The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

basis, n.

There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.

If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face.

How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time. ~goodreads

First off, I would like to tell everyone that David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary is  not your ordinary novel-in-a-book type of book. I have read many disappointed reviews about this book and lots of them are recommending NOT to buy the book at all as it is not worth it. So I say, this book may be or may not be for you. I suggest you give it a little read-through before you actually buy a copy. You can few its first few pages in Amazon then you decide from there. For me, it took a little over letter B to be able to get a good grasp of it and eventually appreciate the book.

Notice I gave this book a 5? It is because overall, I liked this book and how it was written. It gives the reader some space to ponder their thoughts without the book being suggestive or intrusive about what you should think and what not. I strongly suggest The Lover’s Dictionary for couples and I’m quite reluctant to recommend this for singles or those who are partnerless since birth as there are parts where you cannot really understand what’s going on if you didn’t experience the situation yourself. My being married  for 10 years helped a lot as I could identify myself with the characters.

I would  have to say that Mr. Levithan is brave to have written something like this as evidently, it is very unique. It would have helped though if there was some kind of “skeletal” explanation for what’s happening so that when the entries jump from one to another, the reader won’t be left wondering what has happened.

This is the best line, for me, and I am quoting:

“there are things I miss”, you said. “But if I didn’t have you, I’d  miss more”

so true

The Best of Me
by Nicholas Sparks

THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they’ve taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past. ~ Goodreads

ISBN: 0446547654 (ISBN13: 9780446547659)
Primary Language: English
Original Title: The Best of Me

Before I start my review, I would like to quote Nicholas Sparks, the author, first, when asked why he always kills a main character in his novels:

“Every genre has a purpose. The thriller is meant to thrill, a horror novel is supposed to scare you, a romance novel is a romantic fantasy.” He adds, “The purpose of that genre (romance) is to move the reader through all the emotions of life; that’s what I’m supposed to do [as a writer of romance novels]. If I eliminate one of the major emotions of life, you’ll close [the book] because it doesn’t feel real to you.” Nicholas goes on to say, “All love stories, by definition, have to end in tragedy.”

Well, Mr. Sparks, you did a very good job of moving me in all your novels even if I sometimes don’t like how it ends. lol.

As soon as I got my hands on my copy of The Best of Me, I started reading it. Browsing at first but had to go back and read page after page properly when I realize this book surely deserves my full attention. Yep, you guessed it right, I was reading a rather “dragging” book that required all my willpower and love for all things books not to throw it out the window! I guess that’s one hazard of being a book reviewer – you will eventually get frustrating ones even if the author is popular and well-known.

Anyway, back to The Best of Me, I must admit, this is clearly not Mr. Sparks’ best novel as that belongs to The Notebook, no less. I will also say that I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark properly, like there was something lacking, like the story is almost there. The  Best of Me almost made me cry. Almost.

However I am still giving it a 5 because definitely The Best of Me is worth your time reading. Why? Because it is the kind of story that sticks hours after you’re done reading it. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

So the story started with Dawson Cole, the main character in this novel, seeing a mystery man who he later thought to be always saving his life from potentially fatal incidents. He thought this man was his friend Tuck who died at around the same time he started seeing the  mystery man. The same Tuck who was the reason why he came back home after so many years, only to be reunited with Amanda – his first love.

The situation was made complicated by Amanda’s being married and with three kids. Add to that Dawson’s family situation as he is not in good terms with his family – at all. Dawson was practically gambling his life by being in town but he stayed just to be able to fulfill Tuck’s wishes, and be with Amanda. Then there’s the accident – the one that changed Dawson’s life forever – that still haunted Dawson until the very end.

I hated the ending. I just think that death in this novel is not justifiable but reading the interview (quoted above) I realized that a story doesn’t have to be written the way I like it but how it was able to move the  reader. It moved me so the novel did what it’s supposed to do. 

Like I said, I enjoyed the novel; I couldn’t put it down and it almost made me cry so definitely a 5!

Cheers!

Without Pity: Ann Rule’s Most Dangerous Killers by Ann Rule

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of 8 true crime cases investigated and written by Ann Rule. Although this was not the first time these stories were written by Ann Rule, however in this book it was written under a same theme “Most Dangerous Killers” which the author wrote more in depth about how evilness hide behind a perfect facade to lure unassuming victims.

