Friday 21 June 2019

A familiar refrain...

...well to be honest at the moment I seem to have more of a fiction reader's block rather than a full on block.

I don't seem to be alone in this as a member of the online book group I'm a part of has also said the same recently, which was nice and reassuring.

I'm taking this as a sign of just how good non fiction books are right now rather than thinking that fiction isn't in a good place. Some of this problem settling on novels is also self inflicted, Mr Norfolkbookworm and I are off on our holidays soon and I've been stockpiling books I do want to read ready for two weeks in the sun (well shade - I burn too easily!). My most eagerly anticipated books are out reach for another few weeks...

The exception to this was the third instalment from Gill Sims in her Why Mummy... series. I'm not sure why these appeal to me, I'm not a parent and my husband very definitely shares the housework with me and our families are nowhere near as dysfunctional as Ellen's.

There's just something about these books that I can lose myself in. On the surface they are light hearted books which take everyday events and humorously exaggerate them to great comic effect but you quickly realise that this is very much surface and that underneath there are some very serious issues that are handled incredibly sensitively.

This is especially true for the third book in the series Why Mummy Doesn't Give a **** which I've just finished. I'm not sure that reading this on a train was my brightest idea as I found myself snorting with laughter and crying, well at least I had a seat to myself...



I discovered the books before the hilarious Peter and Jane facebook page https://www.facebook.com/peterandjaneandmummytoo/ and while, obviously, the humour is very similar between the page and the books don't think that you've read the books if you follow the webpage - they are very different and on balance I prefer the books.

The book is published on 27th June, and it will make a lot more sense if you've read the other two - the story is a continuation.

Many thanks to Net Galley for the electronic proof.

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