Mummy, Come Home

By Oxana Kalemi

Based on a true story, a mother who is desperate to get back to her children was brutally beaten, raped, sold etc. Life was horrible for her ever since she was born. Her parents were poor, her father was a wife beater and her mother was an alcoholic.
Life was not any better for her when she turned 14. She was raped. And then she met her loving husband where she thought life was slowly turning to the better.
But that changed when she got pregnant.
And after 3 pregnancies, she was desperate. The only option was to work abroad.
She left initially for 6 months. Things were slightly better when she was abroad and earning $200 per month. But she wanted more.
She met a lady whom she thought she could trust. She paid the lady $300 for tickets and permit to work in a bar in Bosnia.
When her friend didn't proceed with the journey together with her, she then realized that things were not right.
She was sold.
Raped and sold too many times.
She traveled across Europe illegally with her many pimps.
She ended up working in a Brothel in England. Where she made friends with a Turkish girl who ended up helping her to "escape".

Ratings: 10/10

It took me 2 days to finish reading the book. If you are into real life drama, this is one book you should not miss!

I realized that my life is so blessed and much simpler after reading this book.

Mini Shopaholic

By: Sophie Kinsella
Ratings: 8/10

I forgot how irritating Becky can be. The last I read her book must have been early 2010 or late 2009. I find the writer can really bring readers into the story and imagining if you are in the situation Becky's in, you would certainly do the opposite of what Becky would do.
The writer have again managed to make me hate and love Becky at the same time. :)
And of course, Becky have managed to get what she wanted being resourceful as she is. Giving the perfect birthday party to her husband, being a mother of a child who knows Starbucks and loves shopping and how she does not want to upset her parents when they were moving out of her parents.

And finally, I was even motivated by Becky with having an "audit" of her clothes and how she should wear all the clothes she has 3 cycles before being able to buy a new one. In this book, she managed not to buy any clothes for herself, but bought plenty for her little girl and her new house (which have not been purchased- may I add).
Also, she has managed to purchase items from the 5 pound shop. Loads of items from that shop(!) hahahaha

It took me a weekend to finish this book. So it falls into the category of one of the interesting books for me.

The Graft

By Martina Cole
Ratings: 10/10

Very British, Very dark, very real and at times can be very disturbing. Definitely for 18 and above only. Though I could predict the outcomes of the story towards the middle of the book, the ending was still quite different from what I expected. The 679 page book I would consider my best book read in 2010.
It gave me an insight on the dodgy rich people, the lives of those who lives in a rat house and the junkies on the reasons as to how some ended up being at the wrong place at the wrong time.(Or so they say).
There are also some lessons on family values, how some may seem like what you want in life and turns out to be the total opposite and you may find happiness at the least expected circumstances.

Total time I took to read this book: With work, a toddler to handle after work and blogging to sort out- 2 weeks. But it was well worth the staying up at night to finish the book :)