Book in some ME TIME
Mums deserve a break and an escape!
DAISYJONES&THESIX Taylor Jenkins Reid, rrp $27.95, Cornerstone
No, I didn’t get tickets to Fleetwood Mac either and they’re one of my favourite bands. However, I suspect this novel is more than a little inspired by the explosive rise to stardom of Stevie Nicks and her fellow musos, so it’ll more than make up for it. Flowerchild Daisy joins rock band The Six in the heady haze of the ’70s music scene, and it’s sex, drugs and rock’n’roll all the way.
BECOMING Michelle Obama, rrp $49.99, Penguin
It’s sold 10 million copies and if it sells 10 million more, the world will be a better place. There was so much I didn’t know about Michelle Obama’s journey from her loving, working-class family to the White House that I found her story nothing short of awesome. And that’s a word I only use for grand canyons and swimming g with whales. A raw and honest look at an extraordinary life not particularly of her choosing. Every mother, daughter, girl, woman and person should read this book.
THESILENTPATIENT Alex Michaelides, rrp $29.99, Orion
Coming to a big screen near you in the future, this has got to be the thriller of the year and a nice change from AGirl onaThing or a Woman inaWhatsaname. This time, it is forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber in the hot seat, doing his darndest to get to the bottom of a gory murder and the silent patient of the title at the middle of it. I need to read this again to see how I missed all clues to the twist. But miss them I did.
ADREAMOFITALY Nicky Pellegrino, rrp $29.99, Hachette
For your annual taste of our local Mediterranean favourite, dive into this delicious read about an Italian mayor trying to breathe new life into the town he loves. Enter three different sets of hopefuls, with nothing but one euro and the desire to buy a crumbling house in Puglia. I want one. We all want one. Taxi!
THELOSTMAN Jane Harper, rrp $19.99, PanMacmillan
The dazzling, dry, red, dusty, thoroughly unwelcoming landscape of outback Australia is the setting for this novel about three brothers, one of them newly dead. I loved Jane Harper’s first crime book, TheDry, but was less keen on her follow-up, Forceof Nature. However, this one had me from the word go. When Cam Bright’s body is found at local landmark the Stockman’s Grave, the spotlight shines on his family.
PASTTENSE Lee Child, rrp $26.99, Transworld
Just like Nicky Pellegrino, Lee Child goes to all the effort to write a book every year, so it’s sort of rude not to read them, right? And what weary mother doesn’t want to spend her special day curled up with tall, brooding action hero Jack Reacher? In this novel he, um, oh, you know, a lot goes down and he saves the day, then walks off into the sunset. Sigh.
THEDREAMERS Karen Thompson Walker, rrp $30.95, Scribner
This novel is possibly every mother’s worst nightmare, but that doesn’t make it a dud. A sleeping sickness takes over students in a US university town, leading to quarantine, hysteria and isolation. A shy student, a professor, new parents and two pre-teen survivalists are among the affected, and it’s how they respond that drives this page-turner.
WHERETHE CRAWDADSSING Delia Owens, rrp $30.95, Little, Brown
This was a Reese Witherspoon pick and while we don’t always share the same taste, I loved this book. Be prepared – there’s a terrible childhood involved. I get very weepy in such circumstances, but this particular child triumphs over tragedy in a marshy part of North Carolina, evocatively described by a writer better known for her wildlife books about living in Africa.
THETRAUMACLEANER Sarah Krasnostein, rrp $37.99, Text Publishing
This at-times gory Australian real-life read was last month’s pick for my own book club. Be warned – there’s another terrible childhood involved. I know! Two in a row! On Mother’s Day, no less! But while I blubbed my way through Sandra Pankhurst’s formative years, it’s her ability to reinvent herself in more ways than one that had me gripped. Not for the faint of heart. Or germophobes.
LENNY’SBOOKOF EVERYTHING Karen Foxlee, rrp $22.99, Allen & Unwin
Woohoo, this one has an amazing mother! In fact, the heart-warming tearjerker (possibly my favourite genre) is an ode to childhood, motherhood and siblinghood. Lenny Spinks’ younger brother Davy won’t stop growing, which is the last thing their single mum needs, although regular instalments of a free encyclopedia bind the family even closer. A charming offering that I think may be a young-adult novel, but who doesn’t love them?