The most important people

Remember how I said I went on vacation last week?

Remember how I said I had bought two books on my Kindle for said vacation and that one of them was Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and the other was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams?

Yeah, well I actually bought a third and read that one instead of Hitchhiker. As I was mindlessly browsing through YouTube videos (a favorite pastime of mine) I found a video talking about a book called The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Alborn.

Just to clarify, I don't exactly know why I got this book. I wanted another book to read and I wasn't really in the mood for Hitchhiker. I read the blurb for this one and I liked it, so I got the free preview of the book that you can get on Amazon. Basically they give you just enough of a book to decide if you like it or not, and then before a major plot point happens they ask you if you want to buy it. Well obviously now I do! I want to know what happens!

So anyway, I read about the first chapter and a half of this book, was intrigued, bought it, and then didn't put it down. I was hooked. However, whenever I explain this book to others I feel as if it loses its magic. That doesn't usually happen with other books, I can babble on about them for hours, but this one I don't talk about very much. Except to you, because I like you.

Basically, this is the story of a man named Eddie. 

Eddie dies.

That isn't a spoiler, that is the story.

Eddie is a maintenance man at Ruby Pier. He has lived there since he was a little boy and his father was head of maintenance before him. Although a war and a marriage has happened between little boy Eddie and old man Eddie, there he is, fixing and maintaining the machinery and making sure that everything still works. But Eddie is lonely. And Eddie hurts all over. And Eddie is old. And one day, the unthinkable happens and Eddie is no longer there to be lonely and hurt and old. Because Eddie has died. From his death onwards, he goes on a journey, beginning once again as a boy, at the pier the way he remembers it was in the 1930s. As Eddie journeys once again through his life, he meets five people. Five people that he impacted somehow in his life, even if he wasn't aware of it and even if the impact wasn't a good one. Someway or another, he changed their lives. And they are there to tell him exactly how he did it. Once he has met all of them, he can go and wait for the person who changed his life to tell them their story. Only after can he move on.

This book was very touching. It was a bit of an unexpected pearl. I am not a very religious person, which once again brings up the question of why I bought this book. However, I do really like imagining what happens after death. Now you could see that as morbid, or you could view it as Dumbledore does, as the "next great adventure". I don't know why, but I think it's very interesting. Anyway, this book was not very religious. Sure, Eddie goes to Heaven and he does pray and he does mention God a few times, but even if that isn't your cup of tea, it really isn't the core of the story. The core of the book is Eddie, and his five people. 

Another thing I liked about this book was how true I felt it was. I'm not talking about life after death, or Heaven, I am talking about the everyday occurrences that shape a life. I'm talking about accidents and the inevitability of everything and dealing with it in a normal human way, which I find most book characters do not. I won't spoil anything, but this is a sad book. It is a .... I think melancholy is the word here. It is a melancholic book. There are some happy parts and there are some sad parts and the whole of the two is beautiful. 

I highly recommend this book to basically anyone, although, I'm going to put an age marker of eh, say 13, because there are some very sad, very real topics in there, but nothing obscene. The age limit I've placed is on emotional maturity, not because of language (although there is some, but not a lot) or racy scenes/subjects. As I said, there are many thought provoking themes and events, so it's not a light-hearted beach read, but it's also very easy to read as it is quite well written. It's a quick read, I finished it in under 24 hours because I couldn't put it down. 

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! Leave your thoughts in the comments below and meanwhile I will get to work on finished A Cuckoo's Calling, which I still have not finished. Shame on me, I know. 

A Box of Memories

This book is called Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. Here is the cover. Following the cover are my thoughts. Enjoy. Why is this so sarcastic?

So I just came back from vacation and while I was there I needed a chick lit book to read. Don't we all? Especially when going somewhere warm and sunny, like I was. As per usual when I needed inspiration for what to read, I went to consult my friends. By which I mean I went on Youtube and looked up some of my favorite BookTubers. Let me step back and explain who these people are. 

BookTubers are people who film videos and talk about books. So basically, if instead of writing this blog, I filmed myself speaking, I would be a BookTuber. I personally like Carrie H Fletcher, who also does other styles of videos, not just books, and Sanne, who primarily talks about books and whose videos I really like. I will link them below.

Anyway, Carrie made a video a while back listing books she wanted to read for an online book club and Why We Broke Up was among them, I believe. It sounded intriguing and a good vacation book, so I got it on my Kindle. I started reading on the plane and finished within the next two days. 

The book is the story of Min (short for Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom, as she will explain whenever she introduces herself), a junior in high school who enjoys classic movies and good coffee. She has a group of cool, hipster friends (I mean that in the least negative light). Then one day, Ed and his group of popular-jock-basketball-playing friends crash her friend Al's birthday party. The Ed. The handsome, popular, envied Ed. And who should catch his eye but Min. Thus begins a doomed love story between a popular jock who secretly really likes math, and an arty (she hates the term) aspiring movie director who do not have much in common but a mutual attraction. The book is the letter than Min is going to leave in the box of things that remind her of Ed that she is going to leave on his doorstep as final good-bye.

