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Went to London, Took the Dog: A Diary
How do I get rid of the mosquitoes infesting the garden? Should my kids be drinking so much? And why the f*** doesn't anyone in North London know how to clean up after their dog?
These are just some of the questions plaguing Nina Stibbe as she makes her return to London, reflecting on what it means to turn your whole life around aged sixty. Whether it's dinner parties with the great and the good of the London literati, micromanaging her son's online dating profile, or avoiding peak times at the launderette, Nina Stibbe's utterly inimitable wit is ever present throughout this diary forty years after the Love, Nina years.
These are just some of the questions plaguing Nina Stibbe as she makes her return to London, reflecting on what it means to turn your whole life around aged sixty. Whether it's dinner parties with the great and the good of the London literati, micromanaging her son's online dating profile, or avoiding peak times at the launderette, Nina Stibbe's utterly inimitable wit is ever present throughout this diary forty years after the Love, Nina years.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 2, 2023
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1707 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
November 9, 2023
EXCERPT: 27 March
Woke at 2am last night with the sudden full realization that I'm moving back to London, twenty years after moving away, aged sixty. With Peggy, my cockapoo, who's never been to Plymouth let alone London. Remembering how she flunked the visitor-dog trial at the care home by seeming not to love it when the examiner fiddled with her ears. 'If they can't have their ears touched, it's a no,' she said. 'Old people always go for the ears.'
Wide awake, horrified, I looked at maps online and bought a season ticket for Hampstead bathing ponds and lido, thinking it a positive move. Woke this morning to find an email from the City of London Web Forms with my receipt and giving me chapter and verse on what I can (but mostly can't) do in and near the ponds or lido, and when and with whom, and telling me an armband will arrive at my London address within five working days and that lending it to anyone could end in it being confiscated, and not to reply to the email.
ABOUT 'WENT TO LONDON, TOOK MY DOG: A DIARY': Twenty years after leaving London, Nina Stibbe is back in town with her dog, Peggy. Together they take up lodging in the house of writer Deborah (Debby) Moggach in Camden for 'a year-long sabbatical'. It’s a break from married life back in Cornwall, or even perhaps a fresh start altogether. Nina is not quite sure yet.
Debby does not have many demands – only to water the garden, watch for toads, and defrost the odd pie – so Nina is free to explore the city she once called home. Between scrutinising her son’s online dating developments, navigating the politics of the local pool, and taking detergent advice at the laundrette, this diary of a sixty-year-old runaway reunites us with the inimitable voice of Love, Nina, as the writer becomes, as she puts it, 'a proper adult' at last.
MY THOUGHTS: I expected more from this than I got. I was hoping that I would get some insight into the writing life of an author, but other than the occasional (very occasional) 'worked on manuscript', there was nothing. Nina Stibbe's life in London seemed to consist mainly of eating Macaroni Cheese and Fish Pie (not together), hanging out in coffee shops, and obsessing about menopause. She name drops other authors quite shamelessly, and writes about what is currently trending on Twitter and Instagram - really, who cares?
Although there is a 'Who's who' at the beginning of the book, there is no summary of events leading up to the commencement of the diary which would have been helpful. For example, just what is going on with Nina's marriage? She makes vague references to it from time to time and it's obvious not all is well but don't just give us a small percentage of the story. Either tell the full story or don't mention it at all. A lot of random newspaper headlines, but nothing on her thoughts of the situation/s.
In the words of Sean Dietrich, 'We must begin at the beginning, or nothing that follows makes sense.' And not much of it did.
I would like to thank Rachel Dearborn's daughter for coming to New Zealand. Apparently she was entirely responsible for the resignation of Jacinda Adern. The nation thanks you.
Disappointingly average. I seriously considered not finishing.
⭐⭐.5
#WenttoLondonTooktheDog #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Nina left Leicestershire for London as a teenager and after two years as a nanny she studied Humanities at Thames Polytechnic.
After graduating in 1987, she worked for a while in a Camden frock shop.
In 1990 she began a career in book publishing, working in various departments before becoming a commissioning editor at Routledge.
In 2002 she moved to Cornwall with her partner and children where she now writes, swims and makes bread.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pan Macmillan, Picador via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Went to London, Took My Dog: A Diary by Nina Stibbe for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
Woke at 2am last night with the sudden full realization that I'm moving back to London, twenty years after moving away, aged sixty. With Peggy, my cockapoo, who's never been to Plymouth let alone London. Remembering how she flunked the visitor-dog trial at the care home by seeming not to love it when the examiner fiddled with her ears. 'If they can't have their ears touched, it's a no,' she said. 'Old people always go for the ears.'
Wide awake, horrified, I looked at maps online and bought a season ticket for Hampstead bathing ponds and lido, thinking it a positive move. Woke this morning to find an email from the City of London Web Forms with my receipt and giving me chapter and verse on what I can (but mostly can't) do in and near the ponds or lido, and when and with whom, and telling me an armband will arrive at my London address within five working days and that lending it to anyone could end in it being confiscated, and not to reply to the email.
