The Learning Curve (by Melissa Nathan)

Melissa Nathan was one of the better writers of humorous chick-lit in recent years. I previously read her novel 'The Nanny' and liked rather more than I had expected to. So when I found another of her novels in a charity shop, I bought it immediately.

'The Learning Curve' is Melissa Nathan's final novel; she died a couple of months after completing it - only 37 years old. In the prologue she actually states that she was in the unusual situation of knowing that her book would probably be published posthumously.

It's the story of Nicky Hobbs, a thirty-year-old primary school teacher. She's a very good, dedicated teacher who gets along well with both children and staff - on the whole. Her closest friends are Rob - who she went out with, some years before, Ally, and Pete. Nicky broke up with Rob seven years before the story begins because she wanted to settle down and have children, and he didn't. Since then she has remained single.

In Nicky's class is a boy called Oscar who is dreamier and more interesting than many children his age. Nicky learns that, like her, he lost his mother at a young age. Unfortunately his father is a workaholic, so Oscar is looked after by a series of au pair girls, and his neighbour Lilith, who was his mother's best friend.

Sparks fly when Nicky tries to persuade Oscar's father to come to a Parents' Evening. Misunderstandings abound, leading to some fairly humorous situations. And when Nicky and Oscar's father start to make friends, Rob starts suggesting that perhaps he and Nicky should become an item again..

The plot is further complicated by Rob and Nicky being made joint deputy heads of the school, and then both being asked to apply for the post of Head. The current Head, Miss James, is a somewhat eccentric lady who loves jigsaw puzzles.

Oh, it's all light-hearted, rather caricatured, and - in some ways - shallow. But the main characters are believable and pull at the heartstrings, the relationships within the school seem realistic, and the book is well-written and fast-paced. The ending is very cleverly done, and all the ends are neatly tied together.

All in all, a pleasant light read.

Family Connections (by Anna Jacobs)

I am a little surprised that I have not, previously, come across Anna Jacobs, since I see from her web site that she has published forty novels, mostly historical fiction and modern character-driven books - two of my favourite genres.

Family connections is one of the modern ones, with a large number of characters.

Brad from Australia, who was recently widowed, gets a letter out of the blue from Rosie, his biological daughter in England. He had no idea she existed, but decides to retire early and go to the UK to meet her - much to the disapproval of his two children in Australia.

Gina, also from Australia, is sorting through her late father's house. She comes across family documents and realise she has a half-brother and half-sister in the UK. She wants to go and meet them, as she grew up thinking she had no relatives other than her parents. But one of her daughters is having a difficult time with a pregnancy so Gina doesn't feel she can leave her.

Meanwhile Lou, granddaughter of Gina's half-brother, learns about her Australian relatives. Despite the extreme disapproval of her mother, Lou and her boyfriend decide to go backpacking in Australia, hoping to meet Gina and her family.

Then there's Gina's half-sister, who is in an emotionally abusive marriage. And Rosie's adoptive father, who is depressed because someone else has been given the job he has been doing for years, and worried that Rosie may not want him as a dad any more.

I was a bit confused, at first, by the sheer number of characters in this novel. I was also rather muddled by the different subplots which are introduced one after another, apparently unrelated until the threads slowly begin to weave together. I found myself frequently turning back to find out who I was reading about.

Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable tale. There's quite a bit of tension as different people try to meet each other, and are thwarted, but not so much as to make me stay awake at night. I could feel some of the stress in various situations, as characters struggled, wept, quarrelled and (in some cases) were reunited, and I wanted the various threads to be sorted out.

My main problem with the book was the number of coincidences in the story. I could have believed one or two, but at least one was so unlikely that I felt a little cheated, even though I could foresee it and it helped to make a satisfactory and tidy conclusion.

But on the whole I enjoyed it. There are underlying messages about the need to move forward, letting go of past hurts and grudges, and also about the need, sometimes, to break free of a situation that becomes out of control. There's an underlying morality that suits my own worldview, showing the importance of forgiveness, fidelity, and family ties in general.

Recommended for a pleasant light read, if you enjoy general family-related character-driven novels.

