Dear February : Books Review for the Month of Love

Divulging The Mind Of Naomi

by Naominaoko

Ah February again means buying myself chocolates again.

Why did God invent the couple theory? 

I don't need a man.

Who could perform a heart transplant on me whenever a man breaks my heart?

Tired with the bullshit of those 3 words.

As a partial introvert and sorry slob that doesn't have Mr.Right in her life,

Books are my companions

It's a love hate relationship depending on certain aspects of the book.

Hence, I passed the month of February by reading  a couple of books.

This blog post will be my reviews of them

Before I got my hands on this book as I went on an Alice and Wonderland trip in my hectic library of new books I collect, I had read a couple of really boring books at the same time. Hence, I was skeptical on reading this book as well. However, I absolutely loved the first to the last pages of this book.

Alex is a boy who could see demons,he lives with his mentally ill mom and he doesn't have a father. Due to poverty and the lack of care from a distraught mother, Alex starts to see a demon called Ruen. He begun to see him on the day he was told of his father's death. Ruen became Alex's most important friend, he consumes his time, indoctrinate Alex with stories and guides Alex according to his own personal interest. Alex, on the other hand doesn't know he is used by Ruen whom, like your everyday childhood horror story about Poltergeist and possessions; wants to attain Alex's soul. I wouldn't exactly want to type out  summary of the whole book as that would be a spoiler. However, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this book along with the characters in it. 

I loved how the author wrote about Anya the psychiatrist and Alex. Both characters were given ample, supple and rich backgrounds about their pasts and how it intertwines with the present.

It was an easy read, not exactly the boring middle-school English kind of read but a good book that successfully connects the emotion of a boy ,Alex and his current misshapen situation. 

Anya was well writen too, I loved the parts about her daugther, the piano and music notes written by the ghost of her lost daughter whom had suffered immensely from schizophrenia since she was born. 

In a way, the author did a good job with the twist of the plot in the book, it got me reading until I had my ending. 

  

Patrick Ness . Who won't love this author? My first book by him which I feel in love with was When A Monster Calls. That is an extremely beautiful timepiece of a book which felt like reading words inscribed onto gold papers. Every word you indulge yourself in as you read on feels leaves you feeling that life can be magical if you looked through Patrick Ness's eyes. Hence I have bought this book , and once again I absolutely loved it. It starts of a bit slow but I applause the depth and attention to detail in the first few pages.

Its practically about a guy who wakes up in his deserted town, and finds out that he may not be entirely alone. It isnt hell nor is it purgatory but a scientific research progress that promises people a way out of pain, remembering a loss of a loved one and to live forever. This is definitely a good and interesting plot, more importantly Patrick Ness had executed the plot very well to the end. 

Herein lies the untimely kind of autobiography but not quite book about the author herself, Monica Holloway whom had faced a terrible background of broken twisted family with a tinge of father  perversion, mixed with shattered characters of her siblings and the silent mother who became the ignorant remarried mother. Before reading this book, I was in a state of anguish due to my own problems but once I read this book, man, I was ashamed. My life is like the sky, blue and sometimes grey when the day goes bad. However, Monica's life was filled with people who didn't give a shit about her problems. She lost her virginity, she hooked up with a psychotic playboy whom she thought loved her to bits with his soft sweet words and caresses. Yes, all the shit and now you throw in the bad relationships. 

I personally would recommend this book though it may not right up everyone's alley nor is it for the faint of heart, it certainly makes you love and cherish your own not so eff up family. It makes your typical arguments with your family members a normal teenager-y phase of raging hormones. 

You can learn a lot from Monica, especially how hard she tried to live and be happy when the old and new obstacles pill up on top of each other. I loved how accepting, supportive and strong-willed she is during her eldest sister's coming out of the closet moment and her mental break down after reliving her experience of father perversion and the silent mother.

Okayyyyyy, I admit I am a major Paulo Coelho fan. His writings are just so beautiful like a delicate vase made by gentle, wise and old hands of a potter. Eleven Minutes was really amazingly good.About being a dreamer only to realised you should be a realist as like is far from your dreams yet dreams can come true with patience, a lot of pain, a lot of lost love and men who comes and goes in your life. 

His words are absolutely beautiful yet true .Written like a man who had lived at an advanced age beyond his actual age, Paulo is like a wise old man whose heart had gone through many stabbings and healings overtime.

“It hurt when I lost each the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.

That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.” 

BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT

I wan't as fascinated by this plot as I was with Eleven Minutes however , regardless, it is still a good book with a few good things you need to be informed about life. What bore me a tad bit was the difficulty of understanding some philosophical Catholic teachings.

“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.” 

“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots keeping itself alive.” 

THE ALCHEMIST

Ok, this possibly the most hyped book by him internationally. Even my mother who gave up being an avid reader due to mere self-proclaimation of her level of laziness as she ages ; knew about this book by word of mouth just from the title. 

This book is not for the ones seeking immediate clarification, logical explanations and lightness. It is a slow paced story with interesting metaphors , in fact, the whole book is a metaphor and only if you understood the reason for being of this book, then will you realise with new fresh eyes that Paulo was describing himself, his life in metaphors and he leads you to see Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken which inevitably could go wrong as you journey in the middle of that road however , what you seek for in life only reveals itself at the end------surprisingly it is closer to home than you could ever imagine.

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” 

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”

I have mixed feelings for this book. Overall it was a moderately good book written in a poem style however, it lack depth to me. If was a bit deeper , in terms of the main character, I would utterly love this book. 

There are however a few instances where you could find some good excerpts or quotes from her.

“And the pomegranates,/
like memories, are bittersweet/
as we huddle together,/
remembering just how good/
life used to be” 

Okay, by comparison, you get why I love Paulo Coelho so much? His writing style has so much depth that its lyrical, filled with melancholy, like a music script written by Mozart, untainted beauty, the epitome of purity and innocence even when one is being abused and raped by the world each day.