"Life's That Way: A Memoir" by Jim Beaver

Actor Jim Beaver, well known for his roles in Supernatural, Deadwood, Justified etc, published a very personal and honest piece of work in the form of Life's That Way.

Life seems good for Jim and his wife Cecily Adams, both having successful carriers and being the proud parents of little baby girl Maddie. That's when the tragedy strikes the in the life of the young family and Cecily is diagnosed with lung cancer.
To keep friends and family informed about his wife's condition and also as a way of dealing with everything that's happening himself, Jim starts writing a regular e-mail newsletter. Life's That Way is a collection of these very touching e-mails, starting in October 2007, telling everyone about Cecily's condition and ending with an epilogue telling us how life went on for Jim and his daughter after his wife's death.
Reading, how Jim Beaver writes about his wife and life, knowing that those little pieces of extraordinary well written literature are snap-shots of what was actually happening at this point of his life, gives the book an extremely personal touch and I think that it is hardly possible to not be affected by this family's story.
Even though the book is definitely not some kind of self-help book to help you cope with bereavement, reading it did help me personally to deal with a recent loss in my life. Reading Jim Beaver's story and seeing how he copes with everything and stays strong for his daughter is truly amazing and I think that he is a very inspiring person.
If you order a copy on lifesthatway.com you will actually get a copy with a personal message and a signature from Mr. Beaver himself. This little extra combined with how well and with how much emotion the book is written, makes it the most valuable book I own. And considering that Christmas season is almost upon us, I think it'd also make a marvelous Christmas present.

"Mojo" by Jez Butterworth: Review

This review is going to be a little bit different from the others because Mojo is a 1995 play written by Jez Butterworth.
And since it has been one year since opening night I am going to talk about the written play as well as the production that was staged at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in the Fall season 2013 starring Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), Colin Morgan (Merlin), Rupert Grint (Harry Potter), Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey), Daniel Mays (The Adventures of Tintin) and Tom Rhys Harries (Parade's End).

Mojo is set in the 1950s London nightclub scene. Therefore all the characters have a bit of a shady touch to them. The plot evolves around Silver Johnny, a young singer who is currently employed at the club all our protagonists are working. It is hinted right from the beginning that Johnny is considering to work for another man called Sam Ross. Sweets (Grint), who is responsible for the drug supply at the club and Potts (Mays) know about that, but decide not to get involved for now. This scene is incredibly well played by both Grint and Mays, although the lines are generally rather confusing, whether you read them yourself or see them performed. The energy which both actors deliver in their scenes together is amazing and Rupert Grint did an extraordinarily good job on his debut on stage. Daniel Mays was generally absolutely mind-blowing. I did not really know what to expect, since he was the only one of the main characters I hadn't known before, but after having seen the play I have to say that I have never been more impressed with any theatre performance than his.
The next character we get to know is Skinny Luke (Morgan), who works at the club. Colin Morgan's performance definitely showed that he has already had experience on stage and that he is an extremely good actor in general. Especially because his role as Skinny is very different from his role as Merlin, which he is still most famous for until now.
He complains to Sweets and Potts about how the club owner, Ezra's, son Baby (Whishaw) constantly harasses him. This can be also immediately seen in the next seen when Baby makes a appearance. Both Sweets and Potts seem to really care about him but there is never a doubt about the fact that there's something dangerous about him, which is spectacularly delivered by Whishaw who hasn't been called the greatest actor of his generation for nothing.
The four men decide to have a quiet night and play some cards, but the next scene we are shown has nothing quiet about it. Skinny is tied to a jukebox without his trousers, threatened by Baby with a cutlass while both Potts and Sweets are just chaotically shouting around in the background.
That's when Mickey (Coyle) finds them. He's Ezra's business partner and runs the club with him. Mickey tells the four other men that Ezra has been murdered by Sam Ross' men last night and that they'd probably come for them next. Brendan Coyle did a really great job with Mickey as well, but I have to say that both he and Tom Rhys Harries were not as impressive as their fellow cast.
The rest of the play has got a slight Waiting for Godot vibe about it, because all of the men hide in the club, barricade the doors and wait for the inevitable to happen. In the course of the night they drive each other crazy with fear and not knowing what to do. The only one who seems to keep calm in a very eerie kind of way is Baby. Whishaw's performance was absolutely magnificent, especially one of the last scenes where he just stands there, looking at what has happened (not going to spoil the ending here ;-) ), silent tears running down his face, while keeping a stony expression.

Although the plot of the play is very simple, it is still not that easy to summarize (as you might have noticed). Seeing it performed was an amazing experience because the cast was absolutely incredible. As it is always the case with plays, at least in my opinion,  they are never as good if you just read them. That is true for old classics like Shakespeare and also for modern plays like Mojo. I would still recommend to read it and definitely go see it live on stage, if you ever have the opportunity. You sure won't regret it, trust me!

"Retribution" by Jilliane Hoffman: Review

I'm usually not that much of a thriller reader, but when a friend recommended Jilliane Hoffman's Retribution to me I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed.
Retribution is the first novel in Hoffman's so-called C.J. Townsend series. It focuses on Miami state prosecutor C.J. Townsend who is one of the best in her field and deals with horrible crimes and crazy criminals on a daily basis. C.J. is known for always keeping her cool even in the face of the most cruel cases, that is until she faces the case of a especially brutal serial killer, whose pattern she recognises because she only barely escaped him years ago. She still bears the scars from that encounter and has tried to block out the horrible memories that come flooding back now that she is faced with her tormenter again. Trying to catch the killer who still tortures her in her dreams without having her colleagues find out about her, C.J. is on the verge of losing herself so deep in that case that the line between what is true and what is not starts to get so blurry that she threatens to lose control completely.

