I hated it when I finished this book. My husband however was thrilled. No longer did he have to lay beside someone in bed who appeared to be having a full-blown seizure in order to stifle hysterical laughter because that was me – night after night after night. Readheads, this book is fantastically funny but if you know anything […]
Category Archives: The Perfect Gift
September
05
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
posted by Ms A
This book is going to be big. Selected for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club, put on Barack Obama’s summer reading list, profiled in Time Magazine and The New Yorker, its scheduled September release was brought forward to August just to meet anticipated demand. Beyond the hype, The Underground Railroad has substance and if it isn’t on […]
August
29
Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent
posted by Ms K
This review may actually read like a visit to the counsellor so I apologise at the get-go. Reason being, Dinner with Edward brought up so many wonderful memories for me about people I loved dearly, who are now gone, and it made me think about why they left such a powerful impression on my life. It made me remember every […]
June
01
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
posted by Ms A
Siblings come with an innate sense of fairness. It starts with ice cream but extends to everything from who gets the most time with Grandma, help with homework, pocket money or lifts to school. Dammit in my household, I get in trouble for misallocating the length of my hugs. Now I’m no mathematician but surely sibling management […]
May
24
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
posted by Ms K
The Secret Chord is my golden trifecta of books. First up, it’s a historical novel which is my absolute undoing – the older the better and it doesn’t get too much older than the tale of David and Goliath, right? (Well, maybe – but then I’d be reviewing The Bible). It is a grandiose tale that sweeps you along […]
March
03
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
posted by Ms A
Who’d have thought Barak Obama’s favourite book of 2015 would start with a sex scene? I’m talking about a green bikini, sand dunes and a couple of newlyweds – literally first page. Beyond the beach, Fates and Furies is contemporary literature at its best with language that is original, multi-layered and downright clever. Add characters that are strong, […]
February
01
One Life (My Mother’s Story) by Kate Grenville
posted by Ms A
This is the story of Nance Russell – Kate Grenville’s much adored mother who died in 2002. Grenville wrote this memoir of Nance’s life based on notes, diary entries and letters she found years after her death. She writes “My mother wasn’t the sort of person biographies are usually written about….Just the same, I think […]
January
19
Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed
posted by Ms K
And how did it become 2016 exactly? I don’t know about you, but I feel like there I was just minding my own business in July 2015 and somehow, in the blink of an eye, I end up here! 2.0.freakin’1.6! So what do you do when you feel life is travelling at the speed of […]
October
28
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
posted by Ms K
BIG MAGIC has made me a stalker of Elizabeth Gilbert. BIG TIME. My adoration for her is not a new thing mind you, but this new book has certainly stepped things up a notch. I have pretty much read everything she has written and published. I’ve watched the Ted Talks, and more. I actually had Eat Pray […]
October
19
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
posted by Ms K
I have not read anything by Anne Tyler since The Accidental Tourist, and let me tell you, after finishing this book, I am the emotionally poorer for it apparently. I have been seriously missing out and therefore want to race out and buy everything she has ever written. My bank balance is about to take […]
Readhead 