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Love, Nina
Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home | Nina Stibbe
"Breezy, sophisticated, hilarious, rude and aching with sweetness: LOVE, NINA might be the most charming book I've ever read." --Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette In 1982, 20-year-old Nina Stibbe moved to London to work as a nanny to two opinionated and lively young boys. In frequent letters home to her sister, Nina described her trials and triumphs: there's a cat nobody likes, suppertime visits from a famous local playwright, a mysteriously unpaid milk bill, and repeated misadventures parking the family car. Dinner table discussions cover the gamut, from the greats of English literature, to swearing in German, to sexually transmitted diseases. There's no end to what Nina can learn from these boys (rude words) and their broad-minded mother (the who's who of literary London). A charming, hilarious, sweetly inspiring celebration of bad food and good company, Love, Nina makes a young woman's adventures in a new world come alive.
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review
Lissy1
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Mehso-so

Finished this book today in 6 days. It took me a while to get into it as I‘m a huge fan of the tv show and it‘s so different (characters in the show all have different names so it was quite confusing) but once I got that issue out of the way. It was fairly enjoyable with a lot of great funny moments!

#review #letters #book #books #read #reading #bookshelf #booktok #ninastibbe #lovenina #funny #comedy

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Lissy1
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Umm hello?! Excuse me 😅😅😅 (Read from top) #quote #book #books #read #reading #bookshelf #letters #ninastibbe #lovenina #nonfiction #london #nw1

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Lissy1
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Don‘t know why I found this so funny. Probably because Sam is like 9 years old 😂 #quote #book #books #read #reading #newbook #lovenina #diaries #letters #ninastibbe #alanbennet

Caroline2 😆 👍 3y
charl08 Love this book. 3y
11 likes2 comments
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Lissy1
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I‘ve been looking for this edition of the book for soooo long and not been able to find it anywhere and then I found someone on Facebook marketplace selling it for Q9! ? super happy! And the best part is I get to look at Helena Bonham Carters face every time I shut it :) #newbook #book #books #read #reading #bookshelf #letters #diary #autobiography #lovenina #ninastibbe

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charl08
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The Guardian had a Q & A with Nina Stibbe - this image of poor "National Treasure" AB being badgered over bikes made me giggle.

I read and laughed at Love, Nina a while back - recommended.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2020/apr/24/nina-stibbe-webchat-post-your...

CarolynM I loved the TV version, I haven't read it yet but really want to🙂 4y
Heideschrampf There's a TV show? Need to check that. The book was really cute, so i bet the show is lovely 4y
charl08 @CarolynM @Heideschrampf The book is better (of course!) 😁 4y
47 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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andrew61
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Pickpick

What a joy to read a book over the weekend which just kept a smile glued on my face! ☺

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andrew61
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For Nov my rdg grp has i suggested this one as it's a bk ive heard a lot abt and heard the author on 'you're booked' podcast. And it is doing the trick, ive had a smile on my face all day as i read the authors letters to her sister about life in an arty middle class family in London in 1982 where alan Bennett comes for supper, Jonathan miller, Deborah moggach, + Claire tomalin are neighbours. Loved this comment on her eng lit a level bks.

Aimeesue I loved this book! 5y
CarolynM I haven't read the book, but I loved the TV adaptation 5y
andrew61 @CarolynM i didn't know there was one! Ill try and find it once ive finished although that is always a dilemma if you have read a book first whether the tv adaptation quite meets your imagination. 5y
CarolynM I'll be interested to hear what you think if you watch the show. I'm actually a bit reluctant to read it because I wonder how well the book will hold up. That doesn't happen very often. 5y
25 likes1 stack add5 comments
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AutumnRLS
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Next book! Bought this one a couple months back. I'm in the mood for a good epistolary novel.

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Aimeesue
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This book is cracking me up. Nina is hired as a nanny to Mary Kay Wilmers‘ two kids (Wilmers = editor of The London Review of Books) and writes letters to her sister about all the goings-on, which include Alan Bennett (!!!) stopping by for dinner almost every night and hanging out with Claire Tomalin.👇🏽👇🏽

Aimeesue The letters contain bits like this: A friend presents Ms. Wilmers with wind chimes said to ward off bad spirits, and she doesn‘t want them, Ms. Stibbe says, because “(a) she doesn‘t like tinkling noises and (b) she‘s not 100 percent anti bad spirits.” 😂😂😂 5y
CarolynM I watched the TV series based on this and absolutely loved it. I really must read the book🙂 5y
35 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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AmyStewart

I have only just discovered Nina Stibbe and I am tearing through all her books as fast as I can. Tthis is the first, and it's fantastic. If you don't think you'd like to read a collection of letters from a young London nanny to her sister--well, read it anyway. It's sharp, funny, brilliant, British, and did I mention that she's the nanny of the editor of the London Review of Books and Alan Bennett lives across the street?

