On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

 I didn’t read Atonement all the way through. I know it was immensely popular but half way through I was finding it so tedious I stopped. I’m not sure why I picked up this book. I am glad I did. It was an entirely different style and story and very enjoyable. Somehow McEwan manages to [...]

Francesca’s Party by Patricia Scanlan

More chic lit – and not a bad version. I need something easy to read and a cheating husband was just the stuff. As far as such books go, this one has a reasonable story depth, tells the story from different angles and is quite engaging. Definitely worth reading if chick lit is your thing.

Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston

Another book I picked up at Chapters just before leaving Canada. Affairs, divorce, infertility, mistresses with children and general drama made for a quick moving story. I actually liked the style a lot – it was quite introspective and the narrative varied between characters. The author has one other book, which I’d like to [...]

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

I don’t think I’ve ever read one of the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” books before. I don’t know how, except that sometimes I seem to subconsciously avoid popular book. This was quite readable and amusing, although nothing particularly grabbed me about it. I would be interested in reading a couple of others from the [...]

The Explosive Child – Ross W Greene

 The subtitle to this book is “ Understanding and Helping Easily Frustrated, “Chronically Inflexible” Children “. Yep, thats my child. Chronically Inflexible is an excellent description. He’s definitely easily frustrated too. The book is very easy to read and quite straightforward. If anything, its a bit repetitive. It has very clear methodologies for dealing with such [...]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 This book is another worthy read. The title is intriguing, the format appealing and the fact that it has two authors is always interesting. Somehow, despite the abstract form of letters, notes and telegrams, the story is captivating and heart wrenching. I found myself completely drawn in to the characters and able to fully imagine [...]

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson

 This book tells the truly amazing story of a mountaineer who decides to dedicate himself to building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The story is certainly stunning. The book was co-written with a journalist and it does have more of a journalistic feel to it, than say a memoir. Thankfully there are enough anecdotes and [...]

The Lucky One – Nicholas Sparks

 My love-hate relationship with these kinds of books continues. They’re so tragic and overdramatic and yet they are fun to read. Yet another one, no better or worse than any of the others. Lots of dilemmas and tragedy although I have to admit I liked the ending of this one more than some of the [...]

The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley

  This book was recommended to me as my 3.5 year old still has some sleep issues. It did have some good ideas in it, and was easy to read. Its definitely worth a look as a refresher on sleep issues, which you tend to forget as soon as your kids are sleeping through the night, [...]

Shelter Me by Juliette Fay

I picked up some books at Chapters before I left Canada – to get me through the travel and because I knew the library in Malaysia doesn’t have much of a reputation, at least as far as fiction in English goes.
This book was great – I was drawn in from the start and while the [...]