The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Kim Edwards

"Photography is all about secrets. The secrets we all have and will never tell."

"You can't spend the rest of your life tiptoeing around to try and advert disaster. It won't work. You'll just end up missing the life you have."

I wanted to like this book, so many people recommended the book to me and said how good it was. I read the first hundred pages fairly quickly but then the story decided to slow down and got really boring. The writing of the book was alright, not the best. The plot of the book was actually really interesting and fascinating but the way it was was written did something.

• There were way to many sub-plots in the novel. This made the story more confusing then it ever had to be.
• Over half of the scenes in the book were ruined by the author herself. She wants to address a bunch of topics but they are naive.

I don't know what else more I can say about this book. I usually enjoy little parts of books that I have read but this one was just bad (sorry to everyone that recommended it to me and thought it was fantastic). But who knows, maybe you will read it and love it! This is just one opinion.

Till the next time!

Rebekka.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Five People you Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom

"All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it all the time."

"Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive."

"Lost love is still love, Eddie. It just takes on a different form, that's all. You can't hold their hand... You can't tousle their hair... But when those senses weaken another one comes to life... Memory... Memory becomes your partner. You hold it...you dance with it... Life has to end, Eddie... Love doesn't."

This book taught me about many things... death, love, God/heaven, and life's unanswered questions. Everything happens for a reason, even though it might not feel like it at the time.God has a plan for all of us and everything will eventually come together and be told to you.

Eddie had a brave soul but he didn't think that he was anyone in life. When he eventually passed away, he ended up saving a little girls life. That is something to be proud of even if you don't know that you did that until later on. In heaven, Eddie gets to meet five people; who have been in his life before or who have sub-continuously been in his life. These people were there to greet him and answer all of his unanswered questions and why God gave him purpose in life. I definitely have unanswered questions already, even though I am only 23 years old. Why are we here on Earth? Why did God make me the person who I am today?

I would say that this novel isn't overly religious even though Albom talks about God and heaven a lot. This is a book that everyone should read in life, maybe it will help answer some of your unanswered questions already. You will be spiritually touched! The book is witty written with phrases that made me laugh and poems thrown in here and there. It made for a very interesting read. This won't be the last Mitch Albom book I will read!

God has purposes for us in life, even if it only means working as the burger boy at McDonald's, or to be a mistress, or a CEO of an oil and gas company, or just an ordinary man that gets by from day to day. Little things in life matter the most.

Until next time!

Rebekka.

The Children of Men by P.D. James

First I have to say... WOW! Either the month of April was really hectic for me or I just got super lazy - most likely a mixture of both things. I read one book, that is kind of sad. But I am determined to still make it to 50 books by the end of the year. I have to make time for reading - put aside all of my distractions in all areas of my life and just get lost in books.

The Children of Men
P.D James

"If our sex life were determined by our first youthful experiments, most of the world would be doomed to celibacy. In no area of human experience are human being more convinced that something better can be had only if they preserve."

"Feel, he told himself, feel, feel, feel. Even if what you feel is pain, only let yourself feel."

Everyone told me that the movie was so great (I have never personally seen the movie), so I thought that I would give the book a go to see if I would love it. I was extremely disappointed by this book. The first part felt to drag on, I just wanted to get to an exciting part. There were many parts of the book where I was going, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" and then there were some parts of the book that were slightly interesting - but still wasn't a good read for me.

Humanity was becoming extinct. It is set in the year of 2021 and the last child born to humankind was killed. Every person on the planet somehow became infertile and couldn't produce anymore children.

The characters live in a world where men have no more sperm, so that means no more babies in the world (obviously!). So this meant that the world was slowly dying off because there were no more people coming in. I didn't care about the problems in the book that the characters had to go through. The world is plausible. I didn't care that everyone was dying and that the world was dying off because everyone was so despicable. There was one character that wanted to change the world and do good for the world but this didn't sway my decision about the story. Eventually, women became kind of crazy and started to treat dolls as children. The novel also spent way too much time on the politics of the dystopian England. This part was very lengthy and seemed to drag on for a long time. The novel eventually gets into the discussion on power and the abuse of power, but the small story of the childless world was still in the background.