I have a penchant for true crime stories, that I won’t even try to deny. There’s just something about true crime stories that piques my interest. Perhaps it is my fascination with the human mind and how it works. With true crime stories, it is not only important for me to know what happened but I should also be able to understand the perpetrator, no matter how complex his mind was when he committed the crime. This is the reason why I love Ann Rule because she gives investigative journalism its rightful definition.

This book tops my Ann Rule list because the author wrote about “Possession”, her fiction book. When I read that book, I strongly felt that the book was not entirely fiction and it must have been based on true crime. Without Pity ended my suspicion as the author revealed the true story behind the book.

Ann Rule for me is the best true crime writer there is, and believe me, I have tried plenty.

Cheers!

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn’t have any idea that The Nanny Diaries is soooo good, that’s why it took me all these years to finally have a go at it. Now I am literally kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Would you believe it, I already have Books 1 and 2 with me for about a year before I actually got around to reading the first book? Yeah, I know. I regret having to wait that long too

The Nanny Diaries is about Nan, Grayer’s nanny – that’s really her name, btw. Grayer is a four-year-old boy who belongs to a typical rich family whose parents don’t have time to attend to the boy’s needs. The mom busies herself with her “charity” work and whatnot and the dad is rarely home. Nan and Grayer, as expected, developed strong bond and Nan became almost maternal to the boy which made it harder for her to leave her job considering the injustices the ice queen mom throws at Nan. Nan is your typical working student trying to keep afloat by nannying since her degree is related to child psychology.

Okay, if you have been with me for quite some time now, you would know that I measure my books by how they were able to give me sleepless nights trying to really push it til my eyes drop on their own. This book, for some reason, managed to give me 2 sleepless nights in a row! There was nothing really special about this book but I find it very entertaining and there were times I felt murderous toward Mrs. X, Nan’s employer. I would say the authors were effective in evoking reader’s feelings and I truly felt the need to know what comes next. As it was half a book, it understandably was a cliffhanger since the story ends by Nan walking away from the Xes house after Mrs. X fired her. I am  now unto Book 2

The Nanny Diaries is a perfect light read and I definitely recommend it!

Cheers!

Abandoned Prayers: The Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession and Amish Secrets by Gregg Olsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a true story of the dead little boy found beside a ditch along icy corn fields of Chester, Nebraska. He was in his blue sleepers hence the name “Little Boy Blue”, there was no identification at the time of his burial so he was buried in the same name too. What made this story so harrowing is that the prime suspect, his  father, although later convicted, was never found out to be guilty of the child’s murder. He was only convicted for abandoning the body of the child as there was no real evidence to prove that he indeed killed the boy.

If you are curious whatever happened to Eli Stutzman, the father of Little Boy Blue, well, he is dead. He was found dead in his Texas apartment at age 56 in 2007.

Gregg Olsen did a great job in chronicling Eli Stutzman’s life. You can indeed feel each and every character’s emotion as they were being told. However, at some parts of the book, I felt that the author overdid writing Eli in a bad light. I know Eli was bad and did awful things but as a true-crime fanatic, I would like to see Eli’s side as well. Please don’t get me wrong, I despise the lifestyle Eli gave his son but as a true-crime reader, I just felt I was told and led to what I should be thinking and there simply was no room for my own judgment. This took off the last star in my rating, btw. Overall, this book I recommend because it is really quite hard to find a good true-crime book and Mr. Olsen managed to tell the story in a way that you can see them unfolding before your eyes.

Cheers!

Buy Abandoned Prayers: The Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession and Amish Secrets by Gregg Olsen for only $7.99 

RECOMMENDED TRUE-CRIME BOOKS FROM AMAZON!

I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six’s Legacy by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

In Book 1, Six just came without any introduction whatsoever. She kind of “saved the day” for the surviving gang along with the revelation that John’s dog is also an alien. She just came in the middle of John vs Mogs battle out of the blue so if you are into details, you would want some kind of background info about Six right? In this novella, you got exactly that – and unfortunately, nothing else.

My take? Too short. It’s not worth the bucks. Just wait for Number Six’s own book which I am sure, she’ll eventually get. In Book 2 (The Power of Six) Six was able to tell what happened to her and her cepan in about a page or two, a summarized version of this book so even if you missed this one, you’ll still know what happened to them and what brought Six to John.

