Chicken Soup For The Soul 20th Anniversary Edition (Canfield, Hansen and Newmark [eds])

--The blurb--
"The twentieth anniversary edition of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul is brimming with even more hope and inspiration - the stories you’ve always loved, plus bonus stories, plus 20 bonus stories from today’s thought leaders. Twenty years later, Chicken Soup for the Soul continues to open the heart and rekindle the spirit. Celebrate the twentieth anniversary with the classic book that inspired millions -- reinvigorated with bonus stories of inspiration! You will find hope and inspiration in these 101 heartwarming stories about counting your blessings, thinking positive, and overcoming challenges."

--The review--
It could be argued that America invented the self-improvement genre as we know it today, especially thanks to pioneers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (who used the term 'self-help' in his 1841 essay, Compensation), Dale Carnegie (who wrote the ever-successful How To Win Friends And Influence People in 1936) and Napoleon Hill (author of Think And Grow Rich, penned in 1937). Today the industry is worth around $9 billion; and now with around 500 million Chicken Soup for the Soul books now having been sold worldwide, it's fair to say that they are one of the biggest self-help series around. And that's before you even count the revenue made from the brand's forays into other sectors: as just a few examples, you can buy Chicken Soup for the Soul DVDs, board games, greeting cards, puzzle books, dog food (yes, really), and - of course - soup. This all clocked up $2bn in retail sales in just ten years. So now that it's been twenty years since the original Chicken Soup for the Soul book hit the shelves, how does this new collection celebrate? What can it possibly add to a clearly already thriving brand?

Existing fans of the series will already be familiar with several of the stories the anniversary edition contains - but rereading these is like catching up with an old schoolmate and being pleased to see them, rather than being bored by them and feeling like they should just finish up their coffee and leave. New stories have also been added, which fit in seamlessly with the tone and style of the old. As Chicken Soup for the Soul is an international series, it was equally encouraging to see a few UK-based stories added to the collection, rather than the compilation being wholly rooted in the US. With luck, this is something that will continue to improve about the series: while many of its readers are from America, the brand's founders are quick to acknowledge its worldwide readership, so to see more stories from readers from these countries would be more representative.

Stories from great thinkers of our age, such as Deepak Chopra, have also been included in this edition. While it's a good way to recognise the brand's success, it also highlights why the at-times criticized homogeneous style in which the stories are written is in fact used. Even though some readers may be pleased to see writers' individual styles take on a more significant role, as variation in style is always welcome, this new approach is also in fact the anniversary edition's downfall, as not all of the luminaries the editors have chosen are actually able to write clearly and in a way that's meaningful and practical.

However, none of this stops the collection from doing what it ultimately sets out to do: proving that it's still as relevant to readers as it ever was. The stories, even if they are overly saccharine at times, generally continue to surprise, move, and provoke thought. The ever-expanding collection of titles (now numbering over 200) also continues to accompany readers throughout their lives: readers of the teen and kid series ten years ago may now be looking for a book to appeal to their hobby, birthplace, profession, or status as a new parent (hear that, Duchess of Cambridge?). Introducing the series to a new generation of readers is just one of the important roles that the brand has in keeping people positive and inspiring them to overcome new challenges - and those things will never get old.

For a full list of Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, see the official website.

Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes (Sandra Chastain et al.)

--The blurb--

"Come sit on the porch a spell. Let's talk about times gone by and folks we remember, about slow summer evenings and lightning bugs in a jar. Listen to the music of a creaky swing and hand-cranked ice cream and cicadas chorusing in the sultry night air. Let's talk about how things used to be in the South--and for some of us, they way they still are. Welcome to the world of Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes, where [...] authors Deborah Smith, Sandra Chastain, Virginia Ellis, Debra Dixon, Donna Ball and Nancy Knight come together for the first time to create this [...] collection of nostalgic tales. Here life's lessons are handed down [...] from eccentric relatives, outrageous pets and unrepentant neighbors, and served up with a generous dollop of that most valued of all Southern commodities: good old fashioned storytelling. From Mississippi to Georgia, from Florida to Tennessee, these daughters of the South will take you on a lush tour of the times and places they know best, each voice as refreshing and inviting as a glass of cold sweet tea on a hot afternoon. So come. Let us take you back. Let us take you home."

--The review--

With the rise and rise of self-help books, and in particular the Chicken Soup for the Soul series in America, it's hardly surprising perhaps that the warm and fuzzy style of the majority of these books should pervade the national consciousness. Upon reading Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes one is certainly reminded of this popular and successful series thanks to the emotive and confidential style in which these authors write. In spite of the title, the stories are not overly religious and so should not put off anyone who is not this way inclined.

The quality of the stories in this collection - which is the result of a collaboration by six different female authors - does inevitably vary. While some of the stories are overly saccharine for some tastes, there is without doubt more to this compendium than the tradition and trend started by the Chicken Soup series. Certain stories have a real "laugh-out-loud" aspect as well as a spiritual one, as the authors regale us with wacky tales of dotty relatives and slightly deranged pets. The texts are comforting and accessible without any feeling of dumbing down as we are told of situations we can all relate to, set in the slightly muggy heat of America's Deep South: whether it's trying to fit into a family as a new in-law, or trying to host a party that simply must go well, most readers will find something that rings true for them, whether they're reading from Alaska or France, Britain or India.

