Everybody's Right by Paolo Sorrentino

Maybe one day I will learn to not buy books written by non-professional-book-writers.
I love Sorrentino, but I hated this book.
Well I am actually being unfair, 'cause I think I read only 30% of the all book before deciding to close it. So maybe I didn't hate the book, I simply didn't like the main character. Annoying, arrogant, selfish, you feel like slapping him from the first pages.
I am sure it would have been a great character for a Sorrentino's movie but in a book was just too annoying.

Sorry, not for me!

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

I bought this book having no clue what was the story about , maybe just for the cover, so I had absolutely no expectations. Must say, it was a nice discovery! The book is about the value of time and how it is important to have priorities in life.

The first couple of pages are quite confusing, then the story goes on his path and everything becomes clear and quite emotional, especially toward the end.

Not the most original book I have read, it made me actually think of "The Christmas Carol" by Dickens, I could not stop thinking of the Disney's cartoon version picturing Dor, the main character in the book, with the ghost that hunted Scrooge. Despite all a nice reading, that makes you think.

Remembering Mandela...

“I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.” 

R.I.P. great man!!!

If you are interested in reading my review about his inspiring autobiography, this is the link

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

If you had been thinking your life was crazy, absurd, nonsense and so on, this book would definitely change your mind! Why? ‘Cause no matter how many weird things have been happening in your life, nothing can even remotely compare to the one that have been happening to Augusten!!!
At the beginning you think it is all just a result of the great fantasy of the author, but that “memoir” written on the cover keeps on ringing a bell in your mind, so just to make things straight: "Mesdames et Messieurs, after an extended research I can confirm this is indeed a true story!!!!"

So when in the book you read of kids making a hole in the ceiling with the parents cheering them for their fantasy, or when you read about a doctor that treat their patients by “adopting” them, or even more when you read about a family finding God’s sign into their faecis, do not even wonder, it is all true!!
But who is Augusten (apart from being the author of the book)? He is a teenager as many, facing the divorce of his parents and the hysterical crisis of his “artistic-mother” who gives him away to be raised by her psychiatrist's family. What makes this memoir so special is the fact that Augusten at first unwillingly, then maybe even enjoying it a bit, is the “victim” of the craziness of people around him. In his journey looking for normality he would be surrender by a crazy bunch of people with the most weird characteristics.
How he will survive to all this is even more crazy than the all book itself.

The book would be very funny, if it was not a true story, actually to say the truth it is still at times hilarious (seeing it happening to someone else, of course).

I read there was actually a legal case issued by the psychiatrist's  familyafter the publication of the book, for invasion of privacy, defamation, and emotional distress caused by the "most fictional" book on the life of the characters. The cause was at the end won by the author, that was "forced" just to change the acknowledgement of the book, that was declared a non fictional memoir.

I am definitely going to watch the movie based on the book, I am very curious to know how this craziness would be transposed in a film.

“I told myself, 'All I want is a normal life'. But was that true? I wasn't so sure. Because there was a part of me that enjoyed hating school, and the drama of not going, the potential consequences whatever they were. I was intrigued by the unknown. I was even slightly thrilled that my mother was such a mess. Had I become addicted to crisis? I traced my finger along the windowsill. 'Want something normal, want something normal, want something normal', I told myself.”

How to love an autumn Sunday...

My sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult

When I feel a little down I need to read books somehow sadder than me, it give the right prospective to things, and I can see problems from the right angle.

In this sense this was definitely the right book.

This is the story of Anna, a little girl that was conceived "in vitro" with the purpose of saving her sister affected by a rare form of leukaemia.
Being born with already a path in life affected the growth of this girl, who fights to find her identity, wondering between the love for her sister (that bring her to constantly give her blood, bone marrow and cells), and the love for her self.
In this struggle she decides one day to sue her parents, to acquire the right for her body and to be able to decide for herself about what and when she should be a donor for her sister. This decision lead to a big break into the family, with not always predictable implications.

Each chapter see the story from the point of view of a different character, and this, even if at times breaks the story, it's quite nice and engaging.

I was hoping in the famous "good end" to bring the spirit up, but unluckily, and trust me I am not doing any spoiling, it ends in a quite sad and unpredictable way.

I had seen the movie few years ago, with a great Cameron Diaz.
I suggest both the book and the movie.

The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad

I wanted to read this book for long, mainly because there is a song inspired by the book written by one of my favourite Italian singers (Lorenzo Cherubini) that I listen every time I have to take an important decision in my life. I couldn't find any English version or subtitle of the song, but you might still enjoy it "La linea d'ombra".

Both the book, and of course the song, talk about crossing the line between youth and adult life, with the mixed feelings of enthusiasm, fear, enjoyment, courage and temerity.

The act of crossing the line here is seen as a young sailor that, unexpectedly, is asked to take charge of a sailing boat as a captain in a difficult trip against hostile weather and bad human conditions. The trip will bring to the personal growth, and mainly to a self awareness, of the main character.
A nice little book!