The Rendition Experience

I have been reading several medical thrillers by Patricia Cornwell and while they have been extremely entertaining, they did not thrill me anywhere near as much as Gravity by Tess Gerritsen. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that it is not thrillers in general that I love. It is Tess Gerritsen!

She is an extremely versatile writer. Gravity brushes on the sci-fi category. The story is about an apparently harmless organism that starts multiplying in a space station and infects and begins killing its occupants. At the centre of the story we have a heroine again. Emma Watson becomes the space station's physician when the current physician is forced to come home due to his wife suffering an accident.
When the organism starts killing the habitants inside the space station, they see themselves stranded and unable to come back to Earth. It is Jack (Emma's nearly-ex-husband) that will do everything in his power to bring her back home.
The book started quite technical to get us used to the NASA setting which made it a bit difficult to start for a NASA newb like me. However, once I got used to the acronyms, the story flowed wonderfully. The story had everything I could possibly like in it. There was the romantic tension between Emma and Jack and the realization of true love when facing disaster. The biology of the organism infecting the crew was interesting and kept me on edge. I really thought they were all going to die and that there was no cure possible.

I was expecting an average story due to the change in genre but it was great. I loved it.

I picked this book up from the MIL's shelf when I had finished Patricia Cornwell's "Postmortem" at the start of my weekend away. I may write about it later.

The author wrote about his experience with a very troubled Border Collie.
I thought it would be a bit of frivolous reading to avoid my boredom. It was afterall, nothing more than a guy's experience on raising a Border Collie (I have one too... Big Deal!). I read the introduction where the author mentions all the dogs he had before and I itched to read more. I was surprised but put it to the fact that I love dogs, so it would only be natural to want to read more about them.

Jon Katz managed to drag me into his life and feel what he felt even without seeing what he saw. His emotional honesty was humbling and brave. It was very personal and made me feel like I was just a friend listening to him tell his tale. I laughed when he was happy or annoyed at "things that dogs do" and I cried when he suffered.

I can't forget that it wasn't just his writing that got me interested in the book. Devon (the trouble dog) is the most amazing (real) dog I ever read or heard about. His intelligence, cunning and pride that I can only really see a hint in my own dog, were so outstanding that sometimes I thought there had to be a person's soul inside him. This book is a wonderful insight into the mind of the misunderstood Border Collie and I a reference to any person thinking of getting one. I shall recomended it to any person thinking of getting one in the hopes that less of this beautiful breed end up in kennels.

Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" left an itching curiosity to learn more about this secret world. I was searching for Liza Dalby's book about her experience in becoming a Geisha when I stumbled upon this book.

Despite being an autobiography, it isn't the correct factual content that charms you to keep on reading. Sayo Masuda, can only write in hiragana (one of the three alphabets required to write comprehensively in Japanese). This is the equivalent of a small child's ability. Yet she found it within her skill to portray her story in a simple way, baring her emotions honestly.

The main difference between this book and the many other Geisha themed books out there is that Sayo Masuda did not write it for profit or fame. She remains anonymous within her own community and her current family has not even read the book.
The reasoning for writing her story was unveiled for the first time by G.G. Rowley - the person responsible for translating the book into English - when for the first time Sayo Masuda decides to meet someone due to the book.
The story may not be chronologically accurate or full of factual content, but Sayo Masuda and G.G. Rowly do a wonderful job at involving us emotionally in this real tale.

First things first: I adored this book.
It was cute like any fairy tale book should be and yet a little disturbing with all the inherent moral messages it tries to transmit. If you add the fact that it is meant to be written for a magically capable audience, the strangeness adds to the charm of the small but gripping stories.

The notes written by Dumbledore are actually more interesting than the stories themselves for a fan of the Harry Potter series like me. It is like immersing in the Harry Potter universe again.

Summary:
Girl meets boy, boy repulsed by girl, boy is vampire wants to suck girls blood, girl falls in love with boy, boy freaks out a little before giving in, boy falls for human girl.

We go from there...

Ok... ok so I got sucked in (excuse the pun) by the hype and the film. My friend had been saying for ages read this book, read it you’ll love it, I never did. So when I was finally persuaded to watch the film earlier this month, which I assumed would be just another chick flick, I wasn’t all that excited.
Happily I can say I loved the film which prompted me to start reading the book, my friend had leant it to me and I hadn’t even touched it!!
The film (I know we’re not here to be critics of films but I feel it is relevant) in my opinion made the book far more enjoyable to read (it is a very enjoyable read anyway) but I was pleased I had seen the film first so the book could not ruin it for me and I already had formed images in my head of who and what the characters are. If I had read the book first I would have been disappointed with the film, because to be fair it is lacking in a lot of substance that the book has, but with a book you can get away with a lot more especially to do with romance and emotion as it is all written on the page whereas the film you can only do scenes with the characters interacting you never really get to know what they’re thinking, so I am glad I watched and read them in the order I did I found that in this way they complement each other well. They complement each other so well in fact that after watching the film I sat down 2 days later and read the entire book in about 5 hours he he he, honestly I could not put it down.

