"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

I saw the book The Girl on the Train by Paul Hawkins a while back and it sounded interesting.  Then the previews for the movie came out and I wanted to read this book so that I could see the movie.  I haven't seen it yet, but can't wait to see if it follows the book.  The book was great.  It had a twist and was reminiscent of Gillian Flynn's novels.  I would definitely recommend reading it and hope that the movie follows the book closely.  I can't wait to see it.

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble:

EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

"A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby

I picked up "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby a while back and it was sitting in my To Be Read stack.  I saw that the movie was on Netflix and didn't know how long it was going to be on there.  So I decided to pick this one up and read it so that I could watch the movie.

The book was good.  It was an interesting story and interesting read.  Except for the same basic intro concept, the movie wasn't as good as the book.  The plot line even was slightly different.  I'd definitely recommend the book as a summer read (you still have a few weeks before Labor Day).

Overview from Barnes and Noble's website:

Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they’ve reached the end of the line.

In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.

"When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi

I first read about Dr. Paul Kalanithi in a NPR article.  Paul was a neurosurgeon at the end of his residency program when he found out he had cancer spread throughout his body.  Paul had also always wanted to be a writer, even pursuing this in college as well.

When Paul found out he had cancer, he wrote about his experience as a doctor giving help and hope to cancer patients who are dealing with it or dying from it.  But he was also about to write about his experience on the other side, as a patient receiving treatment.

I knew when I finished this article that I had to pick up his book "When Breath Becomes Air." This book was great.  It was a quick read and very insightful and meaningful.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo

I had read so much about "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" by Marie Kondo in several magazines.  I picked this up much earlier this year as I wanted help getting my house organized.  I was hoping that this would be the book that would completely change my mindset and my life.

I didn't get as much out of this book as I would have liked.  There were a few things that I did like about her tips.  I did like how Kondo talked about letting go of the sentimental value of things that are cluttering up your life.  She also talked about not stocking up on too many things since they take up valuable space.  This is hard for me since I like to coupon and get items on sale and/or free when I can.  Kondo also wants you to ask yourself if an item brings you joy when you are deciding whether or not to keep it.  This helped me recently when I was moving and wanted to purge some of my decor items, clothing, and housewives that I didn't want to pack and move.

I would recommend this book to someone who is wanting to break away from the psychological part of clutter an decluttering.  If you are looking for someone to tell you how to organize your stuff, there are several other books out there that are better than this one.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). 

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

"Ghost Boy" by Martin Pistorius

When I was working out at the gym one night, I saw an interview on CNN with Martin Pistorius.  At the age of 12, he became ill and slowly his body degenerated to the point he could not speak or communicate and he became a quadriplegic.  He was in this state for 10 years, the entire time, fully conscious of what was going on outside of him and how he was being treated.  It wasn't until a caregiver noticed him starting to respond and recommended that his parents take him to get tested to check to see if he was responsive.

Today, Martin owns his own business, is married, and uses a computer and word board to communicate (don't want to spoil anything, but this info is on the cover.  He wrote Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body.  The interview was so fascinating, I knew that I had to know more about how he went from a healthy child to ending up as a quadriplegic and how he learned how to communicate with the world again.  I went straight out and picked up the book.

It was a great book.  I would recommend it to everyone.  A lot of times, people in wheelchairs are passed by on the street without a glance, or with a negative glance, or with no one considering that they have thoughts/feelings/etc and can hear.  This book reminds us to be kind to everyone, no matter their circumstances.  It also reminds you that anything is possible if you work hard for it.

Overview from Barnes and Noble's website:

They all thought he was gone. But he was alive and trapped inside his own body for ten years.

In January 1988 Martin Pistorius, aged twelve, fell inexplicably sick. First he lost his voice and stopped eating. Then he slept constantly and shunned human contact. Doctors were mystified. Within eighteen months he was mute and wheelchair-bound. Martin's parents were told an unknown degenerative disease left him with the mind of a baby and less than two years to live.

Martin was moved to care centers for severely disabled children. The stress and heartache shook his parents’ marriage and their family to the core. Their boy was gone. Or so they thought.

Ghost Boy is the heart-wrenching story of one boy’s return to life through the power of love and faith. In these pages, readers see a parent’s resilience, the consequences of misdiagnosis, abuse at the hands of cruel caretakers, and the unthinkable duration of Martin’s mental alertness betrayed by his lifeless body.

We also see a life reclaimed—a business created, a new love kindled—all from a wheelchair. Martin's emergence from his own darkness invites us to celebrate our own lives and fight for a better life for others.

