Pregnancy is not an illness...Hyperemesis Gravidarum IS by Laura Burton

'Pregnancy is not an illness...Hyperemesis Gravidarum IS' by Laura Burton

What do Charlotte Bronte, Holly Madison and Kate Middleton have in common? A condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) widely understood to be an acute form of morning sickness.
What is it? How could it send a woman into hospital and lead to ending a wanted pregnancy? L A Burton speaks out about her HG pregnancies providing a detailed insight into what it is really like to have Hyperemesis Gravidarum and includes testimants from other HG sufferers giving their honest accounts.

The author Laura really takes you into her personal life and how pregnancy affected her - not only one pregnancy but three in three years!! Laura gives you an insight into what everyday life was like living with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and how she was treated by some doctors - who were rude to her and kind of blamed her for this made up illness!! I really felt for Laura throughout her ordeal as this is a subject close to my heart having suffered from severe morning sickness (all day sickness!!) throughout all my three pregnancies too. It was only 27 weeks into my third pregnancy that HG was mentioned to me by a midwife. I had spent everyday of all my pregnancies from 5 weeks to the day of birth being sick not just once or twice a day - I lost count being sick 24/7 till nearly 28 weeks and then maybe 5 times at least from there on. I spent weeks in hospital on drips, having injections and bleeding because I was retching some much - 9 times out of 10 on an empty stomach. My third prednacny only went to 32weeks term - throughout this time I spent in total 7 weeks in hospital. To me I just thought I have severe morning sickness, I didn't know anything about HG, I know for Laura if doctors had understood her condition that she would have got help sooner but for me if I had known about HG sooner I don't think it would have made a difference - I had really good care from two difference health regions for my sickness.

I really enjoyed that Laura included other peoples stories into the book. Stories are from around the world and how HG affected them, their families and how they where treated by others.

This book is heart felt from a very personal life story from Laura. I hope Laura's wish to help others be aware of HG is achieved. I really think that others who suffer from HG reading this book will be inspired to seek help if they are not receiving it or just to know that they aren't alone.

I would recommend.

The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins

  
'The Hunger Games', Catching Fire' and 'Mockingjay' by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games: When 16-year old Katniss Everdeen volunteers for her little sister, she must face battle in the arena. Set in the future, in a place where every year one boy and one girl is chosen to represent their district in the annual Hunger Games, the story follows the 24 tributes who must fight till death leaving just one standing. Once in the arena there is one rule: kill or be killed.
Catching Fire: After the victory tour through the twelve districts, Katniss and Peeta have to enter the games yet again. But times have changed - all through the land there are uprisings against the Capitol and with it President Snow. Katniss, who after threatening to kill herself and Peeta with the poisonous berries in the first games, is in serious danger from President Snow, because by not playing by the Capitol's rules she has become the Mockingjay - the symbol of rebellion.
Mockingjay: Katniss founds herself as the Mockingjay, the symbol of the people's rebellion against the Capitol and cruel President Snow - something at first she does not want. She is broken and wants to be free from the rebellion but Katniss knows she is the peoples only hope, so she becomes the heroine fighting for the right of all.

The only reason I read all three books, was once again due to my impatient on needing to know the end. I watched the movie The Hunger Game and really hated that I was left not knowing what was going to happen next so I picked up the books and read them! I have friends who have read them before me and liked the books but I thought they were more aimed at teenagers so before the movie I had no interest in reading them.

I found the first chapter of the first book a bit slow so was a little unsure on how I was going to feel, but after the first chapter I was hooked and I could not put it down! Through the book you could feel Katniss's pain, happiness and anger. I cant believe how reading this book made me feel - I felt pain and anger for what the capital was putting these children through and I found I cried in a few places! But I also laughed too. I really enjoyed reading the parts with Katniss and Rue - who I loved as a character. The book gave a better understanding to Katniss and Peeta relationship than just watching the movie. When I got nearer the end of the book I just couldn't put in down, I needed to find out if Katniss would escape. It took all my will power to not pick the second book up to carry on reading the story as it was well passed midnight when I finished the first book.
The second book did not catch me a much as the first, but I still enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed to have had more information about the districts - for Suzanne to have taken us more into the make up of the country and how all the districts fitted into this make up. (If you know what I mean!)
The part of the book which covered the Hunger Games arena once again had me hooked. I couldn't put this part of the book down - the clock system that Suzanne used was amazing, it was action packed and got me hooked as I wasn't sure/didn't know what was going to happen - who was going to live and who was going to die! The ending was great too and I could wait to start reading book three, Mockingjay.
Well not sure about this the last in the series. I founds the first part of the book slightly boring and wishing it would hurry up to the good stuff. Which did come, the middle section was fast paced, thrilling and had the perfect balance of emotion and action. BUT THEN.... the ending came! Oh how disappointed I was. There was such a good build up that I thought the ending was going to be fantastic but it wasn't. Yes we finally see Katniss and Peeta together but at what price. What happened to happy ever after (I know all books don't end like that but after such pain surely Katniss and Peeta deserved it). If the ending was slightly different I think for me it would have been a better ending to what I feel overall is good books.

I would recommend - Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be forever in your favour!

One Day by David Nicholls

'One Day' by David Nicholls

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.
So where will they be on this one day next year?
And the year after that? And every year that follows?
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

I'm really not sure about this book, I did overall enjoy it, sometimes not being able to put it down but at other times found it boring, long winded and I would start drifting. The story idea of catching up on the lives of two characters I did enjoy, but I found I came to dislike the character Dexter who throughout most of the book is an alcoholic, heavy drug user, selfish and an idiot. He treats Emma his friend - who loves him - really bad. But in the end love is found for both with each other. This was a book chosen by me for my army book club, where most really enjoyed the book and a few were shocked by the ending (Emma's) but having watched the movie I knew what to expect. Throughout the book, I did feel for both Dexter and Emma though, as they find that life doesn't always turn out how they expected - a lesson to be learned.

So would I recommend? Yes I think, but maybe when you've read all those others books you wanted first!!

the five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

'the five people you meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom

The five people you meet in Heaven is a story of the meaning of life and life after death. This story allows us to follow an elderly amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the 'Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl who gets in the way of a falling cart that hurtles to earth. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. Throughout there are dramatic flashbacks where we see scenes from his troubled childhood, his years in the army in the Philippines jungle, and with his first and only love, his wife Marguerite.

This book was recommended to me by my friend Frances who loved it, so I added it onto my book read list - I also passed this recommendation onto my friend Jen who read it before me and loved it. But I didn't!!! I really just couldn't get into it at all - yes I did finish it but it was hard, I kept hoping it would improve as I really wanted to like this book especially as two close friends loved it but I just didn't love/like it at all.

Read Frances and Jen's reviews here.
Frances - http://50percentsuepageturners.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/five-people-you-meet-in-heaven-mitch.html
Jen - http://www.jenthousandwords.com/search/label/books?updated-max=2012-08-31T09:00:00%2B12:00&max-results=20&start=4&by-date=false

So even though I wouldn't recommend - they would!

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

'The Bookseller of Kabul' by Asne Seierstad

Asne Seierstad (the author) went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict there and while there meet Sultan Kabul the bookseller. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities - be they communist or Taliban - to supply books to the people of Kabul. Throughout this time he has been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock - almost ten thousand books -  in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and hatred of censorship, he is also a committed Muslim with strict views on family life and the role of women. Asne Seierstad is so interested in his life, that she returns to live with the bookseller and his family for four months in spring 2002. As an outsider, Asne Seierstad found herself in a unique position, able to move freely between the private, restricted sphere of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the freer, more public lives of the men. We also learn of proposals and marriages, suppression and abuse of power, crime and punishment. The result is a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.

I read quite a few reviews on this book (book was my village book club November book) and to be honest wasn't sure what to expect. Some reviews said that the author made up the facts on the families life's and doesn't show true facts of Afghanistan; and other reviews rave on how fantastic the book was and how they learnt so much about Afghanistan and the lives people lead over there. So I started this book with mixed feelings. I have to say it, I really did enjoy the book, whether it was non-fiction or fiction, I really don't care. I enjoyed it as a story and if it was written on all facts all the better.
So reviewing as if the author wrote on all facts - the family were extremely hospitable to her. Seierstad portrays the family as being extremely nasty to each other and I know from one review I read commented on, how this portray was wrong that no family is without its redeeming qualities - that the author shouldn't have wrote about them in this way. But surely if this is how the family were with each other then why write it any differently. I'm sure there are families in Afghan that are caring and loving towards each other and if the Khan family were one of those families that Seierstad would have portrayed that. Aren't families like that, we see it everyday, nice families/nasty families!! You get to know each of the family members and understand why each member is the way they are, through no fault of their own. We learn how society has changed and how it is still changing, how women were forbidden to use nail polish and those who disobeyed had the tip of a finger or toe cut off - women didn't were open toe shoes or shoes with solid heels since it was believed that the sound of women walking might distract men!! I loved the insight to this family lives.

Many other journalists also reported on the lone bookseller in Kabul following the fall of the Taliban, so this may be the true story, who knows!!

I would recommend.