The Gift

As I browsing the internet while trying to fetch my good mood reading Basic Aerodynamic textbook(exam will be held next Friday!), suddenly I googled Cecelia Ahern and here we go, a new book from my favourite author will come out very soon in this month! Yeay!

Synopsis; The Gift

Step into the magical world of Cecelia Ahern If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be? Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else. On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room. But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time? As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all. This is a story about people who not unlike parcels, hide secrets.They cover themselves in layers until the right person unwraps them and discovers what's inside.Sometimes you have to be unravelled in order to find out who you really are. For Lou Suffern, that took time.

Can't wait to read this novel! I'm so excited. Off we go now, back to my textbook and assignment.. :(

For one more day - Mitch Albom

Last night I finished a novel by Mitch Albom entitled For one more day. It was a story about a baseball player,Chick who decided to kill himself after a lot of terrible things happened in his life. But, when he involved in a car crash, he suddenly walked to his mom's house and surprised that his mother who died fews years ago, still inside the house and treat him very well, like every mother in the world did. Chick could not believed what he exactly saw. His mother, Posey, asked him to spent one day with her. Chick missed his mom very much and starting from that moment, he spent a day with his mom and he finally realized that he never stand up for his mom and so many things he done wrong to his mom before she died.

Albom's stories provoke us to ponder and question how we approach these relationships, either under truly extraordinary or utterly banal circumstances. "What could I have done better?" is the resonating question we think about regarding past relationships and "What can I do now?" spurs us to think about our present relationships.

Albom uses this formula in his most recent novel for one more day where he delves into the question "If you had one more day with someone who is no longer in your life, who would it be?" For the protagonist, Charles "Chick" Benetto, it is his mother Posey. We meet Chick in his mid fifties, a man who has carried ordinary and traumatic childhood experiences and expectations into his adulthood. A child of divorce and an absentee father, Chick and his sister are raised by their mother who is both an embarrassment and a compass to them both, especially Chick. As an adult, he has a briefly unsuccessful stint as a Major League baseball player and an even longer and more unsuccessful stint as a salesman.

Following Posey's death in his forties, Chick spirals into eight years of alcoholism and self doubt, which results in Chick leaving his family and losing contact with his daughter. With nothing left in his life, Chick decides to go back to town where he grew up to end it all. In the process, he ends up spending one more day with his mother. It is a remarkable day of discovering who Posey truly was and how her actions influenced his life in positive and negative ways.

The pace of back story intermingled with the present is true to Albom's style, giving the reader just enough information to grasp and propel them forward to the protagonist's next revelation. Successful character development is key in for one more day and the reader will not be disappointed by Albom's descriptions. They are vivid and tangible. Had Albom chosen a female protagonist and slightly different storyline, for one more day would have easily fallen into the "chick lit" category. By choosing Charles "Chick" Benetto as the main character and crafting such a layered and absorbing story line, Albom has successfully appealed to a diverse audience.

Thanks for the memories

What will happen if you received a blood from anonymous person that saved yourlife but not thats all, you suddenly can feel and knows everything that out of your control, change your dont's to do's like from vegetarian to not vegetarian, you received images thats nothing to do with you and yourlife? Its a big complicated right? But, when I finally finished read the latest novel, Thanks for the memories from Cecelia Ahern, which was an amazing and spectacular story that I've ever read before. Its a story that involved Joyce, whom lost her child while she's still pregnant, divorced with her husband and she decided to live with her dad, Thomas. Whole her life afterwards seems so different with her dad around when they went for a holiday for the first time over the sea, her dad in this amazing story makes the whole story full of sense of humour besides her best girl friends, Frankie and Kate which gave Joyce a strong relationship between each other. The miracle of this story is that, Joyce managed to find the donor, Justin that saved her life and they are met to each other.I myself admit that between me and my father, he seems so cheerful person even though we knew that he got a massive problem, but he manages to get thru all of it and still, he will be crazy, fun and very sincere in the family. Enjoy!

A short preview from the novel;

How can you know someone you've never met? Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

When she leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, Joyce moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of deja vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why!

yes, I just done my habit of reading one book from my favourite author, Cecelia Ahern.
the title was "A place called here."
Sandy Shortt is a missing person's person that run an agency to find people that dissappeared. Until she found a place that all the person she looking for were in different world that named "here". She shocked and surprised because she knows all about them, their family and the people that she searching years ago are in this place. It was a touching story and sometimes, I wondered where the hell people go when they went missing. Its interesting to read this book because this Sandy Shortt found all her belonging in that place since she was 10. Same goes to all people she listed to search..all of them were there..

