When I look back, I am so impressed again
by the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today,
trying to gain a sense of myself in the world,
I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young."
-Maya Angelou

The Time Traveler's Wife

I was at the movie theater the other night, and one of the previews looked so familiar to me. I couldn't figure out why, at first. But then, the title appeared, and the screen read: The Time Traveler's Wife, Coming Soon!

And then it all starting coming back to me. The plot of the story seemed like one I had seen before because I had read the novel many years ago. Of course! Isn't it great how that can happen? It amazes me how powerful our imaginations are, to be able to picture a whole story in our heads, and feel as if we have already experienced it. But it is also proof of the power of words and the talent of the writer Audrey Niffenegger to make all those images come alive in our minds through her choice of words.

The movie is coming out soon, and I definitely want to pick up the novel again to reread it before I see it on the screen. If you haven't already read the novel, I highly recommend it. At first, the back and forth movement between time might seem confusing. But as you read, don't try to understand everything. Just keep reading, and eventually, it comes together. Just remember that it is a novel about time travel, so let the novel take you with it. Just surrender to it, and you will be amazed at where you will end up!

Book Recommendations at the Moment...

I keep running into people that seem to have a similar thirst for reading as I do and share the same taste for authors and novels.
So this entry is to provide some suggestions to those of you who have asked.

Well, if you liked The Kite Runner by Hosseini, I highly recommend reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, by the same author. Just remember, you will probably need a lot of kleenex and many breaks in between your reading, because this book is even more heartwrenching than the Kite Runner.

Another great author is Anosh Irani.
Good books by him: The Song of Kahunsha
The Cripple and the Talisman

I also thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful language and writing in
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

If you would like to change it up a bit, and read something a little lighter in its writing, but still deep in its message, I highly recommend:

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think every woman should read this book!
The Buddha- A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra
How to Know God- by Deepak Chopra

What am I reading at the moment?
I have a couple of books on the go, but one of them is
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson.

I read it many years ago for my Women Writers Literature Course in England. I've decided to go back and reread some of those recommended novels. Oranges is about Jeanette's herself, as a young girl. It's about her struggle to come to terms with the difference between what her mother taught her and her own feelings and experiences.

Her mother, a fundamentalist Christian, teaches Jeanette from early childhood that the world is made of things good and evil, and she instills in Jeanette exactly what these things are. Though Jeanette is brought up with this very black and white view of the world, she runs into many little grey areas in life, and is at first confused about where to place them and what they mean. The novel is not focused so much on the daughter's rebellion against her mother, as much as it is about her finding herself, and having the courage to keep true to that self.

The messages are quite deep, and controversial, but they are written with humor and sensitivity. It's a short read, and definitely a change from the types of books mentioned above.
I know I am enjoying reading this book the second time around. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Coelho has another book out!

As many of you know, Paulo Coelho is one of my favourite authors at the moment. I always return to the Alchemist for insight and understanding. And each time I read or hear the words from the Alchemist (I tend to drive with, or sleep to, the audio book version sometimes), I learn something new.

The last book of Coelho's I read was Brida. But it turns out that he has already put out a newer novel, just after Brida, called The Winner Stands Alone. I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet, so if any of you get to it first, let me know how it is, what you think of it compared to his other books, and how it made you feel. I'm all about the feeling with which a book leaves its readers.