About reading

Title: Two Lives

Author: Helen Naylor

Genre: Romance

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Level: Pre-Intermediate

50 years ago, Huw and Megan were a happy couple in a little Welsh town. But the power of destiny forced Huw to leave the town and go to Canada, so Megan stayed alone with her baby and parents. Huw didn’t send any letters telling Megan about him or about his new life in Canada.

50 years later, Megan discovered that his father, who was already dead, had been keeping a lot of letters from Huw. Now, Megan could contact her beloved again , but she was about to marry a friend she had met at work. Megan will have to choose her future without help, in a romantic story between past and present.

I give this book a 3/5. It was an easy book, with a very predictable plot, but it gets you from the start. I had to read and read, so that I could get to know the end of the story. I don’t recommend it to people who don’t like romantic stories, but if you don’t mind reading a bit of romance, then Two Lives is your book.

 I have to admit the story of the wizard boy has captivated me, but the reason why this came to happen still remains a mystery, even to myself.

 As an avid reader from an early age, I’ve enjoyed many far more remarkable books, more original, with brilliant plots or memorable characters but, for some mysterious reason, JK Rowling and her fantastic world has kept me, as well as thousands of children and adults all over the world, under a spell for years.

 Why?

 Perhaps the reason is quite obvious and simple: it’s magic.

 This story has a sort of charm that has ensnared us readers in such a way that I can only attribute it to magic. The wizard boy has cast a spell on us, poor muggles, and we are just bewitched.

 Not even the mightiest wizard or witch could tell us the right ingredients to brew a potion for literary success but Jo managed to hit the nail on the head and keep her readers entranced for so long that now that the story is over we feel somewhat bereft.

 I can only be puzzled when I remember how this passion for her magic world started in me, how it developed and kept increasing and increasing until I closed the last volume of the series with a  bittersweet taste.

 I bought the first Harry Potter book, HP and the Philosopher’s Stone, as a present for my niece but she didn’t like it much and didn’t finish it at the time, so several years passed by until someone read it.

 I can’t remember why but one day I borrowed the book and started reading it to my son every night before he went to sleep. He liked it so much that I ended up reading the whole book aloud for him. I didn’t think there was anything special about the story but my child seemed to enjoy it , so  , when the second volume was released , I bought it for him. I have to say I didn’t like HP and the Chamber of Secrets all that much either.

 The third book, HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was something altogether different. I was hooked from the first chapters and I soon noticed that I was no longer reading only for my child’s pleasure, but for my own as well.

 If I had to choose my favourite book in the series it would be either HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban  or HP and the Half-Blood Prince, because both of them kept me glued to the pages and wanting more when they ended.

 As for the last volume of the series, HP and the Deathly Hallows, I have to say that I opened it with so much anticipation, so eager to devour the pages as I hadn’t done for a really long time. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. It was fast-paced and thrilling, with a clever plot full of twists and turns and it was also moving and haunting at times, so what else could you ask for?

 Well, I must admit I expected more. Maybe I hoped, against all odds, that the series could last  for ever or perhaps the fascinating discovery of how complex some of her characters truly were sparked a sort of hunger in me that the last book was unable to appease.

 I guess JK Rowling could not deal with the complexity of these characters more thoroughly because Harry Potter is, in the fist place, a children’s story and therefore it may dive into some adult issues but it can’t reach certain depths.

 However, I can’t complain ; on the contrary, I should be most grateful to Ms Rowling, for she has created a whole fantastic universe and has gifted us with a reading experience we will always treasure and a good number of  compelling characters, some of which are so endearing and others  so loathsome that we will never forget them.

 I have one more reason to thank Jo for, she has helped my son develop a passion for books that will be a part of him for his whole life. After all, as every reader knows well, once this passion catches you in its magic web, you are trapped for ever.

I have just read On Chesil Beach and I simply loved it. I suppose I have to agree with those of you who think that McEwan’s books are sad, but I agree more with the words that appear on the cover of the edition I have: “Wonderful… exquisite… devastating”.

