I liked ‘Stepping up’ by Sarah Turner so much when we read it for the local book group a couple of years ago that I put another of her novels on my wishlist. I was given ‘On the edge’ for Christmas and have just read it in the past couple of days.
It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I was about a quarter of the way through it became difficult to put down. The narrator is called Joni. She’s nearly forty, and has been living with Lewis for the past ten years. Joni hates surprises, and likes to be prepared for any eventuality. She’s really eager to have a baby, and has planned every detail, including the most likely times for conception.
But before we meet her, there’s an online group discussion, presumably something like Whatsapp although it’s not specified. Someone called Sue, who is not entirely au fait with groups or emojis, sets it up and invites Joni along with four other people. And she tells them that she’s been given the task of organising a week in Joni’s late grandmother’s house, where they have to follow some instructions before hearing her will.
The first time I read Dorothy Koomson’s gripping novel ‘The ice cream girls’, I felt that there were some unfinished threads; I knew the author only wrote stand-alone novels, but wished she would write a sequel. So I was very pleased when I learned that she had done so, some years later. I was given ‘All my lies are true’ for my birthday a few months ago. I didn’t read it immediately, however; I waited until a few weeks after I had reread ‘The ice cream girls’, to remind myself of the characters and details of the story.
It probably isn’t necessary to have read it first, but I would definitely recommend it, even though this novel is complete in itself, and starts ten years after the end of ‘The ice cream girls’. This one mainly features Verity, daughter of Serena and Evan, who is now in her mid-twenties. She’s moved out of the family home but, until a year or so previously, was very close to her parents. But she’s grown more and more distant. Serena is sure she has secrets, but is pushed away any time she tries to approach the topic - or any other conversation.
As with other books by this author, the timeline moves back and forwards regularly, with each section headed by the date. So it’s not long before we learn that Verity has been dating a man in his thirties called Logan. He spends a lot of time in her flat, and they have declared their love for each other. But they haven’t told either of their families anything about their relationship, and neither of the has met the other’s family.
I thoroughly enjoyed rereading ‘Anne of Green Gables’ a couple of months ago, and the first sequel, ‘Anne of Avonlea’ in June. So in the past few days I’ve reread the third book in the series, ‘Anne of the Island’, which I haven’t read since 2006. However, I must have read it more than once as a teenager or young adult, as much of the story was still familiar to me.
This book, which was published in 1925, covers the four years of Anne’s university degree at the fictional Redmond college. She’s delayed her entry because Marilla’s eyesight is going. But Mrs Lynde is going to move in, so Anne is free to go. She’s going to be joined by some of her closest friends, and is pleased that Gilbert Blythe will be there too, in the same year. They had a friendly rivalry at school - once they put aside their feud - and are good friends. But Gilbert wants more than friendship, and Anne is not interested…
There’s not a whole lot of plot to this book. We meet some new folk, and in the second year we see Anne and three of her friends installed in a wonderful house known as Patty’s Place. It’s owned by two women who have decided to travel the world.
Two of my favourite modern Christian writers are Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas. So when they write a book together, I acquire it as soon as possible. One of these books is ‘All questions great and small’, which I read and very much liked in 2016. Clearly, a decade later, it was time for a reread.
The book is presented as answers to questions which the authors were given on one of their tours. The introduction (or, rather, the Foreword) is written by someone who was part of the ‘Seriously funny’ team. She explains that Jeff and Adrian took it in turns to answer as many questions as they could, whether serious or otherwise.
Then the official introduction, written by Adrian, caricatures some typical enthusiastic Christian pat responses to questions. He points out that it’s too easy to become lazy when presented with doubts, or genuine queries about the Bible, or about living as a Christian in the 21st century. So in their tour - and in this book - they attempt to be completely honest. No question is considered unsuitable, or too silly.
I reread the late Sophie Kinsella’s ‘Shopaholic abroad’ last month. So I’ve just finished the third in the series, ‘Shopaholic ties the knot’, which I last read in 2012. Yes, they are essentially quite silly, fluffy books. Yes, the protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, is by turns irritating, naive and over-emotional.
But the writing is - in my view - excellent, and the stories, particularly this one, cleverly plotted. The story is, admittedly, unlikely, but at times it’s quite amusing. The opening scene could be from a comedy show: Becky is trying to fit a large, hundred-year-old cocktail cabinet into a taxi. She’s bought it at an antique store, and doesn’t want to pay their huge delivery bill because she only lives around the corner…
It’s an excellent introduction to the insatiable shopping addict who can’t resist a bargain. Even though she and her boyfriend Luke have theoretically agreed that they don’t need any more furniture. And she’s not supposed to spend large amounts without discussing it first… but Becky is an incurable optimist. It’s one of her best attributes, although it also leads to extremely difficult situations at times.
