Title: My Husband’s Sweethearts
Author: Bridget Asher (pseudonym for Julianna Baggott)
Publisher: Bantam, 2009 (271 pages)
ISBN: 978-1-74166-873-5
Grab: a bowl of ice cream

For me chick lit is like sorbet. I like it well enough for its own merits, and on the beach in summer it can be positively heavenly, but I wouldn’t attempt to subsist on a diet of it alone. It really works best as a palate cleanser between heavier courses.  My Husband’s Sweethearts accomplished this effortlessly last weekend. I had just finished reading a sequence of fairly meaningful books culminating in Gayle Forman’s beautiful and heartrending If I Stay. If I’d read another tearjerker I may have had to spend the week in bed with no other company than a cat and a box of chocolates to recharge my emotional batteries.

My Husband’s Sweethearts takes a plotline that might seem maudlin (the central character’s estranged husband is on his deathbed) or severe (he’s estranged because he cheated on her – repeatedly), and makes it not only funny but also touching. After discovering that the charismatic Artie is dying, Lucy Shoreman returns home. Unable to forgive him for his philandering, in a drunken moment she cracks the code in his little black book and calls all his former lovers to come and take their turn in caring for him. To her surprise, many of them show up and some of them have a real effect on her life.

Filled with entertaining characters (Lucy’s mother and her over-endowed dachshund are particular favourites), My Husband’s Sweethearts was a delightful read. With the film rights sold (with Julia Roberts’ name attached), I am looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.

Title: The Mysterious Benedict Society
Author: Trenton Lee Stewart
Publisher: Chicken House, 2009 (474pages)
ISBN: 978-1-906427-02-3
Suitable Age: 10+

Ever have one of those “why haven’t I heard about this book before now?” moments? One of the disadvantages of living in the land Down Under is that it sometimes takes a while for information to drift far enough south for us to hear about it.

So, I have only just found out about the fantastic Mysterious Benedict Society series, as the first book was only released in Australia in May 2009. In the same month, the paperback version of the second book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, was released in the US and a third book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma is due for release in the US in late 2009.

The Mysterious Benedict Society has the same kind of feel to it as Harry Potter and the Lemony Snicket books. Action, adventure, great characters, and themes about friendship, loyalty, courage etc for those interested in getting a deeper message from the book. Before you send me heated emails declaring that it is nothing like HP, I’m referring more to the use of language and style of adventure than the content. No wizards or magic in MBS, but lots of great interaction between characters and exciting plot developments.

I particularly enjoyed the very clever use of language in this book. There are some great puns in the character and place names (the evil LeDroptha Curtain has established his Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened on Nomansan Island).

It is so exciting to find such a clever, well written and exciting book suitable for the tween market. The four children, two girls and two boys, who are selected by Mr Benedict to work as spies at Curtain’s Learning Institute are interesting and quirky characters that tweens should find appealing. There is a great sense of fun and humour in the book running alongside the more serious themes.

I don’t want to spoil the suspense by giving away details of the plot, but I highly recommend this book for both boys and girls who love to read adventure or mystery stories. I gave it to my 10-year-old son to read and he loves it.

Now I just have to decide whether to buy the second and third books in the series from the US or wait until they are available in Australia. *sigh*

For a more detailed review of The Mysterious Benedict Society, visit Susan’s reviews at Suite101.com.

Title: Thomas and His Friends Collection – 60th Anniversary Edition
Author: Rev. W. Awdry
Publisher: Dean (imprint of Egmont Books Ltd), 2005 (220 pages)
ISBN: 0-603-56211-6
Suitable age: 4+ (for adult to read stories)

While reading my son his bedtime story tonight, I was reminded of just how lovely the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories are.

The range of modern Thomas the Tank Engine books includes educational titles teaching colours, numbers and words, activity books, My Thomas Story Library titles and various other books including Thomas and the Blackout.

We have the 60th Anniversary edition of the Thomas and His Friends Collection. The stories will be familiar to some readers, but they are more detailed than the simplified Story Library books and the collection includes extra stories about the central Thomas and Friends engines including:

• Thomas the Tank Engine
• Percy the Small Engine
• Toby the Tram Engine
• Edward the Blue Engine
• Gordon the Big Engine
• Henry the Green Engine
• James the Red Engine

Other engines mentioned include Duck, BoCo, Mavis, and familiar characters including Terence the tractor, Bertie the bus and Mrs Kyndley.

My son loves these having these Thomas stories read to him and I find the original stories quite enchanting and I love the older illustrations. This book is perfect for snuggling up with your favourite little Thomas fan and marvelling at the fact that stories written more than sixty years ago can continue to hold such an overwhelming fascination for modern children.

Related review: Make your Own My Thomas Story Library Book.

