Below are the reviews of the books that I've read as part of my 50 book challenge from 08-09 and of the book's I'm currently reading as part of the 09-10 challenge.
The Lovely Bones is by Alice Sebold and is available to buy from both amazon and play.com
Well, to begin with I bought this book because I saw the adverts for the movie on TV and I thought “Hmmm that looks alright”
Before I carry on, I do want to say that I have both seen the movie and read the book. Although, when I watched the film I hadn’t finished reading the book. It must be said as usually happens with people I preferred the book to the movie.
Although unlike some of the film reviews I’ve read I personally think Peter Jackson did well with the movie even if some of the plot and storylines in the book were ignored, it didn’t detract from the overall story of the book.
Well, I’ve got to say that although I enjoyed the film I thought the book was much better. I wont spoil the book or the film but I will say that you should only read it, its not a bad book by any means.
One question I’ve asked myself while I was reading it was, “Is it me or does it jump around?” That for me is the biggest flaw of the book at times the narrative jumps around by that I don’t mean it changes from person to person, what I mean is that one line your are hearing about the changes to Buckley (Susie’s little brother) and the next your reading about the gazebo in Susie’s own individual heaven with no warning.
I cant help but think that if i say much more I’ll either spoil the film or the book so this one is to be a short review. I’m going to condense the rest of the review as much as I can without giving anything away about the story in either the book or the film.
Book score out of 10…..8/10
Film score out of 10…..7/10
Did I enjoy the book? yes. Would I tell you to read it? yes. Did I enjoy the film? yes. Would I tell you to read it or to see it? yes.
The story in my opinion travels well from the printed page to the silver screen and like any good story it doesn’t matter how you consume it just as long as you do.
You need this book to get what you want is by Mark Palmer and Scott Solder and is currently on sale at Amazon.co.uk
Like most of you out there I’ve never read a self help book, the closest I came before this book was Feeling Unreal by Daphne Simon & Jeffery Abugel but that is about depersonalization and derealisation which as you can guess is a world away from getting what you want. But with a title that grabs you the way it does how can you not pick it up and read it?
Mark Palmer and Scott Solder are experts in their field of interpersonal dynamics and they took their corporate seminars that big multinational companies attend to get ahead and turned it into a book. With self help books like How to win friends and influence people and the like I’ve always looked at them as a bit ‘flouncy’ especially after participating in team building exercises in work. Surprisingly it isn’t though; in places it’s both wry and funny;
Most self help books are all about changing you as a person; they tell you how to be happy, easy going etc none of them teach the dark art of manipulation –until now. While I’ve yet to put what I read about into practice I don’t doubt it works a lot of it seems like simple common sense. Saying that though some of the other parts like reading people’s moods and being your own celebrity to get served at the bar quicker or to get someone to like you sound plausible but I’ve yet to try them.
One thing I will say though is while the premise sounds farfetched as regards it working a lot of topics and techniques –unsurprisingly are or at least were when I worked there taught by a certain UK telecoms behemoth to the advisors to get them to connect with the customer establish a rapport before over coming objections in the process of a sale. Now I know you’re thinking “all those advisors have a script” and while true there are scripts that the less able stick to the better sales advisors go off script and secure the sale usually quicker (and yes I speak from experience I was one of the sales advisors that got people to sign up to something you didn’t want, couldn’t afford or didn’t need.)
The bottom line is that this book works. I like many people out there have been taught how to sell, and it works. If this book is as easy to put into practice for the general public as the sales techniques were for me, keep your eye on the people around you they will be manipulating the situation to their benefit and you wouldn’t even know it. In short you need this book, not only to get what you want but to stop everyone else from getting what they want from you!
Still Alice is by Lisa Genova is published by Pocket Books, its available to buy from the 4th of March 2010, it can be currently bought on pre-order from Amazon.co.uk
I’ve been trying to find a tactful way of saying this, but tact has never been my strong suit. This… really isn’t my kind of book. There I said it. You’re far more likely to find me lost in a James Patterson, Dan Brown or Lisa Lutz book. But (and like all buts’ its a biggie) truth be told I enjoyed it and I really wasn’t expecting to.
As I mentioned above I’m a lot more at home with my characters chasing serial killers, kidnappers and the like. So a book about the slip in to an unrecognising oblivion didn’t appeal all that much. (In all truthfulness when I picked up Still Alice from the book case I picked up The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard, for when I’d given in after the first few pages or chapters. -As yet The Murder of King Tut is still sat on the coffee table unopened)
Personally, like each of you out there reading this I have a certain genre of books that I enjoy; there are other subsections of other genre that I find enjoyable but wouldn’t go out of my way to read like the Enid Blyton books I read as a child I enjoyed them then and probably would again but without being forced to read one I doubt I’d pick one up and read it. One thing that has remained constant since I was a kid though was that I always have a preference for fiction over non fiction and this is is because of 3 reasons.
1, Anything can happen, I don't read fantasy or sci-fi and never will they’re just not my kind of thing, much like many of you out there I’d rather be beaten with a phonebook rather than read a sci-fi fantasy book.
2, When something terrible happens be they murders, kidnapping or serial killers who tattoo themselves head to toe before trying to find out the secret word of the free masons. When you close the book you forget about it, its not like watching the news and seeing the damage of the earth quake in Haiti and not being able to do anything other than donate money. That kind of thing sticks with you.
3, To me non-fiction forces you to pick a side and then empathise with the people in the book, because that’s what they are… people they aren’t characters. The thought that they are out there; walking around some where just like you. So when you read some of the horrible things that happened to them its not as easy to put it out of your mind.
Although on the back of Still Alice it says fiction, to me it doesn’t read like it the little nuances and details that make up the quiet strengths of the book couldn’t be made up. Either that or Lisa Genova did an amazing job of researching before she sat down to write it.
In some parts of the book you feel like a bit of a voyeur as you read on, The profound feelings of loss strike out at you as part after part of Alice slips away. As I mentioned above it doesn’t feel like fiction as you read it, and I cant help but think that Lisa Genova has to have had experience of someone close with Alzheimer's, because to me there’s sections that simply couldn’t be plucked from the ether without first knowing, Like how after reading the book I got the feeling that I could trace it all back to a single point in time when it all began.
One thing I will say though is that Lisa Genova has wrote Still Alice with a forceful confidence that carries the book through some of the quieter parts of the story and forces you to empathise with Alice and her family as they go through the stresses and strains that Alzheimer's places on family and relationships.
I found Still Alice to be an enjoyable book, which is odd because as I mentioned at the top it really isn’t my kind of book.
Would I recommend it? Yes and I already have.
Will you enjoy it? Probably although its possible that you could like it for completely different reasons than I did.
Would I read it again? Yes and no for this one, yes I would read it again but it wouldn’t be for a while; I say that because like any book that leaves a mark, it takes a while and needs to be missed to be enjoyed a second time. That and now my mother has the book I doubt I’ll be getting it back anytime soon. LOL.
It may be called the 50 book challenge but you dont have to read 50 books, you can set your own targets be they one book a month or a book a day its up to you, they can be anything from classics to thrillers, audiobooks to hard back's to ebooks and everywhere inbetween.
Steve Jobs said in response to the amazon kindle: “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
To take part in the 50 book challenge all you have to do is read any amount of books be it 2,10, 50 or more, in any 12 month period. It really doesnt matter what the amount it's up to you, -just read more than 1 to prove Steve Jobs wrong.
