The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley

I picked this book up at Target mainly because a:  it was a 'Club Pick' and b:  it was a limited signed edition.  Being the book nerd I am, having a signed edition is such a cool addition to my ever growing (outgrowing) collection.

The book is about choices and although you may find yourself picking a side before reading the book by the end you'll be able to appreciate that both sides have solid points.

Essentially the book is about Elle, a woman and scientist, who is left brain dead after a tragic accident.  Her husband, Matt, is left as her health care proxy and will follow through with her wishes not to remain on life support if in a vegetative state.  Right before they end life support, he finds out she is pregnant.  The choice to end her life means ending the life of his unborn child.  While he feels that Elle would have wanted to do whatever she could to save the baby, other's in the family feel that no matter what, she would never want to be kept alive by artificial means.  It's a very Terri Schiavo-esq type of situation regarding the fight between the people she loved to prove who thought they knew her wishes most.

The story is told through the voice of Elle's husband as well as through Elle's voice in the many journals she kept throughout her life.  You come to know Elle through her own words, her own tragedies that made her feel so strongly about the right to die.  By the end of the book you're wanting to get your lawyer on the phone to have your Living Will drawn up.

It's one of the books that really makes you think, which is one of the main reasons I love reading books so much.  Books like this make you stop and put yourself in the place of the characters in the story playing "What if" and "What Would You Do"?

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On another note, kudos to Target for picking up some of the slack where Borders Books & Music left off.  I always enjoyed shopping at Borders because of the many ways they featured interesting new authors and books.  Target's 'Club Picks' have introduced me to many new soft covers that I might have missed at other mass booksellers who predominately feature the new hardcovers from big name authors.  Bonus points for the fact that many of Target's selections are 20% off and that they're introducing more and more Limited Signed Editions.

Seriously consider checking out your local Target and their book sections...it's nothing to sneeze at.  :)

Check out the author's website for more!  http://priscillesibley.com/

Unsaid by Neil Abramson

Unsaid by Neil Abramson

This is the book that gave me a reason to start this blog. 

 

I had been toying around with the idea of keeping a sort of journal to track the books I read in a year.  So often, I will be talking with someone about a book and completely forget what the story was about.  Usually after some prompting the light will go off and I'll say, "Oh yeah, that's right...it was about (blah blah blah)."  Other times I'll remember some fragments of a story and rack my brain trying to remember which book I read it from.  Needless to say, I knew it was time to jot some notes down about the books I've read.

 

Speaking of that, I'll try to nip spoilers in the bud but since this blog is mostly for my own use, I can't guarantee that.  On the off chance that someone else reads this I'll try to warn you ahead of time if I'm going to completely ruin the book.

 

So back to the book at hand.  I first read a blurb about it in Parade magazine several years ago.  Very rarely do I purchase a hardcover and usually will wait until I either see it on sale at Target or find a copy at the Goodwill book store.  Needless to say it usually takes awhile for me to get around to reading a new release.  So I made a note of this on my "I Want to Read This" list and stumbled across it at Target.

 

It then sat on my shelf for two months before I picked it up.

 

I can honestly say it took me a long time to 'get into' the story.  It was a good 50-100 pages in before I devoured it.  I don't know why it didn't catch me at first but in the end it turned into one of those novels that hurts your heart but makes you glad you read it.  Here's where the spoilers might slip out...

 

I cried hard when I neared the end.  Animal lovers will get this novel.  Most everyone who doesn't own a pet or six probably won't enjoy or relate to the book.  The story is narrated by Helena, a veterinarian who died following a battle with cancer.  This allows the author a unique opportunity to delve into feelings of others without an abundance of dialogue, which to be honest, in some novels drives me a little batty sometimes when characters ramble on with each other too much.  I find myself retracing lines to try to figure out who said what...anyway...it was a clever move by this author to make the lead narrator a ghost.  Her husband, David, started out a bit unlikeable but by the end of the book you understand a bit more into the individuality of grief.  Everyone deals with grief in their own unique way.

 

 

 

The ending was much better than I had expected.  I hate it when books make me cry, especially the gut wrenching deep down cry that makes your toenails hurt.  I hate it in that enjoyable way, like when you watch An Affair to Remember and cry for Deborah Kerr.  Your heart aches but it's a good soul searching ache that reminds you that you're human.

 

Anyway, the ending is what sealed the deal for me for loving the book.  It's funny, as I am writing this I stopped to read the last page and it still brought tears to my eyes.  Everything that seemed so standoff-ish about David in the beginning is redeemed at the end, which in a way is what life is really about.

Check out the author's website for more!  http://www.neilabramsonauthor.com/