'Twenties Girl' : by Sophie Kinsella

This definitely isn't Sophie Kinsella's best, and it took me a while to get into it. Sophie Kinsella's books are known to be fun and filled with ridiculosity, but this one took it to another level. 




About 'Twenties Girl', I would say, a well linked and well versed story-piece which explores human relationships. Though there was certainly a lack of typical author's humour missing in this book also but it was well made up by the extensiveness of the story or rather how it appeals to oneself.

In Twenties Girl, Lara Lington attends the funeral of her 105-year-old great-aunt, Sadie Lancaster, whom she never knew. Then all of a sudden, Sadie's ghost, at the age of 23-years-old, appears to Lara. Lara is the only one who can hear or see Sadie. Sadie begs Lara to stop the funeral and to help her find her dragonfly necklace. 

I initially thought the storyline of the ghost bothering Lara was annoying and too ridiculous. I also didn't think it was very original since I've read/watched other stories involving a ghost that only certain people can see. If this book hadn't been written by Sophie Kinsella, I may not have even finished it.

But THEN, it started to get more interesting and Lara became involved in many funny and typical of Kinsella scenarios. Sadie was also an interesting character and the mischief the two engage in is hilarious. There is also a side plot that I realized later into the reading and it all came together in the end and wrapped up well. I grew to really like the two characters. There were moments when I laughed out loud and other heartwarming moments, as I mentioned earlier.

While, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book as one of the first of Kinsella's to read, those who are already fans of hers will definitely find a hint of her typical humor and fun in this  novel!

For a 410 paged novel its definitely one that can keep you hang on to it long enough for your interest in it, even you quite don't exactly reach that level of appreciation in the end, you still find your time worth while.

'The Undomestic Goddess' by Sophie Kensella

                 Sophie Kinsella is my favorite chick-lit author. I enjoy her books a lot for their fun factor. And after reading a lot of serious but rewarding books lately, I needed to laugh while still enjoying the experience. Really laugh, as in rolling-on-the-floor laughing! 




The humor in The Undomestic Goddess was quite tickling. Not always, but mostly. It started with Samantha sitting in a spa, to use a gift voucher that she got on her birthday the previous year. She is a highly busy lawyer, with a non-existent social life, hoping to become the youngest partner in her firm. There, we get a rib-tickling insight into her stressed life and obsessive preoccupation with her work. Her work is scheduled at 6 minute-phases. Her daily routine would look like this: 

11:00-11.06  drafted contract for Project A

11.06-11.12  amended documentation for Client B

11.12-11.18  consulted on point for Agreement C

                                                                     

One day, when she makes a costly error, of the value of 50 million pounds, she loses her job and almost in a trance, gets herself employed as a housekeeper. Samantha Sweeting - who couldn't cook to even save her life, or even take care of her own apartment - was suddenly in charge of looking after a mansion and its two owners. What follows is a hilarious follow-up of her transformation! I liked Samantha Sweeting the best of the Sophie Kinsella heroines so far, because for a change, here is a woman who is not obsessed with make-up or clothes and shoes, or any of the things that fascinate most women in fluff chick-lit books. While I wish she had some "me" time, she was still a smart woman who got things done. Even when she tries to resign from the housekeeper job, she does it so diplomatically that the owners offer her a raise. Initially, she even tried applying her principles from her job to housekeeping, starting with a schedule. 

9:30-9.36 Make Geiger's bed

9.36-9.42 Take laundry out of machine and put in dryer

9.42-10.00 Clean bathrooms

Needless to say, the result is hilarious! 


As with other Sophie Kinsella reads, this one is also predictable, and that's about the only other thing I have to complain about. Although  I would have loved some more unpredictability thrown into the ending. In a real world, I find what Samantha did in the ending to be extreme and personally I don't quite agree with it.

But then most of the Sophie Kinsella books have heroines who probably wouldn't exist in the real world, such as Lara Lington of Twenties Girl, who could talk to the ghost of her great aunt, Rebecca Bloomwood of Confessions of a Shopaholic, who is very deep in debt and still can't put a stop to her buying behavior.

Overall : Good, but I still find the Becky humor of Shopaholic series lacking....

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Have you ever noticed how children book's or literature actually teaches us more lessons than probably any other experiences we might have. For example - In the book "To kill a mockingbird" - the narrator is a little girl who has been reading ever since she was born and the way she thinks is depicted through out the narration. Its amazing how a kid who does not even know the meaning of half the swear words that she uses at times teaches us how inncocent childhood is and certainly if we think of our big problems from the point of view of such little kids not only they seem easy but also their solution seem even easier.

          The story revolves around Scout (the little girl) and her brother, motivated by a summer friend of theirs,Dill,trying to get a neighbour of theirs 'Boo Radley' aka Mr Arthur Radley out of his home . Their various plans and plots to do so. How the circumstances around them teach them a lesson about the kind of society they are in that they feel at a point of time that may be the society is such a ill-rotten place to live in that Boo Radley is satisfied without being a part of it.




              Its hilarious when Scout enters First grade and on her first day to school she is punished for being able to read. Her teacher asks her to tell her father that he has been teaching her all wrong, and that he should stop. Little Scout, so worried after her first day, that she won't be able to read anymore with her father, says to her brother very innocently, "that lady says Atticus's has been teaching me to read wrongfully, and for him to stop it".
(Atticus being the name of their father)
          

            Another major event in the book was the court case that Scout's dad who is a lawyer takes up in favour of a coloured man. We encounter the feelings of the kids of the lawyer when the whole county turns against him and blames him for bringing them shame for favouring a Black. The feelings that rise in the children by observing rascism around them,and that too fought by their own father,are described with complete innocence the narration of Scout. To Kill a Mockingbird portrays a society that is supremely, staggeringly unfair: the U.S. South in the 1930s in a small town where racism is part of the very fabric of society.

           Some people in the novel do just sit still. But a few decide to do what they can to take action on the side of justice and equality, even though they think it’s mostly hopeless. To Kill a Mockingbird doesn’t sugarcoat the results (minor spoiler: the book does not end with African-Americans and whites holding hands and singing. It does, however, suggest that doing something to make life a little more fair, even if it seems like it’s not having any effect, is still worthwhile, and what’s more, admirable.


           Through out the book their have been major issues seen by minor eyes as witnesses and described to us as daily events that really ought to appeal to how much we miss by being a grown-up.