When I was reading, I tried to think about what it would be like to live in a childless world. It would be tough, the economy wouldn't grow, it would just crumble and I think the whole world would be in some sort of chaos. There wouldn't be people growing up to take over jobs or take care of the sick and elderly. Is it everyone against the world? See who can live the longest? Read for yourself and let me know what you think!

Until next time!
Rebekka.

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America
Albert Brooks

This novel is one awesome read. It is a novel that I started quite some time ago, so I thought that I should start it again and finish it to the end this time. Albert Brooks is hilarious, there were many part of the book where I was laughing out loud and people around me thought I was crazy. He writes about what the world will be like in the year 2030 and I could see him being correct in many areas that he wrote about. This novel is this generation's 1984 (1984 - George Orwell). 1984 has come and gone now and Orwell's book made a lasting impression for many decades and the argument could be made that many of the ideas that Orwell wrote about actually came true - we really have no privacy today and we are all slaves to our televisions. Albert Brooks takes a new look into the future this time and maybe what he says could come true...

The premise of the book is that, due to scientific advances in the medical field, old people are enjoying longer and more healthier lives (researchers found a cure for cancer 15 years prior - 2015). The young people are now stuck in a society of decreasing opportunity while the price for things continues to rise. The young people are supposed to provide for themselves, their elders, and pay off the world's debt. This causes a lot of problems in the book. The young people are becoming increasingly resentful towards the old people and acts of terrorism against the old people begin.

Here are some of the facts that the book presents in itself (fictional framework):

• Social Security and Medicare are money pits
• The national debt prevents the government from stimulating the economy
• American taxes are now over-the-moon (sky) high
• Iran is secretly building nuclear weapons now (2011)
• There is a group of lobbyist specifically for the interests of old people

The novel is so dense with many ideas, funny, and quite dark at some points - Albert Brooks had me at the first page. I couldn't help to read what was coming next!I hope you enjoy it as much as I did if you decide to read it!

Till the next review! (The Children of Men - P.D. James)
Rebekka. :)

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Why We Broke Up
Daniel Handler

"Stop saying no offence," I said, "when you say offensive things. It's not a free pass."

"The thing with your heart's desire is that your heart doesn't even know what it desires until it turns up."

I must say that it was a struggle for me to get to the end of this novel. I don't know if I just didn't like the story or the way it was written or that I was reading the novel off of my iPad. I just know that it was always hard to come back to the story and pay attention. Why We Broke Up got some pretty great reviews from some big people, but I just don't see what they enjoyed about the novel.

There was a very nice background story to this book, but the way it was written really threw me off. First of all the dialogue... it was so hard to follow. The reader really has to pay close attention to who said what right from the very beginning or you start feeling so lost. There were way too many run on sentences and the page long paragraphs were annoying. It felt as if there were no breaks in the story.

The whole thing was pretty annoying... I didn't like the main characters or how someone was just complaining on every page. Everything written was overly sarcastic or written in a rage of anger. It was hard to follow every step of the story, I don't even remember what the characters names were and I think that they were pretty easy names to remember. I just didn't want to read a book about complaining page after page after page.

One nice thing about this book is that it had pictures at the end of every chapter. These pictures related to what was going on in the chapter. It was nice to have a visual to look at and something to look forward too. I hope that if this book is on your reading list, that you do try to attempt to read it. Maybe you will like it, maybe you won't. But you have to be the judge of that.

Till the next review!
Rebekka. :)

Looking for Book Ideas!

Almost 20 books down, 30 to go!

I cannot believe it is almost the end of March! I am just finishing up my 14th book (Why We Broke Up) and my app tracker tells me that I am three books ahead of schedule. Maybe I will finish more books before December 31st!

I am starting my list for the next ten books that I should read and I am open to ideas! Some of the books that are on the list are:

1. The Shining - Stephen King
2. Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup
3. PS, I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
4. The Great Gasby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

I need six more book suggestions to make this list an even ten. Help me out please?!

Keep on reading the reviews, I hope it is inspiring you to read more!

Till I write again!

Rebekka. :)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini

"For you, a thousand times over."

"There is only one sin. And that is theft... when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth. Every other sin is a variation of theft."