ABOUT 'WENT TO LONDON, TOOK MY DOG: A DIARY': Twenty years after leaving London, Nina Stibbe is back in town with her dog, Peggy. Together they take up lodging in the house of writer Deborah (Debby) Moggach in Camden for 'a year-long sabbatical'. It’s a break from married life back in Cornwall, or even perhaps a fresh start altogether. Nina is not quite sure yet.
Debby does not have many demands – only to water the garden, watch for toads, and defrost the odd pie – so Nina is free to explore the city she once called home. Between scrutinising her son’s online dating developments, navigating the politics of the local pool, and taking detergent advice at the laundrette, this diary of a sixty-year-old runaway reunites us with the inimitable voice of Love, Nina, as the writer becomes, as she puts it, 'a proper adult' at last.
MY THOUGHTS: I expected more from this than I got. I was hoping that I would get some insight into the writing life of an author, but other than the occasional (very occasional) 'worked on manuscript', there was nothing. Nina Stibbe's life in London seemed to consist mainly of eating Macaroni Cheese and Fish Pie (not together), hanging out in coffee shops, and obsessing about menopause. She name drops other authors quite shamelessly, and writes about what is currently trending on Twitter and Instagram - really, who cares?
Although there is a 'Who's who' at the beginning of the book, there is no summary of events leading up to the commencement of the diary which would have been helpful. For example, just what is going on with Nina's marriage? She makes vague references to it from time to time and it's obvious not all is well but don't just give us a small percentage of the story. Either tell the full story or don't mention it at all. A lot of random newspaper headlines, but nothing on her thoughts of the situation/s.
In the words of Sean Dietrich, 'We must begin at the beginning, or nothing that follows makes sense.' And not much of it did.
I would like to thank Rachel Dearborn's daughter for coming to New Zealand. Apparently she was entirely responsible for the resignation of Jacinda Adern. The nation thanks you.
Disappointingly average. I seriously considered not finishing.
⭐⭐.5
#WenttoLondonTooktheDog #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Nina left Leicestershire for London as a teenager and after two years as a nanny she studied Humanities at Thames Polytechnic.
After graduating in 1987, she worked for a while in a Camden frock shop.
In 1990 she began a career in book publishing, working in various departments before becoming a commissioning editor at Routledge.
In 2002 she moved to Cornwall with her partner and children where she now writes, swims and makes bread.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pan Macmillan, Picador via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Went to London, Took My Dog: A Diary by Nina Stibbe for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
December 11, 2023
I started highlighting all the funny parts as I read but it got too tiring - the entire book is the funny part. But it's incredibly moving and occasionally heartbreaking too, it sneaks up on you in that way. And it's a beautiful portrait of friendship and being alone, bravery and motherhood and being a mother to adult children, which isn't written about enough or not with so much humour and heart as here. I absolutely adored. It makes me want to go back and read all her novels, and Love, Nina, again.
January 5, 2024
DNF Im afraid. Endless namedropping and snobbery interspersed with boring mundanities. Tedious in the extreme.
August 30, 2024
Nina is moving back to London for a sabbatical after 20 years away, now aged 60, and this is her diary of her time back in the big city, away from her husband and the family home in Truro, Cornwall. She rents a room from writer Deborah Moggach and mixes with some of the literati of London. I enjoyed reading about Debby, to find she's a total potty mouth and bursting with character was a joy.
Everyone is surely going to want to know who Rachel Dearborn is? Or is that just me? Oh my goodness I'm not surprised her name has probably been changed as there's a lot of personal detail about her bladder issue. Actually, I think this might be the only book l've ever read which is so open and honest about bladder issues, mood swings, facial hair, prolapses and all the rest for menopausal women. Where else have I read about the different 'strengths' of Tena? This is no bad thing.
Fish pie is mentioned ten times, there's a lot of Charlie Bingham ready meals in this book.
I don't know how Nina does it, but she manages to make every diary entry interesting or intriguing or funny or poignant, often a mix of all.
Towards the end I slowed my reading down to a ridiculous extent, I just didn't want it to end; so l put it off and googled many things mentioned including: the lyrics to S'Express (didn't remember any explicit lyrics, but realise I must have only known the radio version) looked up the rotten tomatoes score for Tulip Fever, wondered if croissants really count as train snacks (I don't think so) and played long forgotten songs on Spotify.
I absolutely loved this book. Nina's writing shows vulnerability at the ending of a relationship, learning to be alone and forging ahead as a single woman, albeit really, really well supported by friends and family. I believe that women of an age, in the same situation, will gain some encouragement and strength of purpose from this book.
I have read everything Nina has written and I'll continue to do so.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this wonderful book.
9/9/23
Found myself reading this again, unusual so soon after the first, but there was something I wanted to look up. I enjoyed the snippets so much, I started it again.
Occurred to me this time that’s there’s lots and lots of train travel and spending (inevitable living and socialising in London really.) Not many money woes, or unrecorded anyway.
