Author Archives: Delia

Once in a while I like to just go into a bookstore and choose a book at random. It has to be a title I’ve never heard of before by an equally unknown author. It’s like a little game, my little book-game. The name of this particular book sounded intriguing so I bought it.

This is a book about travelling back in time and getting a second chance.

Alice, the main protagonist of the story, is a busy mom with a tight schedule and an even tighter outlook on life. She’s organized and always rushing about with a million things to do, until one day she suffers an accident that erases the last ten years of her life from her memory. She doesn’t remember her children, friends, or why she’s divorcing her husband who she was crazy about but now doesn’t seem to be the fun-loving amazing guy she married all those years ago.

We get to see the story from the point of view of different characters and in different forms: Elisabeth’s (Alice’s big sister) letters to her psychiatrist and the “honorary” grandmother’s blog (a nice touch that comes to emphasize the times we live in).

The plot unravels at a slow pace, as Alice starts to remember bits and pieces of a former life that seems very strange to her. Her efforts to fit in the life she’s apparently had for the last years are touching and she tries very hard to erase the word “divorce” that now stands between her and her husband Nick. And then one day something happens and she gets all her memories back.

This book has more or less the feel of a modern fairytale, even though the end is not as convincing as I hoped for. It makes one think about how much things can change in a decade and how it is possible to have it all back if you really want to.

Read between April 8-10, 2011

There is nothing quite like a Stephen King book.

I was actually nervous when I thought about writing a review for this book. I have bought and read more Stephen King books than I can remember, and yet this is the first review I’m attempting. I almost feel like I’m writing a test paper.

Reading Under the Dome felt like coming home. I get a familiar feeling when I have one of King’s books in my hands, and I’m saying to myself “this is going to be another good one”. Turns out it was.

First I had to get over the fact that Under the Dome is such a HUGE book and I don’t normally like huge books. Only looking at them makes me want to groan inwardly and think “how long is it going to take me to get through that?” And what if the story just drags on and I get bored. On the other hand, this is my favorite author we’re talking about here so the thicker the book, the better.

One thing I’ve always liked about King’s writing was the way he can show the reader exactly what his characters are thinking. It’s almost voyeuristic.

In Under the Dome there are all sorts of characters, and they are put into groups, us and them. From Junior Rennie, he of the huge headache, to the kids and the dogs, they all play their parts in this “experiment” that seems to take over the town all of a sudden as a huge invisible dome slams down around its borders and BOOM!, everyone’s a prisoner. The comparison with an ant nest feels adequate but this time it’s people and not ants that are powerless to act. Things get interesting as old rivalries flare up and new connections are made.

I enjoyed the references to other books, both contemporary and classic. Lee Child’s character, Jack Reacher, was mentioned a couple of times and I was glad I read Nothing to Lose just a few months ago. A Streetcar named Desire was another that caught me by surprise and made me smile.

The end is odd to say the least, considering I was never the one to buy into the “others” concept but then the best part is not the predicament itself but how people react to get out of it. And King is the perfect writer to show us how that happens.

Read between March 30-April 7, 2011

Last year, when I read Killing Me Softly by the same authors, I thought, now that’s an interesting book. It was fast paced but slow compared to this one, a bit creepy (ok, more than a bit) and left me with a lingering thought at the back of my mind that I should read at least another one of their written works. And so I did.

In Secret Smile, there’s a feeling of deja-vu, like Adam Tallis (one of the two main characters from Killing Me Softly) has been resurrected and given another chance at messing people’s lives.

