J'adore Sophie!

Ever since I knew Sophie Kinsella's books, I began to admire her talent. First, I read Confession of Shopaholic, then I could not stop. I have finished reading all her books by now. Here are the list:

Confession of Shopaholic

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Shopaholic and Sister

Mini Shopaholic

Can You Keep a Secret?

The Undomestic Goddess

Twenties Girl

Remember Me

I love the way she writes. Her novels are all easy to read and funny. It is like when you unfold one page, you do not want to stop. Her main characters are all women living in London. Oh yeah, I begin to love London once I read her books. She always pictures about how a career woman in London copes with her job and relationship. But the bigger picture is, she is trying to say that women can cope well with all that problem. That after a huriccane always comes a rainbow (this one is Katy Perry's lyrics). I describe some of her heroines below:

Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic The Series): working as a financial journalist, she does not quite fancy her job, and is trapped in credit card debts. She manages to change her career path into TV news reporter, personal shopper in Barneys New York, and the last one is still as personal shopper in The Look, London. Her passion is on shopping and fashion, she finds out finally. She is also described as a wife and a mother in later series.

Emma Corrigan (Can You Keep a Secret): an assistant marketing in a sport drink company, she has colleagues who like to underestimate her and rarely listens to her opinion. And she does not have a courage to struggle for her promotion. Finally she finds a way to get her ideas acknowlegded by her company and get promoted into Marketing Executive

Samantha Sweating (The Undomestic Goddes): she is a high-powered lawyer in London, working 24/7, has no home life, and cares only about partnership. One of her colleague bertrays her and she then loses her job and becomes a maid in a rich family. When finally her former employer finds out the truth and is willing to hire her back, she makes the biggest decision in her life, stays working as a maid, for a more laid back life.

Lara Lington (Twenties Girl) : a struggling headhunter, she is partnered with her best friend, but her best friend finally leaves her off for holiday. Lara then struggles to build the business by herself.

Lexi Smart (Remember Me): She was once a staff in a carpet company. One moment had changed her life and so she became very ambitious and finally got promoted to be a director. As a director, she is a hard one. She acts like a big boss and loses her best friends because of her attitude. After an amnesia happens to her, she finally realizes her mistakes and changes her attitude.

I love how Sophie Kinsella describes the career complexities. Every career woman must have experienced one of those situations. Sophie is able to drag us into such a situation and also give a problem solving for her character.

One thing I love also from her books is there is always a perfect man for every of her characters. It may sound cliche, but somehow the male character completes the female characters. Just like Becky Bloomwood who is so spendthrift. She gets Luke Brandon, who is financially well managed. Emma Corrigan who is a doubtful one meets Jack Harper, which is completely determined person. Samantha Sweating who is so serious is matched with Nathaniel (I forget the last name), who is so laid back. Lara Lington and Ed Harrison who completes each other, Lara is funny and is always entertaining Ed, who is boring and plain. And Lexi Smart, who is so well driven, and the one who can balances her is Jon Blythe, who keeps her on track.

However, my most favorite male character is Luke Brandon. What makes me love him? May be because Sophie has described him in detail since he is single till he becomes a father. So, I kinda know him very well in person. Secondly, he is not as perfect as other male characters. He is having middle age crisis. He is not close with his parents. He sometimes puts Becky aside of his business. But he always loves her as well as her daughter, Minnie Brandon. There is one quote of him that melts me down: "You don't need to change one hair. One freckle. One little toe. And if it is me that's made you feel you should do this..then there's something wrong with me". Gosh, I want to have a husband like him, please! If only he is real!

Thank you for Sophie Kinsella who: have made me love London, have opened my eyes to see that woman can strive for the best in her careers. The most important thing in life is not making big money, but doing what you like, following your heart. There is also one quote of Samantha Sweating I will always remember: " Sometimes you don't need a goal in life, you don't need to know the big picture. you just need to know what you're going to do next!”

PS: I wish I could meet Sophie in person. I am imagining myself having tea time with her and talking about how she gets the ideas of writing her novels. Then we stride along London street. We shop in Harvey Nichols or Harrods together. We buy souvenirs for each other. We get to know each other well and become best friends. J'adore Sophie!