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| www.amazon.com |
The ebook in question is ‘The School Run’ by Sophie King. It’s pure, unadulterated chick lit and revolves around a gaggle of parents whose children all attend the same school. At times, their lives intersect for ‘secret’ reasons and at other times ‘dramatically explosive’ ones but I just wasn’t feeling the love, tension or bond with any of the main characters.
King’s writing is perfectly solid and perhaps that’s my problem with ‘The School Run’. It’s a dense, butter cake for the school cake sale gone wrong kind of affair. I felt like I was pressured to get into the minds of a different character with each chapter. The light relief characters and situations I love most about this genre were few and far between. The obligatory reclusive older person with a past wasn’t complex enough for us, as readers, to empathise with. I had no reason to pity her or to attempt to reconcile her actions with the unresolved issues of her tragic past.
Another aspect of the novel that left me feeling rather ordinary was the pervading sense of defeat within the parents in raising their children. No one seemed happy about anything. Everyone was pressed for time, underwhelmed with where their lives were, holding onto the last shreds of a crumbling marriage and defeated by their nasty children. And therein lies the magic of my favourite chick lit authors. Their ability to weave the everyday and overwhelming into characters whose lives are sprinkled with the occasional dose of whimsy and strange coincidence.
I know that life’s like that at times for most of us but the reason we read the chick lit genre is for a bit of light relief and to get lost in the lives of characters who are a bit like us as they negotiate the ups and downs but also a little different with regard to high drama and romantic entanglements. It’s escapism and we love it. We love it because we can read about it in our pyjamas with a mug of tea and not have to worry about the remote being taken away from us or our monthly data download allowance being exceeded as we would with other forms of home based entertainment we find ourselves limited to at this stage of our lives as parents.
Says I as I write this post at 5 in the morning whilst listening to iTunes through headphones on my iPhone whilst the little one sleeps.
In non chick lit related news this weekend,
I went back to MAC to purchase the eyeshadows I knew I should have bought with the money I frittered away on that 12 shade palette with a cult following that’s currently back in its box in the too hard basket of my make up collection. To be fair, it’s the only thing in that basket right now.
I repurchased Shroom which has been part of my life for most of my thirties. As I head into my forties, it looks like it’s going to be there with me too. I’m also trying a Pro Longwear shadow. Apparently it’s Pro because of its lasting power, size and quite possibly price. The shade is Always Sunny and I think that that’s a wonderful outlook to have on life as well as on one’s eyelids.
I made the most of the actual sun outside and am pleased to report that my Target cheetah print frock is totally wash and wear. The iron’s in the photo for dramatic purposes only. The dress came off the line crease free after being machine washed.
Toddler SSG was very certain in his pronouncement that we were eating ‘leaves’ for dinner.
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| The cooking caramel towards the upper left of this photo makes the seasoning of these noodles. This particular brand is the one my entire extended family use. It’s made in Malaysia but I’m pretty sure it’s easy to find at local Chinese groceries. |
Said leaves were going into a large wok of Hokkien Mee. For which I controversially used spaghetti. So fusion, I know but pasta as noodles is a thing with Chinese aunties. It’s all those urban myths about what actually goes into our own imported noodles that’s got everyone a little concerned about the little ones’ diets. So wholesome and healthier, quality controlled pasta it is for quite a few households where aunties do a lot of the cooking.
The recipe I used is this one from The Food Pornographer’s blog. She posted in back in October 2011 and I’m so glad it’s stood the test of time. It’s her mum’s recipe and the posted recipe comes complete with mum’s notes and adaptation suggestions based on reader feedback. Well worth a look if you’re a fan of these dark and richly seasoned noodles.
It’s been a tough week on the china here at SSG Manor so the Daiso run included a couple of mugs that should make weekday mornings cheerier.
Just quickly before I go, this Dion Lee for Target dress was styled up on the weekend paper’s fashion pages as was this Mia Freedman interview. Both were compelling for different reasons. The latter was a considered article that was neither fan girl nor complete hater but I was still surprised was allowed to go to press. As for the former? I’m more fan girl than hater. I’m just not sure if it’s going to be a piece that’s going to work in my current phase of life.