30 Day Book Challenge: Day One

So I was perusing some of the lovely bloggers out there and came across this interesting idea over at Carole Finds Her Wings and she kindly let me join in. Thanks Carole! You can see the full list of challenges here.


Day One: Favourite Book
God this is a hard one! There are soooo many I could choose here. But I’m going to go for by Yann Martel. It didn’t appeal at all when I first read the blurb about it but the reviews were so strong (Booker Prize anyone?) that I hung my judgement back up in the closet, shut the door and ordered the paperback from Amazon. The reviews were spot on. The writing is magical and transports you into a frankly bizarre story that I couldn’t tear myself away from. A boy trapped in a lifeboat, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with a tiger? Yes I know, but read it. Seriously.

“Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn’t be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point when you’re at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you’re the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.”

Photo credits: Pile of books by Felixco, Inc. at freedigitalphotos.net, Life of Pi image courtesy of Goodreads