Monday, November 27, 2006

Return of internet

Hooray! The internet is back! Apologies (again) for another prolonged silence - the internet at home went away and I had to talk to the nice phone people to get it back, but back it is. And hopefully won't be going away again anytime soon.

I've decided I need a break from reading books which make me think (very pathetic of me; clearly my brain is disintegrating since graduation!) and have retreated to the world of Louise Bagshawe. Most of you probably won't have heard of her; she is a British chick lit author, but more of a thinking girl than a lot of the other chick lit writers, from what I can gather - she's really the only one I read. Personally, I think she's like a modern day Jilly Cooper, with the intricate plots, forays into the worlds of the super rich, and the ability to mesh the stories of a number of characters together to produce surprising twists. I'm re-reading Sparkles, her latest offering, which is centred around an exclusive jewellery house in Paris. I'm something of a magpie, and while in Paris drooled over the crown jewels in the Louvre for quite some time one evening and resolved to buy more sparkly jewellery for myself, although possibly not diamonds as big as my fist. Reading about characters in books wearing and buying sparkly things is almost as good as buying them, provided it is well written as Louise Bagshawe's work is, even if she does have a bit of a thing for canary diamonds. (Why canary? Pink is clearly the way to go.)

On a random note, I discovered I own something by Ha Jin already (I bought Waiting the other day) but have never read it. It is a collection of short stories called The Bridegroom, which I will have to investigate soon. I'm going to postpone some of my African works I think and move on within the next week. I have Octavio Paz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez waiting, not to mention the three books I bought the other day from my newly discovered independent book shop. And the books I bought in Paris. Sometimes I could just cry at how much time I don't have to read all the books I have.

6 comments:

Rebecca H. said...

Glad your back! I read Waiting recently, and liked it quite a bit.

Heather said...

I'll be crying right there with you! I have the added issue of being an avid re-reader.

Heather
www.thelibraryladder.blogspot.com

litlove said...

I like Louise Bagshawe too. Only problem is I can't remember the title of the book of hers that I liked best. Sparkles was fun, though, apart from the slightly silly ending.

Danielle said...

I think she has been published over here, I will have to give her a try, since she sounds like fun. I need more reading time, too....

The Traveller said...

Litlove, Sparkles does have a slightly ridiculous ending, but I didn't see it coming!

Dorothy, I hope I enjoy Waiting as much as you did - I'll be posting on it soon.

Iliana said...

I think I'll cry with you regarding the lack of time. Glad you are back on line :) I've never read any Louise Bagshawe (I do have one of her books somewhere)but I'm glad to hear her books are good chick lit fare.