Review: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Cloud-men causing weather chaos with hailstones? A grasshopper that plays the violin? Set across the iconic metropolis backgrounds of London and New York, James and the Giant Peach tells the tale of James Henry Trotter and a ladybird, glow-worm, centipede and others, as they leave England to sail in a peach to America. 

My first exposure to this literary imaginarium was the 1996 film, which I was obsessed with and watched over and over again as a child. The book, first published in America in 1961, is justifiably more magnificent, with Quentin Blake's illustrations creating the classic we know today. 

The inclusion of several cultural landmarks, such as London Zoo, might be one of the many reasons why Dahl's treasure is included in The Telegraph's list of 15 best children's books. It would be a sin to slander this book in any way. So I won't. It's a gem.

Carpe Diem xx

Review: Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella

Simultaneously the most infuriating and laugh-out-loud chick-lits I've ever read. Shopaholic was recommended by a friend, who let me borrow the entire series, and since I started reading them I've been hooked. How Sophie Kinsella, the alias of Madeline Wickham, could turn out so many books dedicated to her car crash of a protagonist, Rebecca Bloomwood, is almost as much of a mystery to me as how popular the series has been. The book is the third in the series, published in 2002, centred around Becky Bloomwood. The plot jumps around rapidly as Becky attempts to juggle wedding(s), jobs, family, friends and finances. This is a disaster in slow motion. You will either cry with frustration at her naivety and recklessness or laugh at the romance and joy splattered throughout. However much I might have loved to hate this book, I'm already on the next one!

Carpe Diem xx

Title Tuesday: The Woman Who Died A Lot

"The seventh book in the Thursday Next series by Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. 

The BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple. Thursday is faced with an array of family problems - son Friday's lack of focus since his career in the Chronoguard was relegated to a might-have-been, daughter Tuesday's difficulty perfecting the Anti-Smote shield needed to thwart an angry Deity's promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth, and Jenny, who doesn't exist. And that's not all. With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, the prediction that Friday's Destiny-Aware colleagues will die in mysterious circumstances, and a looming meteorite that could destroy all human life on earth, Thursday's retirement is going to be anything but easy . . ."

Whilst fantasy fiction might not be for everyone, and at times have questionably childish aspects to their plots, Jasper Fforde is an original. His work might well appeal to lovers of Monty Python and Douglas Adams alike, but his Thursday Next series might likely entrance Austenians and readers of other genres. Fforde's genius weaving of adventurous plots, witty humour, intelligent puns and animated characters makes BookWorld literary detective Thursday Next and friends part of a fantasy fiction classic. I might go as far as to say, in other words, it is 'unputdownable'!

You may find yourself catching up on the first six books, and even anticipating the forthcoming series finale in 'Dark Reading Matter'.

Carpe Diem xx