GOLD

"Happy people believed in someone. Expecting company, they walked with a careful space beside them. Even in their worst moments they could imagine the possibility of someone. A magic someone who could glue them back together with words." - ZOE

I found this book in the Chapters website where I usually check for new books to read. I look over the brief outline and was taken with what it was about. So I decided to put a request for it at the library. I had to wait, like a few months, before it was available.

"You had to keep yourself desperate--as wild as you'd been when you had nothing. You had to double your stake every time..." - ZOE

I like the story and was drawn to the character of Zoe. Something resonates in me-- that feeling of being alone even when surrounded with people. And the desperate measures resorted to try to make up to someone you care about. It was mainly about cycling and all the hard work and compromises a cyclist put in to get that much-coveted gold.  Although, I'm into running ( an entirely different sport ) and not an athlete in training, I understand about pain and sometimes, that blind desire to push oneself to the limits, whatever the consequences.

Reading "GOLD"  by Chris Cleave was a good and enjoyable experience. And a few POST-IT notes after.

"Maybe the deal was that life had to break you down before you could see it. Maybe there wasn't any other racket in town except this one that brought you to your nadir and challenged you to build your self back up from it, then showed you that what you'd done at least meant something to someone." -TOM

Fall of Giants

"But you don't love your family because they're kind and considerate. You love them because they're your family." - Grigori

I first laid my eyes on this 900+ -page of a book, December of 2010. That time, it looked daunting and as I flipped through the pages, I couldn't find that spark or instant connection that I always have when I pick a book for the first time.

I haven't read a single book penned by Ken Follett until I met someone who told me about "Pillars of the Earth". It was a wonderful read and I so enjoyed it, that I tracked down "World Without End." I'm not a huge  fan of books with long and beating-around-the-bush kind of narrative. It's a turn-off for me, most of the time.

"Fall of Giants" is an exception. And after reading "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End", I'm ready to be swept yet again, to another time long gone.

Somehow, the book let me take a peek into what happened during the First World War. And it's not mainly about history because it also touches about the frailties and quirks of man's behavior toward his fellowman.

If you don't mind reading a really long one, then you'll enjoy this first installment of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Happy reading.!!!