The chocolate lovers' diet

I loved 'The Chocolate Lovers' Diet' by Carole Matthews. It is the sequel to 'The Chocolate Lovers' Club'. 4 friends - Nadia, Autumn, Lucy and Chantel - are chocoholics. They meet whenever there is an emergency in their lives at a cafe called Chocolate Heaven. What happens when Lucy finds herself mixed up with her ex-fiance Marcus; Nadia tries to find out whether her estranged husband has kicked his gambling habit; Chantel decides she'd like to get back with her estranged husband Ted and Autumn wonders whether she'll ever be free of her drug addict brother. As I said in my Amazon review, the wedding day is worthy of an Ealing comedy. Whilst the book is strictly chick lit it does have its more sombre moments and deals with some serious issues - on-line gambling, male prostitutes - for women that is - debt, pregnancy when you don't know who the father is, drug addiction, class divisions. Well worth a read - epsecially if you cannot resist descriptions of chocolate!

I reviewed my to read pile and finally chose 'The Diary of an on-call girl' by E E Bloggs. This is written by a WPC and is along the lines of the popular blog turned book called 'Wasting Police Time' by PC David Copperfield - another pseudonym. I think I've read most of the current crop of 'reality' books and found all of them engrossing. What is there to beat an insider's view of their own profession?

I have just received today in the post Rosie Thornton's 'Hearts and Minds', and I'm looking forward to starting it. Its theme seems to be how a man survives in a woman's world. I shall say no more until I've read it.

I have read so many really good books lately. It seems to me the standard of published books is increasing though perhaps I'm reading more widely that I used to. This is very much thanks to dovegreyreader - linked to this blog - and to Writers' News and Writing Magazine. Amazon having the facility to search inside books also makes me try things I might otherwise not consider at all. Then of course there's cheap second hand books available. I don't mind paying £2-£3 to try an unknown author. Though I also buy loads of new books as well.

Off to have a shower and curl up with 'Diary' as above, with maybe a dip into 'A dangerous man' and 'Hearts and Minds' as well.

Agatha Raisin and others

I have just finished reading the latest Agatha Raisin - 'Kissing Christmas Goodbye' by M C Beaton. This is one of the best ones. The detective agency is thriving and Agatha takes on a new detective - Toni - female and 18. She turns out to be an asset to the firm, and is probably going to be a permanent character in the series . I won't give away why that is - you'll just have to read the book! Agatha is longing to see ex-husband James who has said he will arrive home in time for Christmas. Agatha, naturally determines to make the celebrations as perfect as possible. At work she is dealing with a lady who believes - not without cause - that her family are out to get her. Well worth a read especially curled up inside on a cold day.

I have belatedly read some of the comments made by Rosie back in October, and have, belatedly again ordered her new book this is 'Hearts and Minds' by Rosie Thornton. I enjoyed 'More than Love Letters' and I'm looking forward to this one.

I've just had an e-mail to say that I won a hardback copy of R F Delderfield's 'The Spring Madness of Mr Sermon' on Ebay. I'm very pleased because I've been trying to get a hardback for the last three years. Years ago I read his Swann Saga which started with 'God is an Englishman' and found it engrossing. The same with the Avenue series and the one about the school which included 'To Serve them all my Days'. One day quite by chance I came across 'the Spring Madness of Mr Sermon'. It features a school teacher who suddenly walks out of a class room in the middle of a lesson and goes in search of adventure. What happens to him makes fascinating reading. I do enjoy books about people who break out of their pigeon hole and dare to be someone different.

I have acquired a habit belonging to the younger generations - an MP3 player. No I did not go for an ipod. I have a sleek silver Sony Walkman. I have had it for nearly two years and I used to take it away with me to listen to when I was staying in hotels for work. Now I have a job where I'm in the same office pretty well all the time so I don't get as much chance to use it. Since it's been too dark really to read on the bus to and from work I now listen to my Walkman instead. My music is often classical - selections from opera and orchestral music, Charlotte Church, music from films such as 'Cabaret' and 'Evita', The Corries, Abba, Neil Diamond, Baroque music by various composers, Eurovision songs, Andrea Boccelli - a pretty eclectic mix all in all. Trouble is I realise I've started to sing along with it if I'm not careful, and my singing is hopeless even though I love music. I can see I'm in danger of being carted off to the funny farm if I'm not careful.

Off to curl up with a good book . . . . .