(I originally reviewed 'Family Connections' for The Bookbag)

Pastures New (by Julia Williams)

The author Julia Williams was new to me. This book looked appealing, though - an attractive cover, mostly white.

Amy, the main character in this novel, lost the love of her life a couple of years before the story begins. She has finally decided to move from London to a small town in the countryside with her young son Josh. She hopes to work in gardening, having just completed a relevant course. There are allotments near her house, and she quickly makes friends with other people in the neighbourhood.

There's also an attractive man, Ben, who bursts into Amy's life and seems to cause stress every time they meet. Evidently, from the start, they were going to end up together. And there's Mary, Josh's grandmother, who lives in London and has been very close to Amy. She is hurt that they are planning to move.

The book charts the next year or so, involving misunderstandings, pettiness, squabbles, and also growing friendships and love. There are several subplots involving various different people which kept the story moving along at a good pace. I thought it was well-planned, with plenty of interesting characters. I read this longish book (just over 500 pages) in three evenings at a busy time of year. I wanted to know how situations would be resolved, and how Ben and Amy would finally get together.

Somehow, though, this novel didn't move me. In the early pages of the book I was mildly irritated by being given lots of background detail about each new person as they were introduced, rather than getting to know them along with Amy. I didn't need the general information, and didn't remember any of it anyway. I also felt that some of the conversations were a bit stilted, filling space rather than going anywhere with either plot or character development.

Nor did I feel emotional attachment to any of the characters, even Amy. I like to root for people in novels when they're unhappy, and rejoice with them when things go well. That didn't happen at all in 'Pastures New'. I felt intellectual satisfaction when various issues were resolved, but no emotion.

Still, if you enjoy light fiction, this is a pleasant enough story with plenty of human interest. It helped me de-stress at the end busy days, but I never stayed up later than I intended to, or lay in bed worrying about the characters. Nor did I gravitate to the book during the daytime when I was busy doing other things.

Recommended in a low-key way, although it does not appear to be available in the USA as yet. I shall be interested in this writer's future novels.

(My slightly longer review of Pastures New is at The Bookbag site)

Health and Wealth (by Andrew Brandon)

We have quite a selection of Christian books on our shelves. I have no idea where some of them came from. Every so often I pick one which I'm sure I've never read, and a recent seletion was 'Health and Wealth' by Andrew Brandon. I have never heard of this author before, and can't find any web site about him. According to the blurb on the back of the book, he was a Bible teacher and evangelist who travelled around the world, including Europe, India and the USA. However the book was written twenty years ago, in 1987, so this may well be out of date.

When I picked up the book, I wasn't entirely sure whether it was going to be something exposing the false teachings of the 'Health and Wealth' movement, or a book that tried to encourage people to believe in it. I was relieved that it was the former; had it been a prosperity gospel book, I would probably not have finished it.

The theology is very sound. Brandon takes one principle at a time from the 'health and wealth' teachings, showing what out-of-context Scripture led to the particular belief, and why it's incorrect. He writes about faith, fanatsy, presumption, sickness, sin, wealth, and more. It's well-structured, and the Scriptural backup is good. He does not attack the prosperity gospel teachers with vitriol; instead he tries to show where they went wrong, and to help them - or their followers - to find the truth.

Still, I'm afraid I did find it a bit dry. None of it was new to me - indeed, much of it seemed rather dated. I don't know if this movement is still as active as it was twenty years ago; if so, I haven't come across it. It took me about two weeks to get through the book, which is a long time for only 150 pages.

So, I'd recommend the book strongly for anyone who thinks there might be some truth in the 'Health and Wealth' ('Name it and Claim it') teachings. But if you're convinced, as I was - and am - that they're wrong, and unhelpful, then there's not really any reason to read this book. It's no longer in print anyway, though may occasionally be found second-hand.

Making Money (by Terry Pratchett)

I've been a low-key fan of Terry Pratchett for at least fifteen years, so was saddened recently to hear of his being struck by a rare version of Alzheimer's disease. We have bought all the Discworld books - in recent years, shortly after publication, so we have them in hardback.