Done my 13th book of the challenge and I have to tell all my readers that this book was AMAZING. Even though the story is so sad, I have never paid attention this much to a story. I literally couldn't put down the book to do anything. Once I started reading, that is what I did until I finished the novel in three days. I started reading this book without seeing the movie or not knowing anything about the story and I was shocked. I was so speechless after reading the novel, this review might not be the best - I don't know what to write without giving the story away, this is a story that literally everyone (readers and non-readers) has to read!

This has to be one of the most disturbing novels I have read to date. I was shocked in different parts of the novel and almost in tears for most of the book. The story broke my heart and I desperately wanted to find out how everything got resolved (or did it get resolved?) before the ending. The story starts out in the past (pre-war and pre-Taliban Afghanistan) and ends around the time of the Twin Towers in New York collapsing (2001).

There were very many feelings that I felt during myself reading The Kite Runner. It felt like I was part of the story and I was right there in Afghanistan with the characters. Hosseini made the story come to life and I just couldn't help to have all of these feelings. These include:

• Beauty - the beauty with reality and all of the ugliness that goes along with reality.
• Love - towards the book and the characters and everything that shouldn't have gone wrong to begin with.
• Hatred - against what happened, what shouldn't have happened, and at everything that did go wrong.
• Horror - the viciousness and cruelness that happens within the story, it hurts.

I feel that if I learn from a book, I considerate it highly valuable. Hosseini taught me about the history, language, and geography of Afghanistan, as well as the hobby of kite flying and kite running. The Kite Runner had all of the ingredients needed to create a great story tale and it definitely a read for everyone. Please read and find out what happens in the book (or watch the movie - I have heard that it is just as great)! 

Till the next review! (Why We Broke Up - Daniel Handler)

Rebekka. :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver
Lois Lowry

"The worst part of holding on to memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared."

"Even trained for years as they all had been in precision of language, what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?"

I read The Giver in highschool, which was five years ago already, and I remembered I hated it. Now that I am older, I thought that I would give it another read to see if I like it this time - I didn't. To be honest, I don't know how anyone likes it but I guess people are entitled to their opinions. For me, the story just seemed to drag on right from the very beginning and I couldn't get into the story at all. This is the first book (12th out of 50) that I didn't like. I hope I like the rest of the ten books I picked out for this go around! Here are some of the reasons why I didn't like about it:

1. The book is boring and weird.
2. I didn't feel any emotion towards the main character (Jonas).
3. I didn't fully understand the book.
4. I really didn't understand why the ending is the way that it is.
5. I don't understand why this world that Lois Lowry made should have no color, no feelings, and no music so that people can live "decently".
6. I didn't understand why "bad" memories - war, loss - would make someone want to give up on their own life. It is like the characters cannot think for themselves, someone else is thinking for them and making them sad.
7. I didn't really understand this at all! haha.

The Giver is aimed for a children's audience (grade six-ish) but if adults don't really like the novel or understand what Lois Lowry is trying to get at, how are young children? Lowry uses oversimplification, emotional appeals, and dualistic morality to shut down reader's minds - this is what makes the story pretty confusing.We get morality from our culture that we live in, not from the people around us. Lowry thinks her view on morality is correct and only correct. Another bad thing that I didn't like about the story is that it doesn't have a clear ending to it, it is left open for reader's to come up with their own ending. I guess Lowry redacts the ending in the sequels to this novel - which doesn't really make sense. I know that since I didn't like The Giver, I have no intention to read the sequels and now I will never know the ending that she created. I will only know the ending that I made up in my head.

The story is not based in reality, Lowry creates an artificial world to suit her needs of the book. She builds this world to support the dualist morality that she is trying to push to her readers. Instead of writing about how poverty makes the world seem small and dull, she has the characters in the book unable to experience life how they would like too. Instead of writing about an impersonal government, she presents a "happy-go-lucky" commune. She contrasts "evil" with the idealized "goodness of emotion, beauty, and freedom".

If you feel like you want to read this book or have enjoyed reading it in the past, that is great! I hope that someone in the future will create a thoughtful and textual analysis of the novel that points out its merits, its structure, and its complexity - but that is just my opinion. If there are no wrong answers, can we really say that something has any meaning? I really wanted to like this book since so many people do and it is on so many lists of books to read, but I can't -at least I tried!

