Charm Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 Hey everyone! I was chatting to a very good friend of mine about what she was reading (funny how that always comes up in any of my conversations ) and she was asking me for some good book suggestions. Unfortunately she doesn't really like my type of thing so I wasn't able to help , so here I am asking you lovely people Can you give me any suggestions for some great reads? She's recently read the following and thought they were brill Ten Things I Want My Daughter To Know P.S I Love You The Chocolate Lovers Club The Chocolate Lovers Diet Confessions of a Shopaholic Sorry I can't remember all the authors She doesn't read an awful lot, probably about 5 or 6 books a year so it would need to be something that isn't too heavy or long winded. I know you lot have all got great taste and I will have no hesitation passing on your recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 Karma by Holly A Harvey is excellent. I gave it a solid 8/10! Synopsis: Karma is a light-hearted, comical story about Paige, a 28 year-old northern woman whose life revolves around sleep, caffeine and VH-1 rather than sex, drugs and rock n roll. She has money problems to rival the national debt, more people walking over her than a 'Welcome' mat and the requisite ex-boyfriend from hell. Paige has always lived by the belief that "what goes around comes around," but after a betrayal by a friend at work and unhappy memories aroused by an invitation to a school reunion, she decides to give fate a helping hand. Review: I started reading this in my coffee break and almost snorted coffee out of my nose within the first couple of pages - this could have been written about me! All the mention of singing along to Adam and the Ants and seeing Biker Mice from Mars on the telly (it was a terrible cartoon!) could have been lifted straight out of my life. This is very funny stuff - light-hearted, but written with great warmth. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 I'd definitely recommend Annie Sanders books, particularly Busy Woman Seeks Wife: Alex may be an excellent marketing executive, organized, efficient and dedicated, but when it comes to her domestic life, she’s seriously lacking. Her washing machine is broken, the leaking shower is causing complaints from the neighbour in the flat below, and when she arrives home from her latest overseas business meeting, her cleaner is otherwise engaged in Alex’s bed! Telling Saffron, her best friend who is a full time wife and mother, Alex receives a telephone call informing her that her mother has fallen off a stepladder and broken her arm, and is going to need supervision in her convalescence. With another business trip on the cards, Saff comes up with a brilliant idea to get someone to help Alex with all areas of her home life, and writes the advert to be placed in the local paper – Busy Woman Seeks Wife … This is the third Annie Sanders book I’ve read, and it is probably my favourite one so far. Annie Sanders is actually two writers, Annie Ashworth and Meg Sanders, who write both non-fiction and fiction books together. Their novels definitely need to be placed in the “Entertainment” category of my reading, as they are pure escapism. Characters are always real people with real lives, who have flaws and problems but who you grow to know and love through the course of the book. This one is no exception, with five main characters to get to know, each of them is important to the plot as well as having their own story to develop. Annie Sanders books will be placed squarely in the chick-lit genre, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I feel their books are much more about the observation of the lives of their characters social situations, than about the standard romance-led chick-lit novels, dealing with issues of motherhood and careers in the 21st century. They are warm and funny, full of charming people who are recognizable as people we all know. Annie Sanders are quickly becoming some of my favourite chick-lit books to read, and “Busy Woman Seeks Wife” is no exception. If you like authors like Jane Green and Sophie Kinsella, and are, like me, getting a bit too old for mainstay of chick-lit, the twenty-somethings searching for true love, then I would definitely recommend this book for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fayezie Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 If she liked Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, there are few more books in that series she could try. I've read nearly all of Sophie Kinsella books and to me they are all easy reading, light hearted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 Erm...this really isn't my field, then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catwoman Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Erm...this really isn't my field, then... It's not Mac? There was something that thought that maybe you had a well read copy of Bridget Jones in your 'Man bag'. As for me. No not really my sort of thing, but there does sound like there are many suggestions for your friend I hope she finds something soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Erm...this really isn't my field, then... Unfortunately I'm with Mac here, do hope your friend finds some good suggestions though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanwa Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 These are quite old now and of limited availability at waterstones.com but: My Life on a Plate/ Don't You Want Me? both by India Knight Don't You Want Me? is the funniest of the two, exploring the relationships of a late thirties single mum with her ex-husbands and boyfriends, her latest love interests (including a man over twice her age, who is mostly made of plastic and is the colour orange) and her extremely sexy flatmate. I cried, laughed, and cried with laughter. And now I've written that I think it's going back on my TBR pile as a reread It's only a couple of hundred pages, and each chapter feels like a story on its own, so she could pick it up and put it down as necessary, it's also a nice light read. The stuff chick-lit is made of (and although I don't read chick-lit more than say one every few years, mainly because I'm not a fan of the genre, it remains one of my favourite books to date). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 I thought Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding was very good. It's a lighthearted girlie adventure story with lots of Helen Fielding style silly humour thrown in, about a style journalist with aspirations into serious news reporting. She gets caught up in a james bond style adventure while on assignment - or is it all just in her overactive imagination? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Charm, would your friend be interested in any of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood books by Rebecca Wells? They have serious subject matter, but funny women with very endearing relationships. I've also heard that The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn is good, and I really enjoyed Austenland by Shannon Hale. In addition to the Shopaholic books, I do know that Sophie Kinsella also writes under another name, Madeleine Wickham. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell Synopsis ~ Meet the residents of 31 Almanac Road … Ralph and Smith are flatmates and best mates – until, that is, the gorgeous Jemima moves in. And suddenly they’re bickering about a lot more than who drank the last beer. Of course, Jem knows that one of them is the man for her – but is it Ralph or Smith? Upstairs, Karl and Siobhan have been happily unmarried for fifteen years – until, that is, Cheri moves into the flat above theirs. Cheri’s got her eye on Karl and doesn’t see why she should let a little thing like his girlfriend stand in her way … Sooner or later its all got to come to a head – and what better place for tears and laughter, break ups and make ups than Ralph’s party? Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella Synopsis ~ Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. She's always been a v. nervous flyer. She really thinks that this could be her last moment. So, naturally enough, she starts telling the man sitting next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice -all her innermost secrets. How she scans the backs of intellectual books and pretends she's read them. How she does her hair up like Princess Leia in her bedroom. How she's not sure if she has a G-spot, and whether her boyfriend could find it anyway. How she feels like a fraud at work - everyone uses the word 'operational' all the time but she hasn't a due what it means. How the coffee at work is horrible. How she once threw a troublesome client file in the bin. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realises... It's the man from the plane. What will he do with her secrets? He knows them all - but she doesn't know a single one of his. Or... does she? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 The School Run & Mums @ Home by Sophie King might be her sort of thing by the sounds of it Shop on Blossom Street series Debbie Macomber might be something else to try. All sort of friends/relationship type read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephanie2008 Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 I would recommend Sophie King books too, I loved Mums @ Home and Second Time Lucky. Also the Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Other Cecelia Ahern books I liked were Where Rainbows End and Thanks for the Memories All along the same lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charm Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 Wow! thank you everyone so much for these suggestions, and thank you for taking the time to answer in such detail! There's loads here to keep her in reading material for quite a wee while I think I'll print off all your recommendations for her and let her see all of your opinions ...mind you, I do agree with catwoman, I thought mac would have been a top contributer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 ...mind you, I do agree with catwoman, I thought mac would have been a top contributer Oh give him time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabbykat Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I would recommend anything by Sheila O Flannagan or Maeve Binchy. I love all the books you mentioned above and these two are my favourite authors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charm Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 thank you tabbykat! I'll be sure to pass your recommendation on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KW Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 I just finished The Devil Wears Prada - sounds like it'd fit up her alley very nicely. It's by Lauren Weisberger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charm Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 thank you KW! I don't think she's read that so I'll pass it on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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