The Diplomatic Corpse by Anne Marshall Zwack

Synopsis from http://www.goodreads.com/

When Maggie's husband, smooth, silver-haired, patrician Jeremy, the British Ambassador to Vienna, drops dead unexpectedly of a heart attack, she is stunned.

But her shock soon turns to fury when she discovers that he died in the arms of a beautiful blonde Viennese hostess - and that moreover while she, Maggie, was expected to make all sorts of domestic economies on behalf of the British tax-payer, Jeremy and the athletic Mausie had been indulging in expensive sea-food dinners, skiing trips and all manner of luxuries. But Mausie turns out to be, as it were, only the tip of the iceberg.

As Maggie uncovers a trail of infidelities conducted under her nose in every one of the European cities she had so dutifully made her home in Jeremy's majestic wake, she determines to exact her revenge.

With Zoltan, Jeremy's mournful Hungarian driver, she embarks on a magnificent Grand Tour of their former postings, wreaking a pleasurable havoc wherever she goes.

Along the way, Maggie undergoes her own transformation and learns to re-evaluate her marriage, her own abilities - and just who her friends really are!

My Comments:

Picked up this book from the Big Bad Wolf (BBWS) 2011. I thought it would be just another mindless Chick lit.

However it turns out to be quite different. For me it was entertaining full of humor.

The story like is funny and witty. Maggie is a genius in thinking up uncoventional plans to extract revenge against those who had wronged her.

It's something like Olivia Goldsmith's "The First Wives Clubs" less the heavy discussion stuff.

I guess, it's a good read if one is in need of some cheering up.

Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Cruise, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich

Three women seemingly have nothing in common but somehow their dogs lead them to become friends. They were practically smack in the face by brochures advertising Kammani-Gula Obedience Class. It's a class to train dogs

Abby- just arrived in Summerville Ohio with her Newfoundland Bowser to claim her inheritance. Her mother Bea passed away and left her a property. She soon found herself baking cookies and steaming up her life with a young professor

Daisy- with her hyperactive Jack Russell Bailey. Her world have been proper and prim . That was till her mom, Peggy, suddenly developed an allergy to dogs and asked her to take care of Bailey for a time. She meat a mysterious dog trainer.

Shar- a Professor of ancient history suddenly wakes up and found a very masculine God sitting at her kitchen. Her neurotic dachshund , Wolfie was snarling at him.

I am not sure what genre this book is intended to be as the synopsis made it sound like romance cum chit lit. But to me this is a book full of laughter. It's just too hilarious. Hope the authors won't be offended.

The three ladies after attending the Kammani-Gula class, started to have special ability. Super power. And one of their power is that they can hear and understand what their dogs are saying.

I can't help laughing at Kammani the blundering "Goddess" who made a set of very hilarious mistakes like sending a swamp of bees, a plague and even trying to "rule" this modern world who does not need a Goddess like her.

Yup. a book to relax with and in my personal opinion, I am going to classify this book under comedy in my shelves.

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker

This is a typical tale of why we should not tell lies, for adult.

Norman Huntley and his friend Henry were in a church when they “invented” an 83 year old woman, Ms Hargreaves. Then they thought it’s funny to post a letter to this “Ms Hargreaves” and invited her to come over for a visit.

It was fun while it lasted. But imagine their surprise when Norman received a letter from a Miss Hargreaves saying that she would be pleased to pay him a visit. At first, they assumed someone were pulling their legs.

As the day drawn near, they start to panic as many things they invented seems to be coming true..up the the part about a Harp..

That day they met the train, and to their surprise Ms Hargreaves was every bit like what they have thought up, including the dog and the parrot.

Here arrival really brought havoc to Norman’s life. People start to wonder where did they meet and speculate. He tried telling the truth to his father and girlfriend. His father believed him but his girlfriend was doubtful.

In order to cover one lie, Norman have to invent more lies.

The matter turn worse for Norman when he had a fight with Ms Hargreaves and she started to make his life miserable.

How can he get back to his life again? How to make Ms Hargreaves go away?

This is a very interesting and not to say funny book. It have it’s funny moment. Very descriptive on funny moments.

I love the eccentric Miss Hargreaves and felt that it serves Norman right for telling lies. It's not that he wanted to tell lies but it's like a norm to him to talk without thinking.

Once Removed By Andrew Leci

I bought this book from BookXcess a few days ago. Excited to read this after a reader commented she liked this book.