PS. The Giver is being made into a major motion picture and comes out this August! Some of the big name actors that are in it are Meryl Streep and Tayor Swift. I am a big Meryl Steep fan so here is to hoping that the movie is better than the book!

Till the next review! (The Kite Runner - Khaled Hoseini)
Rebekka. :)

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The Reader
Bernhard Schlink

"Is this what sadness is all about? Is it what comes over us when beautiful memories shatter in hindsight because the remembered happiness fed not just on actual circumstances but on a promise that was not kept?"

This book was amazing, I could not put it down to do any real life things. I finished The Reader in just under two and half days. The novel always kept me on my toes and I thought the ending was going to be totally different than what is ended up being. It was a good surprise, not a bad one.

The novel takes place in Germany during around the time of WW2 and onward (there are three parts to the book - the main character (Michael) in highschool; as a law student; and as a legal scholar). The novel focuses on law, memories, guilt, and illicit first loves. It also looks at what it means to love someone, how mush we can accept them and how blind we can be to those we love. Having all of these topics jammed into one book sure makes it hard to put down. The three parts of the book are:

1. Michael who is 15 at the time and still in highschool having an affair with Hanna, who is 36. They have the same ritual everyday together - he comes over to her apartment, they bathe each other and then they go into the bedroom. During all of this, Michael also reads out loud to Hanna.
2. Hanna's secrets are revealed and Germany's past is explored. Michael as a law student follows Hanna's case closely and is the only student who goes to the courthouse everyday. Michael's generation accuses their parents in the whole service of enlightenment - "Pointing at the guilty parties did not free us from shame, but at least it overcame the suffering we went through on account of it. I had to point at Hanna. But the finger I pointed at her turned back to me. But what gave rise to this swaggering self-righteousness I so often encountered? How could one feel guilt and shame and at the same time parade one’s self-righteousness."
3. Part three - you will just have to read the book to see what happens in part three. Is there grace or is there redemption? This part won me over for the whole book.

Some may argue that the relationship in the first part of the book is disgusting and a writer should not write about something illegal like that, but it made the book what it is. Good literature, like what Schlink is writing, makes us understand the complexity of the topic and cautious us against over broad and hasty judgments. Boys will be boys. Boys want to grow up fast and I think this is what Michael was trying to improve to himself and his family.

Schlink brings up some hard topics in the novel and readers really have to think about what he means by what he writes and puts the pieces of the puzzle back together. If we have a responsibility towards the past, to learn from it, and most people believe we do, then this book will help you to go some way towards fulfilling it. I highly recommend this read! And now to watch the movie....

Till the next review (The Giver - Lois Lowry)!

Rebekka. :)

10/40

Ten books down, forty to go!

This is the most that I have read - ohh in forever! It feels so good to read. It is nice to get lost in characters and escape reality for a little bit. Reading 50 books in a year seems easy now, reading 10 books in less than two months was a piece of cake.

The next ten books that I am going to reading & write reviews are:

1. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
5. 2030 by Albert Brooks
6. The Children of Men by P.D. James
7. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
8. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
9. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
10. The Emperor's Children by Clair Messud

If anyone has any suggestions for the next 10 books I read, please give them to me! I will need them and I am always up for reading something out of my comfort zone! Get ready for the next wave of book reviews!

Get ready for more!
Rebekka :)

The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared 
Jonas Jonasson

“Imagine that, death was just like being asleep. Would he have time to think before it was all over? And would he have time to think that he had thought it? But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

With the book having sold two million copies around the world, it has definitely charmed a lot of readers.  This story is the ultimate adventure of a lifetime and we find out so much of Allan's past life as we read along. I don't think I have ever read a book where the title actually sums up what is going to happen in the book - I thought that this was quite neat. There were really no surprises. The story reminded me somewhat of the Forrest Gump story.

Jonas Jonasson writes the book in past and present tense. One chapter will  be what is happening to Allan as he escapes and his adventures and the next chapter will be about his past and upbringing and why he's doing what he is doing. There were a few parts when I had to go back and reread parts because I was confused, but for the most part, it was a pretty easy read.