It took me a few months to get around to reading 'Making Money', although I actually began reading it aloud to my teenage sons back in October. But we didn't have time to finish it, so they read it separately and I've had it sitting on a shelf ever since.

Pratchett works best read aloud, in my view, but it's still an enjoyable book, on the whole. It took me over a week to read it, but that's partly because I've been fairly busy recently. It's also because it takes awhile to get going, and I can only take so much Discworld at one sitting.

It's a sequel to 'Going Postal', although complete in itself. Moist von Lipwig, a conman who survived a hanging and then made the Ankh Morpork Post Office successful, is offered the job of revitalising the General Bank. He doesn't want it - and yet, he's become a bit bored, maintaining the Post Office. He takes risks just for fun, so as not to go stagnant. At least, he does while is girlfriend is away on her mission to recover and free as many golems as possible.

Golems? They're the Discworld equivalent of robots, more or less. You'd need to read 'Feet of Clay' to understand properly what golems are. There's one who insists on wearing a dress and calling herself Gladys, who features significantly in 'Making Money', and many others besides who form an interesting sub-plot to the book.

Then there's the mysterious Mr Bent, who has an uncanny ability with numbers, and no sense of humour. And Lord Vetinari, developing as a character more and more.

Not as many brilliant one-liners as there were in some of the earlier Discworld books, and a fair number of double entendres and risqué comments and subplots, which might make it awkward to read to a young child. But an enjoyable read nonetheless.

The Taste of New Wine (by Keith Miller)

I didn't know anything about Keith Miller when I plucked this book off our shelves to read. We seem to have collected quite an eclectic muddle of Christian books over the years; we've bought a few new, been given several as gifts, 'inherited' even more from people who have moved away, and picked up yet more at second-hand shops and charity shops. I have no idea which category this book falls into, but I'd never read it.

I'm glad I didn't know anything about the author until I searched for him online to include the above link. This book was the first he wrote, and it shot him to fame. He continued to write, but apparently the pressure became too much - he turned to alcohol, his marriage broke up, and it took him years to sort himself out. So very sad - and perhaps a danger to anyone in a ministry like this.

The reason I'm glad I didn't know about his problems in later life is that this is a very honest book, much of it autobiographical, about living a life of freedom in Christ. It was written in the mid-1960s, at a time when church-going was still fairly popular, and many Christians were rather nominal. Few seemed Spirit-filled - or so Keith Miller suggests - and many didn't even understand what they were doing, or why, when they went to church each week.

The book looks at a breakthrough in the author's own life when he discovered real freedom in the Christian life, then he looks at new ways of relating to people, how to live the Christian life without annoying others, how to be a witness without being a pain, and (ironically) how to be a dynamic Christian within marriage.

The writing is good; it engages the attention and is full of good suggestions. It's rather dated in places, and uses some words and phrases which we wouldn't necessarily use these days, but I still found it interesting and often thought-provoking. It's still in print in both the UK and USA, so evidently others have found it helpful too.

I should add that in no way do I pass judgement on Keith Miller for the mistakes he made after he became famous. I just found it sad that someone so clued-in to the realities of following Christ could have fallen so badly. I'm glad to hear that he's now back in Christian ministry.

The Man in the Brown Suit (by Agatha Christie)

Every so often I like a change from my steady diet of character-driven sagas or romantic novels. So when I saw several paperbacks by Agatha Christie in a charity shop, recently, I couldn't resist.

'The Man in the Brown Suit' isn't in her normal style of murder mystery, or whodunit. It's really a thriller. I didn't realise that at first, though, because the novel does start with two murders - or, at least, two deaths. It's narrated by Anne Bedderfield, a young woman who's alone in the world after the death of her highly academic father. She first sees a man on a railway station who is frightened by something, and falls onto the line. He appears to have died instantly, but the doctor who comes forward to examine him may not in fact have been a doctor...

Next, in an apparently unrelated incident, a woman is found dead in a house that's available for rent. A man in a brown suit is the clear suspect.

Yet there does seem to be a connection between the two deaths, as far as Anne is concerned. In desperate need of some excitement, she spends the last of her money on a ticket on a ship to South Africa, following some clues she has discovered. There she meets several other people - the genial Sir Eustace, his dour secretary Paggett, and his dashing but abrupt second secretary Harry Rayburn. Anne gets all the excitement she could wish for, with a wounded man bursting into her cabin, and another trying to push her overboard.

