Ebook : Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding

The main focus of plot is Bridget's love life. At the beginning of the year she is a single woman, or "Singleton," who is surrounded by "Smug Married" couples, and worries about dying alone. However, during the course of the year she becomes involved in two romantic relationships. The first is with her charming and handsome boss Daniel Cleaver, who eventually cheats on Bridget with a younger, more attractive woman. Bridget's second relationship is, surprisingly (at least to Bridget), with the stuffy human-rights barrister Mark Darcy. These two men are connected by more than their relationships with Bridget, as Fielding reveals near the end of the novel.

Bridget not only obsesses about her love life; she also details her various daily struggles with her weight, her over-indulgence in alcohol and cigarettes, and her career. At the beginning of the novel she is employed in the publishing industry, but after her breakup with Daniel Cleaver she quits and begins working, somewhat accidentally, as a journalist for a local television station.

Bridget's friends and family are the supporting characters in Bridget's story. Her close friends are Shazzer (a strident feminist), Jude (a highly-successful business woman), and Tom (a gay man). These friends are there for her unconditionally throughout the novel; they give her advice about her relationships, and support when problems arise. Her friends are essentially her surrogate family in London. Bridget's parents live outside of the city, and while they play a lesser role than her friends, they are important figures in Bridget's life. Her mother is an overconfident, doting woman who is constantly trying to marry Bridget off to a rich, handsome man. Her father is considerably more down-to-earth (though he is sometimes driven into uncharacteristically unstable states of mind by his wife). Bridget often visits her parents, as well as her parents' friends (primarily Geoffrey and Una Alconbury). In these situations, Bridget is often plagued with that perennial question "How's your love life?" and exposed to the eccentricities of mid-to-upper class British society, manifested in Turkey Curry Buffets and Tarts and Vicars parties.

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Ebook : All American Girl - Meg Cabot

'All American Girl' starts with Sam getting caught selling celebrity portraits, which she creates in her German

notebook. Her mother, an environmental lawyer, decides that if Sam is given an outlet for her creativity, Sam might get better grades in German. Her mother enrolls her into a drawing class taught by a well-known artist, Susan Boone. She is compared to an elf queen by Sam at their first meeting. The first art lesson goes horribly wrong when her art teacher states that Sam cannot "draw what she sees". Taking Jack's advice about 'fighting the system', she decides she does not want to come back to art class, especially since she embarrassed herself in front of the vaguely familiar David, another student in the class who seemed to pay attention to her—something Sam has not experienced before, because guys usually seem to think that she's weird. When Sam’s housekeeper Theresa drops her off for the next lesson, she waits until Theresa leaves before spending the duration of her art class in the next-door music store.

Sam notices a strange man listening to Billy Joel’s "Uptown Girl" over and over. She refers to him as Mr. Uptown Girl. When she leaves the music store, the President’s motorcade stops in front of the cookie store next door. The president (only referred to as Mr. President) walks into the cookie store. As she waits for her ride on the corner, Mr. Uptown Girl begins to pull out a gun, ready to assassinate the President. Sam instinctively distracts the man, breaking her arm in the process. Sam is immediately treated as a hero for saving the President's life. When Sam is allowed to meet the President and the first family, she realizes why David looks so familiar: he is the son of the President. When she is invited to dinner with the first family, she is given the title/job of 'teen ambassador of the United States'.

Sam's confusion about her relationship with Jack and David ensues. In her own mind, she loves Jack, but she is really falling for David.

Sam is then invited to a party hosted by a girl who used to be friends with her but is now horrible to Samantha. She doesn't want to go but her best friend Catherine asks her to because of Catherine's new boyfriend - Catherine wants her boyfriend to think that she is popular - and to see what a popular person's party is like. Sam agrees and invites David. Secretly, although she won't admit it, she is just going to make Jack jealous. However, David sees through this and tells her how hurt he feels - 'I thought you were different.....you were [just] using me to make that Jack guy jealous'.

As teen ambassador, Sam is a judge for a painting contest which Jack enters.

Lucy helps Sam realize that she made a horrible mistake and she finally starts to notice that she was or had been falling in love with David and not Jack. Sam sees David from afar at the meetings she has to attend as teen ambassador. In art class a few days later David just acts like he did before, the same way as the first day she was in the art class. David passes a note wondering if they were still friends, to which Sam replies that she wants to be more than friends. David is shocked with this and asks about Jack, Sam replies with "Jack who?" The last note David passed had a heart on it letting Sam know that David loves her.

The conclusion is a week later letting readers know that Sam and David are together.