Retribution is definitely one of the most exciting thrillers I have read in a long time and a real page turner. Once you've picked this book up you won't be able to put it down until you're finished, trust me.
Even if you're not usually a fan of thrillers, you should definitely give this one a chance, you won't regret it!

"Noughts & Crosses" by Malorie Blackman: Review

A boy is finally allowed to go to a better school, which he could not do so far, due to his skincolour. While he is more than happy about getting a better education, he is still being bullied, because of the way he looks. Sound like an awefully familiar part of history?
But what Malorie Blackman actually does in her Noughts & Crosses series, is reverse the historical roles.
The Noughts & Crosses series are dystopian novels about a society that has not developed the way our world did. In this world, the African people (Crosses) did manage to evolve much faster in various areas and therefore enslaved the white population (Noughts). This first novel is set shortly after slavery was abolished, but it is still looked down upon the Noughts and they generally live very poorly.
This is the world in which the protagonists of the novel, Callum and Sephy, grow up. Sephy is the daughter of a very important and influencal Cross, while Callum is the youngest son of a Nought family, who's mother works for Sephy's family. So they basically grow up together as children and only later in their lives are confronted with their differences. The story evolves around their friendship and the problems their different social backgrounds bring with them.
The novel follows Sephy and Callum throughout their childhood and teenage lives up until their young adult life. The reader sees how they develop together and without each other.
What starts out as a very basic tale about love and friendship develops into a thrilling, critical and heartbreaking page-turner.

When I first started reading the book I expected it to be a very classical young adult love story set in an interesting dystopian world, but I soon realised that there was much more to this book. Blackman tells the story of a whole society through the eyes of two young people who struggle with their place in it.
While the setting is, of course, fictional, the topics and problems Blackman addresses, like racism, terrorism or prejudices, seem way too familiar while reading.
Although I didn't expect it at first the book really gripped me and I had to read it in one go. One reason for that, apart from the fact that it is absolutely well written, is probably that it doesn't happen very often that a book can surprise me and that a story can turn out completely differntly from what I expected.

"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner: Review

Waking up in a dark box, remembering nothing but your first name and suddenly being pulled out  by a group of strangers in a place you have never been before - Sounds like a nightmare? Maybe, but that's exactly what is happening to the boy Thomas in the James Dashner's  The Maze Runner. The Maze Runner is the first part of a trilogy (The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure) that evolves around the protagonist Thomas and his friends. Dashner has also written a fourth book The Kill Order which is a prequel to the happenings in the trilogy.

Thomas is thrown into this strange world, where he soon finds new friends in the so-called Gladers. He learns that everyone in the Glade has their assigned duty and so he becomes a runner. That means that he runs through the gigantic maze that surrounds the Glade all day long and tries to find a way out together with his fellow runners. He seems to adjust to his life there until another person comes up in the box and this time it is a girl. So far the Gladers had only consisted of a group of boys and the appearance of the girl, Teresa, sets off a chain of events that threatens everyone in the Glade and everything they have built up until then. A brutal race against time begins for the Gladers and by the end of book 1 they learn that the maze has been the least of their worries...

I first heard about The Maze Runner because of the upcoming movie starring MTV Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien. Being also part of the currently very popular Dystopian Young Adult novel genre, I expected it to be similar to The Hunger Games series or the Divergent trilogy. While it is definitely comparable to those series in terms of the genre, I have to say that James Dashner's series adopts a much darker and more grown-up atmosphere in his novels than the others do. Th world of his books is an even gloomier place and everything seems to be more destroyed. The Maze Runner is one of the most thrilling and exciting books I have read in a while and trust me when I tell you that you won't be able to stop before you've read all of them as quickly as possible. Be prepared for a lot of fun and excitement, but also for a lot of suffering and tears. You have been warned!
As for me, I am very excited to see how the movie version turns out, but if they manage to make even remotely as good as the book, there's nothing to worry about ;-)

"Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls " by Matt Ruff: Review

Imagine having breakfast more than 5 times every morning, wearing clothes you can't remember buying or having the taste of cigarettes in your mouth although you don't smoke.
Sounds all rather odd? Exactly! Therefore it has to be the plot of a novel by Matt Ruff. After Fool on the Hill and Sewer, Gas and Electic: The Public Works Trilogy Ruff picks up, yet again, a completely different topic.

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls is a book about Andrew, who suffers from a multiple personality disorder. With the help of his therapist Andrew managed to organise the personalities in his head into a house where they all live together and where he can let them out seperately when he needs to. This very organised life he has set up for himself threatens to be disturbed when he meets Mouse, a woman at work, who obviously suffers from the same disorder, but has not come to accept it yet. Her various personalities approach Andrew and ask him to help her come to terms with her condition.

I was rather weary when I first read that the book was to be about a protagonist with multiple personality disorder, because in my opinion it is a very difficult topic to approach and has often been simplified and, to a certain extent, also glorified in movies like for example Fight Club (which is an amazing movie nevertheless).
Ruff, though, manages to approach this topic very elegantly and in a sensitive way. He also goes into the depths of physical and emotional abuse that leads to the protagonists disorders, but this is also approached very delicately and in a empathetic way.

Matt Ruff managed once again to combine the element of weirdness with a lot of emotion and humour, like only he can and Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls was without a doubt the best read I've had in a long while. Would definitely recommend!

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