Have a Little Faith: A True Story by Mitch Albom

Have a Little Faith: A True Story
Mitch Albom

"Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe."

"You are not your past."

I loved this book, like I have loved most of Mitch Albom's other books. I had forgotten how Albom's books makes you feel after you read them. His books are deep, funny, worldly and sentimental. "Have a Little Faith" was a well written book that was thoughtful and approachable. This was a thought provoking read for me!



This book is about faith, not just any specific religion.. but believing in something bigger than yourself. It'll make you rethink about your acts in the future, decisions.. and what life is really all about.


Until next time!
Rebekka.

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. :)