A Slice of Zion

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats  is a special book. I mean, it is  an international best seller, but that's not the only reason why this book is a diamond in your library. I honestly feel in classrooms 20 or 30 years from now this book will be a topic of discussion. At least, I hope very hard that it will make it that far. This novel has two stories going on. One is of Julia Win who travels to Burma to try and find out why her father disappeared from her life. The other is the tale of Tin Win, Julia's father, told by U Ba. Julia is shocked by the things U Ba tells her: her father used to blind, he had another lover named MiMi, and much more. While on one hand I wanted to be upset with Tin Win for just up and leaving his father in New York, his life story brought me to tears. A basic overview is that when he was born, he was born on a Friday in December. To his mother, this was a bad sign. After repeated "bad luck" such as the chickens dying, his superstitious moth...

Sarah Dessen, the author of The Truth about Forever, said  “There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”  This rings true in Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. In a simple, elegant style, Moyes somehow captures the essence of love in ink. I do not know how she does it, but she takes readers on a journey that fills your heart with love. Except this love is not what you would expect. In fact, the romance between Louisa Clark and Will Traynor for most of the book is so subtle it's hard to recognize. However, in a mere chapter, it exploded into something absolutely beautiful.  This is definitely a book I would consider reading again and again. The book evolves around Louisa Clark, a spunky 28-year-old living in a tiny English village. When she loses her job at a local café, the Job Centre does not offer her many fulfilling occupations. Jumping from factory worker to fast food, she is...

Neil Gaiman, the author of Coraline and The Graveyard Book , once said, "Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is an excellent example of a fairy tale teaching us that our inner demons can be beaten. The author mixes children's stories with mature issues such as accepting the  death of a loved one and change at a young age. In this fashion, John Connolly crafts an excellent tale that is intended to be read deeper than face-value. When I first read this book, I was in a dry spell of reading. Nothing seemed worth reading as everything sounded the same. Books were predictable. However, John Connolly offers a strange new view of classic fairy tales that will pull at the heartstrings. His novel follows a young boy named David. He lost his mother at a young age and struggles to find acceptance. In the months following his mother's death, he turns to ...