Handsome guy, Brendan, meets nice girl, Miranda, and they start going out. Unfortunately he has one major flaw this particular nice girl doesn’t like: snooping around. She decides to end their barely started relationship and things seem to stop before having a chance to really take off. What she doesn’t know is that he never lets things go. With cunning precision, Brendan insinuates himself into Miranda’s family, makes himself liked among Miranda’s friends while at the same time never losing an opportunity to taunt and harass her. By the time I got halfway through the book I was really annoyed with Miranda for always trying to be the good girl, never fighting back, and with the people around her for not believing her when she told them the truth. A family member and a friend have to die before Miranda takes matters into her own hands and as she tries to find out more about Brendan and in the process becoming more and more frustrated with his actions, she fights back for a change, in a really surprising way. I didn’t see that coming.

The book is a quick read and it has that I-want-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-this feel to it, which made me want to read it as fast as possible just to find out if the bad guy gets his comeuppance in the end.

If I had to choose between the two books, I must say I prefer Killing Me Softly, for the slower action and the gradual build-up of tension. Secret Smile felt a bit too rushed, but in the end I enjoyed reading both.

*Read between 26-29 March, 2011

If anybody asked me what three things I’d like to take with me on an island, I would say  two books and a sunscreen lotion. I had two books with me on my trip to Koh Chang (Elephant Island), and one of them was Thanks for the Memories.

The reason I bought this book was P.S. I Love You, the movie. I just loved that movie (I must confess Gerard Butler helped a lot in that regard) and even though I haven’t read the book this movie was based on or any other book by this author for that matter, I decided it was time to break the ice.

Thanks for the Memories is what I like to refer to as ‘light reading’. After “The Poisonwood Bible” and “The Passage” I felt the need for something different, something romantic and more optimistic.

The story is pretty uncomplicated and even though you can see where it’s going, it’s the journey that counts and not the destination, as the saying goes.

Joyce and Justin (it almost sounds like Jack and Jill, doesn’t it) are two people at a crossroads in their lives and it almost felt like fate said, let’s take these two and put them together, they would do just fine. How that happens is a bit out of the ordinary and without giving too much away I can safely say it was quite fun to read as Joyce decided to follow her instincts and walk the path that would eventually take her to Justin.

Even though the book doesn’t start on a lighter note, there are quite a few scenes and characters too, that soon change that. Joyce’s father spices things up a bit in a very old fashioned and endearing way, followed closely by Justin’s sister in law whose “inch-long leopard print nails and skin-tight leather-trouser-clad hips” brought back to mind Peggy Bundy from the “Married with Children” tv series.

All in all an entertaining read, just perfect for a day on the beach under a big tree with the sun winking cheerfully through the leaves above and the sound of the waves in the background.

*Read in March, 2011

The reason I chose this book, like with other books before, was the title. Just like with The Poisonwood Bible, it felt right, like the right choice at the right time. It was.

Hosseini has that amazing talent to make you believe what he writes about is nothing else than the truth, and even though this is a fictional story, it can very well be real.

The book follows the lives of two women coming from different backgrounds yet forced to accept being married off, even though for different reasons. The action takes places in Afghanistan, a country torn by war, first under the communist regime and later on under the Taliban’s rule.

The narrative is clear, precise, and yet full of emotion and what I love the most about it is that it made me care about what happened to the characters from the first page. The reader is introduced to the unusual circumstances of Mariam’s life, her upbringing, her parents’ relationship and her mother’s hard attitude towards men and life in general (Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.)

Mariam, the little harami (you will have to read the book to find out what that means) loves both her parents and yet she will come to a point later in life when she will see things from her mother’s perspective. The sheltered life she leads is shattered when she is given away in marriage to a much older man and goes to live with him in another city. Through her eyes we are introduced to a world dominated by men, where a man’s wife is his property, and she must abide by his wishes.

Laila, the other protagonist of the story, is a spirited young girl who dreams of marrying her childhood sweetheart and playing an active role in the future of her country. Many years will pass, measured in hardships and suffering, before she gets to see her dreams come to life.

There were passages in the book I found difficult to read. I had to put it down and then pick it up again because I wanted to see what happened next. I found myself cheering for the two women, admiring their strength and the sacrifices they had to make.

I cannot praise this book highly enough.