Brave Girl Eating - Harriet Brown

Brave Girl Eating - Harriet Brown (2010)

Harriet Browns daughter is 14 when she begins to stop eating, and gets her family sucked into the vortex of the world that is anorexia.  Not only affecting Kitty, Harriet and the whole family begin to feel that they are suffering.  Trying with the help of doctors and therapists, they try to encourage Kitty to eat and return to her normal self.

I enjoyed this book, as I have seen others go through similar problems with eating disorders and even though better now, they continue to live with the urge to not eat.  At 15, I discovered that eating an apple, a couple of cruskit crackers and a cup of packet soup made my small size denim skirt spin around my hips.  It didn't last long for me, and size 10 is now a distant dream, but that sense of control was overwhelming. 

So an interesting insight into what a family goes through to help out their child in a time of trouble - 4/5.

Live to Tell - Lisa Gardner

Live to Tell - Lisa Gardner (2010)

Across Boston neighbourhoods, families are being tormented by troubled children.  I enjoyed the beginning of the book, with the story of detective D.D. Warren who is investigating several murders of whole families and Victoria, a nurse in a pediatric mental health ward, who has her own troubled past.  I have seen the Oprah show on kids like these, and it must be horrid to live with your own child who is threatening  to kill you.

The middle of the book was the set up for the end stage, which is the part of the book I seem to dislike most in a thriller, as it always seem to end up the same way.  With the protagonist detective/police Sargent being chased/kidnapped/trapped.  So it is a 3/5.

Breath - Martha Mason

Breath - Martha Mason (2003)

Having a bit of a tiresome week, it was good to read this book and be grateful for all that I have in my life.  Martha Mason was just eleven, when she was made a quadraplegic from the Polio virus, which resulted in her spending her next sixty one years in an iron lung.  Relying on her parents to support her, she becomes top in her class in high school and then at university, and continues to learn throughout her life.

When her father dies, she is forced to take on more of a role of caring for her mother who spends her final years battling with dementia, and Martha eventually with the help of carers, runs the household.  You have to admire her strength and devotion to her mother, and think of what an amazing person she is to barely complain about her sixty year imprisonment.  Me, I don't think I would last a week.

3.5/5

Shimmer - Alyson Noel

Shimmer - Alyson Noel (2011)

Riley is continuing in her job of rescuing  souls with the help of her dog Buttercup and her guide Bodhi.  This book is mainly about their encounter with the troubled Rebecca, who with her dog is tormented by the circumstances around their death.  Helping them to find peace helps Riley to understand more of her job. 

A quick light read (it is a young adult book), I maybe have done my dash with the series now.  3/5

The White Garden - Stephanie Barron

The White Garden - Stephanie Barron (2009)

Jo has accepted a new commission - to travel to the UK and visit Sissinghurst, and recreate the famous White Garden for her wealthy clients.  Two days after telling her grandparents, her grandfather dies leaving a cryptic note that Jo believes relates to the gardens she will be visiting.

So while scoping out the gardens, she finds a mysterious diary with her grandfathers name on it that relates to the suicide, in 1941 of the author Virginia Woolf.  Enlisting professional help to verify the diaries author, Jo then finds herself in a chase across the UK, to find out what happened in the time between Virginias death and her body being found.

Worthy of a 4/5 I enjoyed the book, the quality writing managing to absorb me and made it easy for me to disappear within the pages.

How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran

How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran (2011)

Part biography, part social commentary I'm still not sure how to write about this one.  After growing up with a large family and not much money, Caitlins book is a combination Angelas Ashes and Puberty blues as we hear honest stories about growing up, puberty, periods, boys, porn,babies, marriage and sex.  She talks about her boyfriends honestly and finding out how to be a woman growing up in the 80's and 90's.

It must hard for girls now to find their way.  So many images are thrust upon young girls telling them how to look, how to act and dress, it must be hard to find your own way.  At least you don't get that pressure in your 40's, so I just dress and act how I like and try not to look like mutton dressed as lamb. 

I wonder how many woman's mags will collapse soon, as they all seem to be stuck in some sort of time warp.  I think that blogging and online sources are much more current and freeing, although there do seem to be full of skinny 20 year olds wearing vintage clothing.  I did love Caitlins take on why high heels are sold to woman as a sexy image, its made lots of designers rich, but who can walk in them?  Me, I gave up wearing heels about fifteen years ago, and do laugh at girls tottering around town.

