Lucky Man

We all know him as Alex P. Keaton or Marty McFly. I, myself and my friends grew up watching him. We loved him and I'll admit I still do. I honestly think that he is one of my favorite people. Well of the people I don't actually know. Although after reading this book I feel I know him that much better.

Michael J. Fox's memoir Lucky Man, is exactly that. A memoir. He writes about his childhood, his career and his diagnoses of Parkinson's Disease in 1990/91. He tells of the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful and the wonderful. He talks about life. His life.

Like I mentioned before he is one of my favorite people. That's one reason I was so excited to read this book (and his other two as well....reviews will follow later!) and of course I read it with his voice in my head. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone and you should go read it right now! It's not a particularly fast read but once you get going you won't want to stop, no matter how long it takes you.

Despite the feeling I've had of late of being to generous with my "stars" I still give this one 5 of 5!

Also, I think autobiographies are becoming my favorite genre for reading. I love to look into the lives of others, guess I'm just a little too nosy sometimes!

The Last Song

Ok, Ok, I know I said I would be reading Lucky Man next but in my defense I didn't lie completely. I am reading it I'm about half way through and hope to post on it by Friday, but I got distracted.
I got distracted by Nicholas Sparks and all his heartache. I finally read The Last Song and I have to say I was slightly disappointed. And this is why......

After reading author's notes in the back of the book I learned that Sparks custom wrote the novel and screenplay for Miley Cyrus. He wrote the screenplay so filming could begin before he started the novel. Is it just me or does that seem unfair?

Despite that though the novel wasn't too bad, not his best writing though. There always seemed to be something off about the story, that something I still haven't figured out. Unlike most of his novels this one was rather hard to get through, I can usually read a Sparks novel in about 3-6 hours. The Last Song took me about a week! : (

Like all of his novel's their is death and heartbreak in the end and it's pretty obvious who will die by the first half of the novel but it's not the typical type of character he "kills" off. One thing I did love about the novel thought was the focus on a father's relationship with his children rather than a romantic one, that he typically writes about.

Though I will probably never read this book again and would recommend it to someone only if there were 1( nothing else to read , 2) the biggest Nicholas Sparks fan in the world, 3) in love with Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana or 4) like me they simple can't resist reading about romance for lack of their own love life, I will still give this novel 3 of 5 stars.

Now to finish Lucky Man and continue my current obsession Michael J. Fox!

Columbine

Like the Kennedy assassination, September 11 or any other American tragedy, the massacre at Columbine High School will never be forgotten. Most remember where they were when they heard or at least something about that day. I don't remember when I excatly heard about the event but I remember coming home from school and my mom had decided she was pulling my brother and I out of school. If you ask her she will deny this but it happened just the same. At the time I don't think I realized the gravity of the situation, being a selfish, naive high school freshman I was worried more about my mom's decision than what had occurred.
As with most things, I grew up and became less selfish and naive. I knew what most everyone knew about that day, what the media speculated and reported, I had seen the interviews with victim's family, witnesses and survivors. I knew nothing.

This novel is a haunting look into that fateful day, the years that lead up to it and the years following. Dave Cullen gives an in-depth look into the lives and minds of Eric Harris and Dylan Kelbold. As well as the effect the event had on the town of Littleton, the families of the 13 victims, the survivors and their families and the school with it's returning students and teachers.

When I say "I knew nothing" , it's because it's true. According to Cullen and the facts he uncovered, through countless interviews and tons of paperwork, the media had most of the facts wrong. I won't go into details but after reading this novel I realized that day was more tragic for those involved than anyone could have guess. I wouldn't recommend this book for the faint of heart, it tells it like it is. If you do read it prepare to be extra emotional by the end, I didn't cry but I was emotionally upset by all I had learned.To be honest, I really didn't know what to say about it here and I have decided that it wouldn't be respectful for me to rate this book on any scale. If you are interested in the subject then read it but if you aren't then don't. For those of you who do read it or just want a little information Dave Cullen has several supplements on his site to this book.

Up next Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox.

Marley and Me

"I laughed, I cried, It moved me Bob."
--Larry the Cucumber



I have fallen in love with this story! John Grogan has a way of simple bringing you in and making you feel like you were actually there. This story is heartwarming, heartbreaking, wonderful, rolling on the floor funny and balling your eyes out sad. It will take you through every emotion know to man but it will be worth it.

Like Julia and Julia, I watched the movie first, so through out the entire novel I had Owen Wilson in my head. And I have to say Owen Wilson in my head isn't so bad, he can be pretty funny! If you are an animal lover, especially a dog lover, you will love this book.

I'm sure you have heard by now, unless you live under a rock and if you are living on a rock you probably aren't reading something on internet so let's just safely assume you aren't under a rock, you know this story has a somewhat sad ending. But read it anyway, I wasn't sure I would be able to handle it and in some ways I wasn't. Reading about the end of Marley's long and happy life I couldn't help but think of my own puppy and hoping that last day with him with be a long way off. I bawled like a big fat baby!!! But it was worth it, this is one of the greatest stories I have ever read and will read it again and again.

If you haven't seen this movie or read the book I suggest you do both. If you have seen the movie but not read the book, the screen play stays pretty true to the story. All Marley's antics actually happened and there are tons more just like them!

5 of 5 stars!!!

OH Yeah, if you are interested in reading more about Marley or seeing photos check out John Grogan's page, there are also links to other Marley Books.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Stephenie Meyer has a new book coming out. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is an Eclipse novella. If you are unfamiliar with Eclipse it's the third installation in the Twilight Saga. In this novel Bella and Edward along with the rest of the Cullens and the Wolf Pack must fight an army of newborn Vampires, Bree Tanner is one of those newborns.

This novella is set to relase on June 5. If you are interested in having a hard copy with a pretty cover you can pre-order here. They will even donate $1 for every book sold in first publication.
However, Stephenie and her publisher will be offering it to fans for FREE online from June 5 till July 7! You can get the that copy here.

You can read Stephenie's original post here.