I enjoyed this book a lot because it deals with the very real boundaries between different social groups. Min's friends are taken aback that she is dating a jock, and Ed's friends just don't understand why he is suddenly dating a girl who has no interest in sports and wild parties on the football field. I know that, and I feel like I say this a lot, adults like to believe that there are no cliques in high school. Well, let me tell you, there are, and while the rules aren't written, they are very much present. This book transcended those boundaries and ultimately showed what happens when two worlds collide. The way I say it makes it sound depressing and upsetting, but it's very well handled and truthful. 

I also like the characters. Min is whimsical. She can self-lament a lot, but I really do like her. She's funny, sarcastic and despite how smart she is, can be clueless. Ed however doesn't have very much depth, but then again, he was written in a perfect light, as Min saw him. Which was interesting if not very realistic. 

And now possibly my favorite part of the book. It was written by Daniel Handler. I did not know until I read the author's biography (I usually do, okay, I think it's interesting) that he is in fact Lemony Snicket, the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket is his pseudonym, but Daniel Handler is his real name. I suppose if I read it again, Why We Broke Up would have a similar (maybe less child-ish) style than A Series of Unfortunate Events did. I loved that series, and I loved the writing in this book. I know some people get very annoyed with run-on sentences, which Min does tend to use, but hey, I like them a lot. 

In conclusion, very good book. I recommend this as a good beach/poolside read. Not too much thinking is involved. However, I would say maybe 14 and up. If you've read Perks of Being A Wallflower you should be fine, but just so you know... stuff happens. Not in detail, but it is heavily implied. 

As for the BookTubers, here they are:

Carrie is here.

Sanne is here.

It has been too long

Fancy seeing you here...

Okay, these last few weeks have been insane. First there was the week leading up to exams (which is possibly more stressful than the exams themselves), then there was the week of exams, then there was the week of the play, then there was an insane week of snow days, then another, but this time with the added bonus of downed power lines.... It has been slightly chaotic. As much as I love theatre and snow days, I wish I could get back into my little routine.

I haven't had much time to read or write, or even watch TV (gasp!), so here is a hodgepodge of the few things that I have been able to do.

1. I finally watched (500) Day of Summer! I really liked it. Several people had said that I should definitely watch it, and I'd already fallen in love with the soundtrack. I had a free Sunday afternoon, so I thought why not? It was very cute and bittersweet, I didn't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. It's a boy meets girl story, but it's not a love story. If there is ever a rainy Saturday where you don't know what to do (as if that ever happens, right?) this is a great movie for such an occasion.

2. I watched Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) and Jude Law (John Watson). I liked it enough. I mean, I like anything Sherlock Holmes, let's be real here. But - and this may be biased - I think I like Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock better. Disregarding the setting (modern in Sherlock BBC and Victorian in A Game of Shadows), I always pictured Sherlock Holmes as a really distinguished gentleman when I was reading the books. While RDJ has the fighting element and the sort of "addict" side of Holmes down pat, I think that Cumberbatch delivers the gentlemanly aspect better. His Holmes has a nearly regal presence, while RDJ's Holmes was a lot scruffier. However, the tables turn when it comes to Watson. John Watson is easily one of my favorite literary characters, and I'm very picky about how he's played. Jude Law's Watson was great. Unlike Martin Freeman's Watson in Sherlock BBC, he doesn't let Sherlock walk all over him, and he puts him in his place. I feel like he's a better balance to the insane Holmes scale. As much as I love Freeman, and I think his John Watson is great, I just thought Jude Law better captured the soldier and doctor aspect of the character, and his exasperation at dealing with such a childlike genius. I don't even know what I think about Irene Adler in A Game of Shadows. She was American. She was all over the plot line. What? Why? I didn't like her nearly as much as I like Lara Pulver's Irene Adler in Sherlock BBC. That's just my opinion. And D.I.  Lestrade is just a great character no matter how you slice it.

3. I am currently reading A Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling's pen name, and this is her first crime novel. I haven't gotten very far into it, but I like it so far. I'll keep you updated.

4. I am going on a trip tomorrow, so I got two books on my Kindle for the journey. I got Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, which is totally chick lit, but what can you do? When I'm on vacation, I don't need thought provoking books. I just need an easy, enjoyable read, and chick lit fills the requirements. I also got a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Why not? I don't know what the story really is, but I read the first few pages and I like Arthur Dent already.

That's about it. Make of that what you will, and I will be posting a review of the books I read during my break as soon (well, sometime after) I finish them.

Happy Wednesday and stay warm if you're about to be invaded by snow like I am.