Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding

Again! For a book group, this time, to be fair! In fact, this was a blast, we had it for the Jane Austen Book Club (with only 6 novels and some unfinished works and juvenalia, there's a very finite amount of genuine Austen!) so I've been trying to branch out (see Bride and Prejudice, etc). We had fun with this one, but the general concensus was that
1. Elizabeth Bennet would never make blue soup.
and
2. The best thing about any Mr. Darcy is his real-estate.

Who Moved My Blackberry?, by Lucy Kellaway

Novel told in corporate emails between desperate climber Martin and his wife, mistress, drinking buddy Graham, life-coach Pandora, and everyone else. Pretty funny, not as good as Holly's Inbox for that sort of thing, but quick and with a bit more bite.

Posh and Prejudice, by Grace Dent

Fun and breezy sequel to the hilarious Diary of a Chav. Shiraz Bailey Wood (named for the drinks her parents enjoyed the night she was conceived) astounds her parents, her school, her boyfriend, and herself by doing really well on her GSCEs, and is given the opportunity to study for her A-levels in the 6th form at what is derogatively known in the press as "SuperChav Academy."
This was still a funny witty set piece, but Shiraz's intellectual growth is taken seriously, and her gradual realization of opportunities beyond what she has thought of before reads as genuine, and her fears are understandable, as is her growing excitement and confidence. I love this series, and really hope to see Shazzer take on University.
Happily for me, the Posh and Prejudice in the title does not mean it's another Austen take-off- although Shiraz does have to read Pride and Prejudice, it really does refer to the prejudice some of the more posh students display to Shiraz and her language, clothes, and earrings. So that was refreshing! (Unlike, Scones and Sensibility, Prada and Prejudice, and so on.)

Mrs. Tim Carries On, by D.E. Stevenson

As wonderful and light in tone as Mrs. Tim Christie was, this book took the diary of Mrs. Tim to a much deeper level. This one is set during WWII, and while Hester is still very amusing, life is much more serious now. Tim himself is on the French front, and becomes involved in the retreat at Dunkirk, while other familiar characters are similarly serving in active duty. The courage to face each day with bombs raining down and even more, to be able to make light of the damn bombs fills me with awe.
As good as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was, what it's really left me with is a new and massive appreciation for the women who really did what the fictional Juliet in Guernsey did- write amusing columns to keep up spirits in wartime. D.E. Stevenson has my heart at her feet, as does Joyce Dennis. I've just ordered Joyce Dennis' Henrietta's War, and am waiting for a copy of Mrs. Tim Gets a Job. Can't say how much I enjoy these, and how I admire them for being able to write them.

The Red Tree, by Caitlin Kiernan

Wild, twisty ride of a book. Author Sarah Crowe has retreated to an old farmhouse in rural Rhode Island, ostensibly to finish an overdue book, but becomes distracted by a manuscript left behind by a previous tenant. The previous tenant, a suicide, had been working on a study of local legends centering around a large oak on the property, that had been mentioned since colonial times as having somewhat horrible properties, and having been something of a sacred site to local Narragansetts. As Sarah reads the manuscript, she becomes obsessed with the tree and the myths and legends surrounding it, and then things really take a dark turn. A housemate, painter Constance, who becomes Sarah's lover, moves in, and Sarah and Constance are doomed- unless it is only Sarah who is doomed.
An unreliable narrator, a wonderfully inventive mix of New England folklore and an eerie love story with a very dark ending? I'm sold.

Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster

Well, I have to say that I have avoided reading this book for just about 25 years, because even at 10, I suspected I wouldn't like it, and I was right. However, the newest in Heather Frederick Vogel's excellent Mother-Daughter Book Club YA series has the mothers/daughters reading it, and I know how well she dealt with Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, so I figured I'd read the 'classic' first, so as to better enjoy the new book.
It was saccharine, and sweet, and a little squicky, and incredibly predictable, but I've read it now, and won't ever even wonder about it again, so that's nice. Isn't it?

