It's official. Becky Bloomwood is back and has gone absolutely barmy. It's been a while since we had a Bloomwood update, what with the film and various other books from Kinsella coming out - and either I have forgotten just how mental the shopaholic is, or she really has lost it (in a good way). 

I saved Mini Shopaholic for my brief holiday in Dorset this week, and finished it in two days - and I wasn't even reading the whole time. I couldn't put it down. Kinsella's wit is so addictive, I just couldn't get enough of the Bloomwood antics. In this book, Becky has her two year old daughter Minnie, and is living with gorgeous (in my head he is) husband Luke in her parents' house, while they try and sort out their own house-buying catastrophes. The apple does not fall far from the tree at all, with Minnie being able to flag down her own cabs, wanting everything in sight and repeatedly asking for a Starbucks. Poor Luke.

As per usual, Becky gets herself high-leg-boot-deep in trouble, and it is exasperating but hilarious to read. Much like watching a film and yelling at the television to say 'No! Go that way! Don't do that! Tell him the truth!' etc (Oh, is that just me?), I wanted to give Becky a shake and tell her where she was going wrong. Only I couldn't because I remembered it was a book and wanted to read more and see what else she got up to. 

One of my favourite parts in the book was early on where she thinks, in true Becky style, how wonderful the pony that Minnie has got her hands on is, and then decides that as they come as a set she needs to get them both. I love her trail of thought, and the scary fact that it's the kind of thing that goes through my head when shopping (I'm not Bloomwood-level though, promise). 

If it's even possible for Becky to get any more nutty... then I can't wait for the next book.

Just a quickie for all the Sophie Kinsella fans out there. As well as her brand new Mini Shopaholic book that just came out this month, there are more books of hers out there than you may think. Before creating the well-loved Shopaholic series, Kinsella wrote a good few books under her real name, Madeleine Wickham. 

I found a couple of them at bargain prices on eBay some time ago and am yet to read them (I have an entire bookshelf full of books I am yet to read - I'm busy!), and when checking Amazon lately I noticed that she is now rebranding all those old ones to be under her better known name - a wise move! I am saving the Shopaholic one for my time off next week (you have no idea how hard it's been to wait!), and also bought Cocktails for Three, to add to my other bargain buys of Sleeping Arrangements and A Desirable Residence. 

Inside the cover of the newly marketed books, Kinsella does say that she wrote under different names because the earlier books are a different style of writing - but with writing as good as hers, I'm sure they'll still be too good to put down.

Any recommendations of her other books? I also highly recommend her 'Kinsella' ones which are outside of the Shopaholic series - the Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Can You Keep a Secret and more recently Twenties Girl are laugh-out-loud, choke-on-your-drink funny.

Being a massive Becky Bloomwood fan, I went along to see Confessions of a Shopaholic this week. It was already a risky choice as I have given up shopping for lent, so it was kind of like taking an alcoholic to a pub, but I have been waiting for this film for a long long time!

Sophie Kinsella's fantastic and infamous Shopaholic books are hilarious, and every girl I know who's read them is convinced that Becky Bloomwood just 'is' them - including me. Her humour, her romantic side, her got-to-have-it shopping mantra are all things us girls understand. So, the film had a lot to live up to... question is, did it pass the test?

Thankfully, it did. Expecting it to be disappointingly different, with our British Becky Bloomwood being replaced by an American, and the dashing Luke played by a Brit, I was gleefully surprised when actually, it worked really well. Isla Fisher gave a fantastic performance as the gushing, fashionista journalist, whose 'magic cards' (credit cards) were maxed out due to her shopping addiction. She was very much like Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, with a butter-wouldn't-melt voice and wide eyes, but with a sweetness that us readers all know and love. Hugh Dancy is the latest dreamboat to hit the screens, playing Luke Brandon with humour and a sensitive side.

The best scene in the film is the dancing between Luke and Becky when they are abroad - there won't be a dry eye in the cinema as Becky freestyles with her fan. Turning books into a film is always risky and there's a strong chance of spoiling what was so great about the story in the first place - but the only way they'll ruin this is if they don't make the sequels.