The Girls - A Recommendation

Another book review for your reading pleasure! I recently picked up "The Girls" by Lori Lansens from our school library, and I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much. Conjoined twins? I thought the book would be a little too freak-show, perhaps glorifying what is a painful reality for some of the unfortunates in our world.

Lansen does not treat the topic in a freakish nature at all. Infact, it is quite the opposite. The reality of the girls' lives is never glorified or pitied. It has a strong sense of truthfulness. Lansen also goes much beyond the gimmick of writing from conjoined twins' perspectives. The story is about story telling, families, sisters, memory and loss. It really is a good read, and one that gives you a truly unique experience. Enjoy!

A Must Read - The Time Traveler's Wife

There are few things I love more in this world than a good book. While I don't always have enough time to get into or even find a really great book, when I do, I am so excited I want to share it with EVERYBODY. I decided to write about the latest GREAT book that I have written here, since novels are just as much a part of the media that makes up our culture as our favourite tv shows and magazines are.

This book is called "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. The novel tells the story of Clare, who meets the love of her life, Henry, when she is six years old. The only problem is that even though Henry is only 8 years older than she is, the version of him that she first meets is 36 as he has time travelled to the past to meet her. She awaits visits from his future self while waiting to meet him in real time. While this sounds confusing ... it is all beautifully and captivatingly told in a way that makes me deny the fact that it is science fiction. It is not science fiction, it is a.. dare I say timeless (?) love story with the kind of heart aching intensity of stories like "The Notebook." (Speaking of the Notebook, I 'IMDB'ed (www.imdb.com) the book to see if it was being developed into a movie, and it is - Rachel McAdams is set to star as the main character.)

I can't recommend this novel enough for anyone who loves a really good love story.

I'm Outraged! - Gossip Girls!

"'Welcome to New York's Upper East Side, where my friends and I all live in huge, fabulous apartments and go to exclusive private schools. It's a luxury life, but someone's got to live it.'

This is the eighth book in the internationally bestselling series. It's almost graduation and the lives of New York's private high school elite are really heating up. Everyone's got into college and it's clearly time to party - not that they haven't been doing plenty of that already! Blair and Nate's relationship has moved on to a new level - but will the love affair continue? Or will Nate's love affair with his bong get in the way? Only time can tell how everyone will end up, bit one thing's for sure: love is in the air, and it smells a lot like Gucci envy."

That is a sample of what you can expect in the series "Gossip Girl" by Cecily von Ziegasar. With a target audience ranging from girls aged 11-20, these books are the latest teen craze. Now, as an English teacher, my policy has always been, if a student is reading ANY book, that's great. Until I actually picked one of these books up!

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(Unfinished)

Stranger Than Fiction

I watched Will Ferrell's new movie "Stranger Than Fiction" in theatre and on DVD this week. It is a charming and wonderfully weird movie that is about plot conventions without actually having any in it.

It follows the mundane daily routines of Howard Crick, a man who works for the IRS and is obsessed with numbers. (Warning: Will Ferrell plays the straight man.) He suddenly starts to hear his life being narrated by a mysterious voice. Meanwhile, Emma Thompson plays the author who is trying to figure out how to kill the main character in her latest novel.

Howard begins to realise that he is a character in a book, and sets out to advance the plot (his life is rather plotless). After ruling out many conventional plots, he decides that the plot convention he is to follow is unlikely love, when he sets out to make the woman he is auditing fall in love with him. This becomes apparent only after he realises that she absolutely detests him.

I love this movie for the superb acting and very clever script. The characters are unique, but do follow some stereotypes and conventions. Howard Crick is the boring, stuffy, numbers driven taxman and Emma Thompson is a "fantastically depressing" author suffering from writer's block. Oh, there is also a hilarious extra scene in the special features that includes two book interviews by this hilarious woman who does a great spoof of the typical ultra-cheery morning show host.

I definitely recommend this movie if you are up for something .... strange.