Strictly Confidential by Roxy Jacenko

So to be straight with you from the start, this book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. I found Strictly Confidential to be an enjoyable, albeit slightly voyeuristic read – it is certainly not going to win any prizes, but that is just the kind of book it is.

Jasmine Lewis, affectionately known as Jazzy Lou, is a go-getter, much like the book’s author, Roxy Jacenko.

Roxy Jacenko works in fashion PR in Sydney owns her own business, Sweaty Betty PR, and is famous for being classy, tough and good at what she does. Funnily enough, this even extends to writing a pretty decent chick-lit novel.

At the book’s beginning, we find Jasmine working for Wildenstein PR, with a control-freak boss. Yet when her boss finds her captured in the paper, in a compromising position with a client (read the book to find out), she gets fired from her job.

Jasmine, a borderline Nurofen Plus addict and all-round workaholic, (you’d have to be to get out of bed at 3am to rescue a client from a night club) opens her own PR business, aptly titled Queen Bee PR - and this is where the fun begins!

With an interesting range of characters (supposedly based on some of Sydney’s elite), and enough drama to keep you on your toes, this book would make the perfect holiday read, whether you are curled up by a roaring fire or lazing by the beach – though a cocktail in hand is definitely recommended!

Find this book at the library!

The Younger Man by Zoe Foster

What a fun read!

The Younger Man is Zoe’s third novel, and is strictly a ‘girls’ own’ kind of story.

The storyline focuses on the life of Abby and her two girlfriends, Maddy and Chelsea, sassy and self-confident thirty-somethings, whose voices ring true throughout the text.

The book rollicked along with romance, work-life balance and friendship as the central themes.

The ‘younger man’ of the title is Marcus, a twenty-two year old, who captures the attention of thirty-three year old Abby.

The to and fro as to whether it is appropriate for Abby to be dating a man who is ten years younger than her is an old storyline, but Zoe makes the plot fresh and modern, which is helped by the playful interaction between the characters. Like this interplay between Abby and Chelsea:

‘How young? Like, eighteen?’

‘No, you sicko...twenty-five.’ Abby looked down.

‘How. Old.’

‘Twenty-two.’

‘WHO’S the sicko?? Twenty-two! Was he wearing a nappy?’

Oh, you’re an idiot. Twenty-two is an adult! God knows what I was up to at twenty-two, but I wasn’t a child. I knew what I was doing.’

The conclusion doesn’t feel as if Zoe has fought too hard to tie everything up in a neat little bow, but it is still satisfying.

The Younger Man is a great option for an easy-to-read romantic novel for the intelligent reader. I wouldn’t recommend this book to males or those with a distaste for chick-lit.

Find The Younger Man in the Adult Fiction section of the library.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

This delightfully written tale includes, among other things, the Russian ‘mafia’, a road trip (including numerous dodgy budget hotels and one gin induced hangover), a bunch of lies and a very precocious ten-year-old boy.

Children’s librarian, Lucy Hull, begins to worry about one of her regular young patrons, Ian Drake, at for a number of reasons:

1. Ian’s mother suggests to Lucy that he should only read books with “the breath of God in them”,
2. Lucy inadvertently finds out Ian has been attending anti-gay classes run by an organisation called Glad Heart in a town two hours drive away, and
3. She finds Ian camped out in the library one morning when she opens up – Ian has run away, and he is taking Lucy with him!

Unsure of whether Lucy has kidnapped Ian, or whether he has kidnapped her, this story is about running away, being true to yourself and realising being a kid isn’t always easy, but is often a lot of fun!

The enjoyment in reading The Borrower was that the plot was unpredictable, I was never sure of how the book would end, but I enjoyed the trip along with Ian and Lucy immensely and was sad when it finished.

Heartfelt characters and a lot of silliness makes this story burst at the seams with loveliness… you don’t have to be a librarian to enjoy this story – just enjoy sharing the joy of reading.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games has the complete package, likeable characters and a well written, engaging plot… with the movie due out in 23 March for Australia, read it before everyone else has!

Dystopian, yet realistic, the novel is written for the youth market, but also holds plenty of appeal for adult readers as well.

Suzanne Collins makes you believe in another world, an eerily familiar world which parallels our own in many ways.

The heroine of the story is Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year-old girl who volunteers for The Hunger Games tournament when her twelve-year-old sister Prim is drawn in the ballot.

Katniss is a survivor, she has spent many years providing for her family after the death of her father in a mining accident. She knows how to hunt, set a snare and shoot a bow and arrow, so her odds of survival are in her favor.

Through Katniss’ eyes we see the country of Panem, its major city ‘Capitol’ and the injustice she sees in the situation she is thrust into.

In the edition I read there was a short interview with Collins which talked about her inspiration for the novel. In it she said, “...on one channel there’s a group of people competing for, I don’t know, money maybe? And on the next there’s people fighting an actual war.”

This book will make you think twice about what society sees as ‘entertaining’….

Find The Hunger Games in the Youth and Adult Fiction section of the library.
Read The Hunger Games? Continue the series with Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Ruby Blues by Jessica Rudd

Ruby Blues is one book that you don’t want to judge by the cover!

In this second novel by Jessica Rudd, she once again lets us delve into the life of Ruby Stanhope. If you haven’t read Campaign Ruby yet, while it is not crucial to understanding the plot of Ruby Blues -- it may aid in your enjoyment!

Ruby Blues takes place two years after Campaign Ruby leaves off, Ruby is now working for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and it is easy to believe that Rudd has some insight into what takes place in this office, given her father’s profession.

As the book’s title suggests, Ruby is in a different place mentally and emotionally in this book, but that doesn’t make her any less loveable as a character.

Throughout the book she sails from one government gaffe to the next all the while throwing herself into her work to avoid the problems in her personal life, of which there are a few – she even gets the power cut off from her house at one stage!

This novel is well-structured and easily read, with characters that ring true. Ruby’s niece Clementine easily steals the show with her child-like seriousness: “I really, really hate green, pacifically neon green and car key green. Car keys aren’t even green so it’s a silly name.”

This is easily one of the best written books in the chick-lit genre that I have read in awhile.

The Association of Foreign Spouses by Marilyn Heward Mills

The Association of Foreign Spouses is set in Ghana around the 1980s. It is the story of an English woman who met a Ghanian man in London, married him and moved to Ghana. Along with three other women (from England, Germany and Russia) she struggles to adapt to the culture, what is expected of her and the difficult political landscape.
I have a friend from Ghana so was very keen to read a book aet in that country, being more familiar with novels such as Half of a Yellow Sun, set in Nigeria. In the end, the setting is what kept me going through this novel. I found the characters less than appealing at times and found the situations a little melodramatic. I did get a  feel for the oppressive heat, beauty and contradictions of Ghana, but Ghana itself was a minor character as the women's relationships dominated.
The Association of Foreign Spouses is available from the adult fiction area of Wagga Wagga City Library.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro wrote The Remains of the Day, you know, that movie with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson? So, I was expecting an old country house in England and got something quite different. Never Let Me Go is set in England in the 1990s but you soon come to realise that it isn't quite life as we know it. If you like a technical label, Never Let Me Go is dystopian science fiction but there aren't any robots and it isn't your typical science fiction at all.
This is one of the RRL Book Club books and my club had mixed reactions to it. Mind you, my club has had mixed reactions to every book we have done, that's one of the many joys of a book club! I really enjoyed Never Let Me Go and have gone on to read When We Were Orphans and The Remains of the Day, both available at the library.