I totally see Bill Nighy playing Julian in the movie version of this book, even if Bill isn't quite so old. Riley: an absurdly named grown man *from exotic Australia* with childlike sensibilities and a heart of gold! It is filled with kindness through and through, but nevertheless we see that the characters have many flaws and they make mistakes.

At the very least, for this type of multi-character book to work, you need to fall in love with the characters and their plights. Social media proves that many people like to share their lives and inner thoughts, authentic or not. But it didn’t have me rushing to read the next chapter, and it was a little too light-hearted for me. Clare’s memoir - The Sober Diaries - has helped thousands of people around the world to quit drinking. I didn't have to introduce myself, I would just stand in a doorway while my name worked its way around the room in a chain of whispers, pursued by a number of surreptitious glances.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Viking for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

It was a fun easy read, that gives you a big hug and makes you feel that people are inherently good eggs. Little do they realise that such small acts of honesty hold the power to impact all those who discover the notebook and change their lives completely. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.I let the paint dry solid on the palette and, one unbearably long night, destroyed all my unfinished canvases; ripped them into multicolored streamers, then diced them into confetti with Mary's dressmaking scissors.