Mrs. Tim Christie, by D.E. Stevenson

Let me first say that this was delightful. Then let me say that it was terifically upsetting to read, because I think something strange has happened.

I came across this book (last published in 1974, although a reprint is scheduled for 2011) because I was looking for read-alikes for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, as Guernsey etc. is the Read Across Rhode Island book of the year. I can't remember exactly where I saw it mentioned, but it sounded good enough that I requested it through interlibrary loan, got it, and there my troubles started.

Mrs. Tim Christie is an officer's wife in the years before WWII, and the book is her daily diary. It is funny, witty, effortlessly charming, and told in an incredibly distinct and recognizable voice. There are quirks of the voice (and I'm sure English majors have a word for this) that make it unique- almost. As I read, horror seeped into me, because, I kid you not, Mrs. Tim Christie's voice was not new to me. It was the same voice that was used, to great effect, in Bridget Jones' Diary. I can't say what an odd shock that was.

I also can't imagine (though I suppose I could hope) that this is accidental, or a coincidence.

I can't find any mention of Helen Fielding crediting D.E. Stevenson, anywhere, with inspiring her. Now, Bridget Jones' Diary, as most know, is a kind of take-off of Pride and Prejudice, as are about eleventy-billion other books and movies, and the homage to Austen is made clear throughout the book, with Bridget and her friends watching the Colin Firth movie version of P+P, Mark Darcy obviously being an updated Mr. Darcy, and so on and so on. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Bridget Jones is built upon Jane Austen and P+P. That didn't stop the book from being greeted, joyfully and with great praise, by pretty much the whole world.

Another reader has noted a resemblance in voice between Stevenson and E.M. Delafield's Portrait of a Provincial Lady (another book I adore)- but I really feel that Helen Fielding must have read the Mrs. Tim Books (and almost certainly must have come across both D.E. Stevenson and E.M. Delafield in her own reading.) I just wish she credited them as openly as she has Jane Austen.

Bridget Jones' Diary, by Helen Fielding

Re-read.
One of my all time favorite books, that I have probably read about 80 or so times, enjoying it every time.
The reason I re-read it though, this time, isn't that I needed my Bridget fix (and I have been known to enlist friends' help in finding one of the 3 or so copies that seem to float around the house, saying desperately that I "need Bridget" like other people sometimes "need chocolate" or "need a drink") but that I found something strange, and disturbing, that I will go into in the post about Mrs. Tim Christie, by D.E. Stevenson.
Despite something that I find worrisome and stressful and upsetting, fretting about it doesn't detract from the delight of the artifact, the fun of the book itself, so I want to say how much I adore this book. To not like the book would be like saying that you can't like, say, Hills Like White Elephants because Hemingway was a misogynistic jerk, or that Kobe Bryant's 3-point shots aren't beautiful because he has a complicated personal life, and so on. The "art" is separate from the artist.

I still love Bridget Jones' Diary.

Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging

Nicely done adaptation of the YA book Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison, and while I don't understand why they changed the title, it doesn't bother me immensely.

What I liked about this:
the actress cast as Georgia actually looks like a real teenager.
it stuck fairly well to the plot of the book.
harrowing moments that reminded me exactly how dreadful it is to be 14.

What I didn't like about this:
no teenage boys look like that.
left out some of the best bits of the book.
ridiculous, American-teen-movie style ending tacked on.

It was fun to watch, but I wouldn't really recommend it though.

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?, by Louise Rennison

The latest (and last?) in the Georgia Nicholson series. I loved the first ones so much, the middle was a bit iffy, and while I enjoyed this, I'm kind of glad it's over. Still love Angus the cat though.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, by Jeff Kinney

More of the same, but Greg is definitely growing up. Very funny.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, by Ridley Pearson

Haunted house story, gothic horror set in turn of the century Seattle. Was ok.

Holly's Inbox, by Holly Denham

Funny breezy London chick-lit, told through emails in Holly's inbox. Bit of a sudden end, but was frothy and had some laugh-out-loud bits, mostly from Holly's friend Aisha.

