No! I Don't Need Reading Glasses by Virginia Ironside

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Genre - Humour

Ironside has also written childrens books and this particular book is one that you can relate to, particularly if you are retired. It is hard to describe, but you can certainly compare yourself with the main character Marie, who starts up with a huge hangover on New Year’s Day.

For the first time, Marie makes out a New Year’s Day resolution list and tries to make it stick. The story makes you laugh at her thoughts, ideals which are somewhat scary to that of what we all are but won’t admit, and a bit of brainstorming which does not go astray. A very funny book which often brings tears of laughter to the reader. It is at times crazy but with a bit of truth in Marie’s outlandish thoughts.


---- Reviewed by Judy, Rowville Bookchat

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

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Genre - Humour

Bodies are being mysteriously deposited at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds temporary location and Stephanie's been cursed by Morelli's Grandmother. Not an ordinary curse, mind you...it's a sex curse...leading to some humourous situations with Ranger. Add to the mix a vampire and a bear and you've got a pretty good read, although I must admit I haven't stayed up for hours reading these last few like I used to.

I'm not sure how much longer Evanovich can keep spinning out these stories but I truly love the characters.

---- Reviewed by webgurl, Admin

Some tame gazelle by Barbara Pym

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Genre - Fiction


Belinda & Harriet Bede are sisters living in an English village in the 1950s. They’re happily unmarried, although Harriet has an admirer, Count Bianco, who proposes marriage at regular intervals. Belinda has been in love with Archdeacon Hoccleve since their University days but he married the very capable Agatha instead. This is a story of gentle irony & humour as village life brings challenges such as the church fete & what to give the local seamstress for lunch when she comes to make up the new curtains. When Archbishop Theodore Grote arrives for a visit from his African diocese, Belinda finds herself the object of attentions that she suspects Agatha might envy.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Love letters by Katie Fforde

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Genre - Romance


Shy Laura is about to lose her dream job in a bookshop where she’s been responsible for organizing successful author events & bookclubs. She finds herself agreeing to help run a new literary festival at the stately home of Fenella & Rupert. When she reveals her admiration for the writing of reclusive Irish novelist, Dermot Flynn, she finds herself on the way to Ireland to convince him to appear at the festival. This is a lovely romantic comedy about first love, literature & friendship. Dermot is an engagingly scruffy, sexy hero & there’s a lot of humour in Laura & Dermot’s growing relationship.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

A Winter's tale by Trisha Ashley

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Genre - Romance

Sophy Winter unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s crumbling stately home, Winter’s End. Along with the house, she inherits an eccentric family & a lot of debt. Sophy’s charming but shady cousin Jack thought he would inherit & sets about alternately trying to persuade Sophy to sell the estate to him at a knockdown price or marry him so they can live there happily ever after. Another distraction is gorgeous gardener, Seth, who plans to restore the Elizabethan gardens & doesn’t seem to have eyes for anything else. Then there’s the rumour that Shakespeare spent his lost years at Winter’s End & the discovery of a manuscript in the Bard’s hand. The grand opening of the house & garden to the public is the grand finale to this lovely romantic comedy.

---- Reviewed Lyn, Headquarters

Jane & Prudence by Barbara Pym

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Jane & Prudence met & became friends at Oxford. Jane was a tutor & Prudence her student. Now, years later, Jane is a happy but scatty vicar’s wife & Prudence a researcher in London unrequitedly in love with her dull boss. When Jane & her family move to a country parish, she is determined to find a suitable husband for Prudence. Unfortunately, the available men are a selfish widower who adorned his wife’s grave with a huge photo of himself; and a preoccupied MP who would rather complain about his busy life at Westminster than talk to Prudence at a garden party. When a new young man starts work at her office, Prudence looks set to embark on another unsuitable love affair. Barbara Pym’s novels are full of humour & so perceptive about love & relationships.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The diary of a provincial lady by E M Delafield

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This classic comic novel is the story of the Provincial Lady (we never know her name), her husband, Robert, children & servants, living in an English village between the wars. Our heroine has constant run-ins with the obnoxious Lady Boxe who lives at the Big House & is the sort of woman who always knows best. Cook is constantly threatening to hand in her notice, muttering darkly about the freshness of the fish & the vagaries of the Range. Robert spends the evenings falling asleep behind the newspaper. His only contribution to the household is to complain that his breakfast porridge is cold & the toast burnt. The Diary was originally published in a weekly magazine & the entries are in a breathless, witty style as the Lady rushes from one potential disaster to the next.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Flying the coop by Ilsa Evans

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Genre - Comic Fiction


Chris Beggs, 38 year old divorced mother of two has just become the proud owner of a free range chook farm in Healesville. Feeling a little reckless after making this spur of the moment decision Chris is determined to make this venture work and with the help of some new found friends and a chicken suit, it looks like it will! Chris leaves behind her city home and job and welcomes early morning egg collections, possum poo and a dangerous alpaca! Humorous light fiction from this popular local author.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox Library