I've Been Reading...

This post should have been done yesterday, but I was out clothes shopping with one of my younger sons- the fashion aware one at that too. Needless to say I was exhausted by the time I got home, so the blog is being done today instead.

It did cross my mind that it would have been much easier in the 19th century; I could have just sent him along to the tailor to measure him up and make the clothes he needed...

So I thought I'd share with you a couple of the books I've been reading- both have been keeping me up until midnight just to finish the next chapter.

I've read a few of Trisha Ashley's books over the last two years, so when I was trawling through the kobo bookstore and saw 'A Winter's Tale' and read the brief description, I wasn't too sure if I'd enjoy it, so I downloaded the preview to read, and I was hooked.

Sophy Winter is a single mother who has just lost her job, but finds out she's unexpectedly inherited her childhood family home 'Winters End'. With family squabbles, a ghost ancestress and two men to deal with, as well as trying to come up with a plan to make the stately home pay its way, she's going to be busy.

The book was fun to read, and kept me guessing until the end whether Sophy would get her happy ending. I'd recommend it if you want an entertaining feel-good read.

Immediately after I finished 'A Winter's Tale' I started reading Erica James's 'The Real Katie Lavender'. Another book that I downloaded a preview of and then decided to buy.

I'm enjoying the book, but it's a bit more intense on the family dynamics front. I think Erica James is an author I might read again, but not without downloading a preview of the story first.

30 year old Katie Lavender is made redundant. At the same time she receives a letter from a solicitor who has instructions to give Katie a letter. The letter is from her mother who died a year previously. The contents lead her on a journey that will change her future...

I haven't quite finished reading it yet, but it's a, must just read the next chapter before I go to bed, type of book.

I'm hoping for a happy ending for a few of the characters at least...

By the time I finish this book, I will have read about 8 books so far this year. Well I did say to writer friends last year, that I was going to try and read more books in 2013, and try authors I haven't read before...

Have you read any books so far this year that you'd recommend?

Some Research is Bonkers...

The research a writer does is never bonkers. It's often quite inspirational, in fact it can be downright distracting.

No, the research I'm talking about is the rubbish I read about today Chick-lit 'lowers women's self-esteem' in the Telegraph online - and in the Women's section too.

"The study, published by Virginia Tech (Virginia’s Polytechnic Institute and State University), found that chick-lit books, in which the main character worries about her weight, made female readers more uneasy about their own body image." (Telegraph)

Well when you read on and discover how the test was carried out- they used two books where the central characters were healthy body weights but had low self-esteem (don't we all at some time, especially in winter?) and passages "were selected and nine different versions of the respective texts were produced in which the protagonists’ perception of their body was distorted."

In other words they mucked around with the written words to prove their theories. I won't go on, you can read about it at the above link, but we all get the idea...

I think the researchers should be more worried about the effect of highly paid female celebrities and singers in gaudy barely there clinging outfits in music videos and at high profile events, rather than a book of fiction- the last word does give it away...

And I'm very glad to say that there is a insightful and amusing response from Katy Brand, who echoes the odd thought or two I'd agree with-except the badly written bit... :-)

"The idea that any ‘scholar’ or ‘health official’ should trouble themselves for more than a nanosecond about what some woman thinks about the size of her bottom as a result of reading some badly written piece of fiction they got free with a magazine is a joke. Read and let read, that’s what I say – no book can truly make you feel bad about yourself, and if it does, stop reading it." (Katy Brand )

Of course there are women and young girls who have issues with their bodies, there always have been; I had a school friend who developed anorexia and had to be hospitalised- that was nearly forty years ago- and there was no chick-lit around then.

So researchers, don't claim chick-lit, or women's fiction supports your theories, it doesn't...