I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

I was rather nervous about reading this book.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my all time favourite reads and a book that made me quite emotional, so I was nervous to read another book by this author and be disappointed in some way.   Would this somehow lessen my experience of The Book Thief!?  Charity shop Karma played it's role as this book, in perfect condition, jumped out at me for $2 at the Humane society thrift store.  How could I resist a  great book and helping out poor animals.

This book is not The Book Thief but it did not disappoint in any way.  Even when writing about serious subjects this author did not fail to inject humour that really worked for me.  The same formula of a serious main story with a novel approach to telling it.  This was done in four sections, respresenting the Ace of each suit of cards and within each section a number of different lengths of chapters each with it's own succinct yet perfect heading.

This was a book that just kept me reading and reading.  In fact, I think I ended up reading it so fast that I need to read it all over again just to make sure I appreciated every last bit of it. 

A book that has put this author on my list of favourite authors as well as favourite books. 5 out of 5 stars.

My side of the mountain by Jean Craighead George

Terribly unhappy in his family's crowded New York City apartment, Sam Gribley runs away to the solitude and danger of the mountains, where he finds a side of himself he never knew.

This was a lovely story that will be loved by pre teens as I am sure most of them would love to be free of their parents and living comfortably with nature.  Also, the very interesting facts about how to survive by living off the land would be quite exciting for a child to learn - I was intrigued by some of the things that he could eat and use.

However, I struggled with the story as there were a few facts that I could just not get over.  First was that if your 17 year old had run away, surely, you would be sending out search parties to look for him and bring him home, particularly if you actually knew where he had gone.  I don't think any mother would just leave their child to live in the wilderness for many months without intervening.  Second, how did Sam know all the things he knew about living in nature.  Even the best read teenager would struggle to have all the knowledge that Sam had to survive in the wilderness.  Ok it was written in 1959 a time when there were no video games, computers and tv to distract a child from reading books but still, it just was not believable to me.  Lastly, and again this might be a sign of the times, but I thought the character of Bando was just creepy as what College Professor would leave a child alone in the woods to survive and then come and stay over alone with him in a tree on several occasions.  I just don't think that he would have done this but the times were different in 1959!

So if you can get your head around these three main faults then it is a lovely little story, reminiscent of Enid Blyton for a slightly older audience in some ways.  Perhaps get your pre teen to read and let me know their opinion.

It is one book from a trilogy and I may be tempted to read the next two just to see where it all leads - not a huge effort as they are only a couple of hundred pages each.

So 3 out of 5 from me. 

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

Sarah Nickerson, like any other working mom, is busy trying to have it all. One morning while racing to work and distracted by her cell phone, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In that blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her over-scheduled life come to a screeching halt. After a brain injury steals her awareness of everything on her left side, Sarah must retrain her mind to perceive the world as a whole. In so doing, she also learns how to pay attention to the people and parts of her life that matter most.

In this powerful and poignant New York Times bestseller, Lisa Genova explores what can happen when we are forced to change our perception of everything around us. Left Neglected is an unforgettable story about finding abundance in the most difficult of circumstances, learning to pay attention to the details, and nourishing what truly matters.

This was a new author to me and what a find.  I love the way she writes as it flows so well and it has just the right amount of emotion without being soppy and over emotional despite a really difficult subject.  What made it an even better read was finding out about Left Neglect and how it is a very real neurological disorder (see more below).  It was hard to really appreciate the workings of this disorder as I kept thinking "but how could someone just not see the left side of themselves"  but it is real and people are trying to live with it.

I could truly relate to the main character, Sarah as I used to live for my job and worked all the hours in the world thinking that work was the most important thing in my life.  I then gave it all up to move continents and ended  up becoming a stay at home Mother.  So while, my life change was by choice and not thrust upon me by a tragic accident, I could really appreciate what she was going through.  I could also slightly empathise with her condition having seen my Father lose the power in his left side through a series of strokes. 

For me this was an emotional read as it struck a number of still raw nerves but somehow the author still made it a very enjoyable read.  She didn't go for the "Hollywood" happy ending that I suspected would happen at first.  It was a novel that I could just not put down and I had to set aside all other chores just to finish it. 

My one criticism is that it wasn't long enough as I thought there was a lot more to the story but then again, if she had stretched it out I would probably be complaining about it being to long and overwritten - no pleasing some people.  So, I guess, I preferred it to be the way it is and leaving the reader with a lot of thought and without all "issues" being nicely resolved.

A great read for everyone and a definite 5 out of 5 for me.  Not life changing but just a really well written novel and a good story.

