Books : Jodi Picoult

I started reading Jodi Picoult in the year 2004, right after I finished my SPM exam. I remember wanting to step to another level, from Young Adult books to Adult's Fiction. At that age, it was a huge deal because adult's fiction was a whole new world for me. That's why I remember my very first fiction that I bought more than 10 years ago. It was at Popular's, in South City Plaza - the one that was closed several years back by now. 

I remember slowly walking at different bookshelves than before, trying to find one book that wouldn't be too hard for me. Next thing I know, I was holding "My Sister's Keeper". The next 2 weeks, I was hooked. I didn't know it was possible for all complicated things to be merged into one book. There were topics about relationship - between husband and wife, between children and parents, between siblings, between judges and society, also topic about ethics in medical choices and law. So I learned difficult medical terms and possible law cases - but all in a fiction. 

  

The rest is history. 

I collect almost all of her books, except for her first three*. She publishes a book every year, usually the hard cover version will be available in the middle of every year, so I'll wait for a paperback version for another 9 months or the year after it was published, when my sister give me the latest book as my birthday present. Other than that, I prefer a normal cheaper paperbacks.

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Like all authors, there are good books, and there are not-so-good books. 

List of all her books :

Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992) | Harvesting the Heart (1994) | Picture Perfect (1995)*

Mercy (1996)

The Pact (1998)

Keeping Faith (1999)

Plain Truth (2000)

Salem Falls (2001)

Perfect Match (2002)

Second Glance (2003)

My Sister's Keeper (2004)

Vanishing Acts (2005)

The Tenth Circle (2006)

Nineteen Minutes (2007)

Change of Heart (2008)

Handle With Care (2009)

House Rules (2010)

Sing You Home (2011)

Lone Wolf (2012)

The Storyteller (2013)

Leaving Time (2014)

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My least favorite would be :

Keeping Faith | Second Glance | Sing You Home | Lone Wolf

*My favorite are* :

My Sister's Keeper

Mercy

The Pact

19 Minutes

House Rules

Handle with Care

Leaving Time

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By far I think I've been the longest with her and I learned her ways of making stories throughout all the readings I've done. Although some of her fictions are predictable after awhile, most of the time I was hooked by how well can she finds ways to make readers feel connected to the story. Some were deeply moving, I cried reading some of the books like Mercy and the latest, Leaving Time. The best part is I can cry over a book and they are not sappy love stories.

She makes me feel like I can relate with so many things that I never thought of. Only some good authors managed to do that. She played with her words and feelings, and might as well be a great psychologist for understanding various types of people's feelings because she mostly uses first-person narrative in all her books. *for me, first-person narration is one of the hardest, but also the strongest way to connect the reader with the character - because you grow to know the character directly from them, how else can you learn to know a person if not by knowing them?

PS :
I just finished her latest : Leaving Time last night, good twist, Jodi.
Now let's move to other new books for 2015.

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Books : January List

1. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

I read IQ84 last year, took 2 months to finish reading the thick book. I am really curious about Asian Literature so I want to know more about these writings, Norwegian Wood was listed in my birthday wish list as well. I didn't regret my choice.

I love the direct and blunt type of language Haruki used in the book. It almost felt like reading haiku; speaking in short line of words, very simple. But feelings were sprouting everywhere in the book; be it loneliness, pain, detachment, love. What makes it impressive is how simple the writings are, carrying such heavy meaning.

Usually, if something is so simple, it's hard for us to notice the beauty. That was how I felt while reading it. I thought, 'this is too simple to be beautiful'. But he nailed it.

What I like about the book is the bluntness, and the depth of feelings in such simple writing. The storyline is straight-forward but a bit depressing : it's about suicide, first love, and detachment.

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2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I read this for several days while I was commuting. The book has large font sized text, which is not my favourite type of book, nice cover page and semi-formal language, not beautifully written, it feels like watching those chick-lit movies I stopped watching several years ago. I may not be one qualified reviewer but in my blog, I seldom take too much time sounding like the person I am not in reality, so this explains the semi-formal language as well. Yes, John Green wrote it like something that has been written in a blog.

My random thought : this is a book for pre-adult/teenage. This explains a LOT.

Storyline : Although I said I didn't quite like the book, I cried several times while I was reading it. These days, I can cry to every single thing, the hormonal imbalance makes me super sensitive over everything. It's annoying, to read in the train and try to control the tears.

The storyline is cliché, almost expected and no twist, just direct story.

I guess I won't be reading any John Green in the future.

Not to say it's not a good book, it's just not a 'great' book. I am more hard to please when it comes to books, I have my own 'standard'. And I love heavy and twisted stories. This was just too easy, it almost feels like I was wasting my time.

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3. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Good people are good people, religion has nothing to do with it.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite writer and I've read almost all her books. *17 books, to be exact. She loves to tell stories about relationship between human. Parents with children, husband with wife, between couples and friends, judge and murderer, lawyer and offender, doctor and patients, etc. It's always about relationship and conflict between that, not as simple as our lives are, but usually in ways that make me ponder and question a lot. Morally right or wrong, emotionally acceptable or not. Definitely not a chick-lit type of books.

This time, it's about the Holocaust, an ex-Nazi SS guard and one of the survivor's grand-daughter, a Jew. I love history and I love fiction, combining both is like having your favorite ice-cream topped with extra chocolate chips.

I was actually a bit disturbed, because reading books about genocide is a bit heart-wrenching, even if the book is fiction. The possibilities that it might be true, and can happen or happened. Phew. Not going to share any spoiler.

But this book is definitely a good one, highly recommended.
Thought-provoking, emotional, well-written story.

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