Sigrid Macdonald - D'amour Road

Publisher: Lulu Enterprises, Inc

ISBN:  978-1411628724


My rating: 4/5


 Tara Richards is approaching 40. The thought fills her with dread. She is unhappy with her job as a rehabilitation nurse and disenchanted with her marriage, but lacks the courage to make a major life change. When her best friend Lisa disappears, Tara's life is thrown into turmoil.


Has Lisa jeopardized her sobriety by going on a drinking binge, or has she been harmed by her partner, who has a history of battering? Tara joins a massive search for her friend in conjunction with the police, her colorful women's collective, and a 24-year-old man, whom she finds particularly captivating.

D'Amour Road explores themes as diverse as women's friendships, male violence, wrongful convictions, addictions, cultural biases against aging, and infidelity. With pathos and humour, social activist Sigrid Macdonald draws us into the world of a quirky and imminently likable Canadian woman, whose life is about to be irrevocably changed  (http://www.amazon.com/)


My thoughts

WOW .... what a powerful book!

The book is loosely based on the story of Louise Ellis who went missing in 1995.

The main character is Tara Richards and we follow her life for two weeks.

Tara is approaching 40 and with that she questions her life and what she's done with it - sounds familiar to probably many of us women! She's not satisfied with her work as a nurse anymore, struggles to find common ground with her son and a look at her husband Mark turns her off instead of on. But Tara's life turns seriously up-side-down when her best friend Lisa Campana dissappears and Tara needs to find the strength to cope with it all - and that without her best friend!

Sigrid has a wonderful writing style, detailing every point, character or scene which makes the reader feel part of the story. However, I find exactly that attention to detail, made the start very slow and it took me a while to get into it. Yet, once Lisa dissappeared it was a rollercoster ride and I wasn't able to put the book down.

It's a great book and a reminder to not take life and friendship for granted.

I would definately categorise D'Amour Road as a must read, yet I'd like to add that as a reader you will need a bit of background knowledge of Canada (politics and hockey of all subjects), nursing and of course "missing people" around the globe.

Janet Evanovich - Three to get deadly

Publisher: St. Martin Press

ISBN: 978-0312-96609-1

My rating: 3.5/5


Stephanie Plum, the brassy babe in the powder blue Buick, is back, and she's having a bad hair day - for the whole month of January.

She's been given the unpopular task of finding Mo Bedemeir, Trenton's most beloved citizen, arrested for carrying concealed, gone no-show for his court appearance.
And to make matters worse, she's got Lula, a former hooker turned file clerk--now a wannabe bounty hunter--at her side, sticking like glue. Lula's big and blonde and black, and itching to get the chance to lock up a crook in the trunk of her car.
Morelli, the New Jersey vice cop with the slow-burning smile that undermines a girl's strongest resolve is being polite. So what does that mean? Has he found a new love? Or is he manipulating Steph, using her in his police investigation, counting on her unmanageable curiosity and competitive Jersey attitude?
Once again, the entire One for the Money crew is in action, including Ranger and Grandma Mazur, searching for Mo, tripping down a trail littered with drug dealers, leading Stephanie to suspect Mo has traded his ice-cream scoop for a vigilante gun.
Cursed with a disastrous new hair color and an increasing sense that it's really time to get a new job, Stephanie spirals and tumbles through Three to Get Deadly with all the wisecracks and pace her fans have come to expect.  (http://www.evanovich.com/)


My thoughts

This third installment of the Stephanie Plum Series is not quite as good as the previous two books, but still a very good laugh.
Initailly it was hard to follow, but like the previous books, as soon as I got the hang of the "who's who" I wasn't able to put the book down again. I love Lula, the hooker turned file clerk, more and more and I think it's great that not only is she now a regular in the stories, but with more voice as well - she cracks me up!
I also really liked one of the secondary plot of Steph not really coping with Morelli's "disinterest" in her - which makes her spy on him with her best friend Mary-Lou. "Mary Lou giggled. And then I giggled. Then we slapped ourselves so we’d stop giggling."  Well I didn't. I kept on giggling.
Did I mention Rangers plans to get Steph fit?

Well worth a read, not only for Plum fans, but everyone who needs a good laugh.

Vera Bleibtreu - Und fuehre uns nicht in Versuchung

Publisher:  Knecht Verlag
ISBN: 978 3782008921
Language: German


My Rating: 2.5/5
 


A Minister like like Susanne Hertz is not unfamilar with anything human. She knows there are temptations everywhere and she knows the abyss of the human soul. That's what she believes anyway until she discovers a dead corpse while jogging and quicker than she would have liked she's involved in the solving of the murder. (translated from http://www.amazon.de/)

My thoughts

My Mum gave me the book to read as the story is set in the town I grew up.

The main protagonists are the minister Susanne Hertz and Inspector Tanja Schmidt.

The story itself is interesting but poorly executed. The book starts with Susanne finding a dead body near a little chapel in a small town, but then the story slows down so much, that by page 27 I had already forgotten, what had actually happened. Some of the chapters are very long describing too much personal detail which seemed irrelevant to me. Not to mention that at around page 60 I still didn’t know what the importance of Susanne in the story was. And in the end it seemed to me that the author, a minister herself and living in exactly that same town, wanted to quickly wrap up the story so we only find out who the killer is by sheer coincidence ... although I believe most of the readers will have an inkling of exactly who that person might be more or less half way through the book.

And yes ... I'm not quite sure about the Inspector falling in love at first sight with with this witness thirty years her age ...

The Age 2010 short story competition

The Age short story competition is now accepting entries.
Entries must be no longer than 3000 words and should not have been previously published.

