RIP Book Challenge – until October 31st

The search is on for a few scary novels so that I can participate in this annual challenge.  I chose Peril the Second (two novels) to sink my teeth into over the next few months and also Peril on the Screen (one movie). This is so much fun. Can’t wait!

Click here to join R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI!

Some contenders:

Dracula – Bram Stoker; The Reaping - M. Leighton; The Host - Meyer; The Corpse Bride; The Fourth Kind; Coraline (Novel by Gaiman or movie). 

Still thinking about it...I want something really good :) Stay tuned!

Sweet Misfortune - Kevin Alan Milne

There is something special about this novel. It definitely has a certain charm and innocence and I would recommend it to anyone who’d like a quick and entertaining read with a little depth.

A love story about a woman who’s distraught about her past (rightly so), who then meets tragedy again when her fiancé, after a Hollywood romance, leaves her with no explanation. She creates misfortunes cookies to deal with her anger, coating them in bittersweet chocolate to make them taste bad on top of delivering a negative fortune.

This novel was a little simple for me as I usually enjoy philosophical novels with more complexity. But sometimes we have to give our minds a rest - and our hearts a workout - and that’s exactly what happened....I cried at the beginning and I think I felt my heart move a few times throughout.

The first half of the novel was a delight – funny, romantic, with a little mystery. Then, at some point, as mentioned, I did get bored with the simplicity. However, it picked up again near the end with a bit of a revelation: of all the bad things that happen, most people blame themselves and live with regret which is a tragedy on top of the bad thing that has happened.

The misfortune cookie on the cover says “some people are lucky in love, you aren’t one of them”, and the whole premise of these cookies is just brilliant (thank you to the author). Like in The Gargoyle, the idea is that you have to face, again, the scene of the crime (both novels involve car accidents) to move past tragedy. Maybe in order to induce positive thinking – and a positive life - we should come to terms with, or play with, negative thoughts through humour and kindness.

Have patience: rainy days will soon return.
An apple a day keeps the doctor way. You should invest in an apple orchard.
You will soon fall in love. Caution: when people fall, something usually breaks.
Yesterday was the high point of your life. Sorry.
If you thought things were looking up, you were upside down.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Year 6 at Hogwarts and things are starting to get a little less PG. Pick a side and go with it – you’re on the side of light or dark and there does not seem to be an in between...

Or is there? Enter the half blood prince who knows how to use magic in a more advanced way than regular wizards. But, it’s not what you know; it’s how you use this knowledge that matters (in the grand scheme of things)!

The characters in the novel are adhering to their chosen side and the real war has begun...even though it’s been happening for years now, and for Harry since the day he was born. But, unlike the other novels, nothing is black and white anymore (good vs. evil) – everyone must work together and sacrifice has possibly become a necessity to save Hogwarts and humanity at large.  This includes muggle-borns, pure and half bloods.  Light material in these books...

I can’t say more, as I don’t want to spoil the second last novel for those who’ve not yet read it, but both sides reach triumph and disaster in efforts to balance light and dark. That JK has managed to do all this still amazes me to this day.

One more book left. I am both thrilled and sad to be nearing the end of my journey into these novels.  The characters will be missed deeply. And this time even Draco and Snape, as this book has made my heart go out to them for very different reasons. But especially, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who I’ve watched grow up, and gone on adventures and heartbreak with, just the like the rest of the world.

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Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

My newest hobby is finding connections to my next read from my last, and that’s how I found Oryx and Crake – from a similar word in The Forty Rules of Love that made me instantly think of this Margaret Atwood novel. Also, while looking for another novel by Shafak, being totally in love with the last one, I came across another future read: Curiosity which just happened to be misplaced beside Shafak’s other novels. I love coincidences.

Not being totally excited about the topic of this novel – a dystopian future world – I was reluctant at first to start it. I decided to give it a chance, and started enjoying it a little more by the time I got to page 23. It was the quote at the beginning that ignited my interest and kept me plugging away, determined to find out what the author hopes to transpire:

“I could perhaps like others have astonished you with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style; because my principal design was to inform you, and not to amuse you.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels.

From this you get the direction and focus of the novel. Wanting to have open eyes, I’m going to read the rest of this novel and, hopefully, will enjoy it. But I have discovered through the process of wanting to have open eyes that the future, which has not happened yet, depends on our thoughts and actions. If this is really the case, shouldn't we all be reading more books about utopia?

I appreciate the knowledge so far, and look forward to writing more about this novel as I continue on. Who knows, reality could be stranger than fiction after all.

The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak

I have a new ability: I seem drawn to the right book at the right time - it’s almost as if the book is yelling “Yoo-hoo, over here”... well, not exactly like that, but that’s the only way I know how to explain it. If only everything in life was so clear.

My eyes settled on The Forty Rules of Love when I was at St. John’s Airport, just as my Dad ran off to grab a coffee. I grabbed it right off the shelf and didn’t think for another moment about whether it was worth my time – I knew it was!!

This novel is pure and simple magic and a pleasure to read from start to finish. To-date, I can’t think of a story that has inspired my mind and heart and flowed in such a way as this one did. I made little stars along the way to mark where I must go back and read again the poetic little scriptures that seem to hit the nail right on the head.

About the poet and scholar, Rumi, Elif Shafak takes us on a journey through time to Konya, Turkey, and the Anatolia/Asia Minor area in the thirteenth century to Rumi's moment of enlightenment, love and connection to his spiritual advisor, Shams of Tabriz. Sham's is a wandering, dancing dervish who practices Sufism.

There is so much more to this book than I can explain. Like Shams of Tabriz says, “There are different levels of wisdom, truth, and vision to everything” (he was speaking about the Qur'an).

There’s also a parallel story of modern day love between the writer of Sweet Blasphemy, Rumi and Sham’s story, and a married woman who’s writing a report of the novel for work. This contrast was nice and made the rules of love easy to apply to the world we live in today.

The fortieth rule made me cry and, although it closes off the novel nicely, in a way it brings us right back to the beginning, letting us know that there may be lessons but no rules, and this may be the hardest lesson of all. We are responsible, if not entirely for our path, for our spiritual growth and actions and how we view all things.

“Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step (Faith). That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for. Once you take that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.”

The Reconnection - Eric Pearl

I’d heard about this book for years but hadn't really considered reading it until it was recently recommended to me by a friend and therapist who had performed this "technique" on me. Like all good book choices, the pleasure in reading it had a lot to do with timing – and it was definitely the right time for me.

Starting off on the right track with a sad (but then inspiring) story about a hopeless patient who goes to see a Chiropractor, we are taken on a journey of tremendous healing. I was hooked from the beginning and the book basically flowed like a novel from then on (as mentioned in a review on the first page).

Like the title says, it’s about reconnecting to a higher source and, like the previous book I mentioned, evolving to develop other senses - be it for healing, artistic expression, or anything else that needs a touch of the divine. The author doesn’t try to explain what this source is, resisting being bias to any religion or dogma (although he does reference scientific ideas) but rather encourages readers to be open to the magic of the universe and life, in a childlike way, to see what will be brought about.

Pearl also mentions a few times throughout the importance of looking at yourself as the answer and to stop trying to collect things (techniques, objects, etc.) which validate you and your abilities. We are all superior to most of these tools.