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Posts Tagged ‘humour’

‘Logging Off’ by Nick Spalding

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , on May 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Andy Bellows is a 36 year old freelance graphic designer – and he is addicted to the internet. When his addiction leads to some physical problems, his doctor advises a digital detox…this means, no internet, no apps, no tech for 60 days (although he is allowed to use it solely for work purposes if necessary).

He quickly realises how much time he was spending on the internet and how different life is (in both good and bad ways) when you don’t use it. His best friend is a reporter who writes about Andy’s digital detox and suddenly Andy finds himself with loads of followers, all inspired to try a detox of their own.

If you have read any Nick Spalding books before, you will know that the initial set-up is a prelude to several absurd situations, and this story is no different. I won’t give away any spoilers but Nick Spalding writes comedy and that is exactly what this book is. I would say that some of the situations were possibly a little too over-the-top to be believable, but still made me laugh out loud on occasion.

It’s an undemanding read too but one that does actually have a serious message at its heart. How many times do you look around in a cafe, or on public transport, or just walking down the street and see the vast majority of people with their heads down, looking at their phones? People ARE addicted to their tech and to having the world at their fingertips. It’s so easy to lose a couple of hours a day just scrolling through Instagram or Facebook for example. On the other hand, it’s useful sometimes to have info as soon as you need it (e.g., I have a couple of days off work soon and thought I might head out to the cinema. It took less than a minute to find out what films were showing and at what times.)

Anyhow, I generally enjoyed the book a lot, although I did feel it maybe lost its way slightly towards the end. But I would recommend it and will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

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‘Olive, Mabel and Me’ by Andrew Cotter

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

In 2020 when the world went into lockdown, freelance sports commentator Andrew Cotter found himself out of work; after all if there are no sporting events going on, there’s nothing he could commentate on. So, stuck at home and feeling bored he filmed his two Labradors Olive and Mabel eating breakfast, and recorded a sports style commentary about it. When he released it on Twitter, hoping that it might inspire a few laughs, he was stunned by the response he received. So he did another – and another…and a phenomenon was born.

In this book, Cotter talks about how he and his partner Caroline brought Olive and Mabel into their family, and describes life with two beautiful dogs. Very little of the book is about the funny videos; most of it discusses life in general with the dogs, and focuses particularly on the Scottish mountain walks/hikes that they do together.

This was my first book of 2023, and it was a cracker! I read well over 200 pages in two sittings, and would have finished it in those two sittings if I didn’t have to go back to work! I have two Labradors myself, so was very able to recognise a lot of the comical situations he describes, and I think any dog lover would feel the same.

What I wasn’t expecting, and came as a pleasant surprise, was quite how funny this book is. I laughed out loud several times during the reading. Andrew Cotter has a very funny turn of phrase and the way that he described the dogs’ expressions and thoughts was genuinely very amusing. Also, his absolute adoration of Olive and Mabel came through very clearly, and I think anyone who has ever loved a dog would be able to relate to this.

Overall, this was a brilliant way to kick off my 2023 reading and I would recommend this book to everyone, but especially dog owners and/or lovers.

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‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’ by Rebecca Harrington

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on December 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »

In this fun little book (easily read in one sitting if you feel like it), New York journalist Rebecca Harrington tries out the diets of the rich and famous to see if they are really sustainable and if they actually work. The full list of celebrity diets she follows is:

Gwyneth Paltrow; Liz Taylor; Karl Lagerfeld; Marilyn Monroe; Cameron Diaz; Madonna; Greta Garbo; Victoria Beckham; Beyonce; Jackie Kennedy; Sophia Loren; Pippa Middleton; Carmelo Anthony; Dolly Parton; Miranda Kerr; Elizabeth Hurley.

Make no mistake – this is not intended to be a serious examination of how dieting works. Most diets are tried for only a few days (some of which I don’t know how anyone could actually do for more than a couple of days without passing out anyway). Each chapter focuses on a new celebrity diet, and they are choppy and short chapters, which make for a quick read.

I really enjoyed this book actually. Harrington is self-deprecating, witty and engaging. The book had me giggling to myself several times and I would certainly read more by this author.

