Outtakes from a Marriage-Ann Leary

Not exactly a great book as it is quite full of cliches. But life sometimes is just a bunch of cliches. This book tells a story of a famous actor and his wife. Wife found a suspicious voicemail on husband's phone, found out he had an affair, blah blah blah... The book gives one a glimpse into the Hollywood life but I think that's all that there is. But it is entertaining enough for me to finish the book, so I wouldnt say it is that bad. But all in all, a forgettable read.

Chang And Eng-Darin Strauss

Had only heard of the musical and didnt know it was a novel.. Quite a strange, entertaining read. Chang and Eng are non-fictitious characters from Siam in the 1800s. Strauss had however, spun a strange, fictitious story of the lives of the conjoined twins. The climax of the story began when the two brothers fell in love with a pair of sisters, Adelaide and Sarah Yates. Sarah had previously fell in love with a black slave and caused him to be hung. This had resulted in the sisters never being able to find good husbands to marry. Along came Chang and Eng, and the sisters found their route to having a family of their own. Chang the cheeky and humourous one, was married to Adelaide, the spitfire, and Eng, the serious, learned one, was married to the duller Sarah. Eng later fell in love with Adelaide but being joined to Chang, he had no way of expressing his love for Adelaide. Except for one night, thinking that Chang was dead drunk, Eng kissed Adelaide. What happened next was heartaching. The house that the two brothers and their families burnt down one night and only until much later, Chang confessed to setting the house ablaze, as he hadnt been asleep that night.

It is a rather sad story, with Eng wanting to be separated from his brother, and Chang not wanting to. It is definitely a painful thing to be joined at the hips to someone else and never beimg able to have your own privacy and solitude.