29/8/24
Everyone is surely going to want to know who Rachel Dearborn is? Or is that just me? Oh my goodness I'm not surprised her name has probably been changed as there's a lot of personal detail about her bladder issue. Actually, I think this might be the only book l've ever read which is so open and honest about bladder issues, mood swings, facial hair, prolapses and all the rest for menopausal women. Where else have I read about the different 'strengths' of Tena? This is no bad thing.
Fish pie is mentioned ten times, there's a lot of Charlie Bingham ready meals in this book.
I don't know how Nina does it, but she manages to make every diary entry interesting or intriguing or funny or poignant, often a mix of all.
Towards the end I slowed my reading down to a ridiculous extent, I just didn't want it to end; so l put it off and googled many things mentioned including: the lyrics to S'Express (didn't remember any explicit lyrics, but realise I must have only known the radio version) looked up the rotten tomatoes score for Tulip Fever, wondered if croissants really count as train snacks (I don't think so) and played long forgotten songs on Spotify.
I absolutely loved this book. Nina's writing shows vulnerability at the ending of a relationship, learning to be alone and forging ahead as a single woman, albeit really, really well supported by friends and family. I believe that women of an age, in the same situation, will gain some encouragement and strength of purpose from this book.
I have read everything Nina has written and I'll continue to do so.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this wonderful book.
9/9/23
Found myself reading this again, unusual so soon after the first, but there was something I wanted to look up. I enjoyed the snippets so much, I started it again.
Occurred to me this time that’s there’s lots and lots of train travel and spending (inevitable living and socialising in London really.) Not many money woes, or unrecorded anyway.
29/8/24
October 28, 2023
I'm mildly disappointed by this book. I've never been a diary fan but I jumped at the chance if this because I fell in love with Nina Stibbe's Love Nina. It wasn't until I was a third through that I remembered I'd only watched the TV adaptation and not read the book. Mea culpa.
Anyway, the book centres on Nina's return to London as she comes to terms with divorce, being alone etc. She rents a room from fellow author Deborah Moggach who lives in Primrose Hill.
The following year details meetings with friends, trips to literary festivals/theatre/ballet/pub etc. Also there's a fearsome amount of name dropping but I guess when everyone except family are in the same business as you it's unavoidable.
I did get entirely lost at times as to who was who. Although there is a handy guide at the beginning I was too lazy to look at it on several occasions. Most of the famous people I've heard of/read however apart from Nick Hornby I'm not a fan of their work I'm afraid.
In general I preferred the longer diary entries that were more proselike in nature. I got very bored of reading the Twitter/Instagram snippets or the one liners about what people were doing or saying.
The book was okay but I think I'll stick to novels from now on no matter how much I like that author's work.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance review copy.
Anyway, the book centres on Nina's return to London as she comes to terms with divorce, being alone etc. She rents a room from fellow author Deborah Moggach who lives in Primrose Hill.
The following year details meetings with friends, trips to literary festivals/theatre/ballet/pub etc. Also there's a fearsome amount of name dropping but I guess when everyone except family are in the same business as you it's unavoidable.
I did get entirely lost at times as to who was who. Although there is a handy guide at the beginning I was too lazy to look at it on several occasions. Most of the famous people I've heard of/read however apart from Nick Hornby I'm not a fan of their work I'm afraid.
In general I preferred the longer diary entries that were more proselike in nature. I got very bored of reading the Twitter/Instagram snippets or the one liners about what people were doing or saying.
The book was okay but I think I'll stick to novels from now on no matter how much I like that author's work.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance review copy.
November 26, 2023
Only works if you happen to be a personal friend of Stibbe. Otherwise lacks depth, wit or jokes. Very disappointing as I was a huge fan up till now!
February 6, 2024
Loved the first half: funny, chatty, breezy, catty. I enjoyed revisiting some of the bizarre political and cultural moments of 2022, and seeing Stibbe settle into her new living situation, lodging with Deborah Moggach and spending as much time as possible with her adult children and friends. "It does feel as though I have stepped through some kind of portal into a contemporary novel, written in a hurry by the younger cousin of Anne Tyler. Anne has given it a light edit but there are still clunky parts and much that is completely implausible." She is self-deprecating like that throughout. There is a lot of name-dropping (Cathy Rentzenbrink, especially, turns up a lot and comes across differently here than she does in her own books: forceful and spontaneous versus gentle and circumspect); I didn't mind this, per se, but could have done with less about all the lunches out and literary dos.
It would be easy to characterize the book as completely light, but sorrow is under the surface each time Stibbe refers to her marriage, from which she is taking a one-year sabbatical. "I decide it's back pain and sadness about my marriage, which now feels broken (marriage, not back) that's making me so intolerant of the construction noise, foxes, abandoned bikes, the cost of everything (literally £7 for coffee and cake), the having to wade through garbage and shit every time I step out of the house", etc. Other times she says she's deliberately not going to think about her marriage. Midway through, at the Jersey Festival of Words, she tells Sebastian Faulks that she and her husband "might be able to work something unconventional out." The fact that she . However, I wouldn't necessarily call it a happy ending as she .
