Theodora's Diary

Theodora #1

by Penny Culliford

Saturday 8th May. Emergency! It is 11:30 p.m. and I am suffering from an incredibly intense chocolate craving that will not leave me in spite of prayer, distraction activities and half a loaf of bread and butter. Got out of bed and searched the flat. No luck. Not even a bourbon biscuit. Not even a cream egg left from Easter. All the shops are closed so no nipping out to replenish supplies. Nothing else for it. I’m reduced to the chocoholic’s equivalent of meths―cooking chocolate. It’s been one of those days for Theodora. Her mother has become the Greek equivalent of Delia Smith, her boyfriend would rather watch 22 men kick a ball around a field than go shopping with her, and chintzy Charity Hubble wants to pray for her. And of course, the crowning insult is her utter lack of chocolate. Join in her daily life with all of its challenges and joys, tears and laughter. “Theodora’s Diary is a hilarious and realistic peek into the life of a sprightly Christian sister living ‘across the pond.’ I found myself laughing out loud and thinking, ‘Yes, life is just like this!’ Penny Culliford is a welcome new voice in inspirational fiction.” --Angela Hunt, author of The Debt.

Genres: Chick Lit, Christian, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Romance

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[R]

Very cute book! Theodora talks about her spirituality and applies it to everything going on in her life. It is amusing, light-hearted and fun!

[Cheryl]

I was skeptical about this book--fearing it would be sort of "churchy-preachy" and not very entertaining. Wrong! It's a fun read--I actually laughed aloud in several spots and smiled quite a bit throughout. There are some very colorful characters, and the Theodora is someone you can't help but like. Four stars!

[Maria Elmvang]

A Christian "Bridget Jones" -- but much better than Bridget Jones could ever be. I greatly enjoyed it.

[Chelsea V]

I loved this book. She's so funny! I wish I was friends with her.

[Katie]

Fun, light-hearted but not trashy. I loved it.

[Mallory]

this book made me want chocolate so bad!

[Julie]

We all need a little fluff every once and a while and some Christian fiction with a side of fluff is a nice diversion!

[Linda Manwaring]

Every once in a while I like a fluff book that doesn't require thought or introspection. I was in need of such a book this past week so I started this. It just wasn't for me. All the Christian stereotypes play out. Nevermind that no one actually writes in their diary like that. I would rather have it been written in first person as her thoughts than all the drawn out premise of her diary. I made it to December (just under half way) and decided not to finish. It's a light easy read but a little too much fluff for me to enjoy it.

[Caprice Hokstad]

This turned up on a list somewhere as being "humorous". I read all the entries from June (start of the book) through December before I just abandoned it. I didn't find it funny. I found it boring. There is no plot that I could detect. Theodora's life is no more interesting or exciting than mine, which is to say, completely unworthy of being published. I kept hoping to "get to the good part" but if it exists, it must be in the last half of the book. I didn't really care enough to find out. YMMV.

[Amy Russell]

Kind of overly simplified and surface level under the guise of a spiritual book..
I did enjoy all thr references to Greek food....fun, quick, meaningfully light story, not sure why under christian fiction as it doesn't get very deep in any spiritual formation, maybe i expected more meat since it was published by Zondervan...was disappointed there were no library copies, have a used paperback from Amazon of anybody wants it....

[Bridget M]

2.5 stars. I thought this book was a cute attempt at a ditzy narrator. The book really failed to make any deep connections to the audience until the end of the book. I was sad when the book ended because it was just starting to develop a plot! The story was very character-driven. It was not as spiritual as I hoped when I decided to read Christain fiction.

[Deevena Jemima]

It was a humorous account of Theodora's everyday life. Good for a light reading.

[Deborah]

This was a 2.5 for me. There were some amusing and touching bits but, overall, it just missed the mark. Miss Read is more my cup of tea.

[Shea]

Did not finish-stopped at 20%

[Dawn]

Hard to believe this was published as Christian fiction. Inspirational? No way. I couldn't believe what I was reading. She says something like she never reads her Bible, it's unthinkable. She doesn't read much at all it seems anyway . Very shallow and silly, immature or narcissistic maybe. She speaks badly about everyone who goes to her church. She mocked the whole idea of the ritual of a church service and how boring the sermons are, she said church magazines are as well. I can't read anymore!!! I'm stopping at 28%. She just lied about her elderly neighbor having a missing cat to get out of prayer with an actual nice lady at her church. She doesn't like the church lady, lies about her elderly neighbor's non-existent situation and doesn't care about cats in general at all to make up such a lie. Unlikeable and Unreadable.

[Brittany]

Theodora is a thirty-something Christian searching for her ministry. This book follows a year in her life. Theodora is a smart, witty character who made me laugh. I especially liked the church bulletin typos and accidental puns that only Theodora seemed to notice. The secondary characters were well-developed for the most part, and I felt as if they were real people. The only character I would have liked more depth from was Theodora's obsessed-with-football (soccer) love interest, Kevin. I wasn't really sure what she saw in him!

I've heard this book described as sort of a Christian Bridget Jones' Diary, and I would have to agree with that. It was a fun read, but the plot moved slowly for me, and it took me awhile to finish. I haven't decided yet if I'll read on in the series. There are two more books, Theodora's Wedding and Theodora's Baby.

[Amanda]

Interesting so far, I thought it would be like Bridget Jones Diary but it has some religious talk so I'm not sure if I'm going to finish reading it. There are 2 other books in the series though so I'm hoping they tone down the religious talk. I'll keep you posted :)

[Pinay Blogista]

There's never a dull moment with this book and I really loved the humor. Not once did I find myself covering my face with the book at the MRT because of letting about a bahaha laughter. For the most part, the book is entertaining and a great companion to solitary moments.

[Lynnea]

I actually never finished this book - I just couldn't get into it. It was really quite funny in spots but there was just nothing to keep me coming back to it...

[Sherri]

This book was okay for me. A bit much with the christianity in it, but I did like the some of the girl humor in it. Loved the fact that when all else fails- there is always chocolate!

[Rebekkila]

Very funny book about a single woman in Britian who is very active in her local church. The church bullitan is full of hilarious gaffes. I really liked this book a lot.

[Sheeroh]

Penny Culliford is so witty in an endearing way...

[Jessica Kantola]

Very cute, very funny book. Enjoyed it very much!

[Amancay]

I couldn't even finish it... just dragged through, and finally realized I was not liking it... so I stopped!

[Karen]

A Christian Bridget Jones - funny makes you smile at those Christian cliches.

[Wendy Moyr]

Good fun light hearted with a Christian theme - good read

[laurawarhurst]

I loved this book so much! It made me laugh!! Out loud!

[Lisa]

Theodora series / book one