I picked up this book half a dozen times before I fianlly bought it. i find Noble's writing the middle of the road- a slow, steady read.

I enjoyed this book ever so much more than I thought I would. Another 'lives of women' type novel, following the 4 daughters of a recently deceased and by all accounts wonderful and interesting woman. The daughters deal with her loss and their lives in different ways, and its a lovely exploration of their personalities and choices. Not too terribly deep, but it was affecting and a well done piece of a tapestry of human life.

Wow! So good. Loved it.

WOW WOW WOW!!! Jag är helt kär i den här boken och jag tror att jag har hittat min nya favoritbok! Jag har gråtit både ledsna och glada tårar, jag har skrattat, skrikit, rodnat, lett från öra till öra, blivit överraskad och älskat så mycket under dessa 400 sidor.

Gick bland bokhyllorna i en second hand affär och samlade på mig alla böcker jag tyckte såg intressanta ut. Den här tyckte jag inte var speciellt tilltalande men; fem kronor per bok kunde jag inte avstå. Kanske var det ödet som drog mig till boken, visst känns det så nu efter.

Jag älskade boken från första början, karaktärerna är så fina och jag har verkligen fått lära känna de på ett sätt som känns så självklart och nära.

Boken handlar om de fyra syskonen Lisa, Jennifer, Amanda och Hannah som försöker ta sig igenom livets svåra utmaningar efter att precis förlorat sin mamma, Barbara. Vi får följa med det kommande året i upp och nergångar, i sorg och glädje, i vilsenhet och rädsla men också i trygghet. Vi får ta del av brev som Barbara skrivit till sina döttrar när hon var döende.

Det var en berättelse som tog mig med storm och som lindade sig om mig redan från allra första sidorna. Den är så kärleksfull, så rolig, klyftig och sorglig. Det var såklart gånger då jag inte älskade den, när den bitvis var lite tråkig men det var aldrig att jag inte kunde fortsätta.

Det här är en bok jag kommer läsa många gånger, som kanske kommer hjälpa mig genom livet och som förhoppningsvis alltid kommer ha en plats i både min bokhylla och mitt hjärta. En bok som kommer vikas och slitas ut, som kommer lånas ut och kanske ta sig vidare till någon annan som tycker lika mycket om den som jag.

Tack Elizabeth för den här magnifika boken, jag är dig evigt tacksam. Perfektion.

Oh how I cried! And laughed! But mostly cried. I cried for the daughters, for the mother, for the father, for the partners and for my own mum. What a wonderful story, with such powerful messages and lessons.

❝

I love this book. It wasn't the easiest to read at this time in my life. Too many contemporaries have fallen sick in the past 18months for the topic to be received entirely gracefully. But I loved the book and found comfort in the stories that not only do people survive when the lose someone but they can thrive.

One thing I adore is novels that connect daughters with their mothers. This book tells the story of 4 multi-generational daughters and their stepfather struggling in the aftermath of their matriarch, 60 year old Barbra’s tragic death from cancer.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't amazing or anything but it was a nice solid read. Very chick-lit oriented. It was a nice, fairly quick read. The story was interesting, the characters were fine. As always, with this type of book, it was all tied up in a nice bow. Nice chick-lit story but if you want something with some depth, this isn't the book to choose. If you want a nice, quick, easy read, this is the book for you!

If I had daughters, and if I were to write them letters of things I wanted them to know, at the top of the list would be: Do not eat an entire bag (and I’m not talking snack-sized) of honey-wheat pretzels in a 36-hour period. Especially when you’re dipping those pretzels in peanut butter.

Lucky for me and the rest of her readers, the character Barbara had slightly more interesting advice for her daughters in Elizabeth Noble’s latest book, Things I Want My Daughters to Know.

When my boss was visiting my office last week to join me on some client meetings, she saw the book on the side of my desk. Interested, she picked it up and started to read the summary on the inside cover before looking up and saying, “Wait. Is she writing things she wants her daughter to know because she’s going to die?” When I said yes, she dropped the book like I’d just confirmed that I had soaked it in cat pee before allowing her to touch it, and said, “Ohhhhh no. I can’t read something like that. Too sad. If I want sad, I’ll watch Beaches, but who wants to be sad anyway?”

The weird thing is, it isn’t really all that sad. Not in the same way Beaches is sad or Steel Magnolias is sad. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get that burning feeling in my nose that I get when I’m trying not to cry - but just a couple of times, really! Although the book IS about a mother preparing for death and eventually dying, it’s really more about the lives of the ones she leaves behind - her four daughters and her husband - than anyone else. It sounds crazy to describe the book as being light, but…well, it kinda is.

I can’t say Things I Want My Daughters to Know is going to make it to my list of favorites for the year, but I can say that I found it to be a truly enjoyable read. Here are a few passages to explain why.


"Besides, it’s 2006. They cure cancer these days. They catch it early, they treat it “aggressively” (that expression makes me think all the oncologists wil charge around the ward looking like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, but I don’t suppose that’s what they mean…."

This particular quote reminds me of my friend Alice, who was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma a few years ago. Her doctors treated it “aggressively” as well, and, thankfully, she is alive and well today, but she once told me how irritated she gets when people compare a bout with cancer to climbing Mount Everest (because people CHOOSE to climb Mt. Everest, and no idiot in her right mind would choose to get cancer).

Or

"Skiing was exactly like smoking. It made absolutely no sense when you explained it. You put these narrow little planks of wood on your feet - and P.S., you are freezing your arse off as you do so - and then you get dragged to the top of a mountain, where you throw yourself off and try to get to the bottom as fast as possible. Made no sense whatsoever. Oh, and it costs you thousands of pounds. To be scared for your life."

Well said, Ms. Noble! This summed up precisely why I’ve never been convinced to try skiing again since the debacle that was my first skiing lesson in Gatlinburg, Tennessee when I was about 10. I ended up taking off my skis and walking - very very carefully - down the mountain before throwing in the towel in favor of a nice hot toddy at the bar. Oh wait. I was 10, so it was more like a hot chocolate, but a toddy sounds much nicer, no?

The rest of the book is filled with equally delectable morsels so that it doesn’t really matter that I turned the last page feeling like I never really got to know anyone, except maybe the dead mother character. It was a fun read, with fun characters and plot lines, and was a pleasant little summer surprise. So: try it, Mikey. You’ll like it.