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The Five People You Meet in Heaven MITCH ALBOM

"The world is full of stories but the stories are all one."

The final line of this story beautifully sums up its emotive message. It
certainly captivated me as a believer that there must be an intrinsic
meaning and purpose to life. It is an unnerving prospect that perhaps we
don't realise how our actions shape and alter other people's lives, and
how theirs decisively alter ours. This makes us like a horse with
its blinkers on, passive to the hidden workings of fate. So this makes the idea of
everything being explained to you at the end quite wonderful.

The story starts at the end of Eddie's life, and thus presents the reader with the certainty of his death. It goes on to explore what Eddie can learn from each of the five people he meets in heaven. The plot is formulaic but it is not obtrusively predictable. When the fifth person Eddie meets in heaven Tala, told of how she fitted into his story I was moved to tears. I do like a book which disarms you by leaving you chuckling one minute and tearful the next. You really are moved to empathise with the characters, namely Eddie, feeling pain, sorrow and love right along with them. The real human emotions are cuttingly harnessed, the love shared by Eddie and Marguerite, the sacrifice of the Captain and Eddie,and his own sense of hopelessness which is delightfully compounded by the end.

With this story what you see is what you get. The title summarises the story, and this simplicity continues, it is plainly and honestly written, intensifying the power of the story's message. I liked Albom's idiosyncratic style and it was still subtle and understated. My edition included a short extract from Tuesdays with Morrie, and this, unsurprisingly made me want to read on and on. Albom's frequent use of shorter sentences stilted the pace, building my interest and mirroring Eddie's laboured, mundane life at the park, which to most epitomises fun and excitement. The development of the main character was done excellently, his multi-faceted personality emerges as the years go by and enlivens him. He comes to realise his contributions to others lives and the childrens safety by the end of the book, whereas before he felt unimportant and worthless as "Eddie: Maint'nance.

There are so many quotes in this book that can be taken as mottos for life, like, "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." I find this really refreshing as compared to some of my usual reads. It isn't a book that will have you on the edge of your seat, but then that isn't what it aims to do. It takes you on a leisurely ride that makes you want to carry on reading for at least another hundred pages.

Next weeks book will be... To Kill A Mockingbird HARPER LEE

Monday's child

001 About...

Reading is one of my hobbies just like millions of people the world over. It is so simple to pick up a book, and float away on the words to a place that exudes more sparkle and magic than this place. That's not to say that my reading is motivated by a desire to escape, rather not to jump out but to dive in. I think much can be learnt from reading whatever the genre, because if it doesn't make you learn something new about yourself, it can help you appreciate the world around you better, and then there are those books which warm the heart whilst the snow falls outside. The trusty novel will never lose its place even with more contemporary ways to read, like staring at a screen with the words on or hearing them read to you in audio form. Although formats such as these can be convenient, I think that part of the experience is feeling the pages with your fingertips and lazily admiring your favourites on the shelf.

Growing up I enjoyed lining up all of my Famous Five and Wishing Chair stories on the shelves, as I added more books to my Enid Blyton collection. The magic of the Faraway Tree with Moonface and the Saucepan man sparked all of my childhood dreams and inspired my own creations. Then, I moved on to stories by Jacqueline Wilson and Meg Cabot and they accompanied me through my early teens. After that I found books at the library or the shop, by meticulously going through the alphabetically sorted shelves and inspecting each of the covers. Since then I read anything if the synopsis or the cover looks a bit interesting

So I had a look at "The Big Read" books (finding I had read just 17, you can see how you compare by viewing the first one here http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml) and picked up a basketful of summer reads. I basically want to explore the wealth of literary classics which I have not read yet, and find this a good place to start. Others are more recent and perhaps lesser known but are equally worthy of credit. At this point, I just want to say that to have the power to conjure and illuminate through words takes great skill, and to simply provide critique and commentary on this creation takes less art. Therefore, I will just present my thoughts and I think it will be fun to read and discuss together.

This week's book will be...

The Five People You Meet in Heaven MITCH ALBOM

Monday's child