Ways to Live Forever, 4 Cds [Unabridged Library Edition] [Audio CD]

Sally Nicholls (Author), Charlotte Parry (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1428182675
• ISBN-13: 978-1428182677
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,275,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Stockton-on-Tees in England, just after midnight, in a thunderstorm. My father died when I was two, and my brother Ian and I were brought up my mother. I always wanted to write - when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I used to say "I'm going to be a writer" - very definite.

I've always loved reading, and I spent most of my childhood trying to make real life as much like a book as possible. My friends and I had a secret club like the Secret Seven, and when I was nine I got most of my hair cut off because I wanted to look like George in the Famous Five. I was a real tomboy - I liked riding my bike, climbing trees and building dens in our garden. And I liked making up stories. I used to wander round my school playground at break, making up stories in my head.
More...

I went to two secondary schools - a little Quaker school in North Yorkshire (where it was so cold that thick woolly jumpers were part of the school uniform) and a big comprehensive. I was very lonely at the little school, but I made friends at the comprehensive and got on all right. I didn't like being a teenager very much, though.

After school, I got to be an adult, which was fantastic. I went and worked in a Red Cross Hospital in Japan and then travelled around Australia and New Zealand. I jumped off bridges and tall buildings, climbed Mount Doom, wore a kimono and went to see a ballet in the Sydney Opera House. Then I came back and did a degree in Philosophy and Literature at Warwick. In my third year, realising with some panic that I was now supposed to earn a living, I enrolled in a masters in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa. It was here that I wrote Ways to Live Forever. I also won the prize for the writer with most potential, through which I got my agent. Four months later, I had a publisher.

I now live in a little flat in Oxford, England, writing stories, and trying to believe my luck.

Follow me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sally-Nicholls-Writer/373654539008
Visit my website at: http://www.sallynicholls.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simply (and) beutiful!, September 8, 2008

By 

Milan R. "zzz" (Serbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ways To Live Forever (Hardcover)

How lovely novel this is. Normally I don't read novel for young adults but I did liked this one very much indeed. The language is simply but absolutely beautiful; portraits as well; it's really impossible not to love Felix and entire Sam's family (and of course Sam). From the very beginning you are stunned by horrifying circumstance characters of the novel are facing with and feel gratefulness cause you're not from that story. Then you realize that there are numerous people in precisely the same situation and from that moment you're not looking on this novel as a work of fiction. You're starting to feel their pain and respect their courage. You're seeing real children and their loved ones under those pages ...
Eventually you're absolutely emotionally attached with them so don't be surprise if your eyes start watering (be surprise if they don't!).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "By the time you read this, I will probably be dead", October 11, 2008

By 

Not Miss Havisham - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ways To Live Forever (Hardcover)

The summing up statement at the beginning of this story introduces this multimodal reader effectively "This is my book...it is a collection of lists, stories, pictures, questions and facts. It is also my story".
Sam is 11 years old and has leukaemia. He is also a fun-loving, intelligent boy with a zest for trying to cram a list of experiences into the short time that is left before he dies.
This story folllows him in his fulfillment of his list of things he wants to do, in such a funny and unsentimental way, that I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry on many of the pages (of course, I was already sniffling by the time I had gotten to page 2, anyone who knows me, knows I am a complete wimp). The power lies in the fact that Sam is unsentimental, not much mush, even though the actual events and stories are emotionally highly charged. His pleasure and awareness of everyday small things that most people take for granted is evident throughout, for example in the thrill of sunshine, snow or a simple thing like seeing a clear sky during a powercut.
In terms of genuine quality this was a winner. Stories that seem completely real and genuine are a bit of a rarity, but this was one I had trouble with, I just found it difficult to believe someone had written this and dreamed it up (I had a similar experience with 'Life of Pi'). Having said that, there are probably plenty of 'Sams' out there, who feel this is their story. I'm making everyone old enough in the house read this one. A big thumbs up for the author- did I mention it's the winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2008? What a super read!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written. Please write more books!, September 21, 2009

By 

Mary Kay Starnes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ways To Live Forever (Hardcover)

I read (mostly skim)young adult books mainly to make sure they are suitable for my children, but I found myself reading every word of this book. Having had cancer myself 9 years ago, there are questions that you ask about your own mortality. I can't imagine being 11 and faced with the fact that you are dying. Sally Nichols brings Sam to life, and you feel as if you are reading his actual journal, not reading a fictional book.