If You Could See Me Now --- By Cecilia Ahern

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As part of my New Year's goals, I am going to start keeping tracks of the books I read. The reason for this...well, it just so happens that I have read so many, that I sometimes forget which ones I have read...and buy them and midway through realize that I already know what happens. I figure that this blog is a good place to keep track, especially since it seems that so many of my bloggy friends love to read, just as I do.

If You Could See Me Now (from here on out IYCSMN...too long to keep writing out!) was not a book I went searching for. I recently joined the library in an effort to curb the massive number of books I have been buying (bad for the bank account, and bad for our poor house which currently doesn't have a place for all my books because we haven't finished our library yet) and was disappointed to find that all of the books I were looking for were checked out (yes, I have that kind of luck!). I started to go through the authors whose books I have read in the past that I have liked. Several years ago (before the movie), I read P.S. I Love You. I thought it was an amazing book. I fell in love with the characters and the idea. So, I decided to give Cecelia Ahern a try. Lo and behold, the library had one of her books! I grabbed it and ran.

IYCSMN is about an uptight woman (Elizabeth) who has struggled her entire life with her relationship with her family. Her mother left when she was young, her father wasn't affectionate and pretty much shut down when her mother left, and her sister, whom was born when Elizabeth was 12, grows up to be an alcoholic. Elizabeth is raising her sister's 6 year old son because her sister is flaky and doesn't want a child. Elizabeth seems to think that imagining and letting yourself go is a bad thing...because hoping, dreaming and imagining got her nowhere when she was young. So, imagine her distress, when her nephew suddenly has an "imaginary friend" named Ivan.

The book is told from both Elizabeth's and Ivan's point of view. It is quite interesting to hear the point of view of an imaginary friend. :) The story follows the transformation of Elizabeth, who is helped on this journey by Ivan, whom she does not realize is an "imaginary friend." It is about love, but also about forgiveness, letting go and moving on.

It was a good, easy read. A little hard-pressed to "believe," but that is the nice thing about books...they don't have to be able to take place in real life (who knows though, maybe there really are imaginary friends out there...I was never lucky enough to have one though). I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good "beach book."