Genre: Chick lit

The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan

The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan
The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan

Just what I wanted, after the heavier reading provided by Grantas 87 and 85: An easy, speedy read.

As the blurbs on the front cover say, it is “charming” and “exquisite”. A tad twee in places, and some of the descriptions in the early chapters were a bit too overworked for my taste, but there’s a pair of enjoyable plot lines, with an array of short stories on the side.

Author page: The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan

White – Rosie Thomas

White - Rosie Thomas
White – Rosie Thomas

A rare – possibly unique – combination: romantic novel meets Everest ascent.

In Dr Finch Buchanan’s choice of Into Thin Air as her inflight reading at the start of the novel, Rosie Thomas acknowledges what I assume was her inspiration – the 1996 Mount Everest disaster.

Her own  experiences as traveller, mountaineer and skier feed into Rosie Thomas’s narrative, in the emotional pull of the high mountains, the motivations of those who go there – to trek or to climb – and the experience of being in remote places where nature is at its most harsh.

If you’re wondering about any or all of three aspects, read this book. As a female mountain traveller and trekker, they really resonated for me.

The love story? Not so much!

Author’s webpage: White – Rosie Thomas

Tempting Fate – Jane Green

A quick and easy read – I’ve said it before but I’m not enjoying Jane Green’s novels as much now they’re based, like her, in America. I didn’t warm to the lead characters – long-abroad Brit, Gabby and solid, professional, husband Elliott. She was too oblivious to the obvious, which results in a one night stand followed by the longed for third child, his realisation that he still loved her as soon as he held the not-longed-for baby.

Author page: Tempting Fate – Jane Green