Carbon Diaries 2015, by Saci Lloyd

Fantastic YA. Near-future (2015) UK decides to begin rationing carbon, after the Great Storm, in an effort to lead the world in reducing emissions. 16 year old Laura Brown wants to help but at the same time, giving up things like long showers and cell-phone minutes are painful. Her friends become increasingly radicalised, while her family falls apart. This was really so well done- the mulitcultural Britain and the increased government powers seemed very possible if not here already. The riots and the use of military force against civilians... this was really good.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, by Jeff Kinney

Further adventures of Greg Heffley. Still funny, not as fresh.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This was absolutely wonderful.

Entrancing. Guernsey after WWII, with characters that lived and breathed.

Diary of a Chav, by Grace Dent

This was fantastic. The voice was perfect- I could hear Essex girl Shiraz saying everything, and I could see her and I could see Collette Brown, and Carrie and Bezzer and it was funny and sad and vulgar and kind of depressing. Shiraz at her "superchav academy", waiting to get out at 16 to get a job at a sporting goods shop to earn some real money was heartbreaking, and as she began to look at her real life options the book took on a whole new level. People don't talk about social mobility much in YA.

It was so great (interesting?) to read a UK YA novel that wasn't about the middle class. Georgia Nicolson, for all her flirting and lipgloss, goes to a 'nice' school with 'nice' friends and the boys she and Jools avoid in the park are the very boys that this Shiraz and her mate Carrie eye and ignore and blow bubble gum at, and what's-her-name from the Girl, 15 books is clearly well off what with the trips to France (not package tours) and so on.

Shiraz's neighbor Uma with the ASBO and her 'work experience' at the bhaji packing plant were so well written.

One thing I am struck by, is how the heck did big hoop earrings and tracksuits and hoodies lined with fake fur become the international uniform of the... I don't know if there's a politically correct term for this and I feel like I'm on edgy ground, but what the heck? Was there a memo? UK, Rhode Island- big hoops and skinny headbands, eyeliner and gobs of lipgloss, fake tans and fake nails, rap and cars- amazing.

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, by Chelsea Cain

This was so strange and great, and so surprising.

I found this book because Chelsea Cain is now writing very gory sounding thrillers, which are getting great reviews- Sweetheart, and Heartsick, which are being so widely praised that I was curious about the author. I know they'll be too beastly for me to read- anything with a character that gets compared to Hannibal Lecter is out of my flavor, but still, I thought I'd try to see where this Chelsea Cain came from.

Imagine my surprise when this popped up.

In this ridiculously well done piece of wierdness, Nancy Drew is a real person, still angry at her old college roommate Carolyn Keene for stealing and distorting Nancy's stories about her teen sleuth experiences. She marries Ned Nickerson, but always has a burning flame for hunky Frank Hardy. Bess is so traumatized by Carolyn's always calling her plump that she's anorexic, and George has a great roommate, V., who enjoys herbal tea.

Cherry Ames and Vicky Barr are there, and Flossie Bobbsey is an international birth control advocate. Encyclopedia Brown is pudgy, middle aged, and wears bright swimshorts. It was all hallucinatory and wonderful.

One of the strangest things I've ever read, but so much fun.

Random Acts of Senseless Violence, by Jack Womack

This was intense, and disturbing. 12 year old Lola is a Brearly student, living in NYC with her parents, and by the end of the book, she has changed into a wild survivalist.

I've read a lot of dystopian near-future fic, and this felt chillingly possible. The assasinations, the riots, the fires in California, the National Guard and the Xanax, all seen through the eyes of a girl who (occasionally) studies for chemistry and is struggling through Tess of the D'Urbervilles...

Intense. I hadn't heard of it until I read a Boing Boing post asking why this book wasn't better known, and I agree- it should be.

Catherine, Called Birdy , by Karen Cushman

In 1290, Catherine, a 13 year old girl, the daughter of a knight, is keeping a diary of her life at her parents’ manor house. Hilarious, moving, and surprisingly vulgar and violent, Catherine’s diary is a glimpse into life 718 years ago.

From the book:

“12th DAY OF SEPTEMBER
I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say.”