But alongside its humour, it is the purpose of this compilation that sets it apart from other tomes of its ilk. While many self-help books seek mainly to inspire (with any other side effects being secondary, accidental or peripheral) this collection not only motivates and touches us with heart-warming and amusing stories, but also, in equal measure, sets out to give us a true sense of place (and, furthermore, achieves this aim). In reading these tales, the reader is transported through the trials, tribulations, thrills and spills of other families just like theirs, and equally to the warm, friendly and tropical atmosphere of the South (giving me severe Florida-itis in the process; it's been now five years since I was last there). 

Simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing as promised, anybody wanting a dose of escapism, realism, humour and inspiration all in one book will surely find what they are seeking here.

Works by the same authors

Books by Deborah Smith

Books by Donna Ball

Books by Debra Dixon

Books by Nancy Knight

Books by Sandra Chastain

A London Christmas (Marina Cantacuzino)

--The blurb--

""A London Christmas" is an anthology of seasonal memories compiled from journals, novels, poems, local traditions and historical events, illustrated with over forty photographs and engravings. Diatribes against seasonal excesses mingle with celebrations of a more benevolent kind - best illustrated by Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol". In this book you will find everything associated with Christmas in London through the ages from the fifteenth century when festivities were overseen by a Lord of Misrule, to when the Puritans attempted to abolish Christmas, through to Norway's annual gift of a Christmas tree and the bravery of Londoners spending Christmas under the threat of the Blitz. A wealth of fictional characters help to celebrate the joy of the season from Mr Pooter in "The Diary of a Nobody" to the tale of a shopping spree in London in "Diary of a Provincial Lady"."

--The review--

When Christmas comes I love to savour it for as long as possible. While there are plenty of seasonal compilations out there to choose from, this certainly strikes me as being an ideal accompaniment which can be enjoyed throughout December. 

The word 'enjoyed' is certainly key here: this is a collection to be savoured rather than devoured. This is certainly not a criticism, as it means that A London Christmas can serve as a companion for weeks on end. The selections are well-chosen and transport the reader successfully to Christmases gone by, although the extracts are on the whole rather highbrow and extremely traditional, so definitely more for those who prefer their literature to be more in a classical vein. 

In spite of the beautiful illustrations, this anthology appears to be relatively little-known. It therefore perhaps gives off an impression of being a little too serious, and something that you have to work at to read rather than something you can read for relaxation, and while one might struggle to read it all the way through at once without losing focus, the extracts are short enough for one to be able to pick the collection up and put it down at leisure. It can therefore be enjoyed in any way that you see fit as the festive season plays out, with new secrets and details tucked within its pages for you to discover and rediscover with every Christmas that follows.

There's Probably No God: The Atheist's Guide To Christmas (edited by Ariane Sherine)

--The blurb--

"Forty-two atheist celebrities, comedians, scientists and writers give their funny and serious tips for enjoying the Christmas season.

When the Atheist Bus Campaign was first launched, over £150,000 was raised in four days - enough to place the advert 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now dozens of atheist writers, comedians and scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause. The Atheist's Guide to Christmas is a funny, thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas, from 42 of the world's most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits, and contributors include Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Derren Brown, Ben Goldacre, Jenny Colgan, David Baddiel, Simon Singh, AC Grayling, Brian Cox and Richard Herring. The full book advance and all royalties will go to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust."

--The review--

As traditional as I am when it comes to the festive season, it's always good to have a breath of fresh air when it comes to my beloved Crimbo (which I fear, on my MP3 player at least, is still stuck in the 1980s). This collection of famous names, I thought, which includes many names that I admire, such as AC Grayling and Simon Singh, would certainly provide a plethora of new points of view which would be both thought-provoking and entertaining.

As is perhaps difficult to avoid when you have forty-two people all trying to work together to write one book, this is only partly the case. While some of the entries are hilariously funny and articulate, others are unamusing (while trying to be the opposite) or just plain hackneyed. Some, one suspects, would be nothing without Ariane Sherine's editing skills. Again, like most anthologies, it is a collection to be savoured rather than raced through, and not something that one should feel compelled to read chronologically - in fact, dipping into it at random is possibly the best way to enjoy it throughout Christmas.

An interesting topic approached by some of the contributors involves how to explain Christmas to children when as parents you do not believe in the original Christmas story, and some of the resulting explanations are quite ingenious, funny, and touching enough to be used in real life. The collection is also helpful to the cause of further amplifying how one can identify culturally and even emotionally with a religion while not actually believing in its allegedly Christian roots. While the book is fun, it also touches on the serious, making it, in fact, not only a manual for an atheist Christmas but also offering a few pointers on how to manoeuvre one's way through an atheist life. Not that it is a rehashed Bible in any sense; we are presented with a platter of different viewpoints and allowed to dine from it at our leisure, whether over the course of a month or several years.