There are many witty observations and one-liners, but overall this is much less consistent than Love, Nina. It's the nature of a journal to start to get repetitive. I got bored halfway through, by which point I had also heard far too much about older ladies' hormonal and genital problems. This is kind of the whole shtick of the book, in fact: the TMI about this friend's vaginal prolapse and that one's HRT overdose. While it's laudable to give these issues a public airing, I do think the repeated subject matter may limit the book's appeal.
(An example of poor editing: The 4 September entry contains two mentions of the play version of Moggach's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opening the following day.)
It would be easy to characterize the book as completely light, but sorrow is under the surface each time Stibbe refers to her marriage, from which she is taking a one-year sabbatical. "I decide it's back pain and sadness about my marriage, which now feels broken (marriage, not back) that's making me so intolerant of the construction noise, foxes, abandoned bikes, the cost of everything (literally £7 for coffee and cake), the having to wade through garbage and shit every time I step out of the house", etc. Other times she says she's deliberately not going to think about her marriage. Midway through, at the Jersey Festival of Words, she tells Sebastian Faulks that she and her husband "might be able to work something unconventional out." The fact that she . However, I wouldn't necessarily call it a happy ending as she .
There are many witty observations and one-liners, but overall this is much less consistent than Love, Nina. It's the nature of a journal to start to get repetitive. I got bored halfway through, by which point I had also heard far too much about older ladies' hormonal and genital problems. This is kind of the whole shtick of the book, in fact: the TMI about this friend's vaginal prolapse and that one's HRT overdose. While it's laudable to give these issues a public airing, I do think the repeated subject matter may limit the book's appeal.
(An example of poor editing: The 4 September entry contains two mentions of the play version of Moggach's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opening the following day.)
December 3, 2023
I’m not sure that I would recommend this book for everyone, but I - and most of my friends - are surely its perfect demographic. Nina Stibbe’s musings about menopause, middle-age, marital break-ups, friends, children, Instagram, food, London rubbish, cafe life, books read, films watched and so much more made reading this diary feel like a chat with a good friend. I adore Nina’s sense of humour, too; she has a very specific writing voice which really appeals to me. Literary gossip is the cherry on the cake.
I have friends lined up to borrow this now that I’ve finished it.
I have friends lined up to borrow this now that I’ve finished it.
September 30, 2023
Nina Stibbe finds herself heading off to London 20 years after she left, in what she is viewing as a sabbatical. She is at quite a different stage of her life, of course--61, menopausal, grown children, troubled marriage. She rents a room from another writer and tries to get more acquainted with herself. This book is a diary of her year in London.
I've read both of the author's previous memoirs and loved them. They were hilarious. I expected more of the same here but didn't get it. The book had a few laugh out loud moments, but overall, it wasn't particularly funny. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be and my expectations were off--and humor is very subjective, so someone else might find much to laugh about where I simply didn't. Some of the issues Stibbe documents in this diary are important in general and not just to her--menopause, friendships (particularly among women), and social issues in London are documented in an experiential way. I enjoyed her enjoyment of her relationship with her grown children, her close friends, and new people she meets. But the book just seemed to go on too long. After a while of reading what seemed like lists--what she had for lunch, who she had lunch with, posts on various social media sites, videos sent to her, etc--things began to get a bit tiresome. I have no knowledge of the places she went and there was no description or discussion of the atmosphere. The conversations had in these places were not fleshed out in any detail, but were also repetitive. And she and her landlady ate a great many Charlie Bigham fish pies and macaroni cheese.
I wouldn't say this is a bad book. I did enjoy parts of it, just not as much as I expected to.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an eARC.
I've read both of the author's previous memoirs and loved them. They were hilarious. I expected more of the same here but didn't get it. The book had a few laugh out loud moments, but overall, it wasn't particularly funny. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be and my expectations were off--and humor is very subjective, so someone else might find much to laugh about where I simply didn't. Some of the issues Stibbe documents in this diary are important in general and not just to her--menopause, friendships (particularly among women), and social issues in London are documented in an experiential way. I enjoyed her enjoyment of her relationship with her grown children, her close friends, and new people she meets. But the book just seemed to go on too long. After a while of reading what seemed like lists--what she had for lunch, who she had lunch with, posts on various social media sites, videos sent to her, etc--things began to get a bit tiresome. I have no knowledge of the places she went and there was no description or discussion of the atmosphere. The conversations had in these places were not fleshed out in any detail, but were also repetitive. And she and her landlady ate a great many Charlie Bigham fish pies and macaroni cheese.
I wouldn't say this is a bad book. I did enjoy parts of it, just not as much as I expected to.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an eARC.
September 7, 2023
If Nina wrote a shopping list and published it, I would read it. I genuinely believe that she is incapable of writing a bad word, let alone a bad book. I buy everything she publishes immediately because she is my ride or die author, whether it's fiction, non-fiction or a reminder to pick up some Charlie Bighams' fish pie scribbled on the back of an envelope. This is the diary of the year she turned sixty, embarked upon a divorce and went back to London to see if it was as good as she remembered and whether she was as good as she remembered. It's achingly funny and beautifully poignant. I am in awe of how the diary entries can be so short and yet so packed with intensely felt moments that a single entry can sometimes feel like a short story in itself. I wanted to read it slowly. I failed, but it got me through three days of a difficult week and made me laugh so hard at one point that I had to stop reading and sit down to catch my breath. I love the real discussions about menopause and facial hair and incontinence mixed with sartorial dilemmas and gossip about everyone from how the owner of Bubbles laundrette is getting on with his farm to what A$AP Rocky is doing. It's so wonderfully real and 100% one of the best things I've read this year.