"Not That Kind of Girl" by Lena Dunham

When "Girls" first came out on HBO, I started watching it.  It was a good show, but wasn't one that I was super into.  I cancelled my HBO subscription between seasons of True Blood, so I missed many episodes of Girls.  Last summer I caught up on the first few seasons of Girls.  It's a good show, but still not enough to make me shell out the money for the HBO subscription.

When I saw that Lena Dunham had a new book coming out, Not That Kind of Girl, I was curious, but wasn't sure I was going to read it.  Then I kept seeing reviews popping up everywhere that said that this book was great.  So of course I had to pick it up.

It's actually a surprisingly good read! She has some funny stories and gets very descriptive in some parts, but you can see what she has truly learned from life and from these life situations.  It's a very good read and sometimes you think "where is she going with this chapter" and then she ties it up really well.  I would definitely recommend this book.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

For readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, poignant, and extremely frank collection of personal essays confirms Lena Dunham—the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’sGirls—as one of the brightest and most original writers working today.

“If I could take what I’ve learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine was worthwhile. I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you, but also my future glory in having stopped you from trying an expensive juice cleanse or thinking that it was your fault when the person you are dating suddenly backs away, intimidated by the clarity of your personal mission here on earth. No, I am not a sexpert, a psychologist, or a dietician. I am not a mother of three or the owner of a successful hosiery franchise. But I am a girl with a keen interest in having it all, and what follows are hopeful dispatches from the frontlines of that struggle.”

"The Silver Star" by Jeannette Walls

I love any book by Jeannette Walls.  Her books are always humorous and always have eccentric characters.  Of course I had to pick up The Silver Star when I saw it in Barnes & Noble.  It took me a little longer to read it than I would have liked due to being busy.  But it was a great book and I would definitely recommend any book of hers.  The characters are eccentric but you always root for them in their story.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls’ gripping new novel that "transports us with her powerful storytelling...She contemplates the extraordinary bravery needed to confront real-life demons in a world where the hardest thing to do may be to not run away" (O, The Oprah Magazine).

It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.

An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, and the sisters start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Liz is whip-smart—an inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox.

Jeannette Walls has written a deeply moving novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices.

"Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn

I've been on a Gillian Flynn kick lately.  I saw all three books of hers in Barnes & Noble and thought that they would all be quick reads.  Since I read two out of the three, I thought I would pick up the last, "Dark Places."

It's taken me a little longer than I would have liked to have read this book.  I can attribute part of it to me being busy, but I just didn't get super invested in this book.  It wasn't bad, but it just didn't capture and keep my attention like Gone Girl did.

I don't want to spoil the ending.  But as I started to near the ending, I was worried about how the book was going to end.  I kept thinking of a certain ending in my head and thinking "Please don't let it end like this."  Fortunately, that ending did not happen.  But I wasn't super satisfied with the ending either.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime mysteries.  But if I had to pick my favorite Gillian Flynn book to recommend, this would be my last pick out of "Gone Girl" and "Sharp Objects."

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

"All Fall Down" by Jennifer Weiner

I picked up this book at Barnes & Noble after reading "Then Came You" by Jennifer Weiner in August.  At the time, Then Came You was the first book of hers that I had read and I enjoyed it.  "All Fall Down" was a good book.  It was a little slow at first to get into.  But it was interesting to read about a busy, working mom, wife, and partial caretaker to her ailing father and how she copes with the stress of it all.  I'd recommend this book   It was an interesting take on addiction.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician’s office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder…Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class…or if your husband ignores you?

The pills help her manage the realities of her good-looking life: that her husband is distant, that her daughter is acting out, that her father’s Alzheimer’s is worsening and her mother is barely managing to cope. She tells herself that they let her make it through her days…but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that’s becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?

With a sparkling comedic touch and a cast of unforgettable characters, this remarkable story of a woman’s slide into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again is Jennifer Weiner’s most masterful work yet.

"Adultery" by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is my favorite author, so I read everything of his when it comes out.  I ran out to pick up his newest book, "Adultery."  It was a quick read, but I wasn't as crazy about this book as I was some of the others.  It didn't get as much symbolism and deep, deep meaning from this book as I have from some of his others.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Linda knows she's lucky.

Yet every morning when she opens her eyes to a so-called new day, she feels like closing them again.

Her friends recommend medication.

But Linda wants to feel more, not less.

And so she embarks on an adventure as unexpected as it is daring, and which reawakens a side of her that she - respectable wife, loving mother, ambitious journalist - thought had disappeared.

Even she can't predict what will happen next...