What is Left Neglect

Hemispatial neglect, also called hemiagnosia, hemineglect, unilateral neglect, spatial neglect, unilateral visual inattention, hemi-inattention or neglect syndrome is a neuropsychological condition in which, after damage to one hemisphere of the brain is sustained, a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of space is observed. It is defined by the inability for a person to process and perceive stimuli on one side of the body or environment that is not due to a lack of sensation. Hemispatial neglect is very commonly contralateral to the damaged hemisphere, but instances of ipsilesional neglect (on the same side as the lesion) have been reported.

Hemispatial neglect results most commonly from brain injury to the right cerebral hemisphere, causing visual neglect of the left-hand side of space. Right-sided spatial neglect is rare because there is redundant processing of the right space by both the left and right cerebral hemispheres, whereas in most left-dominant brains the left space is only processed by the right cerebral hemisphere. Although most strikingly affecting visual perception ('visual neglect'), neglect in other forms of perception can also be found, either alone, or in combination with visual neglect.

For example, a stroke affecting the right parietal lobe of the brain can lead to neglect for the left side of the visual field, causing a patient with neglect to behave as if the left side of sensory space is nonexistent (although they can still turn left). In an extreme case, a patient with neglect might fail to eat the food on the left half of their plate, even though they complain of being hungry. If someone with neglect is asked to draw a clock, their drawing might show only numbers 12 to 6, or all 12 numbers on one half of the clock face, the other side being distorted or left blank. Neglect patients may also ignore the contralesional side of their body, shaving or adding make-up only to the non-neglected side. These patients may frequently collide with objects or structures such as door frames on the side being neglected.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.

Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption. 

What a book and I am struggling to put my thoughts about it down on paper.

This was chosen by one of my bookgroups as it's monthly read but I sort of put it to the back of my mind as I have never read any of this authors novels and there was just something about them that put me off.  No idea what but I just seemed to be a bit scared of reading one of them.  So fate played a hand, when I was mooching around the Friends of the Library bookstore (http://www.folmc.org/) and there was a lovely brand new hardback copy of this book for a couple of dollars.  Well I just had to take it and give it a try.

During the first 196 pages I thought that my initial thoughts about this author were justified.  While the subject matter was interesting the style of writing just did not work for me.  It started and then came to an abrupt stop in the first two chapters and then proceeded in a very "staccato" style of diary pages.  I was struggling so much with following it because of this style and also, because of the Mexican places and names and use of Spanish interspersed amongst the English that seemed to stop my reading flow dead in it's tracks.  I even went so far as saying to my husband that I was going to give up as life was to short to read something that I wasn't really enjoying.  Then a voice in my head said no, so I looked up some of the reviews of this novel on one of my favourite book websites (readitswapit.co.uk) where a number of trusted acquaintances made similar comments that they had struggled with the first part of the book but had kept reading and it was really worth persevering with.  So I persevered and I am so glad I did.

Such an interesting story where a number of real characters and their stories were linked together by the main character Harrison Shepherd.  I thought the characters were so well developed that I really felt for Mr Shepherd, amongst others, and was really angry at his trial by media.  It is difficult to say much more without inserting spoilers.  It showed me that even back then when there wasn't the same levels of media intrusion that goes on today, a person could be hung because one journalist chose to write blatant lies or twisted the truth to suit their own headline needs.   It is also frightening to think that the Government had/has such power to brand someone with an undesirable tag and then hound them out of their livelihood and country.  I would love for one of my Eastern European friends as well as a friend who was alive and remember the Anti Communist upsurge during the post war years to read this book and get their opinions.  I truly can't wait to discuss it at bookgroup anyway.  The staccato start and stop dead moment at the beginning of the book all became clear as the book came to it's conclusion and then actually added to the experience as a whole.

It has been a while since a novel has left me really wound up and full of the injustices of this world like this has.  I know it is only a book and is fiction (although heavily based on facts) but it has really made me quite angry and almost ready to seek vengeance on behalf of Harrison Shepherd, lol!  Better watch what I write or
I may get investigated by the Committee of Un American Activity - if it still exists today!!!!

I nearly gave it 4 stars out of 5 because of the start but as my thoughts come tumbling out it upgrades itself to a 5 star as it is a book that most people should read at some point.

Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me ...' Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.

After a number of unsatisfying reads I was almost drooling over this book.  I had seen it being reviewed by a number of trusted reading friends and, while I avoided reading the reviews, there was something about the book that just drew me in.  When I saw it on the Express shelves in my local library just shouting my name - Hazel, read me, read me - I just had to pick it up.  

Even physically it did not disappoint.    A beautifully covered hardback with the rough edged thick paper inside.  There was nothing about this book that was, so far, letting me down.  I know, you are thinking that I am setting myself up for a big disappointment if the story does not live up to my expectations.  Thankfully it actually did live up to them - woo hoo.