October 22, 2023
"I can't help worrying about marmalade. I keep reading in the papers how it's losing the battle against sweeter jams and honeys and even chocolate spread. I just don't understand it. People are still eating toast. And they're grown-ups. I get why you might like chocolate spread, Nutella, honey and strawberry jam when you're twelve and under but once you get older, and you're smoking, drinking beer, wine and coffee, and eating olives, chili, stilton and pickled onions, surely marmalade is more to your taste, isn't it?"
I first came upon Nina Sibbe's writing in June 2020 when I picked up Reasons to Be Cheerful, little realising it was the third in a trilogy! I was instantly hooked on Nina's style of writing, the observational humour and finely tuned way of picking up on tiny things and examining them in great detail - such as the marmalade quote used above!
Reading this diary of Nina's year long sabbatical in London was like having a long, cosy, gossipy chat with a friend. Anything and everything is covered - from HRT to pop culture, to political upheaval and how to (humanely) deter mice from the kitchen. I really felt like I was being let into Nina's private world and that I also knew all her friends (Cathy Rentzenbrink, Rachel Dearborn, Deborah Moggach et al) and her adult children, Eva and Alf by the end (who Nina clearly loves and adores and thinks are wonderful people, not just because they are her children but because they are!).
I do wonder though, even as this is a diary, how much of her life during that time is recorded here and what is left out. The reason for the move back to London after 20 years is that Nina's marriage is breaking down but there is hardly any reference to her husband or the separation throughout. There must be a tension between publishing a diary in almost "real time" when the people involved are still very much emotionally involved in the "plot line" and conveying that what you are reading is wholly true. I thought at several points it's almost like a scripted reality TV show - how much is "actually" happening and what is being carefully guided onto the page.
That aside, I loved reading this new instalment in Nina Stibbe's writing: the literary name dropping, the delight in people watching on the number 24 bus, her love of faithful dog Peggy, playing Scrabble in the local pub with her children and their friends, the madness of being menopausal and re-establishing yourself after the breakdown of a long-term relationship.
I also love a trip to Gloucester Services for a coffee and a cheese pie (I live about 45 minutes away from the services but any motorway trip south now involves a mandatory stop), feel that coffee isn't a "proper drink" and love her philosophy about going along to things and just "being happy to be involved and learning. That's what happens when you're old. You celebrate joining in."
I think that Charlie Bigham ready meals must have sponsored Nina to write this book given the number of references to eating their fish pies throughout the diary! I spotted one in my local Tesco and decided to give it a try for dinner on Friday evening. To be fair, it was a bloody good pie.
("People in London drink coffee as if it's a drink. Coffee is not a drink. It's not food but it's not a drink like tea is a drink. Coffee is a drug. It's like having a cigarette or a pill or just sprinkling salt into your mouth, or sugar or turmeric, but it's not a drink as such, so if I have cheese and biscuits for lunch and a coffee, I have to have a tea afterwards because I need a drink.")
I first came upon Nina Sibbe's writing in June 2020 when I picked up Reasons to Be Cheerful, little realising it was the third in a trilogy! I was instantly hooked on Nina's style of writing, the observational humour and finely tuned way of picking up on tiny things and examining them in great detail - such as the marmalade quote used above!
Reading this diary of Nina's year long sabbatical in London was like having a long, cosy, gossipy chat with a friend. Anything and everything is covered - from HRT to pop culture, to political upheaval and how to (humanely) deter mice from the kitchen. I really felt like I was being let into Nina's private world and that I also knew all her friends (Cathy Rentzenbrink, Rachel Dearborn, Deborah Moggach et al) and her adult children, Eva and Alf by the end (who Nina clearly loves and adores and thinks are wonderful people, not just because they are her children but because they are!).
I do wonder though, even as this is a diary, how much of her life during that time is recorded here and what is left out. The reason for the move back to London after 20 years is that Nina's marriage is breaking down but there is hardly any reference to her husband or the separation throughout. There must be a tension between publishing a diary in almost "real time" when the people involved are still very much emotionally involved in the "plot line" and conveying that what you are reading is wholly true. I thought at several points it's almost like a scripted reality TV show - how much is "actually" happening and what is being carefully guided onto the page.
That aside, I loved reading this new instalment in Nina Stibbe's writing: the literary name dropping, the delight in people watching on the number 24 bus, her love of faithful dog Peggy, playing Scrabble in the local pub with her children and their friends, the madness of being menopausal and re-establishing yourself after the breakdown of a long-term relationship.