However, it did make me think about celebrity diets and how they are sold to the gullible public – if I thought about it very deeply I would actually get quite angry. Most of the diets feature famous faces with no qualifications in nutrition whatsoever, peddling their wares to their fans and making money off people’s desire to be thinner. Miranda Kerr might be a lovely person but my goodness her lifestyle regime sounds utterly pretentious and completely unrealistic for those of us with actual jobs, budgets and time constraints. Victoria Beckham’s diet was inspired by the diet Tom Hanks followed to lose a ton of weight when filming Cast Away. In other words, she followed the diet that he used to make himself look starved! What kind of messed up is this?!

However, as mentioned above this book is not a commentary on the morality or otherwise of celebrities making money from their diets, but basically an undemanding fun read and a nice way to round off my reading for 2022.

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‘The Girl From Venice’ by Martin Cruz Smith

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on February 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

WWII is nearing an end and Venice is still occupied. Cenzo, a fisherman from nearby Pellestrina is stunned when he is out in his boat one night and sees a young girl floating in the water. He initially thinks she is dead, but in fact the young Venetian girl, Guilia, is far from dead – she is on the run from the Nazis who have killed her family.

He decides to try and protect her, which leads both of them into dangerous adventures, where they are never quite sure who can be trusted, and their lives are always on the line.

Compared to the last book I read by Martin Cruz Smith, the more famous Gorky Park, this was a lot lighter in tone, despite the subject matter. It’s very much plot rather than character driven, with most of the characters not being particularly fleshed out. That said, I did like the world-weary Cenzo very much – drawn into all kinds of situations when he would really rather just be fishing, he had a wry sense of humour and I definitely wanted a happy ending for him.

This is no-frills storytelling – the tale is told scene by scene, with no wasted words, and for some that might not be enjoyable. I liked it; I didn’t get immersed in it, but I enjoyed it overall and I thought the ending was just right.

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‘A Man Called Ove’ by Fredrik Backman

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on November 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Originally published in Swedish, this book revolves around a curmudgeonly man named Ove, who is exasperated by – well, everything really. He just wants to be left alone in his misery and annoyance at the world, but then a young gregarious family move into the road and they are determined to befriend him. And that’s when Ove finds himself unwillingly drawn back into the community.

There’s so much more than the above to this story, but I don’t want to give too much away. I really enjoyed this story, and how it revealed Ove’s childhood and early youth, which explained why he is the way he is. His marriage to the vivacious Sonja seemed on paper like a match made in hell, but as the story progresses, the reader can see what Sonja saw and loved in Ove. He may be a grump but he has a strong sense of right and wrongs and is never afraid to stand up for what he believes in. Oh, and the cat! My favourite character of the lot!

There is lots to enjoy here, with plenty of humour, but also a lot of poignancy and sadness. I admire the author for going where I absolutely did not expect at the end, and I will definitely read more by Fredrik Backman.

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‘Paradise Jazz’ by Kat Pomfret

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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This novel tells the story of two young women, trying to come to terms with their pasts. Georgetown Easy moved to small-town England with her mother and aunt when she was just a young girl, but she really wants to find the father she never knew. Her search takes on a physical and metaphorical journey.

Meanwhile Helena Jones knows her past, but wants to leave it where it belongs and escape the self-imposed confines of her life. Always at loggerheads with her layabout brother Troy, Helena has been the sensible twin for as long as she can remember, and now she is ready for change.

About 65% of the novel is narrated by Georgetown, and the remainder is mainly narrated by Helena. with a page short parts narrated by a young lady named Aurelie who blasts her way into the lives of the many characters, and leaves all of them changed.

There’s a lot to like about this book. Georgetown’s scenes and conversations with her mother and aunt are very believable and peppered with humour. I really liked her character and heart. Helena was less interesting to me, and without the difficult relationship between herself and Troy, she would not have been a particularly memorable character.

But that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the novel because I did, although I think it started to lose it’s way somewhat towards teh end. The titel comes from the name of a blues bar where the characters often met and I must admit the scenes set there did make me wish there was somewhere like that near to where I lived!

Overall, an assured debut – I would probably read more by Kat Pomfret.

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Saint Ralph (2004)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I’d been meaning to watch this film for ages and when I finally got around to it I was not disappointed!