Title: Magic Mummy
Author: Caroline Stills
Illustrator: Christina Miesen
Publisher: Black Dog Books, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-74203-038-8

A sweet book for preschoolers about mothers, Magic Mummy shares all the magic things that mothers do with their children every day – kisses and hugs that make hurts go away, a voice that tells amazing stories, delicious meals and fun games.

Featuring a little blonde girl and her rosy-cheeked blonde mother, this story is more likely to appeal to little girls. It would make a lovely gift for a preschool-aged girl on the arrival of a baby brother or sister as a way of focusing on the special relationship the child shares with their mother.

Title: Her Mother’s Face
Author: Roddy Doyle
Illustrator: Freya Blackwood
Publisher: Arthur A Levine (Scholastic imprint), 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-81501-7

This lovely book covers an aspect of motherhood that is rarely given attention. Young Siobhán lives with her father. Her mother died when Siobhán was three and her father won’t ever talk about her. As Siobhán grows, she can remember small things about her mother – her hands and her voice – but she can’t remember her mother’s face.

One day a beautiful woman meets Siobhán in a park and notices that she is sad. She tells Siobhán that she should look in the mirror to see her mother, but it takes Siobhán many years to realise that it is her own reflection that looks not only like her mother, but like the woman in the park.

The story is beautifully told and paints a touching image of the confusion and loneliness Siobhán experiences when her father refuses to talk about her mother or share his memories of her. It also has a wonderful message of hope for children struggling with grief. Siobhán’s answers don’t come for many years, but they do come. She finds comfort in small things through the years and her own daughter grows to be a woman who shares her grandmother’s sense of fun.

Her Mother’s Face is the first picture book by Booker Prize winning author Roddy Doyle. The watercolour and charcoal illustrations by Australian illustrator Freya Blackwood compliment the moving, emotional text perfectly.

This story is both sad and uplifting, much like Sally Murphy’s novel for children Pearl verses the World.

Title: The Woman in the Lobby
Author: Lee Tulloch
Publisher: Penguin, 2005 (441 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-14-300333-5
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Grab: An erotic chocolate box (and please tell me where you got it!)

One of the review excerpts on the back of my 2009 paperback copy of The Woman in the Lobby describes it as “an erotic chocolate box of a novel”. Now to me, this just sets a book up for failure. A dozen pages in, I was already grumbling to my husband about the lack of erotic chocolates. But once I got past that, I found myself quite swept up in the world of Violet Armengard – mistress to some of the world’s most powerful and wealthy men.

After an unexpected fling with an international tennis player in a lush Melbourne hotel, newly divorced Violet heads to Paris. Unable to reconnect with her lover as planned, circumstances lead to her involvement with another wealthy businessman. This steers Violet slowly into a succession of relationships that keep her travelling the globe, staying in the most lavish of hotels in some of the world’s best-known luxury destinations. Lurking in the background of all this affluence, is the enigmatic Florin – Violet’s male counterpart in the seduction of the rich.

There is a lot more to this story than meets the eye. The Woman in the Lobby didn’t always go where I thought it would, and Lee Tulloch’s writing was the real star of the story. It was a nice change to read a book for women that was able to provide both enjoyable escapism and food for thought.

For a more detailed review of The Woman in the Lobby, visit Susan’s reviews at Suite101.com.

I do love a good classic, particularly Austen. I still have my high school copy of Pride and Prejudice with all the margin notes and underlining.

I was delighted to discover some recent reprints of Austen and Bronte classics by Cameron House (an imprint of Bookwise International). They were previously published in the UK by Worth Press Ltd. My comments here are based on the two titles that I have, Emma (ISBN: 978-1-74173-019-7) and Jane Eyre (ISBN: 978-1-74173-035-7)

Okay, now that I have all that official stuff out of the way, I can tell you how lovely these editions are. They are bound in an embossed black cover with rounded corners and look eminently suitable for reading as you take a turn about the room or wander aimlessly around the grounds of your family estate. (*sigh*)

Aside from my obvious delusions about being a character in an Austen novel, these books do seem to be somehow more ‘classic’ than buying a paperback version. The Australian releases by Cameron House will include the following titles:

Jane Austen Classics:

• Emma
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey
• Persuasion
• Pride & Prejudice
• Sense & Sensibility

Bronte Classics:

• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
• Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Bronte
• Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

In addition to the complete text, each book features notes compiled by literary scholars regarding the setting, text and author, a summary of significant characters and a timeline of the author’s life and work in relation to other world and literary events. They would make a lovely gift for anyone who loves classic literature.

I do love a good classic and the appearance of these books offers a certain gravitas and dignity to reading books by Austen and the Bronte sisters. I would love a collection of these books on my bookshelf and will have to hunt down the others to join Emma and Jane Eyre.

