The Brightest Star in the Sky

I'm not a huge fan of books by Marian Keyes though I have read a couple which I enjoyed so I decided to try The Brightest Star in the Sky - all 600 pages of it. If it had been a more normal size type face it wouldn't have been as long. It's in 13.5pt which is quite large for a book I think. Not that I'm complaining because it was easy to read. The story features the occupants of 4 flats at 66 Star Street in Dublin.

It also features a fairy - or ghost - take your pick, who is about to interfere in everyone's lives. Actually the fairy is not that intrusive and I sometimes felt the author had forgotten about the fairy. There is comedy and tragedy and yes it is a good light read but after much thought I downgraded it to 3 stars in my Amazon review because I've read much better. I know Marian Keyes has many thousands of fans but she doesn't quite do it for me. When there is a tragedy I expect to be moved to tears - I wasn't. Some of the book seemed quite muddled and there was some back tracking to fill in details. Many of the characters' actions were just not plausible and I didn't really care about them enough to worry about the sticky situations in which they found themselves.

The book itself has an all gold cover - which doesn't show up that well in the picture and is nicely produced as you might expect from one of the Penguin imprints but the contents were just not quite right. I don't think I'll be reading any more by this author.

Sunday

I have just finished reading Marian Keyes' latest 'This Charming Man'. Quite a gritty story - domestic violence, honesty or otherwise in (Irish) politics and alcoholism in women. There were also some hilarious scenes with cross-dressers which I absolutely loved. I'm not a particular fan of MK having been put off by 'Watermelon'. I did read - and loved - 'The Other Side of the Story' so I decided to try the latest. It was well worth reading. Some of the scenes are shocking even though you almost know what's coming. I recommend it - don't be put off by MK's chick lit image.

I've also finished Eve Houston's 'Secrets in Prior's Ford' - think Miss Read and Rebbecca Shaw. Village life and interesting people - the first in a series. I shall definitely watch for the next one as it was a good book to read on the bus to and from work.

Talking of work - our manager has got herself a temporary promotion and is moving on to greater things. So we're depressed bunnies at the moment as we've always felt she does her best for us. We don't know who we're going to get in exchange so we're feeling a bit jittery. Add to that the prospect of the office closing - well we hope it won't and have prepared a 60 page document to say why we think it shouldn't full of facts and figures. We shall have to wait and see until later this year whether we've been successful in our campaign to keep it open.

But I shall enjoy Sunday and worry about work tomorrow. It's sunny and warm, even if it is bordering on too hot to sleep at night, and it's really nice to wander around with a minimum of clothing on. Off to read the Sunday papers on line.