Article Submission By: Natasha Haqim

I am prone to losing things.

This is why I don't ask my parents for jewellery on birthdays.

I know, at the back of my head, "Someday, I am going to lose this ring/bracelet/necklace, and I'm gonna get yelled at for quite some time. So why do I want to put myself through one of Mama's long lectures on 'The Importance of Taking Care of Your Belongings' for the umpteenth time?".

So since I was thirteen, at almost every birthday, I asked for the same thing: Books.

I adore my books. And I have enough sense to buy a pretty wooden bookshelf so that each of them has a permanent home (much less I can say about my CD collection). And on rainy Sunday mornings, like how some young women lay out their shoes on the floor to admire, I sit in front of my bookshelf and caress my precious books.

Swear - if my house ever caught on fire, I'd somehow, someway, will summon enough energy to rescue all my books! They are the loves of my life, my windows to which I see the world and learn about people and places. Have you ever felt that way about anything in your life?

Books have defined who I am; and I honestly believe that if I had not read particular authors, I wouldn't be me now. Here's a glimpse of my bookshelf, if you ever do decide to read these authors, I hope you find them just as fascinating and life-changing as I did:

Malcolm Gladwell

Okay, so I know he looks kinda wacky, but this man is a genius! He's written three books, The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers and I have been educated and entertained through all of them. If you're a big picture kinda person (macro-economists, take note!), he is your guy. I swear to God, after reading The Tipping Point, I saw society in a completely different way. Even browsing through advertisements and window shopping, I find myself having a sense of awareness of the way consumer behaves. I think it saved me from falling into the trap of becoming brand-conscious for no apparent reason except to 'keep up'! If not for The Tipping Point, I would never have developed an interest in all things marketing, advertising and branding - the one extra knowledge I pursued independently that I believe has truly helped me secure what I want from life. I would even go as far as to say that Gladwell taught me how to 'think outside the box'. He was in London for a talk (nerd-concert) at the Lyceum Theatre last November, but I was occupied then - it was my biggest regret that I didn't get to see him Live! Darn it. :(

Haruki Murakami

Another man I have great respect for. To read every single thing written by Murakami is one of my Life Goals, and I'm happy to say that I'm more than halfway done. I'm reluctant to recommend Murakami because I don't think everyone will enjoy his style of writing. If you're into practicality, then I'd say "No Entry" to Murakami world. Don't even bother reading the synopsis to any of his books, because it tells you nothing of the adventure you're about to experience! I just buy any title, and let the book tell me whatever it wants to tell me. Sometimes, it makes no sense at all and I just go with it. And most times, the ending will disappoint you - because it has No Ending. It's like it's just hanging there, and you're like "What the hell was this story about?". With a Murakami masterpiece, you can't put it down, yet you have no idea what it is you're reading, and yet, when it ends, you feel overwhelmingly satisfied. I am drawn to his books because of the main characters - I relate to them very strongly, and it was only through his memoir, 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' that I realized his personality is much embedded in the characters I adore so much. They all indulge in solitude and find enjoyment in their own company, much like myself. If you do wish to give Murakami a shot, I highly recommend 'Norwegian Wood' and 'South of the Border, West of the Sun' because they have a romance element to it that makes it easier to relate to.

Elizabeth Gilbert

I've only ever read one book by this author, 'Eat, Pray, Love' but it was a real eye-opener. I envied her experience of dedicating months to traveling for soul-searching. Since then, I've been obsessed with the idea of solo travel; something I'd really, really love to do when cash permits. I have this deep, strong desire to visit Naples, Italy and taking a crash course in pizza-making while there! And I'm determined to find the pizza place Gilbert was talking about - it made me drool all over the pages of my book because she made the pizza sounded absolutely 'to-die-for'! It's fun to read, and while some might think the author was selfish, her bravery for self-discovery was still something to be admired.

Nick Hornby

If you noticed, a lot of really good movies out there have been adapted from books by Nick Hornby: High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About A Boy. I've only read High Fidelity but it's definitely a must-read! (especially if you're a lad, you enjoy music and you're nursing a broken heart) I don't particularly enjoy romance novels and chick lits because I find them cheesy and cliched, but I love to read romance from a male point of view - it's so much more subdued and real, not wishy-washy and fairytale-like as most female authors approach them. I guess I'd say Hornby is my window to understanding the male psyche. Once I'm done with all my Murakamis, Hornby will be the next author I attempt to stalk-read.

Roald Dahl

I grew up with Dahl - Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches! Wonderful books, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was possibly my first experience in knowing that books could have a profound effect on the reader. I remember at fourteen, I finished the book at 9 o'clock in the evening, and begged my mother to drive me to the nearest 7-Eleven so I could get my hands on a piece of chocolate bar! I savoured that Cadbury like I've never had a chocolate bar before - truly changed my chocolate-eating experience.