This book is pure entertainment. It is not the kind of book that you can laugh all the way through in, but there are many funny parts to the book. The situations that the characters get in are quite ridiculous. If you are looking for a quick, light read, this would be your book!

Till the next review!
Rebekka. :)

Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper

Everything Changes
Jonathan Tropper

"Life, for the most part, inevitably becomes routine, the random confluence of timing and fortune that configures its components all but forgotten. But every so often, I catch a glimpse of my life out of the corner of my eye and am rendered breathless by it."

Another novel by Jonathan Tropper = another great read! I love going back to his books, I am completely hooked on them. You are always kept on your toes with what will happen next with his main characters and every book is completely different from the next. Tropper's books are fast paced and very easy reads.

Everything changes for Zack King, the main character, when he wakes up one morning and finds blood in his urine. While waiting for his results to come back, he deals with an unsettling career, an absent father of 20+ years trying to make a comeback into his life, his upcoming engagement party, and the fact that he may be in love with his late best friend's widow. I definitely recommend this book to all of my readers to find out what happens with all of this. It does get pretty crazy and it fact Zack's whole life changes around on him!

This is the kind of story that made me cry at one moment in the book and then burst out in laughter at other parts. Tropper's books always make me feel a variety of emotions while reading them. They are enjoyable and the characters in the book are extremely relatable. Like some of his other books, this novel is in the talks about becoming a major motion picture with of course Tropper writing the screenplay!

Some of Jonathan Tropper's other novels that we could both read are:

• How to Talk to a Widower
• The Book of Joe
• Plan B

Till the next review!

Rebekka. :)

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

This is Where I Leave You
Jonathan Tropper

“You have to look at what you have right in front of you, at what it could be, and stop measuring it against what you've lost. I know this to be wise and true, just as I know that pretty much no one can do it.”

“You're terrified of being alone. Anything you do now will be motivated by that fear. You have to stop worrying about finding love again. It will come when it comes. Get comfortable with being alone. It will empower you.” 

As  I have said in a past blog post, Jonathan Tropper is one of my favorite authors right now. He writes about hard issues in life (issues which he may or may not have went through himself) but turns them into something light and humorous. As I think back about the book, it is probably one of the most effective combinations of heartbreak and hilariousness that I have ever read! This is the first book that I had read from Tropper and now I am addicted, I want to read all of his other books as well (the other two that I have read of him - Everything Changes and One Last Thing Before I Go are fantastic as well!).

The main character, Judd, is asked to come home to mourn his late fathers death that had been battling cancer. His family is Jewish and Judd's fathers' last wish apparently was to have all the family come together for this event and mourn together - sitting shiva (lasts seven days). Meanwhile, Judd's personal life is crumbling into pieces - he caught his ex-wife in bed with his boss, she is newly pregnant, he quit his job, and doesn't know where to go now in life. The book focuses mostly on the family but through Judd's eyes as he tells the story through past and present tense. This was a really good format for this book - it is good to have a lot of background information.

The tone of the novel is funny and sad - it is a great mixture to make the story flow and for the readers to really connect with the characters. THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU - those words, this book - can take you, if not where you want to go, or at least away from where you need to not be.

This novel is actually being turned into a movie (Tropper wrote the film's screenplay). It comes out in September 2014 and I am quite excited about it, I hope the actors and the directors do the book justice. Jason Bateman is playing Judd Foxman and Tina Fey is playing his ex-wife.

Till the next review! :)
Rebekka.

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

The Lover's Dictionary
David Levithan

“recant, v.
I want to take back at least half of the “I love you”s, because I didn’t mean them as much as the other ones. I want to take back the book of artsy photos I gave you, because you didn’t get it and said it was hipster trash. I want to take back what I said about you being an emotional zombie. I want to take back the time I called you “honey” in front of your sister and you looked like I had just shown her pictures of us having sex. I want to take back the wineglass I broke when I was mad, because it was a nice wineglass and the argument would have ended anyway. I want to take back the time we had sex in a rent-a-car, not because I feel bad about the people who got in the car after us, but because it was massively uncomfortable. I want to take back the trust I had while you were away in Austin. I want to take back the time I said you were a genius, because I was being sarcastic and I should have just said you’d hurt my feelings. I want to take back the secrets I told you so I can decide now whether to tell them to you again. I want to take back the piece of me that lies in you, to see if I truly miss it. I want to take back at least half the “I love you”s, because it feels safer that way.” 

