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86th out of 1,047 books
—
1,109 voters
The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters
by
Barbara Silkstone (Goodreads Author)
A murder by beheading sends Alice Harte, reluctant real estate broker for thugs, running into the arms of Nigel Channing, a charming British con man. This urban fantasy is set in Miami and London. Fans of Stephanie Plum will cheer for Alice as she watches her back in attempting to keep her head, while being stalked by Nigel's daft ex-wife and inept, but dangerous mobsters....more
Kindle Edition
Published
March 8th 2010
by Kindle Digital Services
(first published March 2010)
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This quirky, outlandish, and unpredictable book takes the reader places that are both unexpected and ridiculous. Written as somewhat of a parallel to Alice in Wonderland's zany adventure, each chapter starts with a fitting phrase from Lewis Carroll's classic that mirrors the happenings in Alice Harte's life. When reading this book, just as when reading the original "Alice," one has to suspend all logic and just let the wave take you where it will. Barbara Silkstone manages to weave details from...more
Stephanie Plums fans will love this entertainingly mad thriller-romance-comedy!
Written very much in the style of Janet Evanovitch, but with a strong dash of the surreal, The Secret Diary is an entertaining jaunt through a mad world of Miami real estate, pill-popping neuroses, TC's "Phantom fish-flingers" and would-be English Lotharios. Alice, the heroine, is a very engaging character; a tough, sassy woman whose efforts to sort her life out go strangely wrong and yet who manages to sort herself o...more
Written very much in the style of Janet Evanovitch, but with a strong dash of the surreal, The Secret Diary is an entertaining jaunt through a mad world of Miami real estate, pill-popping neuroses, TC's "Phantom fish-flingers" and would-be English Lotharios. Alice, the heroine, is a very engaging character; a tough, sassy woman whose efforts to sort her life out go strangely wrong and yet who manages to sort herself o...more
It's been a long time since I read Alice in Wonderland but it didn't affect my appreciation of this book one bit. The main character, Alice, is a neurotic, germophobic, anglophile whose life has gone seriously off the rails. Her strange world is full of characters resembling those in Lewis Carroll's book and she's started seeing the Cheshire Cat. She works for a killer who litigates for a hobby, and is being leant on by the shady family of one of his victims to secure a confession from him and t...more
I'll tell you now, I judged a book by its cover. How could you not want to read a book with this rabbit on the front?
So now that you know I'm a judger, let me tell you my thoughts and feelings on the book. Ms. Silkstone has done a great job. She grabbed me right off the bat and made me fall in love with her writing and her characters. I could really see myself jumping into Alice and having her attitude problem (I think that's why I love her so much!) with the world. I'm just saddened that Nigel...more
So now that you know I'm a judger, let me tell you my thoughts and feelings on the book. Ms. Silkstone has done a great job. She grabbed me right off the bat and made me fall in love with her writing and her characters. I could really see myself jumping into Alice and having her attitude problem (I think that's why I love her so much!) with the world. I'm just saddened that Nigel...more
I love the cover. Alice lives in Miami and is embroiled with realtor/gangstas. Also she sees the chesire cat occasionally and compares her life to Alice in Wonderland. (It's a gimme from the title.) She signs up on the net to find a hot Englishman, because she's enamored of all things English. Then things really go south. Liked the sense of humor. Liked that the heroine wasn't a bunny humping nineteen. (Pun intended.) But it was slow going in the first 2/3rds. Once our spunky little Alice got he...more
Barbara Silkstone's take on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is a fun adventure, a book filled with greed, murder, romance and comedy. Alice Harte is an extremely likeable character. She just wants what most women want: a good job, a nice place to live and someone to share her life with. Unfortunately when her job starts to go south because of her boss from hell, her life takes on a crazy spin. She finds romance via the internet with a mystery man who helps her escape her problems at home for...more
Heroine Alice Harte is a neurotic mess. She's germaphobic and hooked on Xanax. But who can blame her for her addiction? After a messy divorce, she ends up working for a psychopath who sues people to death when he can't get away with killing them. Alice is also an anglophile and when she meets Nigel online, he exactly fulfills her fantasy of a having a John Cleese type for a lover. Anxious to get away from her troubles at home, she flies to England to meet Nigel. She's in such a muddle from her p...more
I'm not sure where to start. I'm aware that it was meant to be funny, but I didn't find anything funny about it, anywhere. I love Janet Evanovich. I have laughed so hard that I had tears streaming down my cheeks from her novels. This, though, didn't even produce a silent chuckle.
It was extremely confusing, boring and I questioned why I was still reading. I came to realize I kept reading it to find out what Nigel's deal was.
I have read many great reviews on this, which have left me confused. I...more
It was extremely confusing, boring and I questioned why I was still reading. I came to realize I kept reading it to find out what Nigel's deal was.
I have read many great reviews on this, which have left me confused. I...more
This book was wild, outrageous fun! From page one of The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters, Barbara Silkstone grabs the reader by the throat and hauls her along on a wild ride all the way to The End. The author has a strong, distinctive voice and uses words the way an artist uses paint. Like strokes of bold color, her descriptions create vivid and lively scenes and unforgettable characters that have stayed with me long after I put down the book. This is an amazing, r...more
Barbara Silkstone's quirky new novel is a tribute to the genius of the Lewis Carrol classic, Alice in Wonderland.