Ok the basic concept has been done before, where someone loses their memory when they sleep and they have to solve the mystery that is their life.  Think the movies Memento (Guy Pearce) or even While you were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock) and you would not be wrong the idea is an old one but (and for once it is a good but) this author just seems to get it right.  He manages to get the balance between the emotions of Christine having to live this half life and the conspiracy theory that she believes is going on around her.  The characters are beautifully developed and so well written that I felt I could picture each and every one of them  This is aided by the fact that Christine does not automatically know what each person in her life looks like (or who they actually are) so she writes down a very descriptive journal to remind herself.

The story itself was an absolute page turner for me and my sympathies and suspicions kept bouncing back and forwards between three of the main characters - Dr Nash, Ben and Claire - which, I think, is what the author was trying to achieve.  I could actually almost project myself into Christine's mind and felt some of the same confusion that she must have felt each day about what to believe.  Such a page turner that I slept in the spare room just so I could sit up really late to finish it.

So why did I drop one star giving it 4 out of 5.  Well the ending was good but not mind blowing.   The last 40 or 50 pages were not as good as the other 300 as I guessed most of what was going to happen by then.  Don't let this put you off reading as up to that point I was really torn and had a number of conspiracy theories myself and really cared what happened to most of the characters.

A book well worth a read and one that you will inhale as it flows so well.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose.

The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. 

I had been waiting on the Library hold queue for this book for quite a while.  After seeing it mentioned by several friends and seeing the synopsis of it, I expected to be blown away by the story.  Not sure why I expected this, as I studiously avoided reading any reviews so as the story would not be spoiled for me, but I went into the book with high expectations.  


This was my mistake.  It was a "nice" book.  Well written with a good story concept.  It flowed well and I cared for the, relatively, few characters in the book.  As usual there is a but at this point.  The story concept was good but it just did not go the way I expected or wanted it to go.  Difficult to explain why without inserting spoilers but lets say if the author had focused on Rose's "gift" along with, say, her Grandfathers and Fathers to see where it came from, then I would have enjoyed it more.  Instead, the story went into Joseph's gift (or at least implied gift) which was just too strange for me and did not match the hereditary gifts of Rose, her Father and Grandfather.  Either the story of Joseph needs to be dropped or gone into in more detail.  I don't normally say a book needs to be longer (as most tend to be overwritten and too long) but this one left me with the feeling of reading a short story.  Where you are just starting to get into the story and then suddenly it is over.   


Another unnecessary part of the story is the affair that her mother is having (I don't class this as a spoiler as it comes out fairly early on and doesn't affect any other part of the story, in my opinion).


I expected this book to be about the emotions that this girl can feel in food but it seemed to lack emotion to me.  It was rather matter of fact in many areas, which I normally like, but I wanted more emotion as that is what I felt I had been promised from the marketing blurbs.


I have given it 3 stars out of 5 as it is a good little "short" story book and it may be more enjoyable to other people who go into it with different expectations to me.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.

Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.

As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. 

This book looked rather ominous at first but as it was chosen for my book group I thought I had better give it a go.  It started quite well with what appeared to be an interesting and engaging story about the baseball genius that was Henry and the chap that discovered him in small town America, Mike Schwartz.  Then suddenly it threw a curve ball (pun totally intended!) and went into a historical story starting back in 1880 regarding the life of Herman Melville the author of Moby Dick.  It eventually became clear why the story had taken this path as this was the background to help the reader understand the character Guert Affenlight, so I forgave the author this huge jump across stories and kept on reading, and at the time, enjoying the book.

Unfortunately, this set the tone for the book with the story jumping to and fro, backwards and forwards amongst the cast of characters.  Honestly, I just could not follow the flow very well.  I did wonder at first whether this could be put down to my zero knowledge of baseball and, indeed, of Moby dick but it suddenly dawned on me that I just did not care what happened to any of the characters, not one single one of them.  They all came across as self-obsessed, whinging, whineing, narcissistic, unbelievable and many other such descriptive terms.  I only forced myself to finish the book as it was for book group.  It is highly unusual for me to have this feeling as I normally care enough about the story and/or characters to at least know how it all ends up for them and will finish a book even if it is not the most enjoyable of stories as I like to find out how it is all wrapped up.  This book was all, rather conveniently, wrapped up but again I just did not care.

I should have listened to my gut feeling when I picked up the book that I would not enjoy it.  A complete waste of reading time for me and my recommendation is to not fall for the hype surrounding this book and just give it a miss.  Even the most ardent baseball fans will probably not care for it and I still don't have a clue about baseball - what does a shortstop do anyway!!!