January 16, 2012

before you go to sleep




I'm reading whenever I get a chance, so I'm always carrying around one at least. Commuting 40 minutes on the overcrowded tube to work everyday is the perfect opportunity to catch up on some reading, I thought. Well, not having in mind, that it's often too crowded and quite pumpy and unsteady ride, so one always has to hang on to the railings, so hanging on with one hand and holding a heavy book with the other.... quite impossible sometimes. Maybe not, but not compfy at all. So, finally the Kindle sneaked into my life and I l.o.v.e. it, can't live without. At first I wasn't that keen, because I love the thickness of books and stocking my bookshelves. I won't give up the occasional book, as I love to browse in bookstores a lot as well, but the kindle is perfect for traveling around. Gees, I should have gotten it while I actually was traveling around the world, just imagine how much lighter it would have been, hauling around a thousands of books in one bag. On the other hand, books swapping wouldn't have been possible and that was were you discover the best unexpected reads on the road. Oh happy days. 

Anyways, I just finished this amazing page turner yesterday, and I need to share, as I can highly recommend reading it. It's SJ Watson's debut novel Before I go to sleep

It's the story about Christine, who wakes up every morning to a brand new world, according to her. Having no memory of where she is, who she she and who's bed she's sharing. After an accident she has amnesia, so everytime she falls into deep sleep her memory is erased completely when she wakes up. The story goes that she starts writing a journal of her daily life and her memory flashes triggered by certain events. Can she trust the man, who claims he is her husband? But why is he hiding so many things of her past then? She meets up with a Doctor on a regular basis, who suggested to her writing the journal to train her memory. He is also the one to call her every day, so she will go and dig out her hidden journal to re-read her own life and go from there every day. And all that behind her husband's back, as somehow she cannot fully trust him at all. Then events start to accumulate in the second half and are really gripping until the last few pages. Was it really a car accident that caused her amnesia? Or something worse? 

I wouldn't have guessed the ending at all, what a surprise! While I was reading, however, I kept wondering why doesn't she not sleep for two days to not lose her memory and then she can really understand and research her past history better, or that kind of stuff. But nevertheless, I really loved that story to the end.