P. S. I Love You

Cecilia Ahern is one of my favourite authors, and if you stay tuned you'll find that I will be writing about many of her books down the road. I'm going to start with P.S. I Love You. For all of you who know this book because you're familiar with the movie version, but not the actual book itself: You're doing yourself a disservice. Walk away from the computer, and find this book immediately. Well no, finish reading what I have to say first, then go find this book. 

I first read this book in 2005 while back in Ireland. It was my first Cecilia Ahern book, but definitely not my last. I re-read it again recently for what I'm pretty sure was my hundredth time and felt it appropriate to share my views on it here.

The story follows Holly, a young Irish woman who has just lost her husband to a brain tumour.  She is struggling with the loss of her husband and is finding it difficult to carry on in her everyday life without him. Her mother contacts her to let her know there is a package for her that needs to be picked up.

The package contains 10 sealed envelopes written by Gerry before he died, each one with a set of instructions on how to carry on with her life without him. She is only allowed to read one letter a month, and she must follow the instructions on the card. 

Throughout the course of the book, you see Holly slowly come to terms with the loss of her husband and learn to carry on with her life. 

The best part about this book is how Ahern is able to give you the perfect picture of what their love was like. The flashbacks to their earlier days are present throughout the novel and are key to making Gerry seem not only more human, but makes it understandable to the reader how he could be the love of Holly's life.

The best part about Ahern's writing is her ability to make you feel as though every character she writes about is real. Her vivid imagination and pure love of telling stories is evident in all of her novels, most especially in P.S. I Love You. One of my all-time favourite books and definitely a must read. 

Don't watch the movie. It's an awful adaptation and doesn't do the book any justice at all!

If you'd like to pick up a copy of this book Amazon is selling it for $9.89. If you yourself love to read, or have a woman in your life who does, this would make an excellent Christmas present!

Rating (out of 5):

50 Shades of Grey

I feel as if I haven't put nearly as much energy into this blog as I should. I read so many books and have so much to say about them, yet I never use this as an outlet to do so. I'm going to try to change that.

Given the recent fad, I'm going to start with 50 Shades of Grey. Now I promise I won't always write about the newest "trendy" books, (I will never pick up Twilight, for example) but this book is just too awful to not discuss.

To start with, the book is so poorly written and so poorly edited, I thought I might have accidentally pulled out one of my Grade 9 essays. I find it difficult to take the book seriously when I see so many simple mistakes.

Moving on to the actual content, I find myself constantly questioning the age of the author. It seems as if this woman has stepped right out of 1985 and is experiencing all of our modern day advances through Anastasia. Calling the Macbook (Apples supposed "latest development") Christian gives her a "mean machine"  is not only weird to me, it makes no sense.  Anastasia approaches it as if she's never used a computer before. In 2011, what woman who has graduated from University doesn't own a computer? Or at least know how to use one? She was an English major, she's got to have been inundated with papers. Not buying it. Her complete lack of ability to use a Blackberry also baffles me. Women in their 40's (Like E.L. James) would potentially find difficulty in this, but a young, bright 20 something woman in the 21st century? Try again.

Then there's this whole "inner goddess" talk. Let's be honest, who talks like this? Who actually has this inner being with half moon glasses that rejoices at the most asinine things? Even if you do (to each their own and all that), how many of you are so easily controlled as Anastasia Steele is? The fact that she uses the excuse of the "dominant/submissive" relationship to excuse the fact that Christian Grey is, for all intents and purposes, an asshole is offensive. James has created a character who is supposed to be intelligent, yet constantly finds herself in a situation where she's being treated like a child by the man she wants to call her boyfriend. The controlling behaviour of Christian Grey isn't sexy, yet James seems to feel that this is romantic, and attempts to portray it as such throughout her novels.

I'm not even going to touch the supposed BDSM references the book attempts to portray, which aren't shocking in the least. It's clearly just the fantasy of a 40 something woman who wishes she were still in her twenties.

I don't understand the hype, and I don't find the sex scenes to be any more explicit than the drugstore romance novels that are pure junk for your brain. Read it if you must, but for me this one is definitely not to be recommended.

Rating out of 5: