Sunday, June 24, 2012

Me Before You (Jojo Moyes)


This is a book dealing with a sensitive topic, that of choosing to end your life. Never a fun thing to talk about or hear about or in this case read about but it's also a story about relationships, specifically of the loving kind and what does it really mean to love someone.  I don't think i'm ruining the book when I say it's predictable. Also it should be noted that this book is a readable story where the engagement comes in the details. 

Lou is a girl who stays safe. She lives with her parents at 26 and works in a cafe for years until she is fired and is now faced with having to get a new job since she is a contributor to the family finances. She has no real aspirations until she meets her employer, a quadriplegic who needs a carer and his mother finds Lou the perfect fit for the job. It also happens that Will, the person who needs to caring is suicidal and his mother wants someone who will be able to take his mind off things and pretty much show him that he has something to live for. Will is a character that is a little bitter, very smart and will grow on you. Lou is a very likable protagonist too. She's flawed and silly and from what I read has great taste in clothes and a dickwad for a boyfriend.  

And that's the premise of the story. Will Lou succeed? Where the books strengths lie is in the personality and the effortless speed in which Jojo Moyes moves the  plot along. It is almost 500 pages but felt like 200. There were a few funny parts and despite the seriousness of the story it was lighthearted as well. I enjoyed it overall and can tell that this book out of England will be a sleeper hit soon. 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Everything Matters! (Ron Currie, Jr)


I guess the title says it all. Everything Matters! Sometimes you wonder, though, does it really?

This book, a hint of sci-fi with it's dystopian undertones is telling the story of one man who is forced to deal with the weight of dealing and choosing what to do knowning from birth that the world was going to end? In his lifetime to boot. Except even though that basicaly sums up the story, what makes it a good read is that it has lots of other threads going on that keep you forgetting what you're dealing with the destruction of the entire world.

Junior, our protagonist is a gifted guy who hears voices that have proven to him that he's not crazy, and he is able to know things that you wouldn't ordinarily know. He has a working class father who he adores and an alcoholic mother who kind of hovers in the background. He has a brother who developed a drug problem but since that problem of sniffing coke went on so long during rehab he ended up with a brain injury that more or less changed his personality to borderline numbskull with a talent for baseball.

The prophecy for Junior is that a meteor/comet thing is coming toward Earth and will hit on a specific date and time during Junior's 36th year. He has to live with this truth and live his life. Naturally he turns to alcohol and drugs and goes on a few adventures while he suffers losing his girlfriend when he tried to tell her what he knows and she thinks he's nuts and morbid (wouldn't u be?), and ends up leaving him to go to college on the other side of the country. Junior loves her painfully and it's not ruining the story to tell you that they do get back together and a ton of other stuff happens that kept me engaged in the story.

I was surprised at how good this book was. I was shelving books and as is my habit to thumb through titles that catch my eye and this one literally called out to me. ANd unlike others that call out to me, this was wasn't just flipped through and cast aside. I'm glad I read it. It was a very interesting concept, one that I do think about even though it's kind of depressing; the meaning of life and all that.
The ending isn't surprising but necessary and I recommend this is you're looking for something different and amusing and somewhat thought provoking.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Drop Dead Healthy (A.J. Jacobs)


This was a book that I both didn't know what to expect and knew what to expect at the same time. A.J. Jacobs, you might have heard of this other books, A Year of living Biblically, and The Know It All, where he takes what he does best (as editor of Esquire Mag) and do experiential journalism.

With Drop Dead Healthy he takes 2 years to go through his body and check out the latest research and studies and philosophies (some are quite 'out there and are dismissed as fads') and try them out all in the name of health and longevity.
On the plus side the guy is amusing. He has a sense of humor (maybe dry at times) but entertaining and he's both a husband and father so he incorporates his family into his writing and I tend to like that sort of thing. He does get through main parts of the body but realistically he couldn't hit every part. I think the main part I missed was the mind. But then again it was a book about the body and organs etc. Not so much emotions and mental health , although stress was a big part of it. He does a decent job keeping it light but that's also it's downfall.
The book basically skims over everything. You get tips but if you watch the news and are even a passive tv watcher of health segments there isn't much you don't already know.

Overall it was interesting and should serve as a reminder of how to keep taking care of yourself. Jacobs goes quite overboard taking everything to the extreme and does point out himself that moderation is important to do too- It just doesn't seem like he will follow his own advice. But maybe that was proving a point and if so, You got me, Jacobs. You got me.

I would recommend it as something to read along side something hefty if you read more than one book at a time. This book complimented my fiction and I will be checking out his other books too.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Awakening (Kate Chopin)


Okay so I guess I should say my two cents since I read this and was like "What?" at the end. It's a classic and for such a slim book it says so much. Plus since it took place so long ago (written 1899) I can't imagine the impression it had then if it makes a splash on this reader now. However, overall, honestly, I thought it was just okay. I liked the setting and the French (though I didn't understand any of it) but I couldn't help thinking to myself that Mr. Pontellier wasn't your average husband...as Edna must not have been your average wife. This reader has some questions about the tale told about some people summering at Grand Isle off the coast of Louisiana. We follow Edna as she "awakens" to her life as not being what she wants and we witness her choices and try to understand why she makes these choices. But back to the sub-par husband, Mr. Pontellier.

