Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophi Kinsella

With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:

Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.

Secrets from her boyfriend:
I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

From her colleagues:
When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
My G-string is hurting me.
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.

Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.

But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from
the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do. (from Here)

LOVED this one VERY funny! Again I read it in a day, again adult language and themes.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats is unjustly sent to Camp Green Lake where he and other boys are sentenced to dig holes to build character. Stanley learns the warden has them digging holes for something else- but what?
It has been a while since I saw the movie so I can't remember how they compare. The book itself is a funny, clever, quirky and entertaining. If you need an amusing, easy read (category: ages 9-12), this is it.

Bridget Jones Diary and Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

Okay, first I need to say, do not judge these books based on the movies.  I absolutely loved these books ( The Edge of Reason was one of the worst movies of all time in my opinion, they absolutely slaughtered the book).  

Why do I love them so much?

First Bridget is a wonderful, quirky character.  I love her.  I love her friends.  I love how they are muddling through life as best they can.  I love her funny parents and their friends who are also just muddling through the best they can.  Just like we all are.  I love the style of writing.  I love the way she keeps track of her alcohol units, weight, calories, and cigarrettes.  I love it.  I love it. I love it.  I laughed so hard  as I read these books.

Also as a huge fan of Jane Austen, I loved these books. Helen Fielding is also an Austen fan.  Bridget Jones Diary is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice and Edge of Reason is a modern take on Persuasion.  

I have read and re-read these books.  Very entertaining and I love them.

Warning: they do contain language and some "adult themes".

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid." Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends. (from Random House website)

I thought this book was so good I was laughing through most of it. I was also amazed at how different life is now it really has not been that long!

Stephanie Plum Series

Okay, I told my sister about these books and she wanted me to post about them.  Sorry to be a blog hog, here, but hey, the more books the better.  Anyway, these are not high brow literature by any stretch of the imagination, but the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich are good mindless escape literature.  They are about a bounty hunter (yup, told you this wasn't high brow) in New Jersey, complete with big hair,  blue eye shadow, the local neighborhood mobsters, and plenty of lycra.  She gets into trouble, there are explosions, and moms making meatloaf, and crazy Italian neighbors, and a bit of suspense. They are entertaining.  There isn't much more to them than that, but if you want a mindless, funny read, these will do the trick.  Janet Evanovich is a good writer (unlike other low-brow authors I can think of...Nicholas Sparks comes to mind) There is some language and some racy bits, so they aren't for everyone.  I did get tired of them after a while (basically every book follows about the same formula) and haven't finished the series yet, but plan to, next time I am in the mood for quick and easy reading.   So, for light reading try these.