Another review I got from internet;

A Place Called Here

Cecelia Ahern

The magical new novel from the number 1 bestselling author of "PS, I Love You" and "Where Rainbows End".

Since Sandy Shortt's childhood schoolmate disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy has been obsessed with missing things. Finding becomes her goal - whether it's the odd sock that vanished in the washing machine, the car keys she misplaced in her rush to get to work or the graver issue of finding the people who vanish from their lives. Sandy dedicates her life to finding these missing people, offering devastated families a flicker of hope.

Jack Ruttle is one of those desperate people. It's been a year since his brother, Donal vanished into thin air and the sleepless nights and frantic days aren't getting any easier. Thinking Sandy Shortt could well be the answer to his prayers, he embarks on a quest to find her. But, when Sandy goes missing too, her search ends when she stumbles upon the place - and people - she's been looking for all of her life.

A world away from her loved ones and the home she ran from for so long, Sandy soon resorts to her old habit again, searching. Though this time, she is desperately trying to find her way home!

P/S: As I browse her name in google, actually she is the youngest daughter of Irish Prime Minister after her sister, married to Westlife singer..detail just click here.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2007/12/30/st_ahern130.xml

Where rainbows end-Saturday night reading,almost finish.

I wake up early at 7.20am, already made appointment with Anuar, from Brunei(classmate)few days before(after cancelled several time to explore Cardiff since last year due to my unability and lazy behavior to get up early in the morning during weekend!)It is a big sacrifice u know! Well, at 8.40am, we met at Cardiff Queen Street, fetch No.13 bus to Splott,our first destination where this is the first time I went to Car Boot or what we used to called, Uptown in Malaysia. But this kinda car boot are open during weekend from morning till noon and totally different from Malaysia style. I used to hangout at Damansara Uptown during midnite while eating my mouth watering favoourite Tauhu Bakar, Rojak Sotong, and the best, Yong Taufu...yummy! About 2hrs looking a lot of stuff, I managed to buy a novel by Cecelia Ahern, Where rainbows end for 50pence, non-stick bakeware cake pan rectangular shape for GBP2.50 (thinking to bake cake..hehe), sieve for my pasta (easier for me to let it dry) for 50pence each and lastly I bought 1 lb of green grapes for GBP1.00 and ate it all the way in the car boot area..Today, Millenium Stadium got a rugby match between Wales and Italia in RBS 6nation.The city were crowded with blue(Italia) and red(Wales) fans. As usual, preview about the novel,

Where rainbows end

Rosie and Alex are childhood friends. They’ve been through everything together and have an amazing bond right from the start. As they grow up, this does not change, even when they start dating other people. However, fate steps in when Alex’s parents decide to go and live in America – and he has to go with them. They’ve never been apart before and Rosie is soon planning on joining a university in Boston so they can be together again.

However, the night that Rosie is due to fly out, she discovers something that will change her plans forever, and she stays at home in Ireland.

Starting at an invitation from Rosie to Alex inviting him to her seventh birthday party, this book chronicles their lives, from teenage dances to the start of their careers and relationships with others. How will Rosie and Alex’s friendship be tested when distance comes between them?

* Characters *

Rosie and Alex are obviously the main contenders and the ones we know most about from their correspondence. However when Rosie starts her first job, Ruby, an older woman is brought in as her ‘replacement’ best friend for Alex as he starts his new life in the US. Ruby’s appearance is mostly through instant messages which are fairly amusing, especially as she reads Rosie’s emails and is always sticking her nose in, wanting to know what’s going on with her and Alex and reading too much into what’s being said and drawing her own conclusions!

Other characters that pop up are Stephanie, Rosie’s sister who’s in France and Rosie’s parents (her mum trying to figure out how to use email is humourous) and Phil, Alex’s brother. Through these other characters we see what Alex and Rosie are really thinking rather than what they’re saying to each other. As their friendship becomes more complicated, they start to analyse what they really mean to one another and how distance isn’t really preventing them from seeing each other – their feelings are.

* Story *

This book is not what I expected at all!
The way it is told is quite clever. It’s told completely in note or letter form with ‘Dear Rosie/Alex’, instant messaging, email, text, postcards or even greetings cards! So the book’s pages aren’t full – they’re very gappy which I guess is a bit strange but the reader soon becomes used to it.

As I hadn’t known anything at all about this book, I had no idea about the strange way of story telling and I’m not sure if I’d have picked this up in a book store whether I would’ve bought it or not if I’d just randomly flicked through it. However, in the first few pages I was hooked and after an hour and a half train journey, I’d read over 100 pages.