I also love a trip to Gloucester Services for a coffee and a cheese pie (I live about 45 minutes away from the services but any motorway trip south now involves a mandatory stop), feel that coffee isn't a "proper drink" and love her philosophy about going along to things and just "being happy to be involved and learning. That's what happens when you're old. You celebrate joining in."
I think that Charlie Bigham ready meals must have sponsored Nina to write this book given the number of references to eating their fish pies throughout the diary! I spotted one in my local Tesco and decided to give it a try for dinner on Friday evening. To be fair, it was a bloody good pie.
("People in London drink coffee as if it's a drink. Coffee is not a drink. It's not food but it's not a drink like tea is a drink. Coffee is a drug. It's like having a cigarette or a pill or just sprinkling salt into your mouth, or sugar or turmeric, but it's not a drink as such, so if I have cheese and biscuits for lunch and a coffee, I have to have a tea afterwards because I need a drink.")
February 6, 2024
WENT TO LONDON PISSED MYSELF WHILE NAME DROPPING would be a more descriptive title.
If this were my first Stibbe book I’d never read another.
Dull, tedious ‘he said she said’ diary entries interspersed with disgusting anecdotes about who pissed themselves and where they did it.
Everyone knows old people piss themselves - get over it!
It took Stibbe to make a book out of incontinence events and little else.
Is there an award for most pointless book of the year?
If this were my first Stibbe book I’d never read another.
Dull, tedious ‘he said she said’ diary entries interspersed with disgusting anecdotes about who pissed themselves and where they did it.
Everyone knows old people piss themselves - get over it!
It took Stibbe to make a book out of incontinence events and little else.
Is there an award for most pointless book of the year?
July 15, 2024
Just finished this lovely read by Nina Stibbe . It's lovely to read about my home county #Cornwall and places I'm familiar with in Truro/Falmouth . This book has had me smiling , laughing and enjoying the currentness of the book by the writer . A 5⭐️ read
December 4, 2023
DNF. Sadly this was nowhere near the same league as ‘Love, Nina’ for me. It just did not engage me and infact I found it so tiresome that I gave up on it a third through. Several things also really annoyed me:
- The endless name dropping. (I appreciate that Nina would move in literary circles but even so! )
- The menopause is not amusing, I found it insulting and undermining that its symptoms are used as fodder for amusing anecdotes.
- The reason for the ‘sabbatical’ in London is the breakdown of her marriage; you would therefore expect that this would be uppermost in her mind and therefore in her reflections but it is barely mentioned. Nunney, her husband wasn’t referred to at all - really strange as he was an important character in ‘Love, Nina’.
The book may well work better to dip in and out of this rather than read from cover to cover but I have lost so much interest I can’t be bothered to do that either. Disappointing as I have been a fan of most of this writer’s books.
- The endless name dropping. (I appreciate that Nina would move in literary circles but even so! )
- The menopause is not amusing, I found it insulting and undermining that its symptoms are used as fodder for amusing anecdotes.
- The reason for the ‘sabbatical’ in London is the breakdown of her marriage; you would therefore expect that this would be uppermost in her mind and therefore in her reflections but it is barely mentioned. Nunney, her husband wasn’t referred to at all - really strange as he was an important character in ‘Love, Nina’.
The book may well work better to dip in and out of this rather than read from cover to cover but I have lost so much interest I can’t be bothered to do that either. Disappointing as I have been a fan of most of this writer’s books.
December 16, 2023
I have loved all Nina Stubbed books so wa excited to read this. Got to 50% and decided I either stop reading it or slash my wrists.
It was unbelievably boring, a diary of all the dull things she did in London, all the people she met for lunch, urinary incontinence amongst all the women she knows and the bloody garden of Deborah Moggach. She even made Moggach boring.
This was a book by someone with a contract who had run out of ideas. I truly hope that her next novel gets back to the perceptive and witty style to which we are used.
Truly awful book, avoid like the plague and ignore the 5 star reviews, far too many people give 5 stars because the want to get on the list to receive free books. So few bad reviews on here nowadays
It was unbelievably boring, a diary of all the dull things she did in London, all the people she met for lunch, urinary incontinence amongst all the women she knows and the bloody garden of Deborah Moggach. She even made Moggach boring.
This was a book by someone with a contract who had run out of ideas. I truly hope that her next novel gets back to the perceptive and witty style to which we are used.
Truly awful book, avoid like the plague and ignore the 5 star reviews, far too many people give 5 stars because the want to get on the list to receive free books. So few bad reviews on here nowadays
January 14, 2024
I laughed my way through this, her self deprecating look at herself and the world. Her doubts and fears about running off for a bit are familiar to me sometimes its a necessary thing to save yourself. I have done it three times once with my pug Maddy . so we made it and we learned how to make our way alone a very important part of life ,well i think. would love to know her -now will read her other books and cheer myself up.wonderful read
March 28, 2025
I can't give someone's diary a mark out of five! But I enjoyed this a lot: many good jokes and observations which made me laugh loudly on trains, though with some underlying sadness about dealing with the end of a marriage and the beginning of the menopause. Mostly I liked how much she and her 20-something children enjoyed hanging out together.
