Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 369
Rating: ★★★★
Synopsis
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
My Thoughts
I am literally sitting here with the tears drying on my cheeks. I should probably let this ending marinate for a bit before launching into a review but I really just don't care and think I should just get all of the feelings down now.
I had heard so much positive buzz about Me Before You that I honestly think I wasn't reading it for the longest time out of pure spite. More than that, everytime I read the synopsis I just didn't feel like it was going to be my thing. But once I found out they were making it a movie and heard about the cast (Kahleesi, Neville Longbottom and Finnick Odair...seriously, sign me up!) I was ready to give it a shot.
This book was tricky and really snuck up on me. It started out pretty slow and I just couldn't see how it could be sooo good. I hated to think of darling love of my life Sam Claflin playing a quadriplegic. Pardon?! He is too beautiful to be immobile. And on top of that, how could Emilia Clarke play someone so meek as Louisa? But as the plot thickened and I stopped thinking of the characters in relation to the actors that would eventually be playing them, I was really able to get into the book.
I won't lie though, it really took me up until half way through to get attached to this book. As I was reading it, I was thinking there was no way I would even look forward to the sequel or even care about how it all ended. That all changed with the last hundred pages. I flew through them in an hour and only stopped to wipe the tears from my eyes.
It was that good. Granted, it doesn't take much to get a good cry out of me. Either way, this book really struck a chord, which in part is due to Moyes for creating such realistic characters who leave it all out on the table. With everything they both face, they grow and change and become new people by the end of the novel. The main focus isn't romance but more about life and the importance of making the right decisions.
Now I am counting down to the sequel and it seems like the end of September can't come soon enough!
My Favorite Line
You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Picador
Pages: 120
Rating: ★★★★
Synopsis
When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.
My Thoughts
This novella is witty and charming and seriously cute. Once The Queen discovers the joys of reading there is really nothing that can stop her. Everyone tries to intervene and get rid of her new habit but Her Majesty will not have it. It was so fun to see the Queen behaving the way everyone does when they are in the middle of a good book (i.e. ignoring responsibilities, making excuses, etc.).
Overall, this novella offered some wonderful insight in the magic of reading and exploring new things. There isn't much else to say about this because it really is so short but this was clever and smart and I highly recommend!
My Favorite Line
Yes that is exactly what it is. A book is a device to ignite the imagination.
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Pages: 272
Rating: ★★★
Synopsis
While debating literature’s greatest heroines with her best friend, thirtysomething playwright Samantha Ellis has a revelation—her whole life, she's been trying to be Cathy Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights when she should have been trying to be Jane Eyre.
With this discovery, she embarks on a retrospective look at the literary ladies—the characters and the writers—whom she has loved since childhood. From early obsessions with the March sisters to her later idolization of Sylvia Plath, Ellis evaluates how her heroines stack up today. And, just as she excavates the stories of her favorite characters, Ellis also shares a frank, often humorous account of her own life growing up in a tight-knit Iraqi Jewish community in London. Here a life-long reader explores how heroines shape all our lives.
My Thoughts
This book was seriously cute. I have become more and more interested in reading memoirs lately so as soon as I heard about this book I added it to the top of my list.
This memoir follows Ellis's life and the books she read and how they shaped her life. I really enjoyed reading a good majority of it. I especially liked reading about what she though of the books that I have read and love. Her insights were spot on and it was interesting to see how her opinion about the characters changed after rereading the books.
To me, the book was even better when I was reading about the books I haven't read. Ellis gives a synopsis with every book so you aren't left completely confused when she starts analyzing them. I now have a list of books that I never read but seriously need to read as a result of this Ellis's memoir.
There wasn't too much literary criticism, mostly personal reflection. I would definitely recommend this to any book lover, but also completely understand that this definitely isn't for everyone.
My Favorite Line
Reading might spoil my eyes, as my grandmother warned me it would, but Mr. Darcy showed it wouldn't stop me finding a husband. A gorgeous, intelligent husband, in fact, because real men liked bookish girls. It said so in Pride and Prejudice.
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Pages: 352
Rating: ★★★★
Synopsis
At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.
Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?
In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Liferaises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?
Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.
My Thoughts
I had some hesitations about reading this book.
The first one being that I thought I was going to prefer one version of events over the other and end up skipping through half the book. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really loved both series of events! The story unfolded so well. After a few chapters, the book begins it's split narrative. It only goes one chapter in each of the parallel realities so it really keeps you engaged in the stories and constantly wanting more.
Another thing I thought I knew about this book I was that it was going to be a typical, stale chick-lit/rom-com and therefore not have any sort of lasting impression. But again, I was wrong. This was thought-provoking and fresh and I really, really loved every part of this story! Everything about this book was unconventional but that just added to the unique perspective on finding your way through life.
I was so glad that this book proved me wrong. It was original and captivating and really snuck up on me and I enjoyed every second!
My Favorite Line
Fate or not, our lives are still the results of our choices. I'm starting to think that when we don't own them, we don't own ourselves
