Tag: Terrible Twos

Mini Shopaholic


It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Sophie Kinsella, and as soon as I heard there was another book in the Shopaholic series coming out in early September, I started skulking around bookstores to get my copy.

Mini Shopaholic is the sixth book in Kinsella’s wildly popular Shopaholic series, following the books The Confessions of a Shopaholic (in UK it’s The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic), Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (UK Shopaholic Abroad), Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic and Sister, and Shopaholic and Baby.

While my favorite Sophie Kinsella books are outside of the Shopaholic series (I love Undomestic Goddess, and the last one, Twenties Girl), Becky Bloomwood has grown on me as I read the novels. I was a bit outraged at her addiction to shopping in the first two books, but well, later on, I realized there’s a little Becky Bloomwood inside of me: the book shopper (hahaha!). And I really love the supporting cast in the series —  the dreamy Luke Brandon, the delightful Suze and Tarkie, the oddballs Jess and Tom, Becky’s folks Jane and Graham, their next-door neighbor Janice, the wild and wacky designer Danny Kovitz, and dear old Derek Smeath!

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Books 2 & 3 for 2009: Zooman Sam and All About Sam by Lois Lowry

I, like thousands of readers all over the world, am a big fan of the wacky Krupnik family from the Anastasia series, whose books are among the American Library Association’s 100 Frequently Most Challenged Books, because (according to Wikipedia) of “references to beer, Playboy magazine, and a casual reference to a character who wanted to kill herself.” Apparently it was also criticized for one of the funniest books in the series, “Anastasia at this Address,” where Anastasia replies to a personal ad and lies about her age (and invents a fantasy life too) to an older man — it sounds bad but it’s actually quite innocent and funny as hell.

After 9 Anastasia books (I wish there were more), Lowry moves on to a series featuring Anastasia’s younger brother, Sam, starting with All About Sam. Zooman Sam is the most recent
addition to the series.

Aside from most of the Anastasia books, I have both Attaboy Sam, and See You Around, Sam!
on my shelves, and I was glad to get both All About Sam and Zooman Sam in one weekend
(Book Sale and then Chapters and Pages).

All About Sam is about Sam’s life story told from his point of view, mostly featuring events that happened throughout the Anastasia series. Meanwhile Zooman Sam is about Sam’s Future Career day and how he wants to be a zookeeper.

They’re short reads (not very short — they’re still chapter books but one-sitting short), and
although I miss Anastasia’s whacked out (and sassy!) point of view, Sam’s candidness and own whacked-out point of view are endearing too. It’s also delightful to see that Anastasia and Steve Harvey are getting on very well, and Myron and Katherine Krupnik are still the coolest parents ever!

***
My copies: both Dell paperbacks

My rating: All About Sam 3/5 stars, Zooman Sam 4/5 stars

Photos courtesy of Barnes & Noble