Reading

Book Review: Friends of Dorothy by Sandi Toksvig

Posted on by Libby Price

“After much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But … upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from – eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy – who has decided that she’s not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises.
Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig’s heart.”

Whilst reading this – I heard Sandi Toksvig interviewed on the Dish podcast (hard recommend – one of my must listen to podcasts with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, sponsored by Waitrose) and she was talking about writing this book. Basically she was writing a different factual book that required LOADS of research and ballooned into something much bigger than expected – and decided she wanted to write something that required no research at all – hence ‘Friends of Dorothy’ was born.

The book is most definitely a play on the ‘Friends of Dorothy’ colloquialism which is defined on the Fluent Slang website as follows:

“The term friend of Dorothy is a slang phrase that refers to someone who identifies as LGBTQ. It originated in the mid-1900s as a discreet way for LGBTQ individuals to identify themselves and connect with others during a time when the queer community faced persecution. The exact origin of the term is uncertain, with some suggesting it may be a reference to Dorothy Parker, a writer who had many gay friends in the 1920s and 1930s, while others believe it comes from the character Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” who befriends outcasts. The term is often used within LGBTQ circles as a way to discreetly identify oneself or to arrange meetings that would go unnoticed by the heterosexual majority. Although the term is not as commonly used today, it may still be heard among LGBTQ communities and can also be abbreviated as “FOD.” It’s important to emphasize that the term is not sexually explicit and is not intended to be offensive.”

But also one of the central characters is called Dorothy – and the supporting cast either are or become her friends over the course of the book.

Whilst the book is primarily about Amber and Stevie and their new home – it is so much more than that. It’s about ‘family’ from friends, it touches on homophobia and transphobia, it looks at the use of recreational drugs for pain relief, the support of a community, end of life care and so much more.

Overall it is a total delight of a book. I loved the whole cast of characters and the journey they went on and the power of a group of family built from friendship and support. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone.

A huge thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for my ARC. It came out in September 2024 so you can but it IMMEDIATELY and I think you probably should!

Book Review: Eat Slay Love by Julie Mae Cohen

Posted on by Libby Price

Having enjoyed Julie Mae Cohen’s previous book – Bad Men – I was delighted to be granted an advance review copy of her new book – Eat Slay Love, which was released this week. Here’s the blurb:

“A good friend will help you move on.
A best friend will help you move the body . . .
The razor-sharp, hilarious new 2024 black comedy thriller from the bestselling author of Bad Men.
Marina is a divorced mother of three preschoolers.
Lilah is a shy and lonely librarian.
Opal is a broke post-menopausal fitness guru.
These three women have absolutely nothing in common – except for the charming, attractive man who’s been lying to all of them. Now that he’s tied up in a basement, they may just have something to bond over.
But how far is each willing to go to get revenge? As this shared secret brings them closer together, other, deadlier problems come crashing into their lives. Can they put their differences aside to save themselves – and each other?”

Initially you meet the 3 leading characters – and you’re not sure how it’s all going to fit together – but it cleverly starts to come together! The fact that the ladies are all so different – and well written in their own right – is fabulous.

There are some gruesome elements, and some ‘suspending belief’ elements – but that’s often the case in black comedy thrillers and didn’t in any way detract from the book.

The use of modern technology (pin dropping of locations, scheduled Instagram posts etc) was woven into the storyline just as they’re part of every day life now (although some books still shy away from such things – which seems a bit daft!)

I was rooting for Marina, Lilah and Opal in different ways – and as a combined force of very different people, they were great. Whilst it is a revenge story – it’s also a female friendship storyline too.

It was a fun, escapist read – and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A big thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for my ARC.

Books – books and more books

Posted on by Libby Price

I love reading.  I always have, from Enid Blyton’s Five and Seven (Famous and Secret respectively), through Sweet Valley High and Judy Blume (I could probably still find the rude bits in ‘Forever’) to the deeply condescending entitled ‘chick lit’ genre of more recent years – interspersed with a ‘critically acclaimed’ to justify the grammar school education!

A fortnight’s holiday used to mean a suitcase full of paperbacks – but 4 kids and a Kindle has reduced the excess baggage charges (book-wise anyway – although the space this year was replaced with gin – see comment re holidaying with 4 children…..)

I swore for a long time that I wouldn’t succumb to the new fangled Kindle – in the manner of my 85 year old Grandmother – but once I’d tried it, I confess to being a convert.  It does hurt marginally more when you drop it on your face when you fall asleep reading – but that is probably one of the few cons (the other being when you aren’t allowed to read it on take off and landing on flights – but could read a normal book!!)