I read this book within a day. It was beautifully written and not your "typical" novel. It reads like poetry and keeps the reader intrigued all the way through the book. Levithan tells the story in a very neat way - he writes the love story as a series of dictionary entries and highlights parts of the relationship in each of the entries. The entries make a reader happy, sad, and angry - they also make you laugh and your heart may break a little bit. The love story is real - messy and complicated but touching.

The story is about an unnamed couple who's love story is being told through dictionary entries. The narrator is a guy who is writing the entries while the girl just enhances the narrator. As there relationship goes on, it gets harder for the both of them (like it typically does for everyone in a relationship). Readers are left wondering if they decide to stay together or go there own way.

The timeline of the story umps around quite a bit but it does make sense in the end. Readers are always at the edge of their seats to what comes next - what will change in their relationship. There are equal parts of sad and happy and definitely has its lovey-dovey parts. This was a great easy read, I definitely recommend it!

Just wanted to share some of the dictionary entries with you! Here are some of them:

• better, adj. and adv.
  Will is ever get better?
  It better.
  Will it ever get better?
  It better.
• bolster, v.
  I am very careful whenever I know you're on the phone with your father, I know you'll come to me eventually, and we'll talk you through it. But I have to wait - you need your time. In the meantime, I'm careful what songs I play. I try to speak to you with my selections.
• corrode, v.
  I spent all this time building a relationship. Then one night I left the window open, and it started to rust.

Read and find out what the other dictionary entries read about! Till the next review!

Rebekka.

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

A Street Cat Named Bob

James Bowen

“People don’t want to listen. All they see is someone they think is trying to get a free ride. They don’t understand I’m working, I’m not begging. I was actually trying to make a living. Just because I wasn't wearing a suit and a tie and carrying a briefcase or a computer, just because I didn't have a payslip and a P45, it didn't mean that I was freeloading.”

I wouldn't recommend this book to any unless they are a major cat lover and want to read a heart warming story. Any cat lover would love to get to know Bob and his story. The book is kind of flat and boring at parts, same with being repetitive. This is why this is only a book for cat lovers, I think every other reader will be bored with the novel.

The story is about James Bowen, a recovering drug addict, living in a shelter and making as much money as he could to get by. A tabby cat named Bob was sitting by his shelter one day when Bowen came home. Bowen couldn't help but nursing and caring for the cat and sending him on his way. Bob didn't want to go anywhere, so he hung around Bowen.

Since Bob and Bowen became inseparable, they took on the streets with each other and helped each other out. The both have troubled pasts but still form a firm companionship and bond. Life does not get any easier for the both of them but with the love they have for each other, they manage to overcome everything that is thrown at them.

While reading this book, you may come to have a new love for cats. They are so smart and clever and know how to take care of their owners just how we take care of them. Everyone needs a cat in their life. So all of you cat lovers out there, you should definitely read this book! After the novel, you can can still follow James and Bob's story on Twitter! :)

Till the next review!

Rebekka.

The Red House by Mark Haddon

The Red House
Mark Haddon

"It wasn't about believing this or that, it wasn't even about good and evil and right and wrong, it was about finding the strength to bear the discomfort that came with being in the world."

I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, so I was really excited to pick up this book and read it (this was also the first book that I read this year). By reading the first 50 pages, I was extremely disappointed but kept on reading to see if it got any better (in my opinion...it didn't). This is a book about death, it begins with a death, but nowhere is the struggle with this most human of problems made effective. Haddon provides lip service to a concept of death but he does fall short and it is in my opinion that the subject matter is beyond him.

The book doesn't have one main character telling the story, their are eight people trying to tell the reader the story all at once. A brother and sister and their families go on a week long vacation with one another after their mother dies and that is where the story begins. The point of view shifts from one person in one paragraph to the next person in the next paragraph, but there were many times where the switch occurred right in the middle of the paragraph. This made the story really confusing and I had to reread many different parts of the book to keep track of what was going on.

