The Time of "Your" Life

Typically, sometime around August or September, I review and recommend books that are of the spiritual, inspirational and motivational genres. Well, this next one can't wait until the summer months. It is your next best read of the year – and no better time than at the beginning of the New Year to pick up a book that you won't want to put down because its insight, candor and wisdom takes you to a new place of understanding.

While "The Time of My Life," by Cecelia Ahern, is a work of fiction, it is so utterly open and honest it feels like you're reading a true story. Miss Ahern (also the author of P.S. I Love You, which was adapted for the big screen, starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler) has a unique way of opening up her characters and revealing their most vital organs. As uncomfortable as this sounds, you will find that it is a necessary part of the process, as Lucy Silchester (the main character) comes face to face with her life - literally. I will not be ruining the end by telling you they are stitched back together, better than ever, by the time you're on the last page; with Ms. Ahern's flair and style of writing, the end is just a way of closing off. The meat of the story is what will have you hooked and wanting more. If you're a rubbernecker, the excruciatingly painful collision of Lucy's private life with her hammy open Life persona will remind you of an accident in slow motion.

The series of events that leads to her metamorphosis are detailed, humorous, and arouse empathy. Cecelia has an uncanny way of describing emotions and thought processes in a way that we can all too easily relate to, so you might find yourself squirming now and again as the bare truth of the main character, Lucy, is revealed.

To say that this book is thought provoking would be as simplistic as saying Big Ben is a clock. The brilliant psychological manipulation of her Life, used to enlighten the  deeply-entrenched-in-la-la-land Lucy, allows the reader to have a front row seat to her own personal hell and heaven.

The unbelievably real message of this piece of fiction has you invested in the idea that Life might come knocking at your door any minute, and when it doesn't, you feel like you're missing out.

If you read only one book this year...