"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn

I brought "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn to the beach with me to read after I read her other book, "Gone Girl."  It was a pretty quick read.  I liked the suspense of "Gone Girl" better, but actually liked the ending of "Sharp Objects" vs. "Gone Girl" (did not like the ending).  It was a very interesting book.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

As I was perusing books about a year and a half ago, another lady in the recommended "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn to me.  As I normally do, I took a picture of the book to remember to buy it later, and forgot it about it.  When I was at the movie theater a few weeks ago, I saw the preview for the movie "Gone Girl" and knew I had to read the book before I watched the movie (I won't read a book if I've already seen the movie).  So I picked up the book and read it over our beach vacation last month.

The book was a little hard to get into at first, but it picked up pretty quickly.  It was captivating and kept me on edge waiting to find out what was going to happen next.  I loved the book up until the last few pages.  I hated the ending.  As not to spoil it, I won't go into why I hated it, but if you read the book, you will probably agree.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

I'm also attaching a link to one of the trailers.  I hope I am happier with the movie than I am with the book.  This is one movie that I wouldn't mind having a different ending than the book.

"Manuscript Found in Accra" by Paulo Coelho

I love Paulo Coelho's writing and read all of his books.  I'm not always crazy about every single one of them, but as a writer, I generally love his works.  I wasn't quite sure about "Manuscript Found in Accra" when I picked it up.  However, I loved this book.  It was a great "advice" book.  It's one of those books that feed your soul, uplift you, and make you a better person afterwards.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

The great wisdom of life is that we can be masters of the things that try to enslave us. “There is nothing wrong with anxiety. Although we cannot control God’s time, it is part of the human condition to want to receive the thing we are waiting for as quickly as possible. Or to drive away whatever is causing fear. Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it—just as we have learned to live with storms."

1099. Jerusalem awaits the invasion of the crusaders who have surrounded the city’s gates. There, inside the ancient city’s walls, women and men of every age and faith have gathered to hear the wisdom of a mysterious man known only as the Copt. 

As the wise man speaks of loyalty, fear, bravery and solitude, of love, sex, beauty and elegance, his words offer truth and guidance, and reveal the human values that have endured throughout time—then as now, his words reveal who we are, what we fear and what we hope for the future.
 

"Then Came You" by Jennifer Weiner

I don't think I've ever read a book by Jennifer Weiner.  I was in Barnes & Noble and trying to find another book for the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" deal and saw this one.  It sounded pretty interesting and I picked it up.  It was a little slow in the beginning, but I really liked this book.  It took me a little longer to get into it due to being busy at work and not having the time to read.  But once I got about half way through, I had to finish.  I would definitely recommend this book.  I liked it enough to pick up another one of her books last time I went into the bookstore.

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble's website:

Jules Strauss is a Princeton senior on a full scholarship who plans on selling her “pedigree” eggs to help save her father from addiction.

Annie Barrow, a struggling Pennsylvania housewife, thinks that carrying another woman’s child will help her recover a sense of purpose and will bring in some much-needed cash.

India Bishop, thirty-eight (really, forty-three) and recently married to the wealthy Marcus Croft, yearns for a baby for reasons that have more to do with money than with love. When her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to Jules and Annie to make her dreams come true.

But each of their plans is thrown into disarray when Bettina, Marcus’s privileged daughter, becomes suspicious that her new stepmother is not what she seems . . .

Told with Jennifer Weiner’s trademark wit and sharp observations, Then Came You is a hilarious, tender, and timely tale that explores themes of class and entitlement, surrogacy and charity, the rights of a parent and the measure of a mother.

"The Storyteller" by Jodi Picoult

I love Jodi Picoult's books.  But when I read the back cover of "The Storyteller," it didn't seem like it would keep my interest.  I had a little bit of a hard time getting into the first chapter or two.  But Picoult did not disappoint.  This was a great, quick read, as always with a twist in the end.  The stories within the story about the Holocaust were riveting and sad at the same time.

Synposis from Barnes & Noble's website:

Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.

"The Dinner" by Herman Koch

I was in Barnes and Noble and The Dinner by Herman Koch and the back cover piqued my interest.  The back cover mentioned that the parents of two boys were meeting over dinner and that a single horrific act united the boys.  Nosy me wanted to know what they did.  That's all that it took for me to buy it.

It was a good book, but I wasn't super impressed.  Pretty much the entire book is about this dinner.  I felt like I was at a never-ending dinner.  It did keep me in suspense to see what would happen.  I wasn't crazy about the ending either.  I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal.

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
     Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
     Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

"Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness" by Susannah Cahalan

I had been eyeing Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan for a long time at Barnes & Noble.  I finally picked it up one night.  After I graduated with my B.S., I went back to school and took some psychology classes.  I love learning about the mind and the brain: what makes the brain function normally, what kinds of abnormalities persist, how the brain works, and what amazing things it's capable of.

