Angie Female, 23. Grottaferrata, Italy

I lost two dogs, dogs that surely have defined my life, in the last two months. They were 11 and 15 years old. I'm almost 23. So I grew up with them, they're there everytime I recall the big moments of my life. I used to rub the butt of one of them as a good luck charm, before big or minor challenges.

The movie from this book came out a few weeks after the first dog died, and I felt I needed to see it, as a therapy. But when I found out it came from a book, I wanted to read it first.. so I ordered it, and finally started reading it, two days after also the other dog was gone.

I laughed, I recalled similar memories, I was moved.
But it's only in the final pages, where the last weeks of Marley are told, and the family deals with it that I started crying. I have no shame in admitting I cried as never before for any book or movie. It may not be a literary masterpiece, but if you love dogs, and have suffered for their loss, this book speaks to your heart, puts your thoughts into words. And they're there black on white, and you know- you Feel it- that so many other unknown people out there can understand.

I found this link, where some (big spoilers) passages are quoted :http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/8002.John_Grogan

Marley is not simply a carachter.. is more like a frined, a presence that's going to stick around.

I never read anything by this author before, and I only knew about this play because of the running show in London, starring one of my favourites actors (check it, it's at the Apollo theater). Before reading it, I discovered that THIS was the play that starred Julia Roberts (and the lovely Paul Rudd) in Broadway not long ago. The thing was becoming very interesting.
I read it.
I ate it.
I loved it.
I searched for some promotional interviews to the british cast on youtube, and found this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8auxd60UATA&fmt=18
where the three actors talk a bit about it. They describe the characters as very bright, educated people, more intelligent than the real actors, a thing that didn't leave any room to improvisation; James McAvoy says something like "They think SO QUICKLY..". Well I couldn't say it better.
When reading it, my eyes RAN through the page, eager to know the next line.. I got immediately involved, like I couldn't take my eyes off of it, and my mind was litterally dragged along the whole story.
We see how the chidren question themselves about their parents, and how wrong they are about them, and we see what actually happened in the '60s, and we feel like we're the only ones to know what "three days of rain" meant to the parents.
It's my first contemporary theater material, and I found it incredibly good.

There are two really good things about this book: the love for Italy, and the not-so-predictable ending. All the rest is "so-so".
I don't know about the writer's knowledge of Italian, but if the main character claims to be an interpreter all the mis-spelled words are quite evident. Anyway the frame of Capri and Costiera Amalfitana scenario makes everything enjoyable: that's the ace. If the story was set in any other less impressive place, it would have been quite blunt.

it has been praised (by Kinsella) as "pure feel-good escapism"... true, but it's not just a feel-good book.. it has some more interesting issues, not so predictable. Most of all I appreciated the way all the charachters face and deal with the twists of fate, how some of them sacrifice their own aspirations and dreams of independence, to share a concrete and beautiful reality. And, once again.. never rely on the appearances

For all those who just LOVE Mr Darcy, and those who Loved LOST IN AUSTEN this is the perfect book. Quick to read, some very funny scenes (how useful the comment "seriously" can be!!) and though you may predict the ending already halfway through the reading.. it's worth to still follow the unbelievable experiences of Emily Albright up to the very last pages, that are way too true.

Or better, and here's the spoiler: I tell myself that Spike, in the last pages of this book is right.. the one and only Fitwilliam is just a fantasy.. but I guess that I'd still have serious problems in dumping him. The fact is... I'd dump the Mr Darcy portrayed in this book, cause the way the author sees him makes him look worse than ever expected.. and I believe that was necessary: otherwise, there's no way someone would choose any other man over him.

I first knew about the existence of this book 2 years ago, through a die hard fan of the musical. I always longed to see it, but could never make it to Broadway or London. Finally a few weeks ago my best friend comes back from USA with a gift: the novel itself. As I started reading I was thrown into this allegoric and incredibly rich dimension with enthusiasm and curiosity. All the praise for this novel is absolutely well deserved. Whether you like or not "the wizard of oz" it doesn't matter at all: that tale is just a pretext for the creation of a whole new and original world. And the smart prose of Maguire portrayed an absolutely unforgettable heroin: The Wicked Witch Of The West, with her strong passions and solid beliefs, with her human mistakes and "inhuman" looks, will most assuredly make her way to your heart, to stick around.

Starts very well, with lots of funny lines... but then it slows down too much.. there's no more curiosity about the forgotten past of Lexi, and the end is maybe too much predictable. The style, though, it's always the fresh, funny one of Kinsella... but I still believe that "Can you keep a secret" is way better than all the others.