March 11, 2024
Nina Stibbe decides to move to London for a year (her marriage seems to have broken up, though she doesn’t provide any details) and goes with her dog Peggy to stay with Deborah Moggach in Camden Town. The book is in diary form and relates her various doings over the year she lives there, and the people she is friends with (mostly other writers, naturally). Considering the dog is mentioned in the title she doesn’t feature as much as you might expect. There is more about coffee bars, restaurants, menopause, incontinence, and shoes. There are occasional opinions expressed that I strongly disagree with, particularly “you can’t not lend books” (I find I can not lend books quite easily). It is not nearly as amusing as Love, Nina, but it has the occasional humorous moment. On the whole though I found the twenty year old Nina more interesting than the sixty year old one.
November 8, 2024
She’s a funny writer. Manages to make the everyday entertaining.
I would say I’m probably not the target audience (I think it’s aimed at more mature women given the amount of menopausal detail) but I didn’t mind the chat.
Audiobook was well done because she reads it herself so the delivery is as intended.
I would say I’m probably not the target audience (I think it’s aimed at more mature women given the amount of menopausal detail) but I didn’t mind the chat.
Audiobook was well done because she reads it herself so the delivery is as intended.
Read
January 13, 2025Not as charming as Love, Nina but just the right kind of light humour for where my brain is at rn.
November 5, 2024
One star because I can't give a lower score.
A total waste of my time.
The endless name dropping is utterly boring.
I wanted to give up this book after the 20th time Nina Stibbe wrote the name Cathy Rentzenbrink🙄, the 30th mentions of treatment for menopause and incontinence, the reels of Instagram sent by her daughter, the details of everything she ate, her gardening and so on.
I have bought this book for one pound, it does not worth it.
Quite amazed by the raving reviews 🤔
The worst book I have read this year
A total waste of my time.
The endless name dropping is utterly boring.
I wanted to give up this book after the 20th time Nina Stibbe wrote the name Cathy Rentzenbrink🙄, the 30th mentions of treatment for menopause and incontinence, the reels of Instagram sent by her daughter, the details of everything she ate, her gardening and so on.
I have bought this book for one pound, it does not worth it.
Quite amazed by the raving reviews 🤔
The worst book I have read this year
July 28, 2024
I think you have to be of a very specific profile to actually enjoy this (already invested in Nina/ knowledgeable about London/ interested in literary figures/ perhaps of a certain age) but I tick most of those boxes so I found it to be an enjoyable dippy book
August 21, 2024
I am only 17% into the book but keep laughing out loud, had forgotten just how funny she is. Lots of people pop up from her earlier books, just like meeting old friends. Really really love it.
January 7, 2025
I loved this and miss it now I’ve finished it. I suspect that is substantially due to my nostalgia for North London so it might not have universal appeal
January 10, 2025
I really love Nina Stibbe and her first memoir "Love, Nina" is one of the funniest books I've read. Her novels, especially her most recent, "One Day I Shall Astonish the World", are also excellent. I really enjoyed this new memoir, a diary of a year spent lodging in London, but there were several aspects that if I felt less charitably predisposed towards Stibbe would definitely have rubbed me the wrong way.
It's incredibly twee (which feels like an unfair thing to say about someone's actual life) and you're going to need a high tolerance for anecdotes about well off members of North London's literary circle. Stibbe is a bit over-reliant on clarifications in parenthis (brackets) for humour, which can be funny, but I counted her doing this six times across two pages on one occasion which was a bit much (of the brackets).
The reason for Stibbe's sabbatical is a separation from her husband, and she often makes reference to her low mood but the specifics of the separation wouldn't fill much more than a page across the whole book. Given the level of intimacy with which she describes some of her friends' lives, this seems strange. She's under no obligation to share every aspect of her personal life but it does leave something of an absence at the centre of the book and as such feels a bit incomplete.
It's also a bit jarring how she often says how she doesn't really enjoy London life like she used to when the overwhelming majority of her time seems to be spent eating in nice cafes with a wide range of friends, shopping, swimming, doing pub quizzes and spending time with her adult children whom she adores. It was hard to tell what aspect of her life was so disagreeable, hence why some stuff about her personal life might have made it make more sense.
I think part of what made "Love, Nina" so enjoyable was that she was an outsider looking askance at the lives of some quirky and privileged folks, whereas whilst she now seems much more grounded than most of her writer friends, she's a lot more the insider.
This is all a bit negative, so to be clear, I'd consider all these things more foibles than flaws and I did really love it. I wolfed it down, stayed up reading later than I thought and found myself listening to songs she mentions, looking up authors she meets and films she watches. It was a lovely read, though I suspect I may enjoy the new novel she's working on throughout this diary even more.
It's incredibly twee (which feels like an unfair thing to say about someone's actual life) and you're going to need a high tolerance for anecdotes about well off members of North London's literary circle. Stibbe is a bit over-reliant on clarifications in parenthis (brackets) for humour, which can be funny, but I counted her doing this six times across two pages on one occasion which was a bit much (of the brackets).
