random book talk

As a very busy girl, I should be devoting my Sundays mainly to working on my dissertations (which I am truly fed up with), but I always find myself browsing the net for even more books instead - typical. I'm addicted, I really am. I have over 100 purchased & unread books on my book shelf, but I keep buying new ones on almost a daily basis.

I order them online and so on Friday the copy of The Chocolate Lover's Club by Carole Matthews arrived. The next day, I got two more books I ordered: What's Love Got To Do It with It by Lucy Broadbent and Airhead by Meg Cabot.

Just a few minutes ago, after spending far too much time browsing various book sites, just bought Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (seems promising + Speak was amazing so I'm rather excited about this one, even though I expect it to be quite disturbing) and The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax. I told myself I wouldn't buy them just now, I'll just add them to my Visual Bookshelf and buy them later, but I. Just. Could. Not. Resist. And so I clicked the Add to Basket button, followed by the Checkout button. The books will be here soon and I'm excited, but I can just hear my credit card whimpering as the poor thing has really been under a lot of stress lately, mainly due to my craaaazy online book shopping addiction.

I keep telling myself that I should STOP (I really do spend a fortune on books) but I truly cannot help myself. Bookaholics Anonymous, here I come. :(

DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND by Jenny Colgan ****

"Sophie is a girl about town - living the party lifestyle with Daddy footing the bill. But when she gets embroiled in a scandalous affair, she is thrown out of home and left to fend for herself on the mean streets of London. Scraping a living as a cleaner in a photographic studio, living in a bedsit on the Old Kent Road, eating baked beans from the can - this is one spectacular fall from grace. On top of that, she is papped by photographers every time she leaves the flat, with her so-called friends laughing at her downfall. But stepping in to solve a crisis at the studio, Sophie discovers that she is also quite handy with a camera, and a new career behind the lense is born. But when she is hired as the photographer for a society wedding, Sophie is thrust back into her old lifestyle, and discovers that perhaps money can't buy you happiness after all ..."

(click for detailed summary)

This was actually the first Jenny Colgan novel I've read and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised as the story was more serious than I expected and the heroine was luckily less ditzy than I imagined her to be from the description. The beginning was rather sad and Sophie's world crushed completely, but she managed to pick up the pieces and eventually start again. In the process, she discovered her strengths and learned to stand on her own two feet while also started to accept the little things in life that she used to take for granted before. I have to say, Sophie handled her fall from grace surprisingly well and the novel on the whole was very enjoyable with quite a few hilarous bits, which is always a plus. As I said, I was pleased to discover that the novel was far less silly than I anticipated it to be and I'm glad Sophie got her happy ending, even though it wasn't a fairytale one.
I could easily give this one a 5/5 as it was well written and funny and real, but it didn't completely blow me away (plus the title is rather misleading, no?) so I guess I'll have to go with 4/5 - make that 4.5/5 actually!

I think this book was a great introduction to Ms Colgan, whom I shall definitely be returning to - possibly sooner than later as I already have a copy of Operation Sunshine waiting to be read (my boyfriend gave it to me for my brithday last year), but I think I'll save it for my holiday as it does seem like a beach read. Lastly, I'd be happy to receive some suggestions which other Jenny Colgan novels are particularly worth reading. :)

ps: The plot seems very similar to Cecelia Ahern's next book The Girl of Tomorrow - cannot wait to see how Cecelia will deal with the story!

A little something about yours truly ...

Hello there and thanks for stopping by. :)

I've decided to create this blog in order to post my book reviews and other book related news. I only regret not starting this soon as I've read so many incredible books over the years and I wish now that I had reviewed them back then as I tend to quickly forget what a certain book is about and why it moved/infuriated me so much, heh.

The first thing you should know about me is that I'm a fervent book lover and books are my life, quite literally. I work in publishing and compulsively buy books - I'm afraid I currently buy far more than I actually manage to read, but I'm hoping that will change in a couple of months when I'll hopefully be able to start my long planned reading marathon, yay.

I currently own over 100 still unread books and I look forward to reviewing them eventually! :)

Anything else you're curious about? Fire away!