Some people argue that the topic of the novel is not believable in the society where it is set, the England of the early 60’s, but more than a question of sex the problem the young couple had was the fact that they were hiding an important part of their personality to the person they loved. Because they did love each other, in a tender, almost naive way.

I turned the last page in tears, thinking of the many lives that have been (and are) ruined due to lack of communication and moral repression.

I really recommend it.

Listen to Ian McEwan reading from On Chesil Beach:

 British well known playwright Harold Pinter, died on 24 December 2008, at the age of 78.

He wrote more than 30 plays including The Caretaker and The Birthday Party. His film scripts include The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

He had been awarded with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 and belonged to the generation of the Angry Young Men.

London’s West End paid tribute to a great literary figure of all times.

Learn more about Harold Pinter

Obituary: Harold Pinter

Title: This year it will be different

Author: Maeve Binchy

Genre: Short stories

Publisher: Orion books

Level: Upper-Intermediate/Advanced

This collection of short stories all occur over the Christmas period and each have a moral or tale to be told and learnt. The stories are about the lives of wives, husbands, children, friends and lovers at a time when feelings are not easily hidden.

I’d give this book a 3/5. I read it over the Christmas holidays as a bit of light, feel-good reading and that is just what it is. It gives the reader an insight into the lives of others and the common problems faced by us all, intensified at Christmas, a time when we feel overpowered by the pressure to feel happy and be surrounded by friends and family, when the reality is often very different. If you like simple, positive thinking chick lit with a happy ending I’d recommend this to you. If you want a plot and a bit of intrigue, look elsewhere.

Title: Christmas in Prague.
Author: Joyce Hannam.
Genre: Romace
Publisher: Oxford Bookworms Library.
Level: Elementary.

The story began in 1957 when some people wanted to go out of Czechoslovakia because the people weren´t free.
A night a young woman wanted to cross the border of Austria and she carried a six-month old baby boy in her arms but the guards killed her.
In 1995 a new story began. The harpish woman was called to play in an orchesta in Prague, she was living with her husband and her father in law and they went to Prague.
When she was there, she found a man that looked exactly like her husband but then she had an accident. After that she was in a hospital, and her husband and her father in law went to visit her. While they were speaking with her a man came in the room. In the end this man was her husband’s twin brother and they began a new life as a family.

It is a very beautiful story. I think the book is great.

This is a review that one of my elementary students has written. I’m afraid she’s read it in Spanish. Although I prefer that you read in English, reviews about books read in other languages are welcome as long as they are written in English.

Here you are what Flor Antuña G. has written about this novel.

Title : Ojalá fuera cierto
Author: Marc Lévy
Genre: Science fiction
This book tells the story of a woman doctor (Lauren) that has an accident and goes into a coma and becomes a ghost, but only one person (Arthur) can see her.
Her family and her doctor decide to kill her (practise euthanasia) but Arthur wants to stop them.

It is an enjoyable story, with very very amusing situtations.
The film “Just like heaven” by Marks Waters is based on this book.

Title: Surfacing

Author: Margaret Atwood

Genre: Psychological drama.

Publisher: Virago

Level: Advanced +

Synopsis: Surfacing is structured around the point of view of a young woman who travels with her boyfriend and two married friends to a remote island on a lake in Northern Quebec, where she spent much of her childhood, to search for her missing father. Accompanied by her lover and another young couple, she becomes caught up in her past and in questioning her future. This psychological mystery tale presents a compelling study of a woman who is also searching for herself.

Personal opinion (3/5). The book is not easy to read because the narrator mixes the present with a past that was not very happy for her. The characters are very peculiar, the story seemed original though you soon realise the poor girl has led a sad life, deprived of love and happiness. I managed to deal with all that but the end really disappointed me. Why? Read it and see if you share my opinion.

Why don’t you  drop some lines giving your personal opinion? You could also  explain why the narrator behaves in the way she does at the end of the novel.