Francine Pascal

It's not fair that the previous authors I mentioned gets applauded for writing good literature, but Francine Pascal didn't get the credit she well deserved: For making reading accessible and fun for the young beginners! If it weren't for Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield from Sweet Valley, I would never have loved reading in the first place. The Sweet Valley Twins series, remain until today, my guilty pleasures - I can't count the number of times I've read 'Lila's Secret Valentine'! If you ever need a quick picker-upper and something light, fun and just entertaining, you know you can always count on the Wakefield Twins. ;)

This Charming Man

I bought this book last summer in Greece because I'm a sucker for chic literature and I needed something that I knew would be a page turner for me while I lazied about on the beach. I never did wind up reading it while in Greece, which is actually good for me because you know ... I WAS IN GREECE LAZYING IT UP ON THE BEACH AND I NEEDED TO SOAK IN THAT FACT.

Sorry, didn't mean to yell there.

I finally got around to reading the book this past week. I've been doing a lot of heavy reading lately and needed to give my brain a bit of a break and figured this read would be the perfect distraction.

This isn't the first book I've read by Marian Keyes. She has a tendency to really jam-pack her stories and this book was no exception; it's over 700 pages long. I really like her writing style. I just throw on my Irish accent (in my head -- like I'd embarrass myself by saying it out loud where people could potentially hear me) and jump right into the story.

This book is written in the voice of four women.

First we have Lola, the woman who opens up the book. She just found out through the media that her boyfriend (an esteemed politician named Paddy) is getting married. To someone else. Obviously she goes through all of the expected emotions and behaviours, including stalking. I'll admit this: her voice was hard to read. It was very detached and improper and would it kill you to speak in a complete sentence kind of style. I damn near wrote a letter to the editor to alert them of all the grammatical errors in case a newer edition came into print.

I'm glad I saved myself the embarrassment, because we finally move on to the voices of the three other women who speak in complete (albeit psychotic) sentences.

Meet Grace, Marnie and Alicia. These three ladies knew Paddy when he was a cocky teenager, but he still strikes a chord with all three of them.

Here's some of the story to get you intrigued enough to buy the book:

Paddy is this great-looking, charismatic politician. He's also an asshole. The fact that he's a politician should have tipped you off to that fact. We don't find out he's an asshole until about the middle of the book. He dated Lola while getting engaged to Alicia. Alicia was friends with Paddy (and Grace and Marnie) when they were all in high school and Paddy dated Marnie. Grace was also interested in Paddy, but he wound up with Marnie. Grace's twin sister. Got all that?

Without giving too much away, this book touches upon issues of alcoholism, rape, physical and emotional abuse and cross-dressing. I'm sure I missed something in there. You're probably thinking, how could this be a light chic-literature read when these massive issues are playing a role? My answer is your guess is as good as mine. It just is.

Keyes has a way with words that literally will grip you and hold you tight until you read the final word on the final page. Like I said, it took awhile for me to get into the book and fully understand everyone's roles, but once I did, I could not stop reading. It was funny and endearing and in the end, like every good chic-literature novel, the good guys win.

Been Too Long

Wow, has it really been 6 months since the last book review was posted?

If anything, at least I should be updating this site, considering the insane number of books I read.

But, with my selections of choice lately, I feel that it might go over the heads of the readers. I should probably review those books anyway since this is my blog. I should really look into that.

Well, enough of that sad introduction after the 6 month long hiatus. There are no excuses for being away this long. I promise that, in the least, I will make more of an effort to review the books that I have been reading on here. Sometimes, I just really feel like my reviews will not do the books justice.

But, I should just get over myself.

So, without further adieu ... here is my next book review.

(In the following post)

Love in the Time of Cholera

I'm a sucker for a love story. A love story that spans fifty-three years, seven months and eleven days and nights? Be still my beating heart.

Love in the Time of Cholera is beautiful. In the beginning, I had a hard time keeping track of the characters (mainly because a) I suck at keeping names straight anyway and b) I was only reading bits at a time on the train in the morning). Soon though, it became hard to put down. I wouldn't mind the Boy being a bit late to pick me up from the train station at the end of the day on his way home, just because I could get in a few more pages of Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza.

Gabriel García Márquez is a beautiful writer and provides visuals that make you feel like you're there with the characters. Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude is on my booklist still, and I'll be picking it up sooner rather than later.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

First of all, let me preface this book review with a quick little disclaimer. I heart vampires and vampire stories. I have a bit of an (unhealthy?) obsession with these creatures of the night. I'm not sure why, but I do. That being said, I shall proceed.

