This book was neat, half short stories and when you got to the end of them you turned th ebook upside down and backwards to read the essay half. That being said, I liked the story side a lot more than the essays. Her first book of essays was much more enthralling. These were not bad, just not quite as gripping. Still worth a read.

Normally not my type of book but my lovely friend Heidi loaned me two by this author and it definitely got some chuckles out of me, though initially, picking it up was slow-going. While at first I was tempted to dismiss it in the genre of Chic-Lit (of which I am not a fan), I felt I had to read it in its entirety - for Heidi's sake :) I.e. if a friend is thoughtful enough to recommend a book to you then definitely you should give it a proper go. The more I read Marian Keyes the I felt as if I were in a pub with a highly entertaining Irish woman telling me hilarious story after story. Indeed I felt like I was in the company of my friends from Ireland and reading Keyes brought back fond memories of Helena and Anne-Marie and the gang (all now having moved back to the Emerald Isle). Aside from the content of the stories themselves (in this collection essays and some short stories), which were topics in a broad range from girly type things like self-tanning and shoe fetishes to angels in Los Angeles to more seriously orphanages in Russia and the author's alcoholism and how writing saved her life literally, the many "Irish-isms" (tone, speech, vocabulary, etc) are definitely what would keep me reading this author.

Marian Keyes' essays seem light but they are rather dark under the surface. There are hints of her unhappiness, insecurity...which makes for a hard to digest short story collection. I thought I was reading something funny, but I supposed incorrectly.

If you are a fan of Marian Keyes (which I certainly am) it's required reading to get a glimpse into the life of the woman herself. I own it, want to borrow it?

Marion Keyes is such a cheering writer, even when writing about her own life low. I had my mother read the essay on an Irish family all hoarding bread on a vacation and she liked it so much that she went out and bought the book.

Marian Keyes is getting addictive, with her uniquely personal style: funny, Irish, yet a little dark underneath.

Funny, but not nearly engaging as her first compilation of essays.

Amusing collection of essays and stories by an Irish writer. This book made me laugh.

I guess I'm just miss crabby-pants these days. See... this was a fine book. Humorous at times. I didn't laugh out loud, but it was enjoyable... ish. I liked how real it was. Yet it didn't make me eager to go to bed and read in the evenings. I didn't mind putting it down to go to sleep. So, I guess, it was okay.

This is not my first book by this author as she is one of my favorite authors. Typically, I don't like books made up of short stories so I wasn't looking forward to this book. It surprised me because it gave me greater insight into one of my favorite authors that I never knew. It was a cute book not my favorite of all of her books though.

Essays were hysterical

Universal themes such as friends and family, home, glamour and beauty, children and travel. Hilarious and thoughtful take on life is what we all get from these short stories.