The Shopaholic Series

One of my favorite books are the 'Shopaholic' series; they are written by Sophie Kinsella and are a collection of books about a character called Becky Bloomwood. The titles are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties Knot, Shopaholic and Sister, Shopaholic and Baby. They are all riveting books and have developed something of a cult following. Becky is a financial journalist who shares a lovely flat in a lovely part of London and has a pretty charmed life. A few years out of University, she is on the career path and living a life full of fun and challenges just like many other twentysomethings. The problem is that Becky has money issues due to the fact that she cannot stop spending and has amassed thousands of pounds in debt. So what does she do? She burys her head in the sand, hides her credit card and bank statements and carries on spending. I read this book on a very long flight from Sydney to Tokyo in 2000 and take it from me, time flew by very quickly and I was really sad when I finished the book. Confessions of a Shopaholic is a warm, funny, witty and pacy book and most important of all, Becky is very endearing. There are times when you want to strangle her because of the silly things she does but her loyalty to her family and friends win you over. This book proved so popular that it spanned a sequel; Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and after that, three more titles and each one has been as good as the first. We see Becky go from being a single gal about town to a bride to be, wife and a mother and no she does not learn the errors of her ways and still continues to splurge and get herself in scrapes. However, let me tell you, the lady has spirit and she is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time.

Picture from Sophie Kinsella website