Reading room
When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. Charming and debonair, the spitting image of Cary Grant, Martin sweeps Cornelia off her feet, but, as it turns out, Martin Grace is more the harbinger of change than change itself. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, eleven-year-old Clare Hobbs must learn to fend for herself after her increasingly unstable mother has a breakdown and disappears. Taking inspiration from famous orphans (Anne Shirley, Sara Crewe, Mary Lennox, and even Harry Potter) Clare musters the courage to seek out her estranged father. When the two of them show up at Cornelia’s cafe, Cornelia and Clare form a bond as unlikely as it is deep. Together, they face difficult choices and discover that knowing what you love and why is as real as life gets.
This debut novel from Jane Fallon will leave you and the ladies with plenty to chat about. Turning the chick-lit formula on its head, Getting Rid of Matthew tells the story of a most-unlikely heroine: the other woman.
If your sole motivation for sitting through the Oscars is seeing what the stars are wearing, pick up a copy of this book. Author Bronwyn Cosgrove, who used to cover the Academy Awards for BBC TV presents a fascinating account of the long-standing relationship between style and celebrity – from the glamour of Marlene Dietrich, to risk-taking divas Cher and Sharon Stone, to couture-clotheshorse Nicole Kidman, Cosgrave tells the inside story of how the biggest stars dress for their big night.
Whether you’ve been a bridesmaid yourself, or just laughed at the outfits from a distance, you’re bound to enjoy this collection of tales from National Post columnist Siri Agrell. Kicked out of her own friend’s bridal party for having the audacity to question the sanity of the tradition (which seems to consist mainly of wearing bad dresses, spending too much money and participating in endless showers) Agrell received countless letters from readers commiserating with their own bridal horror stories. Their stories are published in this laugh-out-loud volume proving that while being a bridesmaid may not be much fun, reading about them sure can be!
You might want to clear your schedule before diving into this compulsively-readable memoir. Funny, poignant and at times so off-the-wall it’s hard to believe it’s a true story, this book is sure to keep you up reading way past your bedtime. – Kali Pearson |
Beauty