On Saturday I bought a book. Nothing funny in that. Other than the fact that I haven't bought a book for myself to read for quite some time. Photography books yes but not novels.

I looked at the cover, knew immediately that I would buy it no matter how dear it was and also knew with a certainty that I would read it in one day. And that day was going to be Sunday.

I read it in the car (as a passenger!), in the car park, in the village while waiting for Iain to buy the chips and later did not rise from my bath until the last page was turned.

The book was For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I am surprised I haven't already blogged the other two books I have read by him: "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet In Heaven." Both these books left a huge impression on me for a long time after finishing them. Both these books had me weeping buckets.

This time I cant say I cried much. I did have a huge lump in my throat a lot of the time though.

I love Mitch Albom's style of writing. It takes no effort to stay with him as he takes you through the story, effortlessly moving from the present to the past and back again to show you the whole story, only unrolling the bit that you need to know as he teases out the plot. He has a clever way of making you think about things - the chapter titles made me think a lot. "Times mother stood up for me," Times I stood up for her," "Times I didn't stand up for her" etc. He has a marvellous way of putting in one more ounce of detail to a description which makes you identify with the memory in a way that it almost becomes YOUR memory.

In theory this was a ghost story. You know the main character is unconscious and dreaming of a "ghost" but it is an enchanting, emotional story with potentially a deep message. I suppose it would be a tear-jerker for many readers but it revolves around the relationship between mother and son and that was a little lost on me.

There was a twist in the last page that had me re-reading the first few paragraphs again. It was something I hadn't picked up on - colouring the way I read the narrative the whole way through the book but upon reading it a second time I realised I wasn't meant to pick up on it. It did tie up something I hadn't even realised needed tied up!

Should you? : A combination of Albom's style and the thickness of the book mean it wouldn't be a chore to read this - so why not? However, if you have recently lost your mother or close female relation (or suspect you are about to) I would think twice about it just for now though.

Did I? : Yes. I love this author. Normally when I fall in love with an author I read too many of their books too quickly after each other and fall out of love just a swiftly. Look at Terry Pratchett and Joanne Harris to name just two.. . . never mind Kathy Reichs and the likes. Thankfully Albom hasn't been prolific enough for this to happen with him.

It was nice to read a book again. I haven't read anything for such a long time I was almost out of practice!

Tags: Books, Reading

Some time ago, the children and I began to visit the library on a Saturday morning before going to Nanna's at lunch time. If you know me in real life, you will know how difficult it is to get the children to organise themselves enough to go to Nanna's never mind the extra trip to the library before hand. This added more hassle in trying to find the three books each among the trillions of non-library books and several times we arrived with a couple missing or having to *get them out again*. I learned the embarrassing way that there is no fine for overdue children's books.

Finally, I gave an ultimatum. If they didn't have the books ready and didn't go with a happy heart I was NOT going to make the effort to go to the (rather fantastically wonderful, beautifully purpose built) local library. It is for that reason that I feel guilty enough to pop the odd "children's charts" books in to the trolley at Tesco. As fast as I can buy them, David has them read. He is in to MI5 and Spy type books but will have a look at anything I bring back for him.

I have been encouraging him to blog his thoughts on the books he reads and I promised him that we could read a book *together* and then compare what we thought of it. I bought "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" with this in mind. You will never read David's thoughts on the book because he announced to me the other day that he "couldn't be arsed" writing it and I found myself somewhere between *outraged* and thinking *that's ma boy*.

I finished reading it in the bath tonight. It took me three baths to read it so it isn't all that long. It is about the friendship between two boys who meet and sit talking on either side of a wire fence every afternoon for a year. It doesn't take a genius to work out what it is about and when it was set through listening to the story of the life of the boy who lives in the house with his family on one side and who thinks the place is called Out-With and calls his Father's boss the Fury.

However, not once is any word used other than the two above, the fact there are soldiers and a Commandant and after a while a place called Berlin is mentioned and finally the boy is told by his sister that the people on the other side of the fence are Jews but he doesn't really understand what that means. He is only a ten year old.

The book finished with a twist. Other reviewers will tell you that they didn't see it coming but I did. Other reviewers will tell you it is fabulously written but I never once forgot that it was written for children. I kept thinking "Is this the way books are written for children - it has been so long I can't remember now". I was wishing the whole way through that there would be more to it in a "the children wont get this but here is a wee bit for grown ups thrown in" way.

