It's with excited and great pleasure I introduce you to an old and dear friend - Jacq aka 'Book worm' aka 'Hit the Road Jacq'. As I have had some requests about 'talking' books and book clubs I asked Jacq to get our 'book worm' juices flowing with some book suggestions. Thinking most of you like me are juggling many different hats some don't want to waste precious time on crappy books.
This Mama is trying to read something other than books about toilet training, toddler tantrums and enrolment packs for school, thank you Jacq for your time your blog was a 'great read' and the beginning of reading 'wonderful' and 'fabulous' and not shades of Grey...
It’s every compulsive reader’s
dream, to nab a job in a bookshop… And after selling my soul to media for
fifteen years it was pure papered bliss!
BUT - When it comes to
recommending great reads, I just don’t know where to start! So how about I
ramble, I’m sure if you take a wander with me, you’ll find something on the
shelves that will intrigue and enable an escape into something wonderful!
Romance: This section in
the bookshop is strictly for what is termed as the ‘Bodice rippers’ although on
the bottom shelf (now moved to the top) you’ll find your erotica…. The Fifty
Shades phenomenon, and let’s face it… The now highest selling paperback ever
released on to the market is paving the way for similar reads like Destined
to Play, Haven of Obedience, Bared to You and Eighty
Yellow Days. Romance is in almost every book from SciFi to Literature, so
for myself, I prefer just a really good read.
Top on the list of really
good reads are Cutting for Stone, The Dovekeepers, The
Housemaid’s Daughter and A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar. All
are beautifully written, tick all the boxes and I’ve yet to hear a negative
remark about them.
Mystery and Crime is
another brilliant genre that has so many different facets… Good mystery could
be Goddard’s Into The Blue, or if you like something a little more immersed
in history CJ Samson’s Dissolution. If you want something
of a faster pace try At Risk from MI5’s very own Stella
Rimmington… and don’t get me started on the amazing Scandinavian Crime that’s
available, that’s only scraping the surface!
For girlie light reading,
I’m a bit over the whole ‘girl leaves everything behind and yet all falls into
place including a gorgeous new guy’ blarney – as if! Janet Evanovich, however,
has Stephanie Plum: An accident prone Bounty Hunter by default, just trying to
make a buck – and that to me is a sweeter story than some of the saccharine on
the shelves, though if you do like girly reads Monica McInerney, Jane Green, Lucy
Diamond, Marion Keyes and Cathy Kelly are all still turning them out!
Non-fiction: Well I ought
to go on about the amazing Boy Who Wouldn’t Die, or the
incredible tale in Marching Powder… But for me the flavour of the month is Japanese
Papercraft! Seriously, trying to settle down with the Grott Monsters
and do origami was more like committing hara kiri (seppuku)! This book, not
only has the right paper in the back, at the right size, but at last
instructions that even I can follow – It gets this month’s two very
enthusiastic thumbs up.
And as for a favourite...?
Well do you know your Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare? Would you like to have
your mind twisted and taken for a ride? It’s not to everyone’s taste, so if
you’re brave try your luck with Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair and
you’ll never look at books, or dodos, the same way again.
You can follow Jacq on her website www.hittheroadjacq.com.au or her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/HitTheRoadJacq
We love sharing so please comment with your favourite book of all time.
FH