding Monsieur Right by Muriel Zagha

This is one of my all time favourite girly books. I have it as an ebook but have been wanting a hard copy. I found this one for $4 on the bargain table and picked it up right away. I cannot wait to read this one again.

 The Book of (even more) Awesome by Neil Pasricha

The first one was great. So many of the items on his list were ones that made me say "oh ya! I love that too!" This is a fun book to read randomly when you need a pick me up.

 Fever by Lauren DeStefano

This is the second book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy. I have the first book Wither but have not read it yet but have heard so many great things about this series that I had to pick it up.

A Love Story in 781 Chapters by Aneva Stout

I read this book once while sitting in Chapters. It's short and very cute. This was for $2 on the bargain table and I had to pick it up!

Monday Reads: A little girliness

This week I'm finishing up Struck by Rhonda Stapleton. This is a 3-in-1 book and I am almost done the last one. Each of the books (Stupid Cupid, Flirting with Disaster and Pucker Up) are fun quick reads. Perfect for a quiet evening in.

Synopsis: Felicity Walker believes in true love. That's why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid's Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn't just a matchmaker...she's a cupid! (There's more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But the path to love is not always a straight shot...




I also read Jackson Pearce's new short story Turn Here. So much fun! I loved it. It left me smiling. You can download this story from Amazon for $0.99.

Some new books

Today I went to Chapters and picked up a couple of new books. I did have many many books that I wanted to buy but I narrowed it down to two for today. Looking forward to reading these.

 The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

I know this is an older book but I loved I've Got Your Number so much that I am now going back and reading some of her older works. This one looks funny and girl and will be a great fun quick read.

Synopsis: Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer—and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope—and finds love—is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I have heard such great things about this book. I've been wanting to pick it up for a while now. Today I found it on the table that said "If you loved the Hunger Games you will love...." and I knew I had to pick it up. This is next on my list of books to read.

Synopsis: The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Monday Reads: a review + a new book

Review: Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number

I finished this book a few days ago. So so so good!! I haven't read a good girly book in a while. This one was great because it often made me laugh out loud. I'm not a big fan of sappy romance books and I like my girly books to be funny and quirky (à la Bridget Jones). This definitely makes its way into my top ten funny girly books. Definitely pick this one up of you're looking for a fun and quick read. I am hoping to read Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret soon.




City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

This is the book I am currently reading. It seems as though I am one f the last people to start this series. I found that it started off slowly but I a, about had way through and the story is getting quite interesting. I am looking forward to finishing it up and reading the others in the series.

Synopsis: When 15-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing, not even a smear of blood, to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within 24 hours, Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance when her mother disappears, and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary "mundanes" like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride they will never want to end.

Monday Reads: A Girly Book

A book that is not YA (shocking, I know). I was in the mood for something fun and girly. I saw this book at Chapters last time I was there and found the storyline to be quite interesting. It sounds like a feel good, laugh out loud chick lit book. I am about a quarter way through and so far I'm really enjoying it!!



I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis: I’ve lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive :) !!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Some weekend chick-lit

It's been a while since I've read a really girly book. This weekend, after finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (I'm on a roll!), I decided to pick up a light hearted girly read.

I absolutely love love love Jill Mansell. A few years ago I saw one of her books on the paperback table at Chapters and was immediately drawn in by the cute cover. I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but I will admit that sometimes I do! I picked up the book, never having heard of Jill Mansell before and completely fell in love with her writing style, the setting, and the characters she creates. I quickly started collecting the rest of her books. Right now she has 22 books out. I have read 11 of those 22 and have enjoyed each one. You would think that since I love them so much I would have read them all, but I am slowly reading them, trying to pace myself so I can savour each story. What I love about her stories is that they are never predictable. Each story I have read has left me pleasantly surprised.

I started reading my 12th Mansell book last night and so far I am having a very hard tome putting it down. This is definitely a book you should pick up if you're looking for a laugh out loud, fun, girly read.







Synopsis: Cleo Quinn doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to men, but now Will's come along. Handsome and attentive, he could be her Mr Right. Things are definitely looking up for Cleo... apart from one small problem with a rather large ego. Johnny LaVenture, sculptor extraordinaire and her personal childhood nemesis, is back in Channing's Hill and tormenting her as if he'd never been away.

Meanwhile Cleo's sister Abbie has a problem of her own-husband Tom has become distant and withdrawn, and she's determined to find out why. But will the shocking truth mean the end of their idyllically happy marriage?

The sisters are about to discover that the past can come back to haunt you, and that love can flourish in the unlikeliest of places...