I do feel slightly guilty for not using my local library so much nowadays – although my children more than make up for that!  My Dad was never allowed to borrow books from the library as a child in the 40s / 50s as my Nan reckoned the books there had germs – but I have let my kids run the risk!

I have never joined a ‘book club’ but quite often my Facebook feed will end up in a pseudo-bookclub chat – as I have a lot of friends who like to read (this definitely says something about my circle of friends – in a good way!) And one of these friends suggested I should blog about books – so here we are (this is the second time I’ve taken up one of her content suggestions for this blog – the other was periods – this should be less messy!)

So – henceforth – I plan to do a short(ish – longer than Twitter – shorter than a magazine) book review when I finish a book – and I would really welcome your comments both on the books I review – and suggestions for what I might like based on my reading history – I am always looking for recommendations (I often rely on Viv Groskop in her monthly review column for Red Magazine – but there’s always scope for more!)

We’ve been on holiday for the last fortnight – so this is peak reading weeks for me – so I thought I’d kick off with a brief review of what I’ve read – and this should also give you an insight into what I like (and don’t!)

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Secret HistoryI struggled through The Goldfinch – another of Ms Tartt’s tomes (I read it on Kindle and nearly passed out when I saw the size of the hardback that someone else was reading!) – last year, enjoying the different style of writing – but struggling with the content and waffly-ness of it at times – and at the start of The Secret History was concerned it was going to be the same.  From the outset you know that a certain event is going to happen – and I found the build up to that a bit drawn out – but once that was done, I enjoyed it much more (guess I’m just impatient?!)  I have to say I didn’t particularly like any of the characters in the story (American University students) which always makes a book more of a struggle if you couldn’t really care about any of them – however, I enjoyed the Latin / Greek references (back to that grammar school education again!) – but it definitely wasn’t an easy read.  At least I can tick a ‘critically acclaimed’ off the list – and I wasn’t beaten by it!

Little Lies by Liane Moriaty (seemingly called Big Little Lies in the USA!)
Little lies
This was a Red Magazine recommendation – and I have really enjoyed some of her other works (What Alice Forgot, The Husband’s Secret) so I downloaded it immediately.  This was a great break from The Secret History – and I devoured it in a day (and night – holiday insomnia has it’s perks!)  She writes well, from the aspects of lots of different characters, and her topics (family life, suburban Sydney – where I lived for a while) are really relevant to me.  Although I’d like to think the PTA events at the schools my kids go to aren’t quite so scary!!  Interestingly, like The Secret History – you know that a certain event is going to happen in this book too – but I didn’t feel I needed to get to that point to enjoy the book. 

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriaty
Hypnotists Love StoryI downloaded this after checking the authors history and what I had and hadn’t already read. It was lovely – another easy read – but not too cheesy.  Again – set in Sydney – which brings back fond memories.  I would have poo pooed the ‘hypnotist’ element of it historically – but with recent experiences I was not so cynical – which probably meant I enjoyed it more!

New Beginnings by Fern Britton
New BeginningsI have to confess to loving Fern a little bit.  Who cares that she lost weight with a gastric band and advertised Ryvita at the same time – I always think she would be a fabulous mate who you could have a real laugh (*drink*) with (and Phil could cook dinner for us all!) – and her stint on Strictly Come Dancing a couple of years ago made me love her even more (I hold her sparkly dress on the Strictly tour totally responsible for the one I had made for my 40th party!!)  I’ve read lots of Fern’s books – mostly set in Cornwall – and they’ve been a good easy read (particularly as I’m normally reading at home whilst trying to get small kids to sleep – so can’t concentrate on anything too mentally taxing in between demands for milk / water / nappies changed / extra blankets / aircon on / the toilet etc etc) This one isn’t set in Cornwall – and I think is her debut novel – it’s set in the world of TV – so I guess sticking to what she knew.  It’s about a 40 something mother – so lots to empathise with.  As with a lot of Fern’s books, it left me wanting to know what happened to all of the characters next – which I think is the sign of a good read!

Tickled Pink by Christina Jones

Tickled Pink
This was an Amazon Prime Kindle library suggestion (I only recently found out that our Prime membership entitled us to b borrow Kindle library books for free – and no risk of germs from this library either!!) and my Kindle knows me well it would appear!  Initially I was a bit confused by all of the different characters (although admittedly this may have been compounded by the Portuguese Vinho Verde I was knocking back!) – but I soon settled into it.  It’s a total rollercoaster and therefore not predictable – which I enjoyed.  You really get for the sleepy English village in which it’s set – I’d quite like to visit it now!

So there you have it – my Summer 2014 reading list! It’s 6 weeks before I go away again – so I doubt there’ll be another book review until then – but I look forward to everyone else’s suggestions and comments.  In the style of Strictly ‘Keep Reading!’