The Witch of Portobello by Paolo Coelho

This book is about Sherine Khalil, famously known as Athena, a host to the Mother Goddess Hagia Sofia. It was told in a rather interesting manner, when her boyfriend set out to interview people who knew her and had come to know her as the famous, or shall we say "notorious" witch of Portobello. He did this as an attempt to get to know more his one true love who is Athena. 

 

In this post, I shall highlight some phrases which struck me so deeply, the same way that Paolo Coelho's first book, The Alchemist has touched me as well.

Remember Me? By Sophie Kinsella

It only took me less than a day to finish reading Sophie Kinsella's newest novel, "Remember Me?". From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading Lexie Smart's adventures. How did she lose 3 years worth of memories? One day she's this ugly, sad, chubby & unlucky 25 year old woman, with little money to spare, a pathetic cheating boyfriend, dead end job, a dad who just died, with only her three bestfriends to help keep her sane with their regular friday night outs. 

The next day, she's turned into this 28 year old sexy, non-carb eating, notorious bitch boss from hell with a handsome multimillionaire for a husband, a huge marital loft, designer clothes and accessories, her own personal shopper and assistant and no friends except for a socialite she hasn't even met yet as her bestfriend! She can't even remember attending her dad's funeral where all that mattered as regards her transformation stemmed from.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

Wow, it really took me a while before I finished reading this book --- Chasing Harry Winston by one of my favorite authors, Lauren Weisberger. However, after I finally put it down, I am now having second thoughts about her. Has Weisberger lost her writing magic or something? The story really bored me to tears. There were no exciting plot points, no interesting bits and pieces of information. The only thing that kept me from throwing away the book is its title and the name of the author. Personally, I also hate unfinished projects, so I persevered... grudgingly and disappointedly.

Chasing Harry Winston is not as spectacularly written as her first two novels, Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing. I can't even understand why she entitled this novel the way she did when there was only one little reference to Harry Winston's rings --- those diamonds Salma Hayek wore during one of the Oscars. This pretty little detail is not even very important. 

Happiness Now by Andrew Matthews

I've come to know Andrew Matthews when I first read BEING HAPPY back in college, one of his most famous books. I have all three by the way including HAPPINESS IN HARD TIMES, FOLLOW YOUR HEART and MAKING FRIENDS. This particular one, HAPPINESS NOW, is like a summary of all those three. All the principles I learned about living a healthy, happy, prosperous life, achieving the career of your dreams, obtaining peace of mind, etc. --- all these things are put into several cohesive and creative nutshells for better and simpler understanding. 

Basically, it taught me  three things: 

The Beach by Alex Garland

When I bought this book, what caught my attention was the fact that it is a story regarding  backpacking in Asia. I am somewhat of a traveler and a backpacker myself so it got me very interested. After several pages, my husband mentioned that it is the same story as the movie of the same title starred by Leonardo DiCaprio. I did watch that film ages ago and all I remember was this sexy beach scene Leo had with a very beautiful French actress. So that pretty much hyped my excitement to finish this book. As it turned out, it's not just about the thrill of  backpacking in Asia. It was way, way more than that.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

It was after I watched the film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, that I bought this book from Powerbooks. I was actually looking for the book version of the movie. The sales lady said that they were out of stock. So I browsed through the other works of Jules Verne and  this one was the book that got my attention. 

The story is all about the journey of Captain Nemo into the unexplored parts of the ocean all over the world. It all started when his ship, the Nautilus, was thought to be a humongous sea creature that has been causing other ships to sink. The government has tasked experts to take on a major project of bringing down this so-called sea monster. Ned Land, a famous harpooner of whales was called to attention, as well as Monsieur Pierre Arronax, a professor and scientist and his faithful assistant, Conseil. The day they found the Nautilus was the day that changed their lives forever.

The Chronicles of Narnia Book 3: The Horse & His Boy

It took me a while before I found the time to finish this book . And I never got to watch the movie, Prince Caspian,  either (which I promised myself before I embarked on the pages of its book version). Blame it on my busyness and what not. But don't worry, I still intend to finish all seven volumes of this well-known series. For now, let me tell you about the third book, The Horse and His Boy.