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Ebook : The Nanny Diaries - Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Amazon.com Review The Nanny Diaries is an absolutely addictive peek into the utterly weird world of child rearing in the upper reaches of Manhattan's social strata. Cowritten by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, the novel follows the adventures of the aptly named Nan as she negotiates the Byzantine byways of working for Mrs. X, a Park Avenue mommy. Nan's 4-year-old charge, the hilariously named Grayer (his pals include Josephina, Christabelle, Brandford, and Darwin) is a genuinely good sort. He can't help it if his mom has scheduled him for every activity known to the Upper East Side, including ice skating, French lessons, and a Mommy and Me group largely attended by nannies. What makes the book so impossible to put down is the suspense of finding out what the unbelievably inconsiderate Mrs. X will demand of Nan next. One pictures the two authors having the last hearty laugh on their former employers. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly Two former Manhattan nannies blow the lid off of the private child-care industry with a hilarious debut that pulls no punches as it recounts the travails of Nan, a hip Mary Poppins looking for a job to fit around her child-development classes at NYU. Mrs. X seems reasonable enough when she hires Nan to look after her four-year-old son, Grayer, but she quickly reveals herself to be a monster a bundle of neuroses wrapped up in Prada, whose son is little more than another status symbol in a fabulous Park Avenue apartment. Mr. X is just as horrible, although he's rarely seen or heard, too busy navigating mergers and mistresses to make time for a family starving for his affection. Nan finds herself stuck in a low-paying job from which she can be fired on a whim, enduring a steady stream of condescension, indifference and passive-aggressive notes on Mrs. X's posh stationery. Against the advice of family and friends, she stays because of her devotion to Grayer but how long will it be before she explodes? The pages fairly crackle with class resentment that might have been more convincing if Nanny's own family weren't as comfortable, and the finale delivers more whimper than bang, but it's easy to forgive such flaws when everything else rings true. Especially impressive is the authors' ability to allow the loathsome Mrs. X occasional flashes of humanity and pathos. Required reading for parents and the women they hire to do their parenting. National advertising and author publicity. (Mar.)Forecast: With Julia Roberts doing the Random Audio version, and film rights already sold to Miramax, the sky's the limit for this thoroughly appealing title.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Ebook : Perfume: The Story of a Murderer -Patrick Suskind

Grenouille (French for "frog") is an unwanted Parisian orphan who, having little personal scent, is rejected by others because they are disturbed by his lack of odor. He has an extraordinary power to discern odours, and comes to loathe the scent of other people. He becomes apprenticed to a tanner at the age of eight, and after work explores the city. One day he smells a divine scent and follows it, and is shocked to find that the source of this beautiful scent is a young woman. He kills her to get a better smell of her scent, but after death the scent ceases. He dedicates his life to preserve this perfect scent.

In his quest to isolate and preserve scents, he becomes apprenticed to a great perfumier, Baldini, and proves a talented pupil, making Baldini the most popular perfumier in Paris. But Baldini cannot teach him how to isolate the scent of glass and iron. He falls ill with small pox but, on discovering that techniques other than distillation can be used to preserve such odours, he miraculously recovers and resolves to journey to the city of Grasse to further his quest.

On his way to Grasse, Grenouille becomes so disgusted by the scent of humanity that he spends seven years in a cave on top of the Massif Central. One day he wakes with a start from a nightmare of being suffocated by his own body odour, and realises with a shock that he has no personal scent at all.

Grenouille journeys to Montpelier where an amateur scientist, the Marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse, uses Grenouille to test his thesis of the "so-called fluidium letale". The Marquis combines a treatment of decontamination and revitalization for Grenouille, and subsequently, Grenouille looks like a clean gentleman for the first time in his life. Grenouille in turn tricks his way into the laboratory of a famous perfumier. There he creates a body odour for himself from ingredients including "cat shit," "cheese," and "vinegar", whereupon he is accepted by society. But he doesn't want acceptance, he wants to have power and be able to manipulate those within the world who disgust him so much.

Moving to Grasse, Grenouille once again becomes intoxicated by the scent of a young woman, Laure. He decides that she is not quite mature and resolves to kill her in two years time. Meanwhile he embarks on a career of serial murder of beautiful virgins to form a base for the scent he will make from Laure, while at the same time refining his powers until he can preserve any smell.

Eventually Laure's father pieces together the pattern of murders and realises that Laure is to be the next victim. He flees with Laure but Grenouille pursues them and kills Laure, capturing her scent.

He is eventually apprehended and sentenced to death, but on the day of his execution the intoxicating scent of Laure combined with the backdrop essences of the twenty-four virgins he murdered, overwhelms all present, and instead of an execution the whole town becomes a massive orgy.

Grenouille is pardoned for his crimes, and Laure's father even wants to adopt him. But the experience of the power has dissatisfied Grenouille, because he is not loved for himself, but for the perfume which he created. He realises that he had always found gratification 'in hatred, in hating and being hated', not love. He decides to return to Paris upon finding that the satisfaction that he initially felt has transformed itself into hatred and disgust.

In Paris, Grenouille approaches a group of low-life people (thieves, murderers, whores, etc), who do not notice him approaching. He deliberately douses himself with the perfume he created, while among the group. Overcome with desire, they tear him to pieces and devour the remains. They feel slightly disgusted having just eaten a human being, but they feel overwhelmed with happiness. They are "uncommonly proud. For the first time they had done something out of love."

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Ebook : Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

The book begins with Totto-chan's mother coming to know of her daughter's expulsion from public school. Her mother realizes that what Totto-chan needs is a school where more freedom of expression is permitted. Thus, she takes Totto-chan to meet the headmaster of the new school, Mr. Kobayashi. From that moment a friendship is formed between master and pupil.

The book goes on to describe the times that Totto-chan has, the friends she makes, the lessons she learns, and the vibrant atmosphere that she imbibes. All of these are presented to the reader through the eyes of a child. Thus the reader sees how the normal world is transformed into a beautiful, exciting place full of joy and enthusiasm. The reader also sees in their role as adults, how Mr. Kobayashi introduces new activities to interest the pupils. One sees in Mr. Kobayashi a man who understands children and strives to develop their qualities of mind, body and heart. His concern for the physically handicapped and his emphasis on the equality of all children are remarkable. In the school, the children lead happy lives, unaware of the things going on in the world. World War 2 has started, yet in this school, no signs of it are seen. But one day, the school is bombed, and was never rebuilt, even though the headmaster claimed that he looked forward to building an even better school the next time round. It was never done and this ends Totto-chan's years as a pupil at Tomoe Gakuen.

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