Why would he let her spend so much time with a man and not really do anything about it? How come he just listened to the Dr. "Oh let her do whatever and let it pass." or dismiss it as her being mental. How can Mr. Pontellier just let her get another house and entertain men etc?

Because of the time period that I wasn't obviously privy to maybe that was the way people were but even in these times of liberation blah blah blah men don't just let their wives to as they please (when it comes to just up and leaving the house and kids and take up with other men- in my opinion of course). But then again I would like to think that women enter relationships with the idea that they want to be in the relationship and if that changes they get out (and deal with any consequences that might result.)

It's just never that easy, I know. There are kids involved and who wants to break up a family? But for Edna she was clear that she wouldn't give up herself for her children but she also couldn't do what she wanted to do which was her idea of freedom. She understood herself to never truly be free and of course we all know where that led her. Or if you don't you might want to read it. It won't take long and it's interesting nevertheless even if you come to think of our protagonist as a selfish little brat who thinks only of her happiness and not wanting to take responsibility for her actions. And then when the thought of consequences does enter her mind she just opts out all together.

Not the most uplifting book but something that I'd like to discuss with other people who have read it just because it's one of those books that begs the question: Do you take responsibility for your choices? And can you live with yourself? Is it love or infatuation? and where are your values?

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Gift (Cecelia Ahern)


What a bittersweet tale. Cecelia Ahern is a little jewel and has a way of sucking you right in to her whimsical world in Ireland. This one, a Christmasy story, tells of a man named Lou-
(and it should be noted that this book came across to this reader as a Christmas Carol but a very modern Ahern-like way)
who has it all. He has a good job and a good wife and two kids and all that but he's kind of a loser because he's had affairs and is always working and is always looking for the next level to move up to.

He's pretty consumed with success and money so that he pushes his family to at best second place but you see from the get-go that he has potential to be a decent human being and our catalyst comes in the form of a homeless man named Gabe. Gabe sits outside Lou's office building and is very observant. He and Lou have a conversation one morning that prompts Lou to get Gabe hired where he works and thus our story revolves around Gabe being perhaps some sort of magical being who is able to give Lou a glimpse of what he's missing all the while he's toiling away with his work and his interest in casual affairs. Lou is given a magic pill that lets him become two people at once allowing him to be conducting two meetings at once or be at work and fulfill obligations at home.

I love the concept as it always seems that there is never enough time in the day for everything. Lou is given a second chance but it's not an all together happy ending. I was told I would cry and I didn't but I also have a cynical heart of stone so I'm not surprised. JK I did cry when I read the notebook but I dare anyone to read it and not shed some tearage.
I liked this book a lot and it was a cute quick read now en route to a paperbackswap friend.
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Friday, June 8, 2012

Charlie St. Cloud (Ben Sherwood)

This was a quick read but we all know never to judge a book by it's length or cover.

So I seem to be in a supernatural/ghost phase. First with Cecelia Ahern's If You Could See Me Now about imaginary friends and now this little gem.

I don't know what propelled me to pick it up but I read the first chapter online through amazon and it grabbed me. It might have been my mind casting Mr. Efron as the lead character (I didn't see the movie but have seen enough previews to fuel the mind, ha-ha he's a cutie).

The story stars Charlie St. Cloud as told through the narrator, a fireman who was at the scene of the accident who pulled two brothers from a car and was able to bring back one of them, Sam, Charlie's younger brother. Charlie took Sam to a baseball game, underaged and with a "borrowed" car from a neighbor and on the way home they got hit by a drunk trucker. Charlie gets revived but now with having been 'on the other side' has the ability to see the ghosts of people who are otherwise in-between life and the afterlife.

Fast forwad about 13 years and an adult Charlie is the caretaker of the cemetary in town where his brother has been buried. His gift allows him to visit Sam and play catch and basically hold on to past memories. It's his gift and also his curse as he's been unable to move on with his own life feeling the guilt of losing his younger brother and honoring a promise to never leave him.

Other chapters feature Tess, a girl who also lives in town whose only desire is to sail the world. She goes for a pre-sail and being stubborn and wanting a challenge goes through some rough water and has a bad accident herself.
Charlie ends up getting to know her and falling in love. But what we don't know is if she's alive or dead. And it's not as predictable as you might think.

The story flows smoothly and quickly and although it's not a mushy romance it's still about love and making choices in life and living with consequences and also about when to let go.

I enjoyed it and am now willing to sit through the movie- I don't watch too many but generally like to watch the movie after I've read the book so I can be all uppity and criticize how the book was better, ain't it always???

