Changes

Dora's life has changed so completely she could almost have be an entirely different person now from the ones she once was. As a child, she had parents who were either absent, alcoholic or curiously odd, or sometimes all three. She grew up to marry an intellectually challenged jock, and then traded him in for a devilishly handsome successful Hollywood player. You could say her life was on the up, and she had managed to escape the legacy of her past, to do something good with her life. But, as the book begins, we find a different Dora from any of the ones described here. She's now separated from husband number two, unemployed and rapidly burning a huge hole in her trust fund as she wallows around her apartment, rarely venturing out. So far this could be the plot of half a dozen chick flicks or trashy novels, give or take a few details. What makes Dora different, however, is the books. The many, many books she surrounds herself with, fills her apartment with and uses as cheap therapy when the going gets tough. The whole story has a literary influence and it adds an unusual, quirky slant.

One of the first things to strike me about this book was that it was written by two authors. Now one of my all -time favourite books, ''The Nanny Diaries'' is a dual-writer affair, but still, it is a bit unusual in my mind for two, unrelated people to get together and write a single book between them. I can honestly say, however, that you couldn't tell this book had two people's input. It didn't seem disjointed in anywayany way, or as if it flitted from one voice to another. And, one thing I'm sure was aided by the fact that there were two authors, was the huge number of book references, and most appropriately placed book references at that. If you're a keen reader, think of all the books you've read, and more importantly, those you haven't. Now imagine getting together with a fellow bibliophile and compiling a list of all those books you could talk about in detail. The combined list would be much more immense than if you were doing this exercise on your own and that's clearly taken advantage of in this book.

I love the way other books, authors and the general literary world seep into the structure of this story. Every chapter starts with a quote, some profound, and some less so, but all fantastically well matched to what is coming up over the next few pages. With some, I knew only the speakers beforehand, and some I didn't know at all, but several I will now be memorising to spit out at opportune moments. Then there's the actual quotes from and references to famous books and storytellers within the chapters. Everyone from Dr Seuss and A.A. Milne to Harper Lee and Emily Brontë get gets mentioned in passing, and you can tell that the authors themselves are well-read and have a love for reading which really shines through. For me, the huge bonus with this book, as well as being an entertaining read, is that it pointed me in the direction of some other titles I might like and new authors to discover.