Shopaholic Ties The Knot by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis :

Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood.  She's become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke are living happily in Manhattan's West Village, and her new next-door neighbour is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare?  Not that she's been thinking of marriage )or diamonds) or anything.

Then Luke proposes!  Bridal registries dance in Becky's head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding : Becky's overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum's frilly old gown.  While Luke's high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza.  Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can't seem to turn down either one.  Can everyone's favourite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unrevels?


Once in  a while, I would need my 'Shopaholic' fix.  Becky Bloomwood is a friend that I can't stand at times and yet I can't do without her too and so once in a while, I would need a 'dose' of Becky. Naturally, I have read Shopaholic Ties the Knot before and at one point it was my favourite Shopaholic book in the series, until Shopaholic and Baby takes the current honour.

Like the title says, Becky finall got married and like Becky, she can't do it like everyone else,she has to do it the Becky way.  I can't really blame her as she just wanted to please everyone but in the process got herself into so much trouble.

I think that whoever wrote that sypnosis really enjoyed writing it.  It's pretty lengthy and covers lots of angles and is just full of expectations!  It is such a fun book.
There are just so many 'Becky moment', from the trying on of wedding dresses to registry of wedding gifts, not to mention the tasting of wedding cakes and finally the wedding itself.  In between all these, Becky managed to help a friend in retrieving back a family jewelry, deal with Luke's issues with his mum not to mention drawing up her will too.

It was just totally out of the world the way Becky manages everything, including both weddings in the end.  Classic.

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

Sometimes I felt the world out there misunderstood fictions.  Most people might think of fictions or novels as just 'story books' and reading 'story books' are just for fun and rather shallow and nothing educational, doesn't challenge oneself and certainly has totally no literacy value. The 'real' people should thus be reading serious, important factual stuff or self improvement books or the real artistic ones would immerse themselves in impressive literature.  To such people, I would suggest that perhaps you need to get down from your high horses and try fictions such as The Ice Cream Girls.  You might find yourself having a dent in your opinion.
 
In the bible there are many parables or stories which were used as a teaching tool to teach the people then.  Such, I do not see anything wrong if we are to modernize this concept and think of fictions and novels as parables of modern days.Yes, the The Ice Cream Girls is a story book because it is a story of two girls whom as teenagers were the only witnesses to a crime and one of them were convicted of it.  Years later, having led very different lives, one of them is keen to set the record straight about what really happened, while the other one (who escape conviction) wants no one in her present, especially her husband and children, to find out about her past.

 Having said that, I think I learn more from The Ice Cream Girls than from any self help book out there.  I learn that young impressionable girls can have such low esteem that they can be controlled by a much stronger personality and such it's important to teach girls their selfworth even from young age.  I learn that domestic abuse exist around us and that it can be so invisible that we can't see it or we can be so blind that we dont' see it and such it's important to 'open' our eyes, ears and most of all our heart.

The Ice Cream Girls is not an easy book to read.  Some people might find it depressing as it can mess with your head.  Some people might not be able to or might not want to read something so drastic and dramatic.  There are parts which brought me to tears but not like My Best Friend's Girls did (I really must re-read and review this book!). For me, I was left feeling numb as to why would people subject themselves to years of such torture, physically, mentally and emotionally.  I was left feeling sad as I know that no one can help someone in such situation unless they themselves have the realization that they need help.  I really salute the author, Dorothy Koomson for tackling such subject matter. I can't imagine doing such research.  Like she said in her author's note, 'I hope this book will give someone the courage to change their situation'.

Some people will still insist that it's just a 'story book'.  I, on the other hand appreciate it for being more than that.

Purchases at Popular Year End Sales!

 Popular Bookstore year end sales started on last Thursday, 15 November in Permata Carpark Kuching and will run for 10 days.  By coincidence, I went on the 1st day of the sales.

The place was packed!  I had to line up for about 45 mins to pay for my purchases.  I guess it could be because it was a public holiday on that day and the city folks took opportunity to exercise their spending power,buying not just one or two books but by the basket full!  My cynical mind actually wonders how many would actually read the books they bought.

Anyway, I managed to get some very good selections and will look forward to the many hours that I will spend with them.

These are what I bought :


1. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich - the 9th book of the Stephanie Plum series.

2. Man and Boy by Tony Parsons - I have been wanting to try this author.

3. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Carlos is a Spanish writer.  His work is being translated to English. I read his fist book, The Shadow of the Wind many years ago and that book impressed me even until today.

4.  The Circle Series by Ted Dekker - This is the complete volumes of Black, Red, White and Green, i.e. 4 books in 1.


If you have not been and would want to get some good bargains, head to Permata Carpark Kuching.  The sales will end on 24 November.  Who knows, we might meet each other there. :)

Change in my reading habit

I noticed that there's a change in my reading habits these few months.  I seems to be reading less nowadays.  While I can managed about 10 books in a month (at one time, many, many moons ago), I am struggling to complete even 1 book nowadays.

On reflection, I hope it's a good thing as I am now utilizing my time on other interests and other aspects of my life.  I hope it's not because I get so tired easily nowadays.

I am currently reading The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson.  I started this quite a while back but it's such a 'dark' story that it's taking me a long time to complete as I just couldn't continue reading at times.

I am also re-enjoying Becky's company in Shopaholic Ties the Knot at the same time.  What a contrast!

With a few holidays coming up (yipee!) , I really hope I can catch up again on this habit.