Many different forms of interpretation are also presented here, such as paganism and humanism, alongside more 'basic' varieties of atheism. As we all grow older we figure out where we fit into this and how our beliefs change, making multiple readings of this compendium not only possible but appealing as well - not only as a spiritual quest but also as part of a quest on a journey of finding the joy in life (at Christmas in particular, as well as all year round).

Woman's Hour Book of Short Stories (ed. Pat McLoughlin)

--The blurb--
"The Woman's Hour Book of Short Stories brings together eighteen of the best stories by women writers featured on Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Their theme is 'aspects of love' in the broadest sense, the first innocent awakenings of desire rubbing shoulders with a more mature, sometimes harrowing, kind of love."

--The review--
While female and feminist causes and organisations can perhaps, at times, become objects of ridicule and negative stereotype, there is certainly plenty of positivity to still be found in a female-centric approach. One of these rays of light comes in the Woman's Hour collections of short stories, of which this one (ISBN 0563209054) is the second of three. One could argue that the attraction to short stories has waned (surprising given the nation's apparently decreasing attention span) due to the decrease of serialisation in newspapers and magazines and the greater attraction towards longer, drossier novel series, as well as an increase in the affordability of televisions and DVDs, which pull the public away from the printed word altogether. However, all is certainly not lost for this particular sector of literature: Roald Dahl is perhaps the most famed short story writer for adults, and there is plenty in this marvellous compendium to delight and amuse readers, reminding us that there is still a mass of talent to enjoy and discover.

The first story is one that especially sticks in the mind, detailing a young woman's crush on a celebrity of the period. Its attention to detail means that it is engaging, and the story's premises are equally transferable to modern readers (that's if the fact that the book was published in 1990 renders it no longer 'modern'). Ruth Rendell's work is always enjoyable, although Alice Walker's contribution was disappointing. The best tale to grace this collection, however, is perhaps written by one of the oldest contributors: Celia Dale, aged seventy-eight at the time of the book's release, illumines the book's contents with her sinister and Dahl-esque "Coming South", which is exquisite in the conciseness of its craft and has the potential to take any first-time reader's breath away, making one wonder why this author is so little-known despite having published more than ten books between the 1940s and 1980s. Readers are therefore reminded in perusing such a selection of the enormous potential that there is for the discovery of talent within such pages that is new to us and which might therefore open a whole new world to us.

As a result of reading this extremely polished and high-quality collection, I am incited to acquire more short story collections. Variety is, after all, the spice of life, and it is thanks to such compendia that our lives as readers are fuller.

Other Woman's Hour collections
Woman's Hour: Joyce Grenfell to Sharon Osbourne - Celebrating Sixty Years of Women's Lives (non-fiction; 2006)
Woman's Hour Christmas Collection (2001)
BBC Woman's Hour Book of Health (non-fiction; 1998)
Woman's Hour Poetry: The 50th Anniversary Collection (1996)
The Woman's Hour Book of Women's Humour: The Century's Funniest Female Writing (1993)
The Woman's Hour 50th Anniversary Short Story Collection (1996)
Woman's Hour: 50 Years of British Women (1996)
The Woman's Hour Book (1981)
The BBC Woman's Hour Book (1957)
The Book of Woman's Hour (1953)
*several Woman's Hour Short Story collections are also available on audio cassette.

Icons of England (various authors; edited by Bill Bryson)

--The blurb--
"This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies. First published as a lavish colour coffeetable book, this new expanded paperback edition has double the original number of contributions from many celebrities including Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, Eric Clapton, Bryan Ferry, Sebastian Faulks, Kate Adie, Kevin Spacey, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Richard Mabey, Simon Jenkins, John Sergeant, Benjamin Zephaniah, Joan Bakewell, Antony Beevor, Libby Purves, Jonathan Dimbleby, and many more, and a new preface by HRH Prince Charles."

--The review--
While a light read, this is of a far higher quality than many other light reads, and this is owed in part to its format (of very short chapters, making it very easy to pick the book up and put it down as you choose), but also to the range of contributors, many of whom are used to having to reach a wide audience in an accessible manner.

The concept is unusual, focusing entirely on the English countryside rather than on a wider range of English icons (such as fish and chips), and this narrower view actually benefits rather than restricts the potential to enjoy the collection. The Devon countryside arguably takes the lion's share of the attention, but on the whole, England seems evenly represented, and the different professions and walks of life from which the contributors come adds further depth, perspective and richness to the descriptions. The authors are a well-chosen and high-quality bunch, meaning that you are only likely to be put off by a topic that doesn't interest you (in my case, cattle grids), rather than by the quality of the writing.

Certainly not everybody's interests can be covered in such a book (for my part, I would have given Windsor's Long Walk and the White Cliffs of Dover their share of the spotlight), but the capacity for inspiration that the compilation holds is astounding. As well as informing the reader of England's hidden nooks and crannies, and evoking memories of places we already know, in reading this you are also likely to be reminded of other places that are known to you - and while the book is very readable and the chapters are short enough to go straight on to the next instalment, chances are you will feel too mired in memory and thought to immediately proceed. This is a testament not only to the writers' ability to move their readers but also to Bill Bryson's editing skills, making this a book to be wandered and meandered through - much like the English countryside itself.