To reassure you that I am not totally lost in past literary glory, I will be keeping my copy of Jane Eyre on the shelf next to my signed copy of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (thanks again to Meredith for this spectacular Christmas present).

Title: Thomas and the Blackout – A Searchlight Book
Author: Based on the Railway Series by Reverend W Audry
Publisher: Egmont, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4052-4171-7

With a train-obsessed son, I have seen more than my fair share of Thomas the Tank Engine books. Not that he limits his interest to our favourite responsible, reliable and really useful little blue tank engine, but given his age (five) Thomas does appear rather frequently as a bedtime book selection.

It’s not everyday that one of his Thomas books grabs the attention of my other children (who at 8 and 10 feel that are past such things), but Thomas and the Blackout has been rather popular.

The premise of the story is that there has been a blackout on the Island of Sodor. It is night-time and no-one can see where they are going to get home. The book features Thomas illustrations on transparency pages alternating with standard pages that are entirely black. When viewed unaided with the black page in the background, the transparency image is almost impossible to see.

Fortunately, Harold the Helicopter is able to save the day. Children can remove a cut-out of Harold with a spotlight shining. When placed behind the transparency pages, the white “beam” of the spotlight makes it possible to see the illustration.

The story asks children to find specific images in the illustration, although after one or two reads through they can find these quickly. Getting them to explore the rest of the picture is then more fun – find the red car, the yellow flower, the cow etc.

If you know a young Thomas fan, Thomas and the Blackout is sure to be a popular choice for a birthday present or other gift. Alternatively, check out the review of the DIY My Thomas Story Library book for another Thomas the Tank Engine gift idea.

Don’t you love it when you find the perfect birthday gift for someone and manage to remember it when it comes time to actually buy them a birthday present?

Several months ago I was browsing the Egmont UK website when I came across the ‘You’ and the Birthday Surprise DIY Thomas book. Presented in the My Thomas Library Book format, you can design a character to match you child and have their name appear in the book title and throughout the story. Their personalised picture also appears on the cover and throughout the book.

Now I realise that these DIY books are nothing new. I can remember having similar books when I was young (many, many years ago), but this is in the format of the familiar Story Library books and I have to admit that printing technology has come along way since I received one of the “story featuring your child” books as a kid.

Available exclusively through the Egmont UK website, you can personalise this book with your child’s name, hair style/colour, eye colour, skin tone, shirt colour and gender. Whether boy or girl, they appear in t-shirt, blue jeans and red sneakers. You can also choose the name of one friend that will also appear throughout the story, although you cannot personalise the appearance of this character.

I managed to remember this website when the time came to buy my son’s birthday gifts and I am so glad I went to the trouble of getting a friend in the UK to receive the book and forward it on to me (delivery is only available in the UK). My son LOVES this book, especially one of the final pages when Thomas’ driver invites him to ride in the engine cab. You’d think he was actually there himself.

Even with the exchange rate, this book worked out to be a very reasonable price for a special birthday gift. Current price is £7.99 with no charge for postage.

Title: The Thing Around Your Neck
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2009 (218 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-00-729671-2
Genre: Short Stories
Grab: A sense of indignation for the injustice experienced by others

I’m generally wary of short stories. It takes a significant amount of skill to create a compelling story with enough detail to engage the reader and enough resolution to prevent a sense of frustration when the story ends.

The Thing Around Your Neck contains 12 previously published short stories by award winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I was quickly drawn into the well-crafted stories and found myself eager to begin another as the last ended. I was amazed at how adeptly Adichie portrayed her central characters, inviting readers to identify with them but also presenting them as flawed and complex individuals.

The 12 stories are styled as vignettes, allowing the reader to briefly walk alongside the central character and experience their life, then drift away as the storyline draws to a resolution of some kind. The stories never presented as having a concrete conclusion however, leaving me with the feeling that the story continued on and that it was my voyeuristic involvement that came to an end.

My personal favourite from the collection, or perhaps I should more accurately describe it as the story that impacted me the most, is “The Headstrong Historian”, the story of a Nigerian mother who allows her son to attend a white man church school so that he will learn English and better protect the heritage of his father, only to have her son turn his back on his African ancestry and culture.

I also particularly enjoyed the story “Jumping Monkey Hill”, a snapshot of a small group of writers at a writing seminar in Nigeria, which I found to be an insightful look at the way we interpret and regard the writing of others as well as generally entertaining.

The subject matter of the stories was at times quite confronting, particularly those that portrayed social and political unrest in Nigeria. This makes it difficult to describe this book as “enjoyable”, however it is certainly extremely well executed and very compelling reading.

I have not read either of Adichie’s previous books, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, but will certainly be looking for them in the future.

For a more detailed review of The Thing Around your Neck, visit Susan’s reviews at Suite101.com.