By age thirteen, Anna has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate – a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister – and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. [official synopsis]

Chan very thoughtfully sent me My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult when I expressed an interest in reading it on her blog post. I had no trouble getting into the book and am now anticipating seeing the movie. I finished it about a week ago and probably shouldn’t have waited so long to write up a review.

With books like this, you always expect it to either end up happy, or completely depressing. While I did cry at the end (which my boyfriend made fun of) it definitely was an unexpected twist. I won’t give any spoilers, but I thought the three kids (Anna, Kate and Jesse) were my favourite characters. They all had such a unique dynamic with each other that I guess only a family tragedy could bring together.

I thought that the plot was very direct, and I like how the narrative switched characters and years to provide flashbacks and additional insights. I definitely don’t think that the book would be as compelling without making you compassionate for all the characters involved.

I really enjoyed the book — it was a quick and compelling read. Check out an excerpt (entire first chapter) at the publisher’s website!

I am slowly coming to realize that I may need to buy a new laptop. I don’t know if this 3-year-old MacBook is worth the investment of getting it fixed. I have a feeling it would cost less to just buy a new MacBook. For a while now I’ve had battery life issues. This usually means that I can’t have it unplugged from the power source for more than 5-10 minutes or it just shuts off. I’ve dealt with it, although it has limited the mobility of my laptop, it’s been okay.

But over the weekend I forgot my laptop and left it at home not plugged in. It obviously had trouble keeping the harddrive alive because booting up yesterday I kept getting a “kernal panic” message which basically says you need to reboot for whatever reason. Booting up just now took about 20 minutes and I had to keep turning it off and on, off and on, until it booted up. Sometimes it would just sit there making the boot up noise a bunch of times, doing nothing.

So I’m looking at a 13-inch MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM (which I was considering updating on this computer anyway). It’s $1,749.00, with free shipping… but we also now have an Apple Store here in Vancouver, so I might go down and play with some of the new computers. Is 3 years too short of a lifespan for a laptop that I use every day, sometimes non-stop for several hours at a time? Have I got my money’s worth when I spent $1,600 on this machine?

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On Tuesday I met Chelle (and her new guide Faye) for a bit of knitting at Tree’s Coffee. I had to prove that I have actually knit, so here are the lovely seven rows of garter stitch that I did while chatting.

As you can tell, I’m a.) a slow knitter; and b.) more chatty than knitty. Hahha and many thanks to Chelle who actually brought some yarn and needles for me as I forgot to bring mine to work on Tuesday.

Today I did have plans to complete a half-finished washcloth I worked on last time I saw Chelle at the beginning of May… but I ended up painting my bathroom instead! Yay “Sonoma” blue!

Henry watched the brush go uuuup and down…. up and down… up and down. I should have taken a video it was so funny! (Does this count as Whiskers on Wednesday?)

Today was officially Car Free Day Vancouver. It is celebrated in several communities in Vancouver by shutting down the streets to motor traffic and basically having a great big block party. There is music, food, entertainment, bicycling, demonstrations, and various vendors.

The Main Street festival is only six blocks from my new apartment, so we walked over to check it out. I took a lot of photos and even ran out of memory on my camera taking videos!

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“On the eve of her first day of senior high, May Sutherland’s mother gives her a diary in which to record her experiences. It’s 1948 and the entire student body at Magee High in Vancouver is divided according to their preference for Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra. After losing her two best friends overnight, May struggles between her disdain for the debate and her loneliness as one of only a handful of neutrals.”

It was really neat to read a novel placed here in Vancouver in a high school that I considered attending. This short novel was a quick and enjoyable read. The voice of May felt very authentic and it was well-written. Being a big fan of Frank Sinatra, it was really interesting to read about the history of the Crosby/Sinatra debate among teens in 1948.

Sometimes the direction of the novel felt questionable, and although the debate between Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra remained central, nothing was particularly resolved. I do think that the format of a diary is hard to write — on one hand you risk over-informing the reader, and on the other, it’s difficult to move forward quickly.

I would definitely recommend That Tune Clutches My Heart, by Vancouverite Paul Headrick. It was also shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and received 2nd prize for Prose Fiction for the Alciun Society’s Awards for Excellence in Book Design.