Oh, it's all a bit unlikely, or perhaps it's just that the book is now over eighty years old, and we live in a different, faster-paced electronic world. Not that 'The Man in the Brown Suit' seems particularly dated, other than the lack of modern amenities, and a bit of inherent colonial-style racism (the black South Africans are referred to as 'natives', for instance). But it's all a bit unbelievable. Naturally the good guys survive - well, Anne has to, as she's narrating - and the conclusion is neat and tidy. I had even guessed most of the revelations that occurred towards the end, about who were the good guys and who were the not-so-good.

Still, an enjoyable and exciting light novel, well-written and very cleverly plotted. So much so that it's been almost constantly in print in both the USA and UK. There were so many characters that I didn't always keep track of who was who, or even where the plot was going, but it didn't seem to matter.

Recommended.

The Grace Awakening (by Charles R Swindoll)

I haven't previously read anything by Charles ('Chuck') R Swindoll, although I had heard of him as a sound American evangelical paster, fairly elderly by now. I believe this book was part of the inspiration for Philip Yancey's excellent and popular 'What's so Amazing about Grace?'

'The Grace Awakening' is a bit heavier going; the early chapters cover similar ground to Yancey's, pointing out what a lack of grace there is in so many Christians and church teaching. He distinguishes vertical grace - that which God extends to us - and horizontal grace - that which we extend to each other.

He also shows the danger of 'grace killers': those who are so insecure or immature in their faith that they not only live by a rigid set of rules, but try to insist that others do the same. I haven't really come across many of these in the UK; we tend much more towards apathy and grey areas than black-or-white fundamentalism. But in the USA and elsewhere in the world (including the UK, if you look hard enough) there are plenty of people whose lives are bound up with rules and petty legalism.

Of course, extending grace to everyone means we let go not just of our friends and relatives, but also of other Christians we disagree with, including the legalists. Horizontal grace means that we simply love them, and allow God to deal with them in his own way, recognising a wide variety of tastes, doctrines and persuasions within the Body of Christ.

The book is divided into fourteen chapters, and I found the later ones quite thought-provoking. Swindoll challenges his readers to show grace in the workplace, the world, and in our marriages. He shows many Scriptural examples of those to whom God extended grace, and encourages us to use our freedom wisely and non-judgementally.

Highly recommended; preferably read this over a week or two, taking a chapter at a time. Written in 1990 but still in print in both UK and USA.

The Undomestic Goddess (by Sophia Kinsella)

I have long held a rather negative bias against 'chick-lit'- those brightly-coloured paperbacks often found at airports or supermarkets, with light-weight storylines and (in my view) flat characters and unbelievable situations. I based this view on my reading of about two or three books in this genre some years ago.

But in the past eighteen months or so, I've begun to change. I've discovered that books really shouldn't be judged by their covers, and that some excellent authors enjoy writing in this genre. I was surprised how much I enjoyed 'The Nanny' by Melissa Nathan, and 'Stage by Stage' by Jan Jones. I first read a Sophie Kinsella book ('Shopaholic and Sister') only a few weeks ago, and thought it was very well-written.

So when I saw 'The Undomestic Goddess', also by Sophia Kinsella, for 50c at a charity shop, I couldn't resist.

I have to say, it's a remarkably unlikely tale. The main protagonist, Samantha, is an excessively stressed-out laywer when we first meet her, trying to relax at a beauty therapist. She doesn't want to be there, and she is in denial about her level of stress... she fills in a questionnaire for the therapist, which I thought was a very clever way to sum up her character quickly and succinctly.

Samantha comes from a family of high-flyers, and her one dream in life is to become a partner at the firm she works for. This is on the cards, and she is awaiting the decision day with trepidation. Success seems to be in her grasp when she discovers, to her horror, that she has made a mistake. A fifty million pound mistake. She over-reacts with immense shock, and runs away, unable to face her colleagues.

