A couple of books worthy of a mention are the following: One Day by David Nicholls and The Mystery of the Cleaning Lady by Sue Woolfe.
I bought One Day some time ago, pretty much on a whim and the fact that I actually liked the cover of this particular book. I found it very appealing. I know...you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but nevertheless, I found myself drawn to it, simply because of the cover. At the time I purchased my copy, I didn't have time to start reading it, so I added it to my 'to read' pile, which, by the way, keeps growing every time I visit a book store.
Then, one day I was flicking through the movies on FOX and there it was. Usually, I refuse to watch a movie before reading the book, however, I decided for some strange reason to for-go this usual practice and decided I felt like watching, what I thought was a romantic comedy. I wasn't sure what to expect and felt for sure it would be reasonably light-hearted. The movie was a mixture between light-heartedness and many other emotions that accompany relationships. Little did I know I was in for a few surprises. I must admit though, I did enjoy the movie a great deal. It inspired me to elevate the waiting book to top priority of 'a must read - and soon' category. Now I wanted to see how closely the movie followed the book. So glad I did. I really enjoyed the by play between characters more so than the actual characters I think. Even though there were traits that I didn't particularly enjoy in the character of Dex, he still managed to grow on me. I felt a certain empathy toward him, even though I knew he probably didn't deserve it.
I enjoyed the way author, David Nicholls stitched the book together. It was well written and quite plausible. The characters were ordinary people trying, at times, to be extraordinary. And, as life sometimes has it, timing is everything and how many people do you know can relate to the whole out of sync routine? I know plenty. I'm not here to give anyone a blow by blow description of what happens. You can google that information, or read the book. Sometimes, I just like to share my thoughts about an author's work as I am doing here. Reading the book really helped me understand some of the movie that I didn't quite 'get'.
I'm a true romantic at heart and so this book was right up my ally. I loved/hated the near ending. If you've already read the book, you'll understand what I mean. I hated what happened at the end, but I loved the twist of fate - it was unexpected and I really enjoy that in stories. If you haven't read the book and you decide to, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you enjoy reading about love. This book is the journey of two people who were meant to be together, but just didn't seem to get the timing right and all the things in between.
The next book I'd like to share with you is, 'The Mystery of the Cleaning Lady', by Sue Woolfe. I thoroughly enjoyed this non-fiction work about creativity and how novelist, Sue Woolfe worked and created her ideas when writing her book, 'The Secret Cure'. It was an insight to how this particular author thought, came across her ideas, and wrote down obscure things and how they all pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle, eventually. I enjoyed reading this informative book as much as Stephen King's book, 'On Writing'.
I'm sure every writer, at some point, tries to analyse what makes them tick in the creative process department. I know I am fascinated by how creativity works or is born. As a teacher to primary aged creative writing students, I also have a vested interest in finding out as much as I can. I often wonder if you can actually teach creativity or is it that you provide a vehicle/inspiration for it to flourish?
Creativity is baffling. Is it a co-incidence? Is it simply recycled? Is there anything remotely original these days? Lots of questions that require answers. Not all questions will be answered by reading this book, however, I can assure you that many questions will be touched on and some outcomes are very interesting.
If you are a writer, at any stage in your career, or just someone who is curious about creativity, I am sure you will find this book intriguing.
So, until next time,
happy reading
