The five people you meet in Heaven

As you all very well know, I've been trying to read through a list of books that have long been recommended to me by both friends and family (and BBC) as books you "have to read before you die". There are many great titles in that list, but only a few jewels that I would keep reading again and again. One of these jewels is "The five people you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom.

The book starts with the end. A strange place to start a story, perhaps, but as Albom says "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." The story tells us about Eddie - an old maintenance worker at Ruby Pier, an amusement park near the ocean, who dies on his eighty-third birthday while trying to save a young girl from a falling cart. Eddie awakens in the afterlife remembering nothing from his last seconds on Earth except that he felt two small hands in is. He has no idea whether he managed to save the girl or not and thoughts of whether his life was worth anything in the end torment him throughout the whole story. He soon realizes that Heaven is not at all like the Eden he had imagined it to be, but rather a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. Five people who's path you changed forever, or who might have changed yours likewise. Strangers and loved ones who wait for you in their own version of Heaven to tell you their story and give you a lesson to learn.

Throughout the book Eddie starts understanding what his life meant to those around him. Seeing more than one incident from another point of view helps him accept the things he could not come to terms with before and see things, and people, in a different light. In the end he realizes that the ordinary life he thought he had settled for was the one he was meant to lead all along.

I believe this book is one of the most powerful stories I have ever read. An ordinary man leading an ordinary life that touched so many others whom he never knew. It' s a story that inspires, a story that comforts and a one that stays with you for the rest of your life. I highly recommend reading this book. It's good one for the soul.

The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the wind is a book you feel with all your being. The laughter, the suspense, the tragedy, all of it captures your soul and remains in your heart as though you yourself are in the story which dragges you into its dark alleyways of the spanish capital, slowly unfoldig the mysteries of the city and the life story of the brilliant author Julian Carax. I laughed, I cried, I was scared and suprised, and shook to my very core, all by this book.

This story is about a man's books and how they changed the lives of those who knew him and those who happened to realise the true value of his work. And also about a boy, who risked his own life so that the life of his favourite author would never be forgotten.

Short summary: One evening Daniel's father takes his 10 year old son to the "Cemetary of Forgotten Books" where he is allowed to pick out one book to take care of. By slim chance he picks out "The Shadow of the Wind" by the mysterious author Julian Carax. As time passes Daniel becomes more and more intrigued by the book and it's unknown writer. He discoveres that dark shadows lure in the streets of Barcelona, all trying to get a hold of his book for various reasons. As he begins to investigate Julian's past a story of great pain, love, jealousy and hatred unravels before him, sucking in him, and those who are close to him. What secrets will Daniel find while hunting this shadow of the wind?

If you haven't read this book I urge you to do so right away, the feeling it has left me with is undescribable, and yet it seems so familiar. It is the breathtaking feeling you get after reading a great book. One of those rare books that are really worth reading. A feeling well described in this book by the way, because it is, after all, first and foremoast a story about books and how they influence our lives.

Ice age 3

I finally found the time (and the company) to go watch the last ice age movie, and it is awsome! Very funny in a true ice age style, with a right proportion of old and new characters to capture one's attention.

This time around Manny and Ellie are having a baby, which makes Diego realise he's got to leave, and Sid that he is not part of this new family. Sid is therefore thrilled when he finds 3 eggs underneath the ice. He declares himself their mother (oddly enough) and calls them his new family. The suprise of the eggs holding tiny t-rex dinasours is nothing like the one of their mommy showing up and taking Sid with her under the ice where a whole new pre-ice age world is in full blossom. Manny, Diego and the others follow to save their friend. They soon realise that the world under is nothing like the one above and previously unseen dangers lure behind every corner and they soon realise that a guide would be nice. This is where they meet Buck - a one-eyed, slightly crazed, british weasel, who helps them find their way.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is cute and interesting with a quite a few grown up jokes (which I can't see the kids getting), the visuals are stunning, especially since it's 3D. And if you forgive the obvious historical loophole (there were no dinosaurs during the Ice Ag, duuh) you can actually have quite a good time. The dinosaurs add a lot of thrill to the plot, and there's actually a very nice sense of adventure throughout the film. I would not hesitate to recomend this film to everyone!!!