* What I liked *

The banter between Alex and Rosie is really fun to read. They start as precocious children sulking over birthday invitations and this carries on to teenage years when Alex starts dating and Rosie feels a bit put out as their friendship takes a back seat. Their maturity comes through as their paths separate and jobs and families come into the picture.

Ruby is a really great character and is a person that, if you knew her, would be larger than life. She’s in her mid 30s at the start of the book and has a teenage son, Gary and an on/off boyfriend Teddy. She’s always there with ‘friendly’ advice for Rosie – which isn’t always wanted but she gives it anyway! I love the way her messages come through to Rosie at work and Rosie’s worried she’s going to get caught out by the bosses and be reprimanded for it.

The reader goes through everything with the two main characters, at times it’s frustrating to see how they’re hiding their feelings but at the same time it adds to the suspense and the bad timing on both their parts adds to the comic content.

* Good bits *

Little touches like Alex spelling ‘know’ as ‘no’ (consistently throughout the book!) made me smile, especially as it annoys Rosie and you get the impression that’s exactly why he does it!

One of my favourite bits of the book was when Rosie joins a divorcees’ chatroom. Alex’s nickname for her is Buttercup, so she signs on with that name.

Here’s a snippet:

Divorced_1: Well, trust me, it’s harder * with * kids. Unfortunately my rugrats are the spit of my husband and when I look at them I just want to strangle the little bastards. Do your kids look like your ex, UnsureOne?

UnsureOne: Yes and no. Some people say they do and others say they don’t. I’m not too sure really …

Wildflower: Let’s not be rude, guys, and introduce ourselves to Buttercup. I’m 62 years old, I’ve 5 kids and my husband left me last year.

Buttercup: Oh, how awful. I’m sorry.

Divorced_1: HA! No need to be sorry, cupcake. The man had good reason to leave her; she was sleeping with their gardener.

Buttercup: Oh!

Wildflower: Oh, *please *, like you lot never thought of ever doing the same thing.

UnsureOne: Well, my gardener was a woman.

* My conclusion *

I loved it. I raced through this book even though I tried to stop myself from finishing it too quickly. I loved the characters and the way the families are in the background and yet always coming to either Alex’s or Rosie’s aid if they’re needed. The strong bond that ties Alex and Rosie is there throughout, even when they’re far apart. It’s not overly slushy, their friendship is made up of teasing one another and joking but underneath the reader gets the impression there’s far more to it than that.

It reminded me slightly of Sophie Kinsella’s way of writing as I always find that very amusing so if you’re a fan of the Shopaholic series I think you’d probably like this book. However there’s more substance to this book and it’s not as lightweight - in fact there are moments of genuine sadness which *almost* reduced me to tears, but as I'm a tough cookie I managed to hold them in!

A lot of years pass and the reader experiences all the emotions and traumas along with the characters as well as the laughs and happy times.

I enjoyed the way it was written. At first it was weird reading so many separate ‘bits’ of story and piecing them all together but after a while, once the child versions of Alex and Rosie ‘grew up’ and they started emailing one another, that almost felt like spying on them. As we all know, it’s very naughty to read other people’s emails because they’re private. * evil grin *

In a nutshell I recommend this one. Highly – and five star treatment at that.

* Other info *

453 pages.

This is Cecilia Ahern’s second novel. She lives in Ireland and is currently writing her next novel (yay!).

Remember me? by Sophie Kinsella

As I read a free newspaper after my class at Barry and waiting for my bus last week, I saw an advertisement about a new novel is going to release from one of my favourite author, Sophie Kinsella. Remember me? Kinda interesting as I open the author website, and read the review from her fans all over the world that already enjoyed this new release novel!
I gonna buy this book maybe few months afterward as it will be cheaper!! Tactic to be a smart buyer here..hehe..

Synopsis of the novel

Remember me? by Sophie Kinsella

Lexi wakes up in a hospital bed after a car accident, thinking it’s 2004 and she’s a twenty-five-year old with crooked teeth and a disastrous love life.But, to her disbelief, she learns it’s actually 2007 – she’s twenty-eight, her teeth are straight, she’s the boss of her department – and she’s married! To a good-looking millionaire! How on earth did she land the dream life??!

She can’t believe her luck – especially when she sees her stunning new home. She’s sure she’ll have a fantastic marriage once she gets to know her husband again. He’s drawn up a ‘manual of our marriage’, which should help.

But as she learns more about her new self, chinks start to appear in the perfect life. All her old colleagues hate her. A rival is after her job. Then a dishevelled, sexy guy turns up… and lands a new bombshell.

What the **** happened to her? Will she ever remember? And what will happen if she does?