Stories for children are not eligible for this competition. Manuscripts must be typed: double-spaced and on A4 paper.

A separate page should be submitted with the author's name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. No entry form is required.

No more than three stories per person should be submitted.

Faxes or hand written submissions will not be accepted and manuscripts will not be returned.

Send entries to:
The Age Short Story Competition
The Age
Level 2
655 Collins Street
DOCKLANDS 3008

or email shortstory@theage.com.au

The closing date is October 1, 2010 - 5pm (unfortunately late entries can not be accepted) Winners will be announced in December.

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd winning stories will be published in A2. They will also be published at theage.com.au along with all highly-commended entries.

First prize winner will receive $3000. 2nd prize, $2000, 3rd prize, $1000.

For further information please contact Jason Steger 03 8667 2044 or jsteger@theage.com.au.

 
 
Good Luck everyone !
Iris

Oscar Wilde - The importance of being Earnest

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-1416500421




My rating: 4.5/5


 
Oscar Wilde's brilliant play makes fun of the English upper classes with light-hearted satire and dazzling humour. It is 1890's England and two young gentlemen are being somewhat limited with the truth. To inject some excitement into their lives, Mr Worthing invents a brother, Earnest, as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind him to pursue the object of his desire, the ravishing Gwendolyn. While across town Algernon Montecrieff decides to take the name Earnest, when visiting Worthing's young ward Cecily. The real fun and confusion begins when the two end up together and their deceptions are in danger of being revealed.  (http://www.fishpond.com.au/)




My thoughts

The master at work !

This is an extraordinary play which is cleverly written and, profound and beautiful. Oscar Wilde wrote this very funny yet profound play reflecting on status, wealth and marriage in the aristocracy of that time.

It's fun to read and I can only recommend it!

Janet Evanovich - Two for the dough

Publisher: St. Martin Press


ISBN: 978-0-312-94896-4

My rating: 4/5




It's Stephanie Plum, New Jersey's "fugitive apprehension" agent (aka bounty hunter), introduced to the world by Janet Evanovich in the award-winning novel One for the Money.

Now Stephanie's back, armed with attitude -- not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights, and her trusty .38. Stephanie is after a new bail jumper, Kenny Mancuso, a boy from Trenton's burg. He's fresh out of the army, suspiciously wealthy, and he's just shot his best friend.
With her bounty hunter pal Ranger stepping in occasionally to advise her, Stephanie staggers knee deep in corpses and caskets as she traipses through back streets, dark alleys, and funeral parlors.
And nobody knows funeral parlors better than Stephanie's irrepressible Grandma Mazur, a lady whose favorite pastime is grabbing a front-row seat at a neighborhood wake. So Stephanie uses Grandma as a cover to follow leads, but loses control when Grandma warms to the action, packing a cool pistol. Much to the family's chagrin, Stephanie and Granny may soon have the elusive Kenny in their sights.
Fast-talking, slow-handed vice cop Joe Morelli joins in the case, since the prey happens to be his young cousin. And if the assignment calls for an automobile stakeout for two with the woman who puts his libido in overdrive, Morelli's not one to object.
Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie eventually must face the danger alone when embalmed body parts begin to arrive on her doorstep and she's targeted for a nasty death by the most loathsome adversary she's ever encountered. Another case like this and she'll be a real pro.
Two for the Dough is irresistible fun and powerful entertainment from an acclaimed author who is already a national star. (evanovich.com)

My thoughts

The second Stephanie Plum book doesn't disappoint. It's great.

Stephanie is out and about again as a bounty hunter and this time her job is to find Kenny Mancuso who is accused of killing his best friend and now has jumped bail. Stephanie is still getting help from mystery man Ranger and cop Joe Morelli. Kenny is Joe's cousin so that's why he's also looking for him .
Grandma Mazur brings the book alive. She helps her granddaughter Stephanie by searching the funeral homes for Kenny - going to the funeral homes is one of her favourite pasttime.

The story is complicated enough to keep the reader engaged, and the action never lets up. If you liked One for the dough, which is slightly better, you will not be disappointed with "Two for the dough". Give it a go !

Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 978 - 0385342032

My rating: 4.5 / 5

Lara Linton has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?

When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie—a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.

Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from and about each other. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family. (amazon.com)

My thoughts

I have to admit that when I was half way through the book I had a big sigh - another of Kinsella's book, but this one is a bit ueber-over the top. Yet, I persisted and I am so glad I did. Once I got to around 2/3 of the book I wasn't able to put it down.

Lara is attending Sadie's funeral - her great-aunt. Lara never really knew her great-aunt Sadie, and nor does the rest of the family. So to no-one's surprise everybody is just wanting to get the funeral over and done with and get back to their busy daily life. Suddenly Lara hears someone looking for her necklace, but nobody else seems to hear it as well. Lara finds out, it's aunt Sadie who cannot rest without her necklace, and finds herself stopping the funeral because of some murder proposterous accusation - and with that it starts weeks of chaos to come for Lara as she tries to cope with the ghost of Sadie in her life, Sadies love for the twenties and Ed.

The end had me literally moved almost to tears. I really liked the book, though it was bit slow at the start. I loved the message Kinsella wants to bring across and I loved the humorous way she's done it. Everyone's got a body that ages, yet that number on the body doesn't necessarily mean that's the age of the person's mind. And to allow myself to copy this part from a different review, because I couldn't say it any better: Also, the message again that I've come across often lately and that is don't discount the elderly. They have stories to tell, they lived in a time we didn't and they love to look back and remember and share. We just have to take the time.

Tally ho Sadie AND THANKS !