Then for some strange reason she knocks on the door of a likely looking house in a small village, hoping for a glass of water. Instead she finds herself being interviewed for the position of housekeeper, something she is entirely unqualified to do. She cannot cook anything more complicated than toast. She has no idea how to iron, or even how to use a washing machine. Nonetheless, she decides she might as well go for it, and manages to fool her kind-hearted but gullible new employers.

Nathaniel, the gardener, is not so easily fooled, however. He's the obvious hero of the book,and sure enough, Samantha finds herself desperately attracted to him. He rescues her (having a delightful mother who is happy to give cookery lessons and other advice) and gradually Samantha finds herself enjoying her new life, once she has learned the rudiments. Actually, for such a total klutz in the kitchen, she seems to learn high-class cuisine with remarkable ease and speed... but then reality does have to be slighty suspended for the duration of this book.

So much I could have gathered from the blurb on the front cover, and really there isn't a whole lot more plot. The climax and conclusion are somewhat inevitable, but it's all really very well-written. Yes, the people are mostly caricatures, and the situations are bizarre, almost surreal - but the conversation flows, Samantha becomes more likeable as she relaxes, and there's a great deal of humour. A couple of times I actually caught myself chuckling out loud, which is most unusual for me while reading.

Although there's some bad language used, it's not excessive; although there's a rather well-written section showing the building up of sexual tension, the inevitable culmination is not, thankfully, described at all. I was very glad not to have to page through lengthy descriptions of intimacy.

I read this in two days, finding it almost impossible to put down once I had started. Light and frothy - yes. Great substance - no. Witty - undoubtedly. Will I read more of Sophie Kinsella, should I come across more of her novels? Definitely.

The China Study (by T Colin Campbell and Thomas M Campbell

This is a book I borrowed from a friend, who shares an interest in healthful diet and nutrition. It's a lengthy tome, written by T Colin Campbell, an academic researcher and advisor on nutrition, and his son Thomas M Campbell, who are American.

'The China Study' claims to be a comprehensive study of diet and health, based around a huge study that apparently took place in China. However this study isn't really mentioned in the first few chapters, which focus instead on experimentation on rats. The author effectively shows that if the rats are given large amounts of casein (a protein mainly found in milk and other dairy products) then they are much more prone to cancer than rats with very small amounts of casein in their diets.

Campbell explains that some people might assume the problem is with protein in general, but that good research can't make such leaps of intuition; therefore further tests were done with plant protein, and that showed no such correlation with cancer.

He then makes an intuitive generalisation of his own (or so it seems), insisting that the problem is, therefore, with animal proteins.

This rather sets the tone for the book. Pieces of research are quoted, often with interesting statistics and correlations. If they fit in with the author's theories - that veganism is the only way to live healthfully - then they're approved. If not, they're skated over or explained. There are many generalisations, and assumptions based on pre-conceived ideas.

Another problem is that the book is written for an American audience, thus there's an 'all or nothing' mentality about it. As a Brit, I am much more interested in grey areas and moderation than absolute rules and legalism. Nor do I assume that all meat-eaters have regular meals of fat-laden double cheesburgers; if they did, it's not surprising that they would rapidly develop heart disease, cancer, and many other serious illnesses.

Still, there's certainly more than a grain of truth in the book. Most people do need to eat more plant products - or, at least, fruit and vegetables. Campbell barely mentions that wheat can cause as many allergic reactions and intolerances as dairy products.

It's also evidently true that some cultures - such as those in Asia - are trim and health when they eat even large amounts of traditional foods (which contain almost no dairy produce, and not much meat), but quickly start developing the 'Western' illnesses of cancer, heart problems, diabetes (etc) when they start eating fast-foods, often high in meat, fat, and dairy products.

So in real terms, the book didn't tell me anything I didn't know already. It was lengthy, detailed, and dramatic in places. But since, within a few chapters, I had realised that the author was primarily pushing his own (vegan) agenda, I kept an open mind and discarded all the extreme recommendations.

Worth perusing, perhaps, if you see it in the library or on a friend's bookshelf. For more about the controversy raised by this book, it's well worth reading through some of the reviews of the book that can be found via the Amazon links.