Saint Ralph aka The Miracle of Saint Ralph stars Adam Butcher as the titular character, a 14 year old boy at Catholic school in the 1950s, who has a mother desperately ill in hospital. When a nurse tells him that it will be a miracle if his mom recovers he decides that he will create the miracle that is needed by running and winning the Boston Marathon. One of his teachers, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott, one of my faves) offers to train him against the wishes of the strict headmaster Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent).

Considered to have absolutely no hope when he begins training, Ralph is determined to complete his mission and the local town starts to see his as an embodiment of their hopes and desires and everyone who initially laughed at the idea starts to support him. He also provides a new lease of life to Father Hibbert, who gave up some of his own athletic dreams when he joined the priesthood.

This is such a sweet film, with lots of humorous moments – although it isn’t really a comedy, and lots of poignant moments. All of the main cast are excellent, including Jennifer Tilly as the nurst who looks after Ralph’s mom, and by extension, Ralph himself. Campbell Scott is perfect as the slightly rebellious priest, and I defy anyone to watch this and not end the film with a smile on their face.

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‘The Wonder Spot’ by Melissa Bank

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on August 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

This book has been sitting on my to-read shelf for years – fourteen to be precise!! I finally decided it was about time I read it, and I kind of wish I had picked it up earlier because it was much more enjoyable than I expected. You would be forgiven for looking at the cover and assuming that it was standard chick-lit fare (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but there’s more to this book than that.

The book is narrated by Sophie Applebaum, who is 12 years old in the first chapter, and the middle child in a loving family. Each chapter jumps on a few years from the one before it and the reader therefore has to fill in the gaps themselves. Additionally each chapter could be read as a standalone short story, which is the same format as Melissa Bank’s previous book ‘ A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing’.

Sophie focusses a lot on her romantic relationships, but there are also other themes at play – death, illness, lost friendships, job worries and other factors are all part of the story.

I liked Sophie very much. She was very funny, and as she narrates in the first person I have to assume that Melissa Bank is also very funny with a quick sense of humour. The character was identifiable, as were her relationships with her friends and family, especially her two brothers. The story doesn’t really build up to one event, but rather it is slices of life. The somewhat disjointed storytelling might not appeal to everyone, but I really enjoyed it and will look for more by Melissa Bank – and new time I won’t leave it fourteen years to read them!

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‘The Woman Who Met Her Match’ by Fiona Gibson

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Lorrie is a single mother of two teenagers, single since the loss of her partner some years before. She is shocked to hear from her first love, Antoine, who broke her heart thirty years earlier when she was 16. Despite the misgivings of her best friend Stu, Lorrie decides to meet up with Antoine again…but can you ever really go back? And is Lorrie destined to be with someone else?

Throw in problems at work, due to the beauty company Lorrie works for being taken over by a large corporation, and the headache that is Lorrie’s mother’s wedding, and our heroine certainly has her hands full!

I really enjoyed this audiobook, excellently narrated by Emma Gregory. Lorrie was an adorable character and I also loved her children, Cam and Amy, there were lots of genuinely funny moments and a few very touching ones. I will say that Lorrie’s mother was awful – utterly selfish and thoughtless, but still a believable character.

This was first experience listening to/reading Fiona Gibson and while I do think the ending was quite predictable from early on, I would definitely listen to another of her books.

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‘Help Me!’ by Marianne Power

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Journalist Marianne Power decides to get her life in order with the use of self-help books. She plans to read one self-help book a month and follow their suggestions for the whole of that month to see what, if anything, actually works.

I expected a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek look at the huge self-help market, and although the book started off that way, it soon became apparent that this experiment was causing more problems than solutions for Marianne, and in fact there were some upsetting moments. It was a fascinating read, and definitely helped sort the wheat from the chaff – there are a LOT of people out there making a lot of money out of other people’s desire to improve or change their life, and some of them just made me really angry as they are so obviously taking advantage of their readers. Tony Robbins for example, who promises to change your life at one of his events – where the cheapest tickets are £500!! And ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne, which tells you that if you want something to happen, you just have to imagine that it has. Send yourself a fake cheque for a lot of money, and actual money will be bestowed! Yes, seriously.

Marianne Power is an engaging and likeable narrator, and this book certainly provided a lot of food for thought. I recommend it to all.

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