Books and Movies That Made Me Think

This blog will be a bit of a cheat. It will be about both books and movies. Bare with me, it'll be a long one!

There is only one thing I love more than kicking back with a good book and/or movie; kicking back with a good book/movie which makes you think about life. 

Books

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Anyone who's been following my blog knows that one of my all time favourite books is The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This book is about an elderly man (named Eddie) who works at a local amusement park. Eddie has been working at Ruby Pier for almost his entire life. He feels like his life has been a total waste. Eddie dies instantly one day, when there is a freak accident on one of the rides at Ruby Pier. The book is about his journey in the afterlife, meeting five people along the way, whom his life has greatly impacted.

I think I was about twenty years old the first time I read this book and I fell in love with it immediately. Your late teens/early twenties is essentially a time when you're "finding yourself." This book really made me think about how we all have a purpose in life, even though we may not know it at a time. No matter how mundane our lives are, we all have a reason to be here and should never take that for granted. I've read this book a few times since, and it never fails to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This was another lovely book I was introduced to by my monthly book club. Randy Pausch was a University professor who was diagnosed with cancer. The book is about the trials and tribulations he went through with his family and friends during his last days, his chemotherapy and his process of creating his "last lecture."

What an inspirational human being! Even though he was diagnosed with cancer, and he knew he was about to die, he decided to live before he died. This is something many of us forget to do. We are so concerned about the insignificant things in life, that we truly forget to live. Refer to the link below to hear his beautiful lecture.

Achieving your Childhood Dreams

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

Yes, another book club book indeed! The story starts off with an unnamed heroin who meets the charming (widower) Maxim DeWinter. They soon get married, and she moves to Manderly with him, a romantic town with a beautiful backdrop. The wife always feels like she is being compared to Maxim's deceased wife, Rebecca. She starts off a very shy, meek and quiet girl who allows people to take advantage of her. However, she soon becomes a strong and independent woman, able to express her thoughts, feelings and opinions. The book is written from the point of view of the heroin.

I instantly fell in love with this book. In my opinion, it's a book which I think all young women should read. It really shows that you can be strong and opinionated woman but still be a good person. We see lots of growth in the heroin through out the novel and it's written beautifully.

Movies

Yes Man

This is a goofy comedy starring Jim Carrey. Carl (Jim Carrey) is a recently divorced man with a dead end job. He never wants to go out with friends, meet new people or try anything new. Until one of his friends takes him to a motivational speech encouraging people to say "yes" to all opportunities that come their way in life. Carl soon says yes to everything and begins living his life to it's full potential.

This is one of my top "feel good" movies. How many opportunities have you missed in your life, simply out of fear of saying "yes?" What's the worse that can happen? The only way to truly be happy in life is to experience new things. How else will you know if you like (or don't like) something, if you've never tried it? I've re-watched this movie a few too many times, and it's completely changed my perspective on life.

The Truman Show

Another Jim Carrey drama. This movie follows the life of Truman Burbank. His life is recorded on screen where everyone watches his every move 24/7. Truman is completely oblivious to his star status and is unaware that his family and friends are simply just actors in his "TV show."

Truman feels truly trapped and lost, until one day he discovers the truth about his life. This film really made me think about free will. Are we really living life because we want to, or because it's expected of us? This is another gem I've seen numerous times, and love it every time. I always get goosebumps in the last scene of The Truman Show where Truman is quoted as saying, "In case I don't see ya. Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight."