Jeff and I have been reading our next Paulo Coelho book — Brida.  This one is different than Eleven Minutes and The Alchemist.  Eleven Minutes was the story of a prostitute, which of course, was an interesting story!  It also had a very happy ending.  I was satisfied with the ending, more than satisfied.  Coelho is a master storyteller, and I believe the ending of The Alchemist to be a mere fluke, as disappointing as it was.

In Brida, Coelho paints a rich story with rich colors.  While reading, I’m overwhelmed with rich colors:  deep emerald green, royal purple, deep blues, rich forest colors.  One of the settings in the story is a forest in Ireland, where Brida frequently meets with “the Magus” to learn magic.  In about 70 pages, Jeff and I will be done with the book.  It’s a slower-paced novel of Coelho’s.  We will read The Zahir next.  I read it 4 years ago and enjoyed it immensely, and I look forward to reading it again with a friend!
Related articles by Zemanta

• Maria and sex (paulocoelhoblog.com)
• Paolo Coelho on happiness and two challenges for psychologists (flowingmotion.wordpress.com)

I absolutely love Amy Tan.  I want to be her.  I want to write as eloquently as she does.  I want to write stories as beautifully as she does.  I finished The Bonesetter’s Daughter, my very first Amy Tan book, and I just want more Amy Tan.  It will be tough to choose which book of hers to read next.  I want to read The Joy Luck Club for sure, but I’m not sure if that will be my very next Amy Tan selection.

I’m currently reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.  I’m enjoying this book.  I can read through the pages fairly quickly.  When I read Amy Tan’s The Bone Setter’s Daughter, I read and savored every single word on every single page.  While Audrey’s novel tells a vivid story, I’m missing Amy’s storytelling!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Books of the decade: Your best books of 2009 (guardian.co.uk)

I‘ve been reading The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tam.  Excellent book, excellent writer, I love Amy Tam.  This book is phenomenal; however, I think I may have read a bit too much last night, or for too long.  In the book, there’s a Chinese mother and daughter, the daughter, Ruth is reading her mother’s journal and writings about her mother (Ruth’s grandmother) and they believed that their dead relatives had put a curse on their family.  They also tell stories of talking to the dead and what the dead have told them to do or not do regarding the mysterious “curse.”

Last night, I dreamed that my grandmother, now dead for nearly 7 years, had come back to visit me in the flesh for a short period of time.  There was one thing I asked her while she was visiting me:  ”Can you hear me when I talk to you aloud?”  She told me that only sometimes could she hear me.  She went on to say that now that she’s been dead for several years, she’s “getting farther and farther away, and can’t hear me as good or as often now.”

This is all so strange to me, and I can’t help but to wonder if there’s any reasoning to it.

My friend Jeff and I just started our new reading group book yesterday.  We chose to read another Paolo Coelho book entitled Eleven Minutes.  We read yesterday and today, ending today on page 96, we are preferring this book over The Alchemist, also by Coelho.  Eleven Minutes is quite a fascinating read thus far.  There are some very surprising erotic moments, after all, it is about a prostitute named Maria.  The scenes in question are not too graphic, just enough to give you a taste of erotica.

I find that I’m not wanting to put the book down, I want to keep turning the pages.  The synopsis on the back cover talks about how Maria falls in love with an Arabian painter.  I couldn’t wait to get to the point where the painter came in, and today we got to meet him, but only for one page, and then we stopped.  I can’t wait to read more of this book!

Related articles by Zemanta

• PAULO COELHO: A WARRIOR’S LIFE The Authorized Biography By Fernando Morais (prweb.com)

After several attempts, I finally finished The Lovely Bones last night.  I must admit that the last 30 pages were quite good.  I liked the beginning and the end, but everything in between really wasn’t worth the read.  This may be the very first time that I would actually favor a movie over a book.  I can see how this would be a good movie, considering the beginning and end were so powerful, and there’s not a lot of time in filming to put all the boring stuff in there.

I just found out that Michael Imperoli, may favorite star from The Sopranos, is in the movie.  It may be worth it just to see him.  I love that man!

Related articles by Zemanta

• ‘Lovely Bones’ Movie Is ‘Disappointing Adaptation’ Of The Alice Sebold Novel (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Lovely Bones reviewed. (slate.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Lovely Bones reviewed. (slate.com)

I’m reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  This one I’m reading on my own, not with my friend Jeff.  I’ve been wanting to read this book for a few years now.  I received it as a gift for Christmas and couldn’t wait to start reading it.

I’ve been disappointed with books before, we all have, but I just can’t believe how disappointing this book is.  The Lovely Bones was a #1 National Bestseller.  How can this be?  I do not see the attraction.  I’m bored to tears with this book and just want to finish it.  I hate not finishing books, and I will finish it — I have less than 100 pages left.

It started picking up for me around page 177, I was on the edge of my seat for about three pages, then back to boredom.  What is the attraction to this book?  I like how it’s written in the person of a 14-year old dead girl, and she watches her friends and family from heaven.  I don’t like how she has the ability to read their thoughts, that’s a bit too much for me.   I don’t even like the characters in this book.  I’m bored stiff.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Lovely Bones trailer (kottke.org)

My friend Jeff and I have our own little reading group.  The first book we chose to read was The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho.  Jeff and I both loved the entire book, loved the journey that Santiago, a young shepard, embarked upon.  The journey was not only a physical journey on foot, as well as via camel back, rather he set out to fulfill his “Personal Legend.”

We loved all the lessons that were learned throughout the entire book, but we both were disappointed in the ending.  It seemed as though Coelho rushed to conclude the story, and therefore, the ended seemed to come an abrupt materialistic ending.

Our next book for our reading group will Eleven Minutes also by Paolo Coelho.
Related articles by Zemanta:

• How the path was forged (paulocoelhoblog.com)