The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I wish, wish, wish I had loved it. Junot Diaz is one of those writers I have followed and have found his short work interesting. I had such high hopes for his first novel, but I just didn't love it. I didn't even really like it. I read it, I finished. Done. Such a sad post.

Little Bee

I've had Little Bee by Chris Cleave on my "to read" list for a while - I think it was recommended from someone at Malaprop's (a fabulous bookstore in Asheville). It finally came out in paperback a few weeks ago and I read it in just a few days.

Little Bee, a teenager from a small Nigerian village, comes to Britain to find the couple she met on the beach when she was running from the men who had burned her village. Instead, she arrives on the day of the husband's funeral and continues a series of events that were set in motion on that beach.

Cleave rotates narrators between Little Bee and Sarah which brings more dimension to the story. In the end I was left wondering if we do enough as human beings to help others and where our need for self-preservation is outweighed by the need to help someone in more danger.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of those books that I looked at but never picked up. I'm glad I finally did for our March book club.

Set as a fable about a shepherd boy who believes he needs to travel to Egypt to find his personal legend in the pyramids it is really about bigger life lessons. That life is meant to be lived and that often what we have searched for has been right there with us all along.

I read the book and thought 'oh that was a lovely sentiment' and then thought I'd forget all about it, but my sub-conscious had other ideas. That night I had this beautiful dream about attending a wedding on an island that was somewhat dangerous. As we were focused focused on staying safe and doing what the staff were telling us, I looked up through a foggy morning and saw the most beautiful cliff side village. I turned to the person standing next to me and said, "thank you for making me come here. I would never have seen this if you weren't getting married here."

Who it was and where I was, I have no idea, but there was a feeling of overwhelming awe and at the same time a sense of being right where I belonged in the world and very much alive.

I wish I could find that feeling of awe and rightness in my everyday, waking life.