I thought that all the characters had great stories behind them. Mark Haddon probably could have written them all their own book if he wanted too. There was the sister who was going crazy over memories of an unborn child many years ago, the husband who was having an affair, the brother who was learning that his wife had multiple secrets and had to learn how to be a better husband, and a daughter who was coming to terms with her sexual orientation. It was too bad that you couldn't focus your attention on one character, instead you had to focus on all eight. Maybe some people would like this type of writing and likes lots of drama in their choice of books, I will leave this book up to you if you want to give it a chance or not!

Till the next review!
Rebekka.

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Trooper

One Last Thing Before I Go
Jonathan Trooper

"We don't stop loving people because we hate them, but we don't stop hating them either."

"There are some people out there who don't wait for what comes next. They decide what should come next and they go and make it happen."

First of all, all of Jonathan Trooper's novels seem life-like. It seems like he lived through all of the experiences that his fictional characters have to deal with. I am not sure though if he has or not. I haven't researched his on his own before. I have enjoyed all of his other books, including this one, because I love how he gives his main characters a poignantly funny voice as they try to get a handle on their past, present, and future. Trooper is comfortable at throwing humor into his books as he deals with some emotional, hard issues but this never feels forced. His novels flow nicely and have a nice balance to them.

This book especially, the main character (a middle-aged man) has some difficult struggles to overcome with his entire life and somehow he figures out to live his life at the end. Drew Silver is the main characters name. He used to be an almost famous drummer (had a couple one hit wonders before his band decided to go their own separate ways) and he was never all that good at being a husband or a father to his one daughter. He finds it much easier to do nothing than risk disappointing others or himself. He finds out that his ex-wife is getting remarried and that his daughter is pregnant with some random boys' baby and he doesn't know how to take all that. One day, he finds himself laying in a hospital bed after having a mini aneurysm. The doctors tell him that he needs to have an operation to save his life or else he was die, but he refuses the entire operation. Instead, Silver wants to take the short time that he has left to live to become a better man, be a better father, and to fall in love. He is caught in the middle of everyone in his life on what he should do with his life now. Some questions that will come up in the novel and to get you thinking are:

• Does he end up getting the surgery?
• Does he have a random hookup with his ex wife?
• Does his daughter end up keeping the baby?
• What is life actually all about?

Trooper takes you on an enjoyable and engrossing ride, one that makes you laugh, makes you smile, and maybe even tears you up just a little bit. I know that I did all of those things while I was reading this particular novel. I am sure all readers will love this one!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project
Graeme Simsion

“I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.”

The Rosie Project = totally addicted.

I could not put this novel down and I tried pretty hard. This is a classic love story but written in the view point of a man. I loved it, it was a nice change having a man tell the love story rather than  a women. I fell in love with both characters of the book and ended up reading it in two and a half days.

Don, the main character, is a university professor, genetic scientist, has a schedule and a plan for everything, lives everyday the same way, and has an extreme case of OCD. But he still wanted a wife and once he has an idea in his head, he is going to follow through. Don made a questionnaire to hand out to women to find the "perfect wife" for himself - this questionnaire is hilarious and a glorified paper way of online dating.

When Don met Rosie, she was the total opposite of everything he stated in his questionnaire. She is very beautiful and smart but she has so many flaws that he doesn't think that he will be able to get over. Don knew that Rosie was unsuitable for him but she needed help finding her biological father (the Father Project). He thought that since he was a genetic scientist and that he liked building schedules and plans, this would be the perfect project for him to be in with her. In the middle of the Father Project, Don falls in love. He found himself learning about himself and also about other people. He found himself having fun in Rosie's company and begins to wonder what life was really about.

This was such an awesome book! I have already recommended it to a few friends and they enjoyed the story just as much as I did. It was a great read and a little different that other typical love stories. I can see this being made into a movie within a few years and I cannot wait! I highly recommend this book, I know for sure that you will enjoy it. :)

Till the next review!
Rebekka.

The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom

The First Phone Call from Heaven
Mitch Albom

"A beautifully rendered tale of faith snd redemption that makes us think, feel, and hope - - and then doubt and then believe, as only Mitch Albom can make us do." - Garth Stein

"What if the end is not the end?"

"There are two stories for every life; the one you live and the one others tell."