Summer reading list

Now that school is officially over, I can dive into my pile of books I have been saving for the summer. On my list this summer:

The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly

Bestseller Connelly delivers one of his most intricate plots to date in his 20th book, a beautifully executed crime thriller. When L.A. lawyer Mickey Haller, last seen in The Lincoln Lawyer (2005), inherits the practice and caseload of a fellow defense attorney, Jerry Vincent, who's been murdered, the high-profile double-homicide case against famed Hollywood producer Walter Elliot, accused of shooting his wife and her alleged lover, takes top priority. As Haller scrambles to build a defense, he butts heads with LAPD Det. Harry Bosch, the stalwart hero of Connelly's long-running series (The Black Echo, etc.), who's working Vincent's murder. When Haller realizes that the Elliot affair is bigger than simply a jealous husband killing his cheating wife, he and Bosch grudgingly agree to work together to solve what could be the biggest case in both their careers. Bosch might have met his match in the wily Haller, and readers will delight in their sparring.

The Reversal - Michael Connelly
Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

The Book Theif - Markus Zusak

Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative

A Perfect Proposal - Katie Fforde
Sophie Apperly has spent her whole life pleasing others - but when she realises her family see her less as indispensable treasure and more as general dogsbody, she decides she's had enough. So when an old friend offers her the chance of a lifetime, she decides to swap Little England for the Big Apple, and heads off to the land of opportunity. From the moment Sophie hits the bright lights of Manhattan she's determined to enjoy every minute of her big adventure. And when fate throws her together with Matilda, a spirited grande dame of New York society who invites her to Connecticut for Thanksgiving, she willingly accepts. English-born Matilda is delighted with her new friend - though her grandson Luke, undeniably attractive but infuriatingly arrogant, is anything but welcoming. When Luke arrives in England a few weeks later, Sophie hardly expects him to seek her out. But Matilda has hatched some complicated plans of her own - and so Luke has a proposal to make ...

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures - Malcolm Gladwell

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20^th century?

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from The New Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting. Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected. As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Ruiz Zafón's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue à la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Laín Coubert-the name of the devil in one of Carax's novels. As he grows up, Daniel's fascination with the mysterious Carax links him to a blind femme fatale with a "porcelain gaze," Clara Barceló; another fan, a leftist jack-of-all-trades, Fermín Romero de Torres; his best friend's sister, the delectable Beatriz Aguilar; and, as he begins investigating the life and death of Carax, a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Officially, Carax's dead body was dumped in an alley in 1936. But discrepancies in this story surface. Meanwhile, Daniel and Fermín are being harried by a sadistic policeman, Carax's childhood friend. As Daniel's quest continues, frightening parallels between his own life and Carax's begin to emerge.

From Notting Hill with Love...Actually - Ali McNamara

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy ...wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now ...When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill - the setting of one of her favourite movies - Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

Looking forward to this book

I have always loved the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's and always make a stop at the Tiffany's store in NYC every time I go there. I even once had "breakfast" at Tiffany's just like Audrey Hepburn did in the movie. I stood in the same spot, ate my pastries and had my picture taken. Anytime I see something having to do with Tiffany's, it catches my eye. This book is no exception! I cannot wait to read it :)



Synopsis:
Doesn't every girl dream of getting something from Tiffany's? On 5th Avenue in New York City, two very different men are shopping for gifts for the women they love. Gary is buying his girlfriend Rachel a charm bracelet. Partly to thank her for paying for their holiday-of-a-lifetime to New York. But mainly because he's left his shopping far too late. Whereas Ethan's looking for something a little more special - an engagement ring for the first woman to have made him happy since he lost the love of his life. But when the two men's shopping bags get confused, and Rachel somehow ends up with Ethan's ring, the couples' lives become intertwined. As Ethan tries to reunite the ring with the woman it was actually intended for, he discovers this isn't that easy. Does fate have other ideas for the couples? Or is there simply a bit of Tiffany's magic in the air..

Nora Roberts

I am loving Vision in White. I have had it on my shelf for a while but always had something else that I wanted to read first. I just picked it up on Thursday night and read the first few chapters. LOVE it! It was a perfect Friday night with a cup of tea, my La-Z-Boy, and my book. I can't wait to read the other two that are out: Bed of Roses and Savor the Moment. I am kind of happy the weather is crappy today. I have a terrible cold I can't seem to shake. The cold and rainy weather gives me an excuse to stay inside, catch up on my TV shows and read in bed.

The Best Book

I read a lot of books. I will sometimes finish 2-3 books over the weekend. I love everything from mystery to chick-lit to non-fiction. Right now I am reading such a great book! I have been so busy with lesson planning and marking it's been so nice to curl up for a few minutes each night and read. This is such a great feel good funny happy book. LOVE it! And it is definitely in my pile of books to re-read.

“Yowza!” exclaims Kara Richardson when she sees the handsome proprietor of the new delicatessen in town, Gabe Paolino—who soon expresses mutual interest. This would be the start of a perfect love story, except for one thing—Kara has vowed to stop dating until she feels God’s leading.

But when humorous circumstances send Kara and Gabe on a road trip to Florida, hope springs anew. Even with Kara’s flirtatious coworker Tiffany—“a hyena in heels”—along for the ride, the uncouple begins a lively journey that could change their paths forever.

This memorable, charming story of love’s persistence captures the honor of waiting on God’s timing, and the adventure of finding the perfect guy to not date.