I am not going to post its Amazon link as I do not recommend my readers to buy this. lol

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book more than the first one, to be honest!

The Power of Six  is the continuation of the first book, obviously, but this time, there were two more introductions made. That of number seven and number – *gasp* – ten. Yep, you heard me right, there is number ten when we thought it was just nine of them. There goes my spoiler. lol. However, you need to get your own copy to know how that actually happened and what were the twists presented along with number ten’s introduction. Well, the twists are quite intriguing that they will actually make you beg for book three pronto!

Funny how I enjoyed The Power of Six tremendously when I didn’t really dig the first one. There is also a book 1.5 released earlier last month which tells the short story of Number Six, as we all know, she was only introduced in the last few chapters of book 1 and unfortunately for Number Six, book 2 jumped straight to covering Number Seven’s story. Actually, I really think Number Six was just an afterthought by the author but I do hope not because she is my “Angelina Jolie” now. lol

I loved the way the author was able to tell Number Seven and Number Four’s stories simultaneously without losing momentum. Before I read The Power of Six, I  was really looking forward to Number Four’s tale (what happened, where they are heading, what are their plans etc) Good thing, Book 2 was able to tell that and more.

Now, I’ll be patiently waiting, Mr. Pittacus Lore, for Book Three. I hope this won’t be too long a wait. lol

Just FYI, the Lorien Legacies is about surviving aliens who traveled to Earth because their rival aliens, the Mogs, managed to put their planet in hibernation and killed everyone else. The elders managed to ship off their young ones (all nine of them – now ten) together with their cepans or guardians to Earth with instructions of scattering all over Earth so that  their charm would work. The charm/spell is supposed to keep them safe as the Mogs cannot kill them unless it is in proper number order.

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . .” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness — sexual pleasure for its own sake — or risking everything to find her own “inner light” and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love. ~ goodreads

I feel bad because this is a Paulo Coelho book and it should be good right? But for some reason, I had a hard time finishing this book no matter how insightful the book was. It was good, very informative and it explained a lot about sex but for the life of me, I can’t seem to keep my eyes from shutting off or my mind from wondering off. For Paulo Coelho fans, sorry but this just didn’t make it to perfect 5 for it. I even have to read Gregg Olsen in between just to make it to the end of this book. Sorry. I couldn’t put my fingers on what went wrong and this is the first time I don’t have an explanation for such negative action but there’s something there that, i don’t know, bored me?

I would give it another try, maybe on paperback, some time in the future (not soon) but for now, it is a three.

I was doing my usual book spotting earlier today when I remembered Pittacus Lore’s The Power of Six is due this month, that the Lorien Legacies Book 2 should be released this month of August. You know I have been patiently waiting for it since that faithful day I finished reading I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies Book 1) and almost cried as the book is such a cliffhanger!

Now I am going to finally read its book 2 as it is now released and available in most online book stores! yey!

Good thing too, I am almost finished with Gregg Olsen’s Abandoned Prayers and Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes. Don’t expect a good rave about Eleven Minutes though however I still have 20-something pages left so we will see, maybe those few pages left will be able to turn me around and see it worthy of a solid 5

Cheers!

Simon’s Choice by Charlotte Castle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book is about a doctor whose daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told that the girl is going to die soon. The little girl was able to accept her fate but the father was quite bothered with letting her child go and face death alone. This created quite a friction amongst family members with opposing sentiments on pertinent issues surrounding the child’s care and welfare.

I love my kids so fiercely that I cannot imagine them being struck by such terrible disease. However, I have witnessed my mom fade away from us the same way as Sarah did so I was expecting the book to hit close to home. To my disappointment, it did not.

The one and only time it became a page turner for me was the part when Simon was unjustifiably treated as an insane man by those around him, thrown out of the house and almost barred from seeing his daughter who by the way, was only days away from death. Although the unfairness of it did not quite match reality, I felt soooo mad at Melissa and her entourage.

I was expecting it to be about the kid and her father. it turned out to be a book about the father and the mother and how they dealt with having a sick, dying child between them. I say it’s false advertising. lol

Anyway, the book has received so many good reviews from fellow book reviewers so there’s a good chance that you might like the book afterall. I encourage you to give it a shot and come back to me with your two cents’ worth.

So there..