Be Frank With Me - Julia Claiborne Johnson

What an utterly charming book. This is the story of Mimi Banning, a reclusive eccentric"one hit wonder" writer who wrote a classic book and then hid away from her adoring fans. She has money problems and needs to write another book (guaranteed to sell) to bail herself out. 

Her editor sends his star assistant Alice to attend to her daily affairs while she is writing said book, and a major part of her duties involves caring for Mimi's equally eccentric, highly precocial (yet fragile) nine-year-old son Frank. Frank is a unique child who dresses like a 30s movie star and I couldn't help thinking that if you looked up Sheldon Cooper As A Child ( a la Big Bang Theory), Frank's picture would be there. He's a walking encyclopedia of everything you ever wanted to know, and has a dirth of social skills. 

The story is told from Alice's perspective as she navigates the family that is Mimi, Frank, and a mysterious regular vistor named Xander. 

This is a quick read that moves along at a steady pace, and Frank is one of my favourite characters in a long time. I hope we see him again. 

9/10 for me and I will pass this to others over and over again. Hope to see more from this author. 

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Helene

Year of Yes - Shonda Rhimes

I listened to this as an audiobook and I'm so glad I did, I'm not sure it would have been as fun if I had read a print copy. It kind of felt like Shonda Rhimes was right there having a chat with me, and it didn't feel like someone was "reading" the book to me. That can make or break an audiobook.

As can be  guessed from the title, this book is about the year (and then some) that the author decided to say yes to things that she was nervous about and took her out of her comfort zone. Fellow introverts will identify with her life pre "Year of Yes" (raising my hand here!) and will laugh along with many of her reasons for saying no to invitations. It was nice to get some insight into how a person of her "power"  on TV could still be insecure about social situations.

Grey's Anatomy fans will love this book for the insights into how the show started and grew and the origins of the characters. Sounds like that set is an intense but fun place to be. 

I'm giving this a 9/10 as an audio and it will appeal to many. Would also be a good first choice to anyone experimenting with audiobooks. 

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Helene

The Little Paris Bookshop - Nina George

I really wanted to love this book. The jacket description sounded irresistible: a book seller travels down the river in a book barge giving people the exact book they need to help make everything right for that particular person.

There was a small amount of this in the book, but not enough to justify the description and most of the rest of the story was about a lost love. This tale and the rest was quite disjointed and tended to meander aimlessly in many parts. Not sure if the novel was lost in translation but it made for a rather slow read.

There were a few lovely quotes about books and reading but not enough to ring true.

"Reading - an endless journey; a long, indeed never-ending journey that made one more temperate as well as more loving and kind. "

The worst part is that I  accidentally bought this book twice before I read it, because of the enchanting book jacket summary. Anyone want a copy?

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Helene