Alice, aged 42 and 3/4, is caught between her homicidal real estate boss and his rival, out for revenge of the beheading of his brother. Desperate to avoid Tweedledee and Tweedledum and to keep her head, Alice decides to escape to England and during her online search for a hideaway meets Nigel, a (possibly) handsome British charmer who offers to fulfil all her dreams. Alice quickly d...more
Alice, aged 42 and 3/4, is caught between her homicidal real estate boss and his rival, out for revenge of the beheading of his brother. Desperate to avoid Tweedledee and Tweedledum and to keep her head, Alice decides to escape to England and during her online search for a hideaway meets Nigel, a (possibly) handsome British charmer who offers to fulfil all her dreams. Alice quickly d...more
I really enjoyed reading this book. I only gave it 4 stars though, because in the electronic edition I purchased, there were grammatical problems. However, I overlooked them. I loved how the personalities of characters from the original novel were woven into the characters of this work. I thought the references to the original work were great. I also loved how each section started with a quote from the original work as well. It made me want to read "Alice in Wonderland" all over again. This was...more
May 25, 2011
Natasha
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who like quirky like Plum, Dorsey, Moore, Hiassan
Recommended to Natasha by:
the author
So far I have gone further into the rabbit hole with Silkstone. There are not only references to the Alice in Wonderland book, but to many other philanthropistic ideals. Can't wait to finish it up, review and post to all sites, and possibly interview the author, Barbara Silkstone. This was posted as a series so let us see where this Tim Dorsey meets Stephanie Plum kind of author has coming for us next.
I decided to read this book "The Secret Diary of Alice In Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters" because the title made me smile. I hesitated a little because I was not a huge Alice In Wonderland fan. I was delighted when the book turned out to be a clever, witty, charming, funny, silly, comical quick read! It had a lot of quirky kooky wacky characters and humorous dialogue that made me laugh and smile.
Jun 08, 2012
Jane
added it
I guess I don't appreciate this sort of humor. I thought this was a terrible book. The situations were totally ridiculous and the main character is annoying and possibly mentally defective in some way. I did finish it only to see how the stories were going to tie together. And that was a convoluted mess. I give it 1 star only because we can't give 1/2 stars.
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What’s not to love about The Secret Diary of Alice ? It’s witty, fun, quirky with a great dose of mystery, romance, and comedy combined. I was brought up with John Cleese, and his sense of humour, so Nigel Channing absolutely nails it for me.
Fast-paced and climatic, you won’t be able to put this fabulous book down!
Fast-paced and climatic, you won’t be able to put this fabulous book down!
What a whacky book! This has got to be one of the most fascinating reads available today, and that is saying a lot as there are tons of good books on the market. I am through with this one and can't resist the chance to urge others to put reality on hold and grab this book...and run for the rabbit hole!
This was a quick read and a neat concept. The story line was a bit out there but the references to Alice in Wonderland saved it for me. I was able to accept some of the outrageous character traits and behavior because of the direct reference littered throughout. I think without that element is would have been difficult for me to accept the world she lives in.
What I think of this book is difficult to put into words. It's quirky, it's funny, and it's filled with the unexpected, yet somehow, I was less than enchanted with it. It was a decent story and I don't regret the time I spent reading it, but I wouldn't put it on my all-time favorite list. It is well written and well edited, but my guess is that I'm just not the target audience.
I adored this book! A mystery/thriller that referenced all the alice in wonderland characters. I was laughing so hard in places, I had tears. I could NOT put this book down. Ms. Silkstone is on my list of "authors to definitely read". Her style and sense of humor is outstanding.
I find it amazing that anybody could even like this book. The thing I enjoyed most about it was updating my friends every couple pages on the latest stupidest thing that happened in it. Once again, I only bought this book because it had "Diary" in the title.
Alice is a funny modern pill popping heroine and her adventures were SO funny. The action starts on page 1 and continues till the end. Very quirky suspsense/romance novel that was part American camp and part Monty Python'esque comedy.
I would have enjoyed this story even more if there had been more explanations of things (like how did Nigel even get involved to begin with). I feel like it was a fun ride but there were a bunch of things that were glossed over.
How did this book get so many good ratings? I made it 11% in on my Kindle, and just gave up. Abysmal plot, terrible writing, and the references to Alice in Wonderland were not remotely clever.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a little disjointed in some places with the constant back and forth of email entries and reality versus inner dialog but really quite enjoyable.
While this is certainly a funny book I was disappointed with the connection it promised to Alice in Wonderland. Not much but a couple of quotes in my opinion. The writing is fluent and the details are really good.
What?
What a bizarre book. I feel like I was taking little pink pills while reading it. It was more strange than my dreams after eating spicy foods.
What a bizarre book. I feel like I was taking little pink pills while reading it. It was more strange than my dreams after eating spicy foods.
Read on my Kindle. This was an okay book. Some parts depressing, some parts funny. Couldn't get a feel for it.
Laughed till my sides ached. Very clever. Smacks of Stephanie Plum but funnier. Great plot. Surprise ending.
It's been a while since I read the original Alice in Wonderland so I'm sure I missed some references, but I still very much enjoyed this book. Alice, a real estate broker, seeks to escape the clutches of her evil boss. She meets Nigel, an Englishman, online and runs off to be with him. As it turns out, his world seems just as chaotic as hers and she returns to the states to resolve her own problems. Filled with hilarious twists and turns as well as Alice in Wonderland references, The Secret Diar...more
Very funny, a delight to read. I highly recommend this author.
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