46 likes3 stack adds
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BookNAround
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I mentioned on the blog that I‘d gotten this one for myself and a friend chimed in that it should be near the top of my tbr because it was great. So I moved it to next up. I‘m easy that way. 😁

Heideschrampf It‘s lovely! Enjoy! 6y
erzascarletbookgasm I love the cover! 6y
62 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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karasu13
Mehso-so

I enjoyed this for what it was: a collection of letters from 1980s London. It wasn‘t particularly insightful or anything, but it had its humorous moments. I‘m also glad to have found someone else who dislikes Shakespeare and Hardy.

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karasu13
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After two months of creepy reads, it‘s time for something light and funny. My friend Beth is Faye Marsay‘s cousin, and she was able to get my copy signed for me!

Jess7 Nice! Signed books are the best! 6y
Lissy1 Omg I‘m so jealous 😱 i loved the show and I‘ve just started the book. Can‘t wait to get into it 3y
5 likes2 comments
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CJBthefirst
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biblio_ginger
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Picked my new reads! I love nanny biographies especially ones from other countries. And I've been meaning to Your Inner Critic for awhile now. Hopefully it inspires me! 🙂

#chroniclebooks #yourinnercriticisabigjerk #daniellekrysa #martharich #lovenina #ninastibbe #currentlyreading #bookstagram #books #bedtimereading

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BookishClaire
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Hey guys! I forgot to post about my list of London novels over at Book Riot a while back -- plenty for you to enjoy here. http://bookriot.com/2017/06/06/100-must-read-novels-set-in-london/

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quietlycuriouskate
Mehso-so

A light, entertaining read. However, I found it pleasantly humourous rather than "hilarious" ( as promised on the cover) and the constant name-dropping grew tiresome.
She does have an ear for dialogue, but I kept wishing for something more, not weight or depth, necessarily: maybe just for something else to be made of it, rather than simply a record of lots of little snippets. As it is, it all gets a bit "samey" after a while.
#librarybook

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LinusTheWonderPup
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Mehso-so

A bit boring so far. Because it is only the letters she sent to her sister with no additional info it feels sparse and like it skips around a bit.

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AWahle
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Pickpick

Another day sick, another book finished. I really enjoyed these letters Nina wrote to her sister from 1982-87. She's a few years older than I am so I understood (some of) the cultural references of the time. There's a list of people mentioned, but a glossary of some of the slang and snacks would have been helpful. I consider myself an Anglophile, but had never heard "chalk and cheese" before. I hope the BBC show comes to the U.S.

AWahle And it goes with today's theme of #titlewithapropername #readJanuary 7y
LeahBergen Love your mug! 7y
AWahle @LeahBergen Thanks! Next time I'll get a shot of her tail on the back. She's a Starbucks mug from a few years ago. 7y
49 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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BookishClaire
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Still looking for book recs? Here were my favourite beach reads of 2014. https://claireindc.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/beachworthy-books-2014/

GuiltyFeat The only one on that list that I've read was the Adelle Waldman book and I bloody hated it. I'm quite careful about the books I read so it's rare that I'll start something which ends up making me angry. Nathaniel P was an unforgivable twerp. 8y
MrBook Great list! 😊👏🏻👍🏻 8y
BookishClaire He was an unforgivable twerp but that's what made the book so great in my opinion! I love how she gets inside his head. @guiltyfeat 8y
ultrabookgeek I loved this book because it made me realize how people operate in relationships in a real way. But I can totally aww why people get so mad about this book! Nathaniel was the 🎶 worst🎶!! 8y
21 likes4 comments
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KatWDV
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"People are only horrible if they're hungry or unhappy."

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TrulyBookish
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Ps The LRB — not just about books, but a brainy take on world events etc. You have to be a PhD to get it, or at least be a professional intellectual. P. 66

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hattiek
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Pickpick

Well this is charming, looking forward to starting the series on iPlayer tonight ❤️

Lauramag Watched it last night, maybe the book is better 😁 8y
BookishClaire The book is great! 8y
6 likes2 stack adds2 comments