Monday, June 4, 2012

If you could see me now (Cecelia Ahern)




“The more you try to simplify things the more you complicate them. You create rules, build walls, push people away, lie to yourself and ignore true feelings. That is not simplifying things.”
― Cecelia Ahern, If You Could See Me Now

Some people aren't into the whimsical. They like to stay grounded in reality and they like to know that what they're reading is concrete and is a variance on what their own life is like- or maybe someone they'd wish their life was like or maybe glad that it's not like what they're reading.... I'm doing it again- going off.
Anyway, I am somewhat like that. I don't gravitate toward the magical or the surreal or anything that would land in the world of make believe.
But that was me. Putting myself into a box. And duct taping it up. And now everything is neat and in order and simple.

Wrong.

When I pigeon hole myself into one genre intead of making it uncomplicated I make it downright awful. I limit myself and then get stuck in these self-put parameters that I have tricked myself into thinking they're real and I better abide.

Elizabeth, our protagonist is like that. She's obsessively clean and orderly and in her early 30's and has locked herself into her routine and has everything in its place. She also has her family stuff, you know..issues etc, that leads her to have custody of her nephew due to her sister being a drunk who would rather run around town (this takes place in Ireland) than be a mum to her son.

And Elizabeths nephew, Luke, age 6, has an imaginary friend. And this imaginary friend, Ivan is something that Elizabeth has dismissed (like most people) as something to be rid of or ignored to hope that it just passes.
But then not knowing that Ivan is Lukes "IF" she starts seeing him too. Is he real? What's the deal with imaginary friends and why are folks so "tisk tisk" about them?
The concept currently is states as being a phase for kids to help them develope their imaginations and helps them play and feel engaged with another being etc.
But what happens if that 'figment' becomes flesh?

Elizabeth thinks that Ivan is the father of one of Luke's friends, I'll leave it at that. But what is really engaging in this book is that yes it's probably in the 'chick lit' category but it dives into deeper issues that are of the everyday "real" variety such as family dynamics and making changes in your life to help you be more content. It also showed that there aren't all happy endings in fairy tales but that doesn't mean that it's not uplifting and our protagonist does go through changes. Just not of the 180 degree variety.

I read this book in 2 sittings which is good for me since I make my decision everyday (or almost) to not watch tv and I also get up extra early to get my fix. If you'd like this book and can't find it at the library let me know. I'll keep my copy in the back. It's a light(er) read but engaging and it goes quick. I love Cecelia Ahern and appreciated her bit of magic on this woman who needs to get a bit of her inner child, out.

Friday, June 1, 2012

King Dork (Frank Portman)



It's not unlike going to a restaurant and after eating the meal trying to send it back saying that you can't put your finger on it but something was wrong with that chicken.... Of course the waitress will ask why you finished the entire thing if there was something wrong with it?

I finished this book but not because I it was enjoyable and couldn't wait to see how it all panned out and not because I felt loyalty to the author (which is a habit that I have been wrestling with but then realized how dumb it was to be miserable 'suffering' through a book because you feel guilty giving up.)

I read it because it was okay (the band names sprinkled in helped). But I do have some complaints that I just can't but my finger on. It had a promising start. I thought it was pretty funny (perhaps a little too 'cather in the rye-y'but still amusing nevertheless. The narrator is a snarky 14 year old boy named Tom Henderson who spends a lot of time fantasizing about being in a band and coming up with names for his band that consists of himself and his friend Sam Hellerman (referred to by his whole name throughout the whole novel--and is friends with because their alphabetical order and placed in the same classes in school). Any-whoo...

The book centers around Tom (nicknamed Che-Mo and various other names that the reader will find out why and either put the book down in disbelief or just move on quietly) and his sophomore year in high school and all the growing pains that being in high school will bring to a kid. He has a thing about the catcher in the rye because his dad, who we don't know how exactly but had died when Tom was a kid and he's wanting to find out more about his dad. There's a mystery woven throughout the book as well but if i'm to be honest the book kinda looses steam after 50 pages or so and it went from being funny and cool to boring and repetative.

I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't put this reviewers opinion of the best parts of the book -namely the thought up band names Tom comes up with. For instance:

"When he talked about our band (which when we met him was Arab Charger, me on guitar, The Fiend in Human Shape on bass and preventive dentristy, first album Blank Me).
and, "The Nancy Wheelers, me on guitar, Sam Hellerman on bass and Ouija board, first album: Margaret? It's God. Please Shut up."

But any book, even the less than stellar ones, have their merits and this one was a cute take on what it's like to be a guy who's a nerdy punk musical fanatic just trying to get girls and get through school. Speaking of girls it has to be said, like the other reviewers of the book, that the femail characters are sadly done. No dimensions whatsoever. But it's also the authors first book so maybe character building is a skill to work on.
it's a cute read and all the while I don't recommend it per say- there are just too many others to read first but if you were on a bus or an island and this was the only book to read it would be interesting enough (but just enough) to read.