Immediately I finished it I asked David to tell me what he thought of it. I wanted him to tell me that he understood all the references and hoped at the same time that he would know nothing of it. I wanted to get his interpretation on the ending. I wanted him to tell me when it was set and how it all fitted in.

I was in for a surprise. It had all gone over his head. He had totally misunderstood the ending, knew nothing about where it was set and nothing about the time it was set in.

I have read someone else saying that you shouldn't read it until you are 12 so I will put it away until he is in big school. I purposely didn't fill in the blanks for him. I left it as a nice little story about the friendship between two boys who were there for each other, holding hands, in the final couple of pages.

Children grow up too fast these days. This history lesson can wait for another time.

I want this.

Can you believe how cheap it is getting?

You think it will ever be in a £5 sale?

Yes, I know. I already have all the books and have read them all already at least once and most of the comments I have read from people who have bought this say "so lovely I am afraid to read them in case I spoil the pages" but I'd still very much like this. . .

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The Mill House is a story about a well-to-do, successful husband and wife who go through more than just a few problems. Something is suddenly, after many years of happy marriage and two children, holding Julia back from being totally intimate with her gorgeous husband Josh, who she still loves very much. Julia, her husband and her therapist all suspect there is something in her past which is making her insecure. We suspect the reason lies with the sudden disappearance of Julia's father, Dougie, when she was only 16. She was devoted to her father and for many years felt abandoned by his lack of explanation as to why he left. Numerous attempts to have her mother explain met with rudeness and evasion. Julia never felt as close to her mother as she did to her father and her mother allows this fact to give her the impression that her father had done something incredibly wrong, possibly to Julia or her sister Pam. . .

The story takes place between London and Cornwall. Josh and Julia are some of the world's *beautiful people* and are so well off that he is able to surprise her with a Porsche and although he works very hard he has a yacht to indulge his passion for sailing. They have two children, Dan and Shannon, who they try to be even handed with, *lending* them money instead of giving it to them and not allowing Shannon to have a boyfriend until she is 16 in another year's time.

Suddenly, she finds herself caught up with his house, funeral, papers and diaries in the attic when Dougie's neighbour, friend and solicitor, Fen, contacts her to tell her Dougie has died. It is now time for her to find out what really happened and push everyone who knew him for answers. No matter the consequences.

The book is surprisingly erotic. One minute we are trundling along in a normal day and the next there is all this (well written and explicit) sex going on! It kinda jumps out at you. Not having read any other Susan Lewis books I wasn't expecting it. It is safe to tell you, without giving too much away, that the book deals with loads of different relationship issues; extra-marital affairs, family loyalties, father-daughter love and then the pain of being separated from your children shown in both Dougie and Julia's relationship and in Julia's with her own children.

As I was reading this book, one word that came to mind several times was *wordy.* Lewis never lets one sentence be enough when a whole paragraph could be used. This wasn't annoying; you certainly build up a great picture of what is going on but you don't need to know about every breath the character is taking. I found myself skimming past lots of text and don't think I missed out on much really.

This couple really do live in the modern world. All the characters use mobile phones and seem to keep in contact via them constantly. Josh is able to conduct his whole business life from the end of a mobile and can leave his office without a backward glance as long as he has his mobile in his pocket. Josh and Julia speak often on the phone because one of them was in London and the other in Cornwall. This did get a little annoying after a while - I was starting to panic on Julia's behalf when she was trying to do the whole bereavement thing and the phone was ringing off the hook. It seemed that *downstairs the phone was ringing for the third time but she continued to ignore it* (paraphrased) every three paragraphs.

It is a fairly long book and I can see how some readers may not finish it. It seems to get a bit bogged down in the middle of it. I had my mind made up fairly early on as to what the great secret was and of course, the clues are there for you to pick up on. It isn't until the end that you realise it was worth reading all the way through to find out the real secret (I wasn't far off the mark).

I must admit that on several occasions I was blinded by tears. The first time I was taken so much by surprise by them and so engrossed in the story line that I couldn't put the book down to get out of bed to go and get a hanky so I took my socks off and blew my nose on them - how many of you can say you have EVER done that?

I was fascinated by the whole relationship thing. Lewis raises many issues that I don't know how I would handle myself.