The First Phone Call from Heaven tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from afterlife. Now the question is: is this a miracle or is it a hoax?! Sully Harding (the main character of the novel), a single father, is determined to find out.

There are a few points in the book that stood out to me. Some of these features are:

1. There is quite a bit of history written about Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Grey. I love how Albom includes this in his book. These calls from the afterlife come from cellphones mostly and it is neat to be informed again how the phone was invented.
2. There is a scene a little over half way of the novel in which one of the people receiving calls from heaven reacts in a very surprising way.
3. It is just well written. I connected with all of the characters instantly and did not want to put the book down.

The only downside of the book I would have to say is the ending. To me, after I read the ending, I couldn't figure out why I couldn't put the novel down. I was so upset. I am not going to write about the ending because I do not want to ruin the book for anyone. The First Phone Call from Heaven is still a fantastic book (minus the ending) and I think everyone would enjoy the story. I know I still loved the book. It is sort of a mystery novel but also a heart-felt, touching novel.

"There is a time for hello and a time for goodbye. It's why the act of burying things seems natural but the act of digging them up does not."

Till the next review!
Rebekka.

Never Have I Ever by Katie Heaney

Never Have I Ever: My Life (SO FAR) Without a Date
Katie Heaney

"I've been single for my entire life. Not one boyfriend. Not one short-term dating situation. Not one person with whom I regularly hung out and kissed on the face."

Two overall words for this book:

Hilarious & True !!

After reading this book, I want to go to the nearest Indigo and buy a copy of this for all of my friends! Katie Heaney writes about dating like it is, not how every single girl on the planet makes dating out to be and what it should be. She threw all of her dating expectations out of the door and didn't stress about any boy that crossed her path in her 25 year old life. What if all women could be like Katie? We could focus on ourselves as women and not to try and prove ourselves for just some guy that comes around for a little while.

Reading this novel didn't feel like reading a novel. I felt like I was reading a really long email from an old friend. That is how she wrote this book though. At the beginning, she writes that she hopes that the book feels like you are hanging out with her, drinking, and that she's telling you about her embarrassing adventures in life so far. 

Even if you have went out on dates and kissed boys, you will surely relate to something that Katie says in her book. This is the perfect book for twenty-something women that feel lost, confused, annoyed, unresolved, or angry at their love lives, or just life in general. Katie divided the book up into parts of her life and explained her lack of love life in every part. These parts are:

1. Elementary/Middle School
2. High School
3. College
4. Grad School
5. Epilogue 

This made the book flow nicely and I never felt like I was lost or confused at any point in the book. In all of the different parts of the book, Katie was honest and familiar. She was refreshing and she was absolutely hilarious. She is a strong person and writer, has a great group of friends, is confident and sarcastic and witty, and wraps all of this into awesomeness.

I believe that any young woman would love this book, so I would drive to your local Indigo/Chapters right now or log onto amazon.com and get this book for yourself (and maybe a copy for your best friend). I promise that you will not be disappointed!

Till the next review!

Rebekka.

Reading Challenge 2014.

Welcome to Rebekka's Reading Challenge of 2014!
I could start out this blog by telling my audience all about me. My age, what I do for work and fun, how exciting of a person I am and all of that non-sense. Well...maybe I can fill you in later.

This year in January, I made a goal like most people do after their drunken New Years' parties. I made the goal that I would read 50 books by the end of December 2014. I haven't read in a long time and wanted to get back into it. Reading makes me happy...getting lost in stories and characters...escaping reality for a few hours a day.
Since the beginning of January, I have read 10 books.

1. The Red House by Mark Haddon
2. This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Trooper
3. A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
5. Everything Changes by Jonathan Trooper
6. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
7. The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
8. One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Trooper
9. The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom
10. Never Have I Ever by Katie Heaney

I have been told that I have been reading too fast by a few people, that I should slow down (I guess that ten books in less than two months is quite the accomplishment). My boyfriend brought up that I should be writing reviews for every book that I read and track this challenge through a blog form.

So that is why I am here. I am going to start writing reviews after every book that I read (I will also write reviews for the past ten books) and share all these wonderful and not so wonderful books with you! I am hoping to run polls and asking for suggestions for what I should read next! This should be a fun one year journey. :)

Rebekka.