It was 1997. Malaysia turning into a developed nation. Andrew have been in Malaysia as a Quantity Surveyor for about 6 months. On top of working he is looking for love and a good time. Unfortunately, he looked for them at the wrong places.

He was "abused", jilted and put on the spot on many occasions. On top of constantly getting a bad hangover, he also had blackout" on at least two occasion and both which come back to haunt him later.

His ignorance on the local language and custom leads to many hilarious and embarrassing moments.

The book is written in a journal form, starting from 1ts January 1997 to 30 June 1997. It's very amusing to read. It is really fun to "see" Malaysia from the view point of an Ang Moh.

Love the way he narrate the story of Natalie. It made me laugh out loud. The story of his relationship with Shanti is also a gem.

I don;t think there is any part of the story which I don't like. He is real brave for daring to poke fun of certain quarters.

Overall a good read

Brothers by Yu Hua

Baldy Li and Song Gang are step brothers. Baldy's mother married Song Gang's father after Song Gang's mother pass away.

At first their parents was worried that the boys might fight. However, the boys got on fine and become inseparable. Song Gang was the quiet and gentlemanly type while Baldy was rather coarse.

Then comes the cultural revolution which resulted in Song Gang's father demise. Baldy Li's mother was unable to take care of both boys. Hence Song Gang was given back to his grandfather to take care.

This did not hinder the good relationship between the two brothers. They are still as thick as thieves.

When Baldy Li's mother pass away, Song Gang promised to take care of Baldy no matter what.

As they grow older, Baldy start to look for a wife. And he was attracted to the town's beauty, Lin Hong, whose butt he peeped when he was just 14 years old. He become notorious in the town because of that incident. Lin Hong hates his guts but she was attracted to Song Gang.

Song Gang being the big brother, was willing to forgo his own happiness. However, it was not meant to be.

The ties between the two brothers was "disrupted". Each went their separate ways. They lived their separate lives and Baldy got richer by the day. However, this is not the end of the story.

A very captivating story. There are parts where the story is rather coarse and seems to be overly exaggerated. I kind of want to vomit when the author describe how Baldy's father died from peeking at women bottom.

The author put the Cultural Revolution in a different perspective. It's very refreshing to see it from the innocents boys eyes who thought nothing much of it while the adults fear for their lives.

However, the part after Baldy got rich and held the Virgin Contest was unrealistic.

Overall, I love the Baldy Li's character and disliked Lin Hong.

Madness Aboard By Yvonne Lee

I have read "The Sky Is Crazy" and love it.

Then a few days ago, Florence, lend me this book. This is another book about funny incidents that happens when she was flying

In this book, she reveals the sexual harassment that she had encountered. And also she had personally witnessed... ahem ahem...passengers who had decided to join the "Mile High Club".

There was also a story on spooky incident on the plane.

This is truly witty and entertaining book. Well written and made me laughed at some of the things that she wrote there. Gosh...the life of a Stewardess is not all glamour and glory.

The only thing that I don't like about this book is the paper quality is not as good as "The Sky Is Crazy".

Skipping Christmas By John Grisham

Christmas is just around the corner, so I thought of reading something "Christmassy".

Luther and Nora Kranks thought of skipping Christmas this year since their daughter Blair had gone to Peru to help out with the poor children there under the Peace Corp.

Luther convinced Nora to "skip" Christmas this year and join a Caribbean 10 days cruise.

They are not going to put up any Christmas decoration, buy any gifts nor hold Christmas Party.

However, this does not goes well with their neighbour who are into Christmas spirit. The neighbours were horrified and had used various method to convince the Krank to join in the Christmas fun. The more they push, the more Luther got angry. It's their life and if they want to skip Christmas this year, then nobody should stop them and that nobody CAN stop them

That is till when they received a sudden call from Blair. The fun begin.

There was a movie based on this book. I preferred the movie to the book coz I love Tim Allen in that show. He was pretty funny.

How the Hangman Lost His Heart by K.M Grant

Won this book from one for BookXcess Blog Bonanza quite sometime ago.

This is a historical comedy book where the heroine, Alice de Granville, is the niece of a "traitor". Her Uncle Frank was beheaded and she went for the execution. She went to take his Uncle Frank's body back but the King had proclaimed that all traitors head have to be put on a spike and to be display for the public.

Alice was convinced that her Uncle Frank body should be "reunited" with his head. She went and stole the head.

Hence begin a series of hilarious and thrilling escapes.

A light hearted book. Easy to read. Suitable for teens.