Hello Friends,

If anyone actually follows my blog, I’M SORRY!  I am a terrible, terrible book blogger.  I know.  I actually have several books on the “to-write-about” pile, but lack the inertia or inspiration to write about them. 

I have learned several things about myself over the last several months.  As always, I love reading.  I love losing myself to the characters in my novel.  I love marveling at the use of language to draw me to those characters.  But what I do not love is the analysis of those characters, of that prose, of finding the hidden meaning.  I merely want to say: I LOVE THAT BOOK! (or not, but let’s hope for the former ).  And so this leaves me wondering if I am really, truly a book blogger or if I’m more of an imposter.  With my profound inability to read as fast as most of you, this thought always lingers in my mind.

But I still love to write.  And of course, I still love to read.  And for those reasons, I will continue to compose my thoughts for this blog.  However, not being a literature major, I’ve also starting writing in a field that I am more familiar with: cancer biology.  Here I attempt more regular posts, to push myself to learn new things and to utilize language in way that makes science and cancer understandable to all.  You can find this blog here.

So if anyone is out there, thank you for your patience.  I will get to those books on my “to-write-about” pile shortly, so stay tuned! And don’t leave me . . . I’m still here.

Me Before You: Not your typical love story

I first heard about Me Before You by Jojo Moyes from a fellow book blogger (Book Addiction) a while back, so when I located it at my local book sale, I was thrilled and immediately placed it on top of my to-read pile. 

This story juxtaposes two characters.  On the one side we have Will Traynor, epitomizing the stereotypical male – makes a good living, but works to live a life of adventure and pure enjoyment.  He travels and explores the obscure parts of the world, all while at his side, of course, stands the gorgeous blond.  Only, wait.  This description depicts a Will before The Accident, before the day he became trapped in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic, the day before he lost his life, in a manner of speaking.  The latter Will breaks all connection to his former self and succumbs to his depression, closing out his beautiful girlfriend and family.  And this is where Louisa Clark enters the story.  She is everything Will is not (or was not).  Having never left their small town, she lives with her parents, sister and nephew.  And although she dates Patrick, we know early on that this long-term relationship is not built on mutual respect and love. Her quirky sense of style and quick wit add some sparkle to her otherwise plain and ordinary life.

Will’s mother hires Louisa to babysit Will.  The diametric personalities ensure a conflict between Will and Louisa, yet this conflict develops into a connection, the connection that draws me in.  Louisa resolves to show Will how to live, how to be happy again.  And so, these two juxtaposed characters start to make a switch.  Louisa learns how to explore new experiences and Will settles for the more ordinary.  Or something like that.

While this is a love story, it’s also so much more than a love story while not being a love story at all.  A bit confusing, I know, but I also the reason why you need to read this book.  Jojo Moyes uses this story as a backdrop for a broader commentary on both the life as a quadriplegic and how society reacts to the disabled as well as the idea of assisted suicide.  Both of these are “hot” topics that we have a tendency to push aside.  Moyes does a wonderful job of bringing these topics to our minds without overwhelming us by their enormity.

The writing styles does not compel me to read and the awkward chapters written from a different point of view only seem to draw the reader away from the story, but the ability of Moyes to make us think about life and love in a new way demands us to read this novel. 

I am left with the thought: how will you live your life? I choose to live by love, at all costs.

Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed: Love Endures

In E.L James’ second and third novel about Ana and Christian, the atypical sexual habits of Christian evolve into the building of a meaningful relationship.  The constant push and pull between Christian and Ana, their unconditional love for each other pivoted against their own insecurities draws the reader into their story.

At the end of the first novel, we are left wondering if Mr. Fifty Shades and Ms. Innocence-Unleashed will actually maintain their complicated relationship.  Of course, being a love story, it does not take long before they crawl back into each other’s arms . . . literally.   In the second novel, Fifty Shades Darker, the abstruse nature of Christian becomes more apparent.  With each revelation of his haunted childhood, both the reader and Ana fall more in love with this man. 

The love between Christian and Ana solidifies by the end of the second novel.  The small part of this second book where the life of Christian hangs in the balance becomes the focus of the third novel.  In Fifty Shades Freed, the plot no longer focuses on a love relationship, but intensifies into the mystery behind apparently random attempts at harming Christian and Ana and their families.  Of course, the threat of losing a lover and best friend beckons for actions beyond what you thought yourself capable.  These are the actions of true love.  Intermixed in this mystery, the reader gets glimpses into the merging of two lives into one family.  Like any marriage, it has its bumps.  But love conquers all, right?

The only thing that threw me off this third novel was the closing epilogue, where suddenly we are thrown into the perspective of young Christian.  Apparently this allows the reader to more fully understand Mr. Fifty Shades, but I found it distracting.  I would have been just as happy to leave it at “they lived happily ever after”.

Overall, I enjoyed this trilogy.  Perhaps they were not the most intellectually stimulating, but sometimes a nice easy, happy love story is what a girl needs.