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Cecelia Ahern

Exciting News & Things To Look Forward Too

By Happiness & JoyNo Comments

Let’s start with the exciting news. I have a new job!

The last week or so has been a chaotic whirlwind of activity that has led me to be offered and accepting a new job. I wont give too much details as I’ve always maintained this is a personal blog and always had a strict rule about not discussing work. Needless to say this rule will be maintained in my new post.

But it is an exciting opportunity, out of the geographic area I currently work in and will present me with some new challenges. I’ll have read up and update myself on Nursing practices in a hospital setting, as I haven’t worked in a hospital since I completed my Nurse training. I’m looking forward to starting the post in the coming months, embracing the learning opportunities the post brings as well as developing best practice.

Now on to things to look forward too over the next few months:

  • Watching John Barrowman live – I didn’t manage to see him last year due to being ill (see The long fantastic weekend, that never happened).
  • Dressing up the cats in costumes for Halloween / Samhain.
    (If anyone knows where I can buy cat costumes, please let me know by commenting. I can find plenty of human Halloween costumes online, but none so far for the cats.)
  • Undertaking Samhain ritual with Simon & Chrys (see Pagan Festivals).
  • Having a private Samhain ritual to commerate the loss of my brother Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother) earlier this year.
  • Reading The Fear by Charlie Higson and The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern.
  • Yule / Christmas – the opportunity to take some time out with my family and friends. Plus it’s the cats first Christmas, so they will be spoilt. No doubt they’ll manage to bring down the Christmas tree. I’m sure it will have sad moments since Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother) wont be here – but I’m hoping that overall it will be positive.
  • Completion of my first few chapters of a creative writing story I’m going to set to work on (I promise) and getting all of your feedback.
  • One of my brothers fiancée giving birth to a baby. Giving me another Niece or Nephew.

So lots to look forwards too. Signing off for now, feeling really positive,

Antony

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Book Review: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsOne Comment
The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern Book Cover The Book of Tomorrow is the latest book by Cecelia Ahern. In it we meet Tamara Goodwin a spoilt-brat of a teenager who gets what ever she wants from her parents, usually by stamping her feet and demanding. Tamara, her mother and her father live close by to the city in a Mansion. But then her world is turned upside down after she discovers her dad has committed suicide. Tamara and her mother realise that he was about to loose everything due to some bad property investments and the bank was about to foreclose on the house before he died. He didn’t know how to tell them and couldn’t bare facing the situation he found himself in.

Tamara finds herself and her mother moving in to the countryside with her Uncle Arthur and Auntie Rose, in to the gatehouse. The gatehouse leads to a castle which burn’t down some years ago and is now a ruin. Tamara thrown in to this new life and is angry and board. Her life routine has completely changed. Now instead of going shopping and having latte’s she has a big breakfast (cooked by Auntie Rose), checks on her mother (who spends her days sleeping) and goes for walks in and around the castle. On one of her walks she discovers a secret garden and meets Sister Ignatius, who eventually becomes a friend but keeps getting confused about her age – thinking she’s a year older than she is.

Then into her life comes the travelling library. Tamara makes friends with Marcus, a slightly older man, who she fancies. She chooses a book, but it’s locked and she can’t open it. After the travelling library is gone, the book opens to reveal blank pages. She decides to keep it as a diary. The the next day she see’s her writing in it revealing what will happen tomorrow. So does she follow what the diary says or do something different to change it? She begin’s to realise that it’s her choices that influence the outcome of a day. While living in the gatehouse with her mother, Arthur and Rose there always seems to be an elephant in the room. Something unspoken and unsaid. Some secret. She investigates leading to revelations and a dramatic ending.

At the end of the book Tamara is happier with her new life and the changes the revelations have brought to her life. Usually I read one of Cecelia Ahern’s books in a day or less, but this one took longer to get into and read. It had Cecelia’s usual touch of magic – in this case from the magic diary and beautiful description of the Irish countryside and mythical castle. As usual with Cecelia’s books it focused on the strength of the human spirit in the characters. However the characters seem to have miraculous transformations, without any major event causing the change in attitudes and values and this makes them feel at bit 2D and fictional at times. At the beginning of the book there is little to captivate the reader and the end of the book seems rushed.

You can buy The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern on Amazon.

Write soon,

Antony

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New books, but is it a good sign?

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ThinkingNo Comments

The publishing industry have released a few books by some of my faviourate authors. I knew about The Dead by Charlie Higson, which I bought this month. I’m about half way through it, so expect a review soon! I’ve reviewed The Enemy which you can read here. I also bought The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank and Everyday Moon Magic by Dorothy Morrison.

Two books I didn’t know about till yesterday were Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella and The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern. I’m trying to live frugally (see Living Frugally) so I’ll have to buy these next month. I think I missed the release of these books because publishers usually release them closer to Christmas.

This got me thinking, does the early release of these books signal that publishers are worried that Christmas won’t be a good time for selling? Are they in a way predicting that they think we’ll take our second dip into recession? Maybe I’m reading too much in to this? But I think if I was a publisher, I’d try and release as many publications as I could before we entered recession. What are your thoughts?

Antony

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Book Review: The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

By Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
The Gift by Cecelia Ahern Book Cover I love Cecelia Ahern’s books. PS, I Love You I found to be emotional and moving, Where Rainbows End was like reading intimate and private letters, A Place Called Here was like stepping in to a world of make-believe, Thanks for the Memories made me question our connection to our bodies and If You Could See Me Now made me belief again in invisible friends.

So I had high hopes for The Gift. The Gift tells the story of high flying building developer Lou. Lou is too busy for his family and always needs to be in two places at once. Lou’s a workaholic which is made worse by a potential promotion. The book is set towards Christmas which is obvious from the book cover and the chapter titles. Then one day Lou meets Gabe a homeless guy on the street and buys him coffee. For some reason Lou offers Gabe a job and what follows is an adventure as Gabe helps Lou reevaluate his life and priorities prior to an unexpected ending.

The telling of the story through the writing felt a little laboured at times. It felt as though it was rushed to publish in time for Christmas and because of this the story didn’t flow as previous books by Cecelia. In addition Cecelia explained the meaning of the story at the end – that time is precious. Cecelia didn’t need to do this and it felt slightly condescending.

Overall The Gift is a comforting Christmas read, with a good “moral” to the story.

Blog soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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