Inconceivable - Ben Elton

Inconvievable is the book that the film Maybe Baby was based around. I read the book before I seen the film, and I’m glad I did it that way round – the book inspired me to go watch the film, but I doubt the inverse would be true. The film doesn’t create the same warmth in the characters and doesn’t develop them as well as people – put simply, I became a lot more attached to the characters in the book. The book is one of those ones that are written in a nice leisurely style, and it isn’t a pain to read. I bought it shortly after Christmas, when I was revising, which turned out to be a bad idea as I ended up reading the book ...  Read the complete review

To my great annoyance, I'm not much of a reader anymore. I work too much, go out too much, sleep too much and have a boyfriend to entertain - reading seems to take a bit of a back seat in amongst the rest of my life, especially as I haven't been commuting for the last two years (alas, all this is about to change!). In times of being a busy little bee like this, then, my main essentials in a book are a little different to normal: I look for something easy on the brain, and very "dip in and dip out"-able. This book, therefore, was perfect for my needs. I wouldn't, however, rate it as a literary masterpiece. It is a nice, predictable beach read rather ...  Read the complete review

Bden Elton's most recent book, Inconceivable is another of his deep and meaningful stories, written as a series of diary extracts from the two characters involved, it is a really interesting read and a format I'm not used to - a welcome change to the usual narrative of a novel. The Plot: --------- Sam and Lucy Bell, two successful people, they both have highly paid jobs (Sam at the BBC and Lucy at an actors agency) and could not be happier in their lives - Except - They want a baby. Lucy has read about a system of writing "Letters to oneself" in order to get in touch with the "inner self", create positive feelings and ...  Read the complete review

I really wanted to hate this book. Nik (my fiancé) had borrowed it from the library and had read me out so many apt and hilarious quotes, that I thought I knew most of the book already! Not only does that annoy me, but I also usually find our favourite authors are worlds apart – he loves Bill Bryson, I can’t get into him; he thinks Stephen Fry is an excellent author, I hate his style of writing! It also annoys me when I’m wrong and he’s right! He said Inconceivable by Ben Elton was a really good book and that I would like it. He was right. Damn. The only Ben Elton book I have read was Stark, the first one. It was okay, ...  Read the complete review

This is the first time I have read any of Ben Eltons books, so I didn't know what to expect. Would Eltons style bear any resemblence to the 'Thatcher-hating material of his stand-up routines. I was pleasantly surprised! The book is set out using a 'diary' format with Sam and Lucy (the main characters)often writing concurrently about the same events. This made it an easy book to 'dip' into. It was very funny in places, but also very sad in others. Both characters felt so real and 'human' to me. Elton displays a good insight into both male and female perspectives to various problems. I have only one ...  Read the complete review