Right let’s begin, you must all have heard of it or even read it yourself, if not I shall try not to spoil it for you if you do decide to read it. It’s based in a small town in a remote part of America, called Forks. The story is a narrative from the main character Bella who is a 17 year old school girl who has just moved to Forks to live with her father. Bella is a shy, almost plain girl who is obviously a loner and doesn’t seem to fit in well with the crowds although she does become instantly popular with the boys at school though she really doesn’t see why. I liked her because I could relate to her I remembered being the shy quiet girl at school who didn’t really fit in, but then most people I have spoken to have felt that at some point in their school life, it’s quite a generic feeling of being a teenager really in my opinion. Now Edward (the strange boy she’s curiously drawn to) is a very difficult character to relate to, as you can imagine, who can imagine being beautiful, immortal, a monster and 17 all at the same time?? (Although don’t most 17 year olds feel this way he he he (joke)). He starts out appearing to hate Bella and be completely disgusted by her, which he actually does feel as well as finding her irresistible, well her blood more than her.

This awkward collection of discomfort and attraction is carried on throughout the book until Edward finds he can’t keep it up and decides to “break all the rules” this is where the romance begins. Now don’t get me wrong it is a romantic novel, Stephanie Meyer makes no qualms about it being a love story, and I like this it is a fresh, original way of writing a teen romance. To be fair I found that as I read the book the beginnings of the romance did feel to me like quite adolescent but as the story grew the two characters seemed to grow too, so it ended up being a much more adult relationship in my opinion with only a hint of the awkwardness that they had started out with, while everyone else around them remains the same and almost become a blur.
The story as a whole is in 4 books, but this does not take away the novelty of the first story. It’s like a separate story all by itself and I would have been happy if this was the only book with these two characters, because it is so well written and, unlike a lot of ‘forbidden love’ stories it steers away from the realistic, painful reality of love, where in life we don’t always get to be with the one we love especially if it’s forbidden, no matter how much we want to be, life doesn’t work that way, call me a cynic but I believe to truly love there has to be a certain amount of pain at some point in your life otherwise how do you appreciate the real, honest true love? And love at first site? Well that to me is a fairy tale in itself, but I do love to read a fairy tale.

This story provides me with escapism and a healthy dose of an unrealistic view of love and romance, if only for a brief time. I was completely absorbed in this book and not since ‘The last vampire’ series by Christopher Pike, have I felt so connected with the main characters and so caught up in the plot that; if it didn’t end well I felt like part of me would die (I get involved). This to me really felt like an old fairy tale with a very modern and unique twist, how many frogs turn into a beautiful Vampire?

Well a girl can dream ha ha. Not only girls though I know a couple of lads who really enjoyed this book (one was mithering for me to return their copy). The twists and intensity of the action and the depth of emotion appeal to all people who have ever loved or ever dreamed, I sometimes forget that even guys fall in love and feel awkward when they like someone they shouldn’t or can’t be with, so if you think it’s just a girlie story you’re wrong, give it a chance I think you’ll be surprised.

I can’t wait to read the next 3 books I am using them as my reward to write my own story, so I will appreciate them all the more without rushing through them.

I quote now from the film best line I think;

"These things just don't exist" - Bella
"They do in my world" - Edward

This to sums up the magic of the book (although I cant remember if this line is in the book) for the time you're reading this book, it'll be your world too.

Enjoy!! If you do read it let me know what you think :)

Now I have literally only just discovered that this book is also a film!! Impressed, it has the same name and is directed by Terence Young. It came out in 1979 so this book is a little older.

This is a good story!! I couldnt put it down on the way back from Reading. The time it was written in isn't even noticeable I thought it was a new book haha that's how timeless it is.

It's about Eliabeth Roffe a 23 year old young heiress to a giant Pharmaceutical and cosmetics company owned and ran by her father Sam Roffe and controlled by her extended relatives and their families.

In places this was hard to follow, there were so many threads to keep track of different family members having their own domestic problems each so very unique and all wanting the same outcome... let the company shares go public. Now Elizabeth doesnt do this she becomes suspicious about her fathers death (dont worry i havent spoiled it) is someone in the family trying to take down the company?? This is a completely family run company with no outside stock holders or board members so the story follows Elizabeth on her journey of being her fathers little girl to the most powerful member of the company. And buy does she do it well!! She's strong, beautiful and intelligent. You get to see her grow from being a child to a woman and all that she went through, you can empathise with her every step of the way.

The book starts with another character Rhys Williams who was Sam Roffe's closest aide and the only person allowed at board meetings who isnt family. He is a mysterious and yet completely raw character, who seems to be shaped by the presence of Elizabeth's character.

The family itself is amazingly well written, you have Helene Roffe a domineering, terrifying ambitious woman who is sadistic and cruel especially with her long suffering husband. You have Sir Alec Nichols born from his mother who was a Roffe and is an a reknown MP in England married to the most spoilt little girl whom he completely adores, and will do absolutely anything for and because of her. You have Simonetta Roffe a beautiful aggressive italien married to the italien male tart Ivo who is playing the field and managing two families!! And finally you have Anna Roffe frail, daydreamer married the love of her life Walther Gassner who is a movie star in his looks and personality but did he marry for love or for money??

There's so much in this book I cant even start to describe it. You're just going to have to read it I'm sorry :). I will leave you with a quote from the book I think it's a good one.

"Never let a friendly fox into your hen-house, one day he's going to get hungry"

Oh and this book shows you how the same can be true with friendly foxes amongst their own.