Saturday 14 February 2015

Guest Post: Stella Newman's Top Valentine's Reads

Today it's the final leg of The Dish blog tour and I'm delighted to welcome Stella Newman to talk about her top Valentine's reads.


1. For classic chicklit, David Nicholl’s One Day is still one of my favourites.  Funny, sharp, sad, believable.  But you’ve probably read it already, half of the world has read this book.

2. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields - not a romance as such, nonetheless a deeply beautiful book about life, love, marriage, motherhood.

3. Bread, Cake, Doughnuts, Pudding by Justin Gellatly. Not fiction –rather a cookery book, and one that is full of sensory delights.  You could make any one of Gellatly’s treats for someone you love and if they didn’t get down on their knees and pledge undying love to you, I’d be surprised. 


4. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Shockingly I haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love.  I saw the movie, which I thought sucked.  Which is a shame as I suspect it does no credit to the book, and I do think Elizabeth Gilbert is a brilliant writer and a fantastic human (or at least appears to be from everything she says online and in print.)  Committed is a non fiction book about marriage, it’s the only one on this list I haven’t read yet but it’s on my bedside table and I shall, because Gilbert is a smart, thoughtful writer with much wisdom to impart.

5. Heartburn by Nora Ephron.  It’s about the break up of a marriage and is still one of the most uplifting, funny, heartbreaking books on the subject of love I’ve ever read.  Ephron makes you laugh on one page, cry on the next.  This book inspired me to write Pearshaped and pretty much everything Ephron said inspires me full stop: 

Be the heroine of your own life.

Reading makes me feel I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. ... Reading is bliss.

I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them, but never the potatoes that went with them.

That last one could be the story of my life.


Love is on the menu. With a side order of lies.

When Laura Parker first crosses forks with Adam Bayley, she's only after one thing: his custard doughnut. But when she takes a closer look she sees a talented, handsome man who outshines the string of jokers she's been dating.

There's just one problem. Adam's job means Laura has to keep her job as restaurant critic for The Dish, a secret. Tricky for someone who prides herself on honesty.

Can the truth be put on ice long enough for love to flourish?

And how can you expect your boyfriend to be honest if you're not quite telling the truth yourself?

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