All posts tagged: Chick-Lit

‘The Rosie Project’ by Graeme Simsion ~ A Review

As you may know I do enjoy getting to know new authors by their debuts and Graeme Simsion’s first novel, with its catchy title and intriguing back cover blurb, had me at hello. Let me start by saying that I actually purchased the Audible audiobook version of this (narrated by the wonderful Dan O’Grady) which I most highly recommend. On to the book itself what we are dealing with here is, essentially, the journey of self- discovery of Don Tilman – a handsome (think Gregory Peck) but totally inept socially (think Sheldon from ‘Big Bang Theory’) Genetics professor (and undiagnosed Asperger’s sufferer). At 39 Don decides it’s about time he got married and, disillusioned by the inefficacy of traditional dating rituals, devises ‘The Wife Project’ – a scientific method (complete with a 16-page questionnaire) of finding the perfect partner. She will not be (amongst many others) a smoker, a drinker or a late-comer. Enter Rosie (a.k.a. ‘The World’s Most Incompatible Woman’) on a quest right up Tilman’s alley: to find her biological father. Don’s safe, …

Press Play: Audible Weekly (18/11- 24/11/2013)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding From Audible: With her hotly anticipated third instalment, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Fielding introduces us to a whole new enticing phase of Bridget’s life set in contemporary London, including the challenges of maintaining sex appeal as the years roll by and the nightmare of drunken texting, the skinny jean, the disastrous email CC, total lack of twitter followers, and TVs that need 90 buttons and three remotes to simply turn on. An uproariously funny novel of modern life, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a triumphant return of our favourite Everywoman. This seems to be getting mixed reviews but, having loved both of the previous Bridget Jones’ books (& the subsequent movies), I feel like I owe it to her character to read on – if only to see where life takes her next. And, as I’ve said once before: It’s only chic-lit so… how bad can it be? The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro From Audible: One letter will turn newly married …

Press Play: Audible Weekly (11/11- 17/11/2013)

Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe From Audible: London, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk at the Central Office of Information and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels. His task: to keep an eye on The Brittania, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58 – the biggest World’s Fair of the century, and the first to be held since the Second World War. As soon as he arrives at the site, Thomas feels that he has escaped a repressed, backward-looking country and fallen headlong into an era of modernity and optimism. He is equally bewitched by the surreal, gigantic Atomium, which stands at the heart of this brave new world, and by Anneke, the lovely Flemish hostess who meets him off his plane. But Thomas’s new-found sense of freedom comes at a price: the Cold War is at its height, the mischievous Belgians have placed the American and Soviet pavilions right next to each other – and why is he being …