Anyways it is worth a 4/5.  Some bits were a bit showy offy, I wasn't too into the chapters on vaginas and porn, but I'm open minded and did snigger a bit.

It's Not Really About the Hair - Tabitha Coffey

It's Not Really About the Hair - Tabitha Coffey (2011)

I expected this one to be all about the I'm not such a bitch as I look on tv, which I think filled up a chapter.  I did find myself surprised to hair about her growing up in Oz hanging up in her parents strip club with the transexuals.  Also growing up chubby she had an interesting childhood with a wayward dad and a strong mum.

Once she got into hairdressing you have to admire her awesome work ethic and expecting high standards from all she works with.  This got her into  earning her own show, and now she travels the States helping other salon owners to up their standards and earnings.

So a light and surprisingly entertaining read.  3/5

The 100 Thing Challenge - Dave Bruno

The 100 Thing Challenge - Dave Bruno (2010)

After last year, with moving and trying to pack and unpack ten years worth of stuff, I have been determined to downsize somewhat and to not collect more stuff.  I have been trying not to buy any books, although I have managed to get a couple, and when I saw this one at Borders, I decided to cave in and buy this one and two others in their third off sale.

So Dave decides to downsize and live with only 100 processions for a year.  He then spends a year getting rid of his superfluous stuff, and although he only lives with a 100 things, he does share a house with his wife and children, so things like furniture, kitchen stuff don't count.  However we can all understand his need to simplify, and the peace it can bring.  I somehow think that being a man is somewhat easier, with just living with 10 tshirts and a couple of pairs of jeans would be fine for most blokes I know.  I am sure my brother has only 20 items of clothing and would be fine with his computer, car and phone.

However it was an interesting read.  I think we have come through a cycle of ostentatious wealthy waste and consumerism that has been pushed on us by TV and magazines.  The over the top celebrity lifestyle of huge closets and hundreds of pairs of shoes is now shunned by so many people. Blogland is filled with honest people who live thrifty and shop second hand and grow their own vegetables and the time is right for such a book. 

I did find that more time was spent talking about the set up for the challenge and justifying it, then the year he spent with his 100 things.  Still we could all down and looking at our stuff and challenging ourselves to whittle down and really treasure the things we love.  4/5

Half A Life - Darin Strauss

Half A Life - Darin Strauss (2011)

It was a cold and blustery day here in Wellington, and after a stomach full of Yum Cha it seemed ideal to be able to wander down to the library and browse the stacks.  I really shouldn't as I already had a pile that threatens to topple off the bedside cabinet and smother me.  When I found this one,  even at a 177 pages it was a small book that only took an hour to read.  So I curled up in a library chair and got it read, before going to get the groceries and head home.

When he was 18, Darin Strauss was driving his friends in  the car, when approaching a group of cyclists, one swerved into his path, and the young student cyclist was killed.  Even though he was told it was an accident he found that it haunted his life, thinking of the what ifs, and trying to escape the pain that followed him.  The book was able to show how such an incident might never be understood, the reasons never explained and how you have to learn to adapt.  Life may never be the same, and we all wonder how we would cope when faced with the same experience.

4/5 - small and memorable.

The Paris Wife - Paula McLain

The Paris Wife - Paula McLain (2011)

While I have read a few books lately that I couldn't wait to finish, this one was the joy of reading one you didn't want to end.  Right from the beginning, I think Paul McLain did a fantastic job of retelling a tale of a girl falling in love with a boy.  In this case Hadley Richardson, who in her late twenties falls in love with a young Ernest Hemingway.  I felt like I could feel the emotions of her waiting for his letters, and it was a great start to the novel.

Once married, the young couple set off for Paris, where they life in a squalid flat but socalise with the literary greats of the time.  As he gains more confindence and his writing becomes more well known, Ernest begins to slip away from his relationship with his wife, flirting with the young things in his circle. Hedley begins to realise that she will be unable to hang onto Ernest, that things have changed, and that she doesn't want to share him.  You can feel her pain, as her love slips and Ernest is lost.

A 5/5 - it is hard to fault and may be one of the more memorable reads I have read this year.