The reason for Stibbe's sabbatical is a separation from her husband, and she often makes reference to her low mood but the specifics of the separation wouldn't fill much more than a page across the whole book. Given the level of intimacy with which she describes some of her friends' lives, this seems strange. She's under no obligation to share every aspect of her personal life but it does leave something of an absence at the centre of the book and as such feels a bit incomplete.
It's also a bit jarring how she often says how she doesn't really enjoy London life like she used to when the overwhelming majority of her time seems to be spent eating in nice cafes with a wide range of friends, shopping, swimming, doing pub quizzes and spending time with her adult children whom she adores. It was hard to tell what aspect of her life was so disagreeable, hence why some stuff about her personal life might have made it make more sense.
I think part of what made "Love, Nina" so enjoyable was that she was an outsider looking askance at the lives of some quirky and privileged folks, whereas whilst she now seems much more grounded than most of her writer friends, she's a lot more the insider.
This is all a bit negative, so to be clear, I'd consider all these things more foibles than flaws and I did really love it. I wolfed it down, stayed up reading later than I thought and found myself listening to songs she mentions, looking up authors she meets and films she watches. It was a lovely read, though I suspect I may enjoy the new novel she's working on throughout this diary even more.
January 28, 2024
This was the most brilliant book to relax into. Stibbe has similar curiosity and foibles to my own and it was quirky, funny and poignant.
I found it irritating that her friends are permanently referred to my first name and surname however, it is written as a diary and perhaps that is how she writes a diary! Similarly, every detail is recorded. An editor could have suggested a change. Whilst I read to the end, I did find it overlong because of the nature of diary detail. Loved the gossip, the HRT ponderings, ongoing discussions with friends about pelvic floors, Hinge dating.... Didn't love the minutiae about who was at every outing, what coffee was ordered, how garden was watered.
Enjoyed but not one of Stibbe's best
I found it irritating that her friends are permanently referred to my first name and surname however, it is written as a diary and perhaps that is how she writes a diary! Similarly, every detail is recorded. An editor could have suggested a change. Whilst I read to the end, I did find it overlong because of the nature of diary detail. Loved the gossip, the HRT ponderings, ongoing discussions with friends about pelvic floors, Hinge dating.... Didn't love the minutiae about who was at every outing, what coffee was ordered, how garden was watered.
Enjoyed but not one of Stibbe's best
August 31, 2024
This is the diary of Nina, a writer in her 60s, who moves to London for a year after being away for 20 years. A lot changes in 20 years, of course. She is at a different stage in life, going through menopause, with a broken marriage behind her and grown children to accompany her along the way; as friends rather than dependants.
I listened to the Audible version of this, with Nina narrating it herself. A really enjoyable listen. She's so funny. It's a rarity for me to laugh aloud at a book, but there were laughs aloud aplenty here. Every so often, you read a book where you imagine you would get on brilliantly with the author. Kindred spirits or something. This was one of those books for me. Thanks, Nina!
I listened to the Audible version of this, with Nina narrating it herself. A really enjoyable listen. She's so funny. It's a rarity for me to laugh aloud at a book, but there were laughs aloud aplenty here. Every so often, you read a book where you imagine you would get on brilliantly with the author. Kindred spirits or something. This was one of those books for me. Thanks, Nina!
April 21, 2025
I really struggled with this book. It took me 6 weeks to read it, my average is a week or two, but I just couldn’t get into it. Obviously by the end, I’d forgotten the beginning but it didn’t matter as, being a diary, there was no plot.
It read like a stream of consciousness rather than a diary. Lots of comments too trivial to be added to a diary entry. Lots of comments to or about people I’d never heard of, maybe you need to be in with the ‘literary lovies’. I hope Nick Hornsby and the rest get a share of the royalties.
I nearly gave up so many times, I’m not sure why I stuck it out. Some books stick with you, some books change you and some are just there.
It read like a stream of consciousness rather than a diary. Lots of comments too trivial to be added to a diary entry. Lots of comments to or about people I’d never heard of, maybe you need to be in with the ‘literary lovies’. I hope Nick Hornsby and the rest get a share of the royalties.
I nearly gave up so many times, I’m not sure why I stuck it out. Some books stick with you, some books change you and some are just there.
Read
January 13, 2024Felt very much like an extension of Love Nina.
Same tone and cast of characters that are never really explained.
Her diary is so random and detailed that it feels like eavesdropping. Funny, with the odd tender moment when she mentions her failing marriage and you remember why she’s taken the year out in the first place.
And she’s wrong about hot cross buns. Never toast.
Same tone and cast of characters that are never really explained.
Her diary is so random and detailed that it feels like eavesdropping. Funny, with the odd tender moment when she mentions her failing marriage and you remember why she’s taken the year out in the first place.
And she’s wrong about hot cross buns. Never toast.
July 6, 2025
3.5: Entertaining for the most part, probably more so if you know more of the people mentioned, and especially if you’re familiar with a specific area of London. A kind of gossipy visit among well-off artistic types who apparently spend all their time eating and drinking out while still managing to publish books and direct films. All that plus menopause tips 😉
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