Brain on Fire isn't what I thought it was going to be.  It was a good book about a rare disease that the Cahalan has which is beneficial for anyone who may be reading the book and going through a similar diagnosis.  It's great that she gets awareness out for her disease.  Most of the book was about her time in the hospital and diagnosing her condition.

I did love this quote from the book:

"Looking back at this time, I see that I'd begun to surrender to the disease, allowing all the aspects of my personality that I value - patience, kindness, and courteousness - to evaporate.  I was a slave to the machinations of my aberrant brain.  We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold dear go with it."

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery,Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen. “A fascinating look at the disease that . . . could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life” (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic.

"I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai

I hadn't heard about Malala Yousafzai until she was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.  I heard about her story on NPR and couldn't wait to find out more about this remarkable young lady.  I picked up her book I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban at Barnes & Noble one night.  Although I wasn't impressed with the writing style of the book, her story is incredible.  She has achieved so much for someone so young and survived an assassination attempt.  I hope that she achieves great things in life.  She's already brought so much awareness to education of women all over the world.  If you read the book and want to help, I suggest donating to the Malala Fund which aims at bringing awareness and education to young girls in developing countries.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday October 9, 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. When she was shot in the head at point blank range while riding the bus home from school, few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in Northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, and of Malala's parents' fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

It will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

"The First Phone Call From Heaven" by Mitch Albom

I've read all of Mitch Albom's books that I can get my hands on.  I saw his latest book The First Phone Call From Heaven in Barnes & Noble recently and had to pick it up.  It did not disappoint.  It kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how residents of a small town were receiving calls from their loved ones in heaven.  It's a pretty quick read and his books are always good for your soul.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

"What if the end is not the end?"

From the beloved author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven comes his most thrilling and magical novel yet—a page-turning mystery and a meditation on the power of human connection.

One morning in the small town of Coldwater, Michigan, the phones start ringing. The voices say they are calling from heaven. Is it the greatest miracle ever? Or some cruel hoax? As news of these strange calls spreads, outsiders flock to Coldwater to be a part of it.

At the same time, a disgraced pilot named Sully Harding returns to Coldwater from prison to discover his hometown gripped by "miracle fever." Even his young son carries a toy phone, hoping to hear from his mother in heaven.

As the calls increase, and proof of an afterlife begins to surface, the town—and the world—transforms. Only Sully, convinced there is nothing beyond this sad life, digs into the phenomenon, determined to disprove it for his child and his own broken heart.

Moving seamlessly between the invention of the telephone in 1876 and a world obsessed with the next level of communication, Mitch Albom takes readers on a breathtaking ride of frenzied hope.

The First Phone Call from Heaven is Mitch Albom at his best—a virtuosic story of love, history, and belief.

"Aleph" by Paulo Coelho

I always pick up books by Paulo Coelho, my favorite author.  So of course, I had to pick up Aleph.  I didn't think that I would like it.  It's one of his more mystical, spiritual books about his personal journey.  I don't feel like I can relate much to his other books along those lines.

Surprisingly, I really liked Aleph.  Although a lot of the book seemed a little spiritually foreign to me, it did have a lot of good quotes.

"In India, they use the word 'karma,' for lack of any better term.  But it's a concept that's rarely given a proper explanation.  It isn't what you did in the past that will affect the present.  It's what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future."

"We will always ask ourselves the same questions.  We will always need to be humble enough to accept that our hearts know why we are here.  Yes, it's difficult to talk to your heart, and perhaps it isn't even necessary.  We simply have to trust and follow the signs and live our Personal Legend; sooner or later, we will realize that we are all part of something, even if we can't understand rationally what that something is.  They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, Heaven or Hell.

Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life.  Paradise is being able to say at that moment:  'I made some mistakes, but I wasn't a coward.  I lived my life and did what I had to do.'"

"Seek out people who aren't afraid of making mistakes and who, therefore, do make mistakes.  Because of that, their work often isn't recognized, but they are precisely the kind of people who change the world and, after many mistakes, do something that will transform their own community completely."

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In his most personal novel to date, internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho returns with a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Like the main character in his much-beloved The Alchemist, Paulo is facing a grave crisis of faith. As he seeks a path of spiritual renewal and growth, his only real option is to begin again—to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the landscapes around him.

Setting off to Africa, and then to Europe and Asia via the Trans-Siberian railroad, he initiates a journey to revitalize his energy and passion. Even so, he never expects to meet Hilal. A gifted young violinist, she is the woman Paulo loved five hundred years before—and the woman he betrayed in an act of cowardice so far-reaching that it prevents him from finding real happiness in this life. Together they will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, traveling a path that teaches love, forgiveness, and the courage to overcome life’s inevitable challenges. Beautiful and inspiring, Alephinvites us to consider the meaning of our own personal journeys.