What Alice Forgot

I've been procrastinating reading this book since Christmas.

I got it for a Christmas present, and really looked forward to reading it, alas each time I read the book flap, I thought to myself "this sounds really depressing" and I put it off a little longer.  Memory loss doesn't intrigue me--it scares me.  I finally dove in this week, and could hardly put the book down.  It was fun!  I found the characters really likable (except for the ones who you really aren't meant to like at all) and the story line was hardly at all predictable--in fact I found the unpredictability delightful.  The story takes place in Sydney, Australia, and I could almost hear the charming accent as I got to know the characters and worked through some vocabulary that I found charmingly British.  Initially I felt devastated for Alice, who, after sustaining a head injury when she falls at the gym, can't remember the past ten years of her life.  She wakes up thinking she's pregnant and almost giddy about her still new marriage to Nick.  Turns out she now has three kids and a failing marriage, and she's not sure she likes who she's become.  I fell in love with this book.  I fell in love with Alice's sense of optimism (and her attempts to love the heady children she didn't know she had and her humorous stabs at trying to figure out why things have worked out so differently from what she would have predicted).  I started to wonder how I would feel if I was forced to look at myself 10 years from now with no memory of what had taken place meanwhile.  It helped me want to make a pact never to take the real stuff for granted.  Sleep in, skip a ballet class, snub stress, have lunch with my sister, leave love notes for Dub, call my parents and tell them I love them.  Live the days of my life so that in 10 years there will be no regrets.  What Alice Forgot is a fast, rewarding read.  I enjoyed Alice's journey and will put this one back on the list of books to read again.