June 2011- Book 14

Afrikaans book review/resensie

Die Portier deur Pat Stamatelos
Max het nie regtig nodig om te werk nie - weens sy mildelike erfporsie en slim beleggings het hy meer as genoeg om su eenvoudige, dog stylvolle lewe te lei. Tog is Max 'n nederige protier in 'n ekslusiewe privaat hospitaal. Hy doen die eenvoudigste werk vir die wat siek of seer het. Hy verdra hulle bloed en braak, maar ook hulle vuil naels en knoffel asems.Want Max doen die werk as deel van sy behadleing om sy obsessiewe kompulsie teen te werk. Hy is daargliks in kontak met die onvomaakte om sy strewe na obsessiewe volmaaktheid in balans te kry. 

Desondanks Max se probleme is hy 'n talentvolle man - hy skryf kinderboeke en speel klavier en viool - en hy sien en hoor alles wat in die hospitaal gebeur. As hy maar net so n sy ouerhuis kon waargeneem het.

'n Wonderlike en deernisvolle vertelling wat my deurgans geboei het - 'n wel verdiende 8/10.

June 2011 - Book 14

Recipe for Life by Nicky Pellegrino

In the magical Villa Rosa, under the striking blue Italian skies, 3 woman form a bond that will last may many years.Through the language of good food and great cooking, Alice and Babetta strike a friendship that bonds, despite the barriers of real language and age. And despite the rocky road that charming local boy Lucio's affections create, Alice and Leila's sisterhood spans decades.

The recipes and food had me drooling at times - so wonderfully described, like the many colourful characters that populate the books. A little bonus is a few of the recipes cooked in the book added as an annexure.

Written in colourful language and showing the local charm of rural Italy and it's villas, this little book is a joyful and great girl's and bookclub read. Easy and gripping I can really recommend it for the holidays too.

Cat's opinion: a charming 7 and a half/10

May 2009 - Book 14

Harvesting the heart by Jodi Picoult

When I read the book I did not realize that this was only Jodi's second book and that possibly it does not offer the same challenges as her later books do.

Paige is a young woman that was abandoned by her mother as a toddler. This remains the main issue in her life as she meets a young medical student, Nicholas and marries him. Pushing aside her own dreams and talents to become his wife, she trips into an emotional ditch with the birth of their little boy, Max. When it all becomes too much for her, she does exactly what her mother did - she abandons him in his dad's care.

A bit too much of a romance story for my taste, at least characters develop and at the end of the book you do have a bit more empathy than at the beginning, both for Paige and her mother.

A so- so Picoult ( she has many more that are way better) - a 5/10