Dead Until Dark is the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I don't know why I'm just now reading these - what with my obsession with vampires and all. But I guess I was a little wary of another vampire series. I tried reading that series by Laurell K Hamilton and just wasn't able to get into them. And I enjoyed Twilight to an extent but had issues with Bella and Meyers kind of jumped the shark with the last book. So I held off on this series, but after looking for something quick, easy and fun to read, these were suggested to me (my friends know of my vampire penchant) and I've fallen in love.

But I digress. As I was saying, Dead Until Dark is the first of a series. We are introduced to Sookie Stackhouse from Bon Temps, Louisana and she has a special ability to hear people's thoughts, though she tries to block them out as much as possible. She's a waitress at a local bar and is extremely excited when they get their first vampire customer. See, vampires are "out of the closet" in this series - they are integrated with humans for the most part, but a vampire in Bon Temps is a pretty exciting deal considering how small the town is.

Sookie quickly realizes that this vampire, Bill Compton, is special - different - she can't hear his thoughts! And he realizes that she's not like most humans. So begins the love story. But it's not all sex and lame romantic stuff. No, there's murder and humour and mystery and a cameo by a supposed dead "King" (which made me laugh hysterically)...it's just a damn good story. Well, a damn good story for someone who hasn't read an actual book in almost 9 months at any rate. Plus? I actually like the heroine of this story. This is rarity with me but Sookie rocks. She has her flaws (as any good protagonist does) but she more than makes up for them.

READ THIS BOOK. Then, go watch the HBO series True Blood. The plot of season 1 basically follows this first book...loosely. And for the first time, I actually enjoyed both the book and the TV adaptation - even though the TV series has quite a bit of differences than the book I never once uttered "that didn't happen in the book!" And if you don't fall in love with Sookie and Bill (seriously, how could you not?) and all the others of Bon Temps then...well then I'm just sorry for you. But if you tire of Twilight's immaturity and Edwards creepiness and Bella's annoyance and want some good vampire stories - read this now.

Ms. Taken Identity

I must admit, I'm very picky when it comes to chick lit; for every excellent story, there seems to be 100 "Babysitting for the Very Vuitton." What attracted me to Ms. Taken Identity wasn't the cute cover or even the plot, it was that it was written by a guy. And that, admittedly, is 100% why I chose to read it.

Ms. Taken Identity is about Mitch, a college professor and PhD student working on his epic novel. After being rejected by every publishing company, he has a moment of inspiration and a chance meeting. Seeing the popularity of chick lit books, specifically those done by the fictional author Katharine Longwell, he decides that it can't be that hard - that he, himself, should try to write his own novel. This is made even better when Katharine herself agrees to review the book after randomly meeting Mitch at a cafe. The only problem? Mitch told Katharine that his female cousin wrote the book - not him. And so starts a series of lies that spiral around until, of course, the end.

To get into the female mindset, Mitch reads magazines, watches Oprah, and joins a dance class under the pseudonym Jason. There, Mitch meets, and naturally falls in love with, Marie - a hairdresser who is more than the stereotypical girl Mitch is writing about. She's also his roommate's sister. And thus sets up the tale of Mitch - a slightly pretentious 27 year old who learns that sometimes you have to look past everything, every hang up, to see who you really are. And what you really want.

I must admit - I really liked Ms. Taken Identity. At 272 pages, it's an incredibly easy and short read (I got through it in two days). Full of pop culture references, the book absorbs you and messes with each emotion. Dan Begley does a fantastic job of telling a guy's story that will appeal to girls. The book, somewhat autobiographical (to the point that he, too couldn't sell is book so he decided to write a chick lit novel) sheds some light on why guys do what they do and think what they think. And, like every other girl, each decision still frustrated me. There were parts that I wanted to smack Mitch for being so stupid, but his decisions were so real - because it's what a guy would do in each situation. And that one element made it incredibly interesting.

What I liked most about the book was what it said about chick lit. There's one passage that specifically got to me:

In regards to the genre, Katharine states: "Even those stories that merely entertain us have the power to touch us and delight us, and that goes a long way toward making us more human."

Even I felt punched in the stomach there. Because it's true - like Mitch I was jaded by the genre for a while; it was too girly, to fanciful for me. But it still tells stories - ones that people truly love to hear. So what if every character ends up with the perfect person in the end, that's fun to read! And just as the realization hit me, it hit Mitch as well.

It was fun watching Mitch work through his novel, his lies and, even more so, his relationship with Marie. The characters were illustrated wonderfully - from the eccentric Rosie (who, admittedly, was my favorite) to the vulnerable father, each character was real.

Ms. Taken Identity is a great book for anyone who wants a quick, entertaining (albiet frustrating at times), and truthful read. It's a wonderful beach read and a perfect book to share with a friend. It's one that sticks with you for a while.

If interested, here's a passage from the book.