Would you forgive your husband if he was having an affair?

Would you forgive one of your best friends if she knew about it and didn't tell you?

Would you continue to love unconditionally if you didn't see someone for a length of time and there was no contact with them at all?

If you did a terrible thing - would you expect your best friend to stand by YOU?

Could you ever forgive a parent who abandoned you when you were a child?

These are questions we may think we know the answers to but perhaps we don't really until it happens to you and I think Lewis weaves them into the story with finesse.

I found that the ending tied up all the loose ends I had in my head. Most things are covered in the last chapter even though a few endings were a little contrived.

Should you? : Umm . . . are you into weepies with great sex scenes? It is a fairly long book. I don't think it is for everyone. . .Umm. I am not sure about this one. Why not try it and see how you get on with it? I wont mind if you decide it isn't for you.

Did I? : Oh! Most definitely. I couldn't put this one down and kept turning page after page, determined that I was going to get to the real truth of it all before I fell asleep. Even though it was *wordy* I enjoyed the writing style and didn't find any flaws in the plot at all, other than silly little things like - if she has just inherited a house that will mean they have to pay £80,000 on death taxes does she really need to *sell* the bed to the young couple down the road who are just starting out? Could she not have donated it?

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Isn't Tesco wonderful having all those books there at £3.73? I have a pile of books on my chest of drawers that have been slipped in to the trolley when doing the grocery shopping because they are *only* £3.73. The last time I counted I had sixteen books to get through. This was one of them. I think I bought it one day when I was feeling particularly bad at being a mother. I think I may have been looking for guidance or reassurance - or even a handbook! I didn't get it! The title is simply a reference to something that is said in the book.

I did get an enjoyable peek into a three generation female household, each generation with her own particular problems. The story is told by each of them, one *chapter* at a time including their past as well as their present.

This layout would have been a little easier to understand had there been a discreet heading for each but as it was I spent much of the next portion wondering who was writing it until a keyword was used like Nan, Mum or one of their names (Nan, Karen and Charlotte). That detracted *slightly* from the enjoyment for me.

You end up rooting for each of the *girls* and understanding them and their lives totally. There is a far amount of history thrown in when Nan remembers some of her childhood and some stories from further back which had been handed down to her, which I liked.

The ending was just a little sudden I think. The way it was all wrapped up in a sudden *find* that would secure them financially and get them out of the situation they were in was not totally implausible but did have me raising an eyebrow. After all the pages developing the story I felt the author could have spent one more page rounding that part off.

I spent a good few days after finishing this book thinking about the characters and wanting to get back to my book about them before realising that I had finished the book. That has to be good I suppose!

Should you? : Do you have a pile of 16 books beside your bed? Add this one to it and aim to get to it sometime soon. It isn't one I would insist you bring to the top of the pile - but don't keep passing it over forever.

Did I? : Yes. It was enjoyable. I liked the characters. I believed in them and know they are to be found all over the country. There were some funny parts but it isn't a rib tickler. Just a good, honest read that I raced through and am glad I splashed out the £3.73 for!

When we boarded the ferry to France Jacqui got out her book. She read a few pages and put it down. Big mistake. I picked it up and by the time we arrived at the caravan I had finished it.

It was the singer / songwriter Melissa Etheridge's autobiography. Seemingly it must have been called "The Truth Is... My Life in Love and Music" but to be honest I don't think I looked at the title!

Last year Maaike introduced me to loads of new artists I had never heard of before. Melissa was one of them. Later Jacqui and I surfed eBay and we added most of Etheridge's cds to our collection.

I knew a little about Melissa's life through general conversation but had wondered about how she had arrived where she is now. This book explained most everything, warts and all. It was incredibly easy to read and was also an ongoing explanation of the reasons behind the lyrics of her songs - some of which I absolutely love. The book proves that the lyrics are personal to her - not her just churning out songs to appease the record company.

Melissa writes honestly and with no apologies for her past and with passion about her lyrics. I enjoyed her explanations and find myself understanding the songs a little better now when I listen to them.

Should you? : If you know her music then yes - if you don't a lot of it will pass over your head. It isn't the longest book in the world so it wouldn't take forever to get through if you fancied it.

Did I? : Most definitely enjoyed this one yup. I think it could stand for a new edition soon as a couple of things have happened to Melissa since that edition.