The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

It's been a while. I know. I realize I've been saying that often. Sometimes life just takes over. I haven't been reading much since September. I miss it. The last book I read was The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks, but I never got around to writing a post for it. Here it is, finally.

The Longest Ride came out in September, the latest Nicholas Sparks book. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Nicholas Sparks. However, I've been tempted to jump off the bandwagon after the past few books. They're just not doing it for me anymore. They've been unrealistic and predictable. Unfortunately, that's the case again.

The Longest Ride is a story about two couples. A college-aged boy and girl. The girl takes her studies pretty seriously and is family oriented. The boy is a professional bull rider. The other couple is an old man and woman. The man is involved in a serious car accident and has hallucinations about his wife who has passed away. The story is about the young couple falling in love and how their lives cross paths with the old man in the car accident.

I found the old man recounting his days with his wife boring. I was much more enthralled with the young couple. The story goes back and forth between the two. I was skimming the chapters on the old couple and absorbing the chapters on the young couple. About two-thirds into the book, I knew exactly how it was going to end. It was so predictable. And that's where I stopped reading.

My rating for The Longest Ride: 1 star out of 5. Get it here.

P.S. Books on the shelf: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom, David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, A Game of Thrones by George Martin, The Zahir by Paulo Coelho, Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy. ~ Veronika

I was walking around Barnes and Noble in West Hartford a few weeks ago killing time, looking for different books to read. I thought of Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, and decided to see what else he's written. He has a ton of books, but two struck me. I'm going to read the other one in a few weeks. Veronika Decides to Die sounds like a book about death. In reality, it's a book about living.

Veronika is a 24 year old who seems to have everything - college educated, a good job, caring parents, good looks. But at the same time, something is missing from her life. One desperate evening, she decides to end her life by swallowing a handful of pills. Except it doesn't work. She passes out, waking up in a mental hospital, being told she only has days to live due to damage to her heart from the pills.

In the mental hospital, she is surround by the insane, but also the not-so-insane. With only a few days to live, she has deep conversions about everything. What it means to be crazy. What it means to feel alive. There are countless conversations, quotes, and stories that are simply phenomenal. Veronika's stay in the mental hospital makes her realize who she truly is, and simultaneously brings out the best in the other patients. An awareness of life sometimes requires an awareness of death.

My rating for Veronika Decides to Die: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. Nicholas Sparks' latest book, The Longest Ride, came out this past Tuesday. Should have a post on it next Sunday.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 

The Book Thief was something different for me to read. Not usually into 'fiction that could be real'. A friend recommended it and given I didn't have much to read, I thought I'd try it.

The story is about a ten year old girl in Germany during World War II who has an affection for stealing books. On the train to her new foster family, her brother dies. At the funeral, she finds a book on the ground. Her foster father teaches her how to read. Her life is somewhat normal, going to school and playing soccer in the street. And stealing books. But this is Nazi Germany, and things are not normal. Soon, her family takes in a Jew, hiding him in their basement. The little girl becomes fond of the new guest, reading and writing with him. However, the war takes it's toll on the family and their town.

The story is told from the perspective of Death. That's right. Death is given human qualities and feelings. His job is to pick up the souls from dead bodies. You can imagine the stories he has from WWII. It's a unique way to tell a story. I thought it was effective and certainly gave an interesting perspective on things.

When I started reading the book, I was reading at a good pace. But I slowed down. The book is long (550 pages). It just wasn't doing much for me. As much as I struggled to get through it in the middle, I did want to know how it ended. Although I could tell it wasn't going to end well, and I was right.

Fun fact: It was written in 2006, but only recently became a big hit. A movie based on the book is coming out in November.

My rating for The Book Thief: 2.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!