Review: "One Day" by David Nicholls

*Please Note: Review May Contain Minor Spoilers*

After getting my new Sony Reader for Christmas (thanks again to my wonderful hubby!) I was dying to try it out and read a whole book on it. After all, I can play around with the Reader and love it, but who knows if I like reading a book on it until I try, right? I was thrilled to find out that my public library is one of the ones that is now carrying eBooks and since I had heard such a wide range of opinions about One Day, I checked it out online.

One Day tells the story of Emma and Dexter, who meet for the first time on the day of their college graduation, July 15, 1988. The two have a romantic liaison that night but end up becoming good friends instead of lovers. The two are so different from one another, Emma is reserved and a little down on herself and Dexter is stuck-up and self-assured, but the chemistry between the two is palpable. We check in on them once a year for 20 years, each time on July 15th, and we find out what happens to them as they live their lives.

I'm cowering behind a bookshelf as I write this, but I liked this book (okay, Meg, you're not allowed to throw things at me!). I don't think that it will change my life, and yes, the ending was abrupt and came out of nowhere, but I did enjoy it. I loved the chemistry that existed between Emma and Dexter. I swear that it fizzled at times. It reminded me a little of the chemistry between Jim and Pam from The Office before they got together (of course, now that they are together, the show is boring!). And the relationship near misses? Ahh! They drove me crazy, but in a good way. That chemistry, along with the fact that Nicholls can write, kept me interested and reading frantically the whole time.

What I took from the book as a whole, what I took as its message, was that life is short. Don't squander your talents and intelligence like Emma, don't hide inside of a bottle like Dex, don't ignore a person that is so clearly perfect for you just because life gets in the way. Live life to the fullest, live every moment as if it is your last. Sure, it sounds cheesy, especially when you put it together like that, but it's a fact that we could all use an occasional reminder of. I sometimes get so caught up, or dragged down, by the moment, by the little stuff, that I forget that we only have one life it live, and we need to make the most of it.

Sure I can see why some people didn't like One Day; I went in with lower expectations than some because of reviews that I had read. I found the ending exasperating, and the characters grated on me at times (especially Dex and his smugness), but overall I loved this clever, surprising, and well-written novel.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge, 2011 E-Book Challenge

The Book Chick's 2011 Challenge Sign-Up Post

Forgive me for not posting each of these challenges individually. This year I would like to have all of my challenges posted in a single post, primarily for my own convenience.

2010 was the first year that I participated in challenges, and although I kept track of what I read for each challenge, I'll admit that I didn't actually go back to the host site and post my review links. Maybe I'll actually do that this year. Or maybe not. I'll see how things go. I enjoy participating in challenges, but mainly because it brings me interesting insight into my own reading habits and it encourages me to read books that I may not have read otherwise. There are two challenges that I will not be participating in this year, the New Author Challenge and the Chick Lit Challenge. They were both great challenges, but I found neither challenging. Apparently I like reading books by new-to-me authors because I read a total of 105 books by them last year. My goal was 25. Hmmmm....gotta love an overachiever! I enjoyed Chick Lit Challenge but stopped keeping track of my reads part way through the year. Let's face it: I love chick lit, and will read it without being challenged to.

In 2011 I will continue participating in two challenges with 2011 end dates: The Canadian Book Challenge 4 and The Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge.

So, these are the challenges that I will be signing up for in 2011:

The 100+ Reading Challenge hosted by My Overstuffed Bookshelf
0/100

The goal is to read 100+ books in the year. In 2010 I read a total of 140 books (to date), but my plan this year is to have a more relaxed approach to my reading and my only goal for this challenge is to read 100 books.

The 2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge hosted by Book Junkie's Bookshelf
0/30

The goal for this one is to read 30+ books from your local library. In 2010 I succeeded in reading 26 library books, so it may be a bit of a challenge to reach 30, but I love my local library and all that it brings to my community so I am going to try my best. Since I just got an eReader and can now check books out of the eLibrary program it should make this challenge a little easier.

The South Asian Challenge 2011 hosted by S.Krishna's Books
0/5

The goal for this challenge is to read books about South Asia or written by South Asian authors. I'm signing up to be a South Asian Explorer and to read 5 books that fit the category. I'm excited about this challenge because I enjoy South Asian books but didn't read many in 2010.

2011 E-Book Reading Challenge hosted by The Ladybug Reads
0/12

This challenge challenges you to read eBooks. Since my wonderful husband got me a Sony eReader for Christmas I'd like to put it to good use. I plan to participate at the "Addicted" level, meaning that I'm committing to reading 12 eBooks in 2011, but hopefully I'll be able to reach the "Obsessed" level and actually read 20. My library offers eBooks for checkout, so that should make this challenge even easier.

2011 RYOB Challenge (no host at this time)
0/25

The site that hosted this challenge last year has yet to put up a 2011 sign-up page, but I'm still going to challenge myself to read 25 books of my choice off of my own bookshelves this year. I enjoyed participating last year, and since my personal bookshelf tends to grow in leaps and bounds (darn you, amazing used bookstore!) I want to make sure that I'm actually reading these books. My only rules for myself are that it has to be a personal copy of mine, and not a library or review copy. As far as this goes, though, the books that count for this challenge can be new, used, or contest wins.