Springtime reads - Top reads for Spring
Dedicate some lying-down time to our picks of the best
reads this season
In The Kingdom Of Men,Kim Barnes
Hutchinson, RRP$34.99
East meets West in this novel about a dirt-poor girl from '60s
mid-west America, who marries her sweetheart and moves to Saudi
Arabia for work on the oil rigs. Gin McPhee's adventurous spirit
sees her shun the cocktail parties in favour of a burgeoning career
as a photo-journalist. Gin is ambitious and at times a little
reckless which results in her unwittingly putting her husband in
danger. The book is an interesting reflection on feminism and
racism at a time of great cultural change.
The Girl Below, Bianca Zander
Penguin, RRP$30
Suki Piper at 28 is a sad, lost young woman. Her mother died 10
years earlier and her father moved on with a new family in New
Zealand. Suki returns to her native London where she fails
spectacularly to find a job or friends. She's adopted by a family
she grew up with and then things get weird. Suki has waking dreams
about a night in the garden when she was a child trapped in an old
air-raid shelter. A moving and wonderful story that should be top
of your reading pile.
Say It Again in a Nice Voice, Meg Mason
HarperCollins, RRP$36.99
It takes a rare talent to turn a fairly ordinary life - albeit
with some trans-global meandering - into a hilarious and engrossing
read. But Meg Mason manages this in great self-deprecating style.
She not only captures the essence of parenting preschoolers - with
all the drudgery and loneliness - but makes you, as a mum,
feel great about it, while laughing at yourself and all the mums
you know. New Zealand-born Meg admits she's a glass-half-empty kind
of person, for whom the glass is also chipped. But be warned:
she'll have you in stitches and she'll make you cry, all at the
same time.
The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year, Sue
Townsend
Michael Joseph, RRP$37
It was a tomato soup stain on the embroidered silk of her
favourite chair that sent Eva upstairs and into bed. And she stayed
there a year. During that time numerous eccentric characters parade
through her bedroom including her super-intelligent, geeky twins,
their sociopathic and compulsively lying "friend", plus her husband
and his lover of eight years, Titania. Eva's fame spreads and a
suicidal taxi driver turns up at 3.30am to ask her advice. Soon
fans are camping outside her home. But what is Eva really looking
for? This is another amusing read from the creator of Adrian
Mole.
The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence, Catherine
Robertson
Black Swan, RRP$37.99
What a fascinating bunch of characters Kiwi writer Catherine
Robertson has created - there's loud-mouthed, shoot-from-the-hip
Michelle, her gypsy friend with a massive chip on her shoulder,
their much put-upon love interests, a surly teenager and a couple
of preschoolers. Mix with a cluster of uber-rich 'Frisco socialites
and see whether they sink or swim.
Classic read
Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Penguin, $12.99
This is a classic in capital letters but don't be put off by the
old-fashioned delivery. Slow yourself down and savour it because
this is a great story and the literary richness is worth the
effort. Bathsheba, our wilful heroine, inherits a large farm and
soon finds herself being courted by three men. Gabriel, the gentle
shepherd, Boldwood, a rich farmer, and Troy, a dazzling swordsman.
But love doesn't run smoothly for Bathsheba as she gets caught up
in a tragic romantic drama.
As seen in
OHbaby! magazine Issue 19: 2012
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