I read two wonderful books over the March Break so the reviews will be good this time =P
Jamaica Inn-Daphne DuMaurier
If you haven't heard of Daphne DuMaurier, shame on you. Ok, no shame because not many people of our generation have read her novels. But they should. She is a marvelous writer, wonderful at spinning webs of suspense. Maybe you've heard of her novel, Rebecca; it's pretty famous.
Anyways, the protagonist Mary Yellan is packed off to live with her aunt Patience and her uncle Joss after the death of her mother. Her arrival at the seedy Jamaica Inn leaves her disgusted with her uncle and shocked at the state of her aunt. She begins to realize that things are happening in Jamaica that are not only illegal but pretty horrific as well.
DuMaurier knows to build up suspense and create interesting characters. However, the plot of this book was a little confusing, considering I didn't understand what the secret was for about twenty pages. Maybe I've just read way too many mystery books but I spotted the twist in the story about a hundred pages before it was revealed. In any case, this was a good book if not her best. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5
The Five People You Meet In Heaven-Mitch Albom
Before we go any further, I will confess. I bawled while reading this book. I also read it in two hours, sitting in the exact same spot on my bed. That's how riveted I was.
Eddie is a grizzly war veteran who works as a maintenance guy for an amusement park. He is killed trying to save a little girl from a faulty ride. When he shows up in Heaven, he is told that he will meet five people who will explain his life to him and that after the fifth person he will finally be at rest.
A multitude of authors have attempted an unique version of Heaven. But this Heaven is an attractive one; doesn't everyone want to have their lives explained? Subconsciously, at least. And the lessons that each of the five people teach are moving....enough to move an over emotional teenager to tears.....but all that aside, I couldn't find any faults with this book. Maybe I couldn't see them through my tears; I don't know. Do me a favour. Read the book and tell me any problems I missed. I'd greatly appreciate it. But at this point, I give this book a 5 out of 5
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Deja Dead and Tamburlaine Must Die
Yay! More books! Let's start with Deja Dead, shall we?
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
For those of you who are unaware, Kathy Reichs is the creator of Temperance Brennan a.k.a Bones. To my great disappointment, the Brennan of the T.V. show is completely different from the Brennan in the book. Tempe Brennan, in the book, is a middle aged divorcee with a teenaged daughter, living in Montreal. Also to my disappointment, Bones was not equipped with any of her trusty sidekicks, like Zach, Hodgins, Angela, Cam or WORST OF ALL, NO BOOTH! *sob* But that aside, the book was fairly good. It was filled with interesting facts about forensic anthropology. The characters were a little flat and hard to get attached to but the plot was well formed and quite suspenseful. All in all, I think this book deserves a 3.5 out of 5.
Next up, Tamburlaine Must Die-
Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh
Christopher Marlowe, the famous playwright, was mysteriously killed in a house in Deptford in 1593. This book fictionalizes the days leading up to his death. The work is utterly fiction; no one actually knows what happened but some facts are true. Christopher Marlowe was a notorious athiest and homosexual and he was arrested by the Privy Council in regards to notes left on the doors of various churches, threatening them by making allusions to his plays and signed "Tamburlaine", one of his most famous creations. Whether Marlowe was guilty is unknown and how he died is also a matter of discussion. The book is very interesting and the author creates a very believable Marlowe. Despite the sex scenes and the disturbing reference to necrophilia, the book was very vivid in its detail (yes, even in the sex) while managing not to ramble on, pointlessly which is a trap many authors fall into. I quite enjoyed this book and liked the author's writing style.I will definitely find more of her work in the future. The book deserves a 4 out 5
Biography of Christopher Marlowe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
For those of you who are unaware, Kathy Reichs is the creator of Temperance Brennan a.k.a Bones. To my great disappointment, the Brennan of the T.V. show is completely different from the Brennan in the book. Tempe Brennan, in the book, is a middle aged divorcee with a teenaged daughter, living in Montreal. Also to my disappointment, Bones was not equipped with any of her trusty sidekicks, like Zach, Hodgins, Angela, Cam or WORST OF ALL, NO BOOTH! *sob* But that aside, the book was fairly good. It was filled with interesting facts about forensic anthropology. The characters were a little flat and hard to get attached to but the plot was well formed and quite suspenseful. All in all, I think this book deserves a 3.5 out of 5.
Next up, Tamburlaine Must Die-
Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh
Christopher Marlowe, the famous playwright, was mysteriously killed in a house in Deptford in 1593. This book fictionalizes the days leading up to his death. The work is utterly fiction; no one actually knows what happened but some facts are true. Christopher Marlowe was a notorious athiest and homosexual and he was arrested by the Privy Council in regards to notes left on the doors of various churches, threatening them by making allusions to his plays and signed "Tamburlaine", one of his most famous creations. Whether Marlowe was guilty is unknown and how he died is also a matter of discussion. The book is very interesting and the author creates a very believable Marlowe. Despite the sex scenes and the disturbing reference to necrophilia, the book was very vivid in its detail (yes, even in the sex) while managing not to ramble on, pointlessly which is a trap many authors fall into. I quite enjoyed this book and liked the author's writing style.I will definitely find more of her work in the future. The book deserves a 4 out 5
Biography of Christopher Marlowe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Why didn't I think of this before?
I love books and usually enjoy telling people about them. Most times, people ignore me or start talking over me. So I decided to release all my pent-up book knowledge and reviews into a book BLOG! Genius, right? I"m glad you agree. So let's get started, shall we?
I have read many books over my fifteen years, some of which have become my favourites. But I'll talk about them later. Today, I am reviewing two books that I read recently: Split Second by David Baldacci and The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Split Second-David Baldacci
"From Booklist
Baldacci's new thriller is sustained by the pulse-pounding suspense his fans have come to expect. Sean King is a former Secret Service agent whose career ended eight years ago when the political candidate he was protecting was assassinated. Now a lawyer, King has organized his life to forget his past, but it barges rudely in on him when he finds a colleague murdered in his office building. Further complicating his life are two women: Joan Dillinger, a former coworker and lover, and Michelle Maxwell, a Secret Service agent whose candidate, John Bruno, has just been kidnapped. Sean and Michelle start to suspect that their candidates' fates are connected and begin to investigate any ties the two may have to each other. It doesn't help that the police are on King's case, especially when yet another body turns up, this time in King's house. King and Maxwell turn their focus to Arnold Ramsey, the man who assassinated King's candidate, but it remains unclear if he was working alone. Meanwhile, the danger mounts, for neither King nor Maxwell can guess who the conspirators' next target is."
This was hardly a pulse-pounding, thrilling book. While the plot was well thought out and the characters were fairly interesting, the book moved at an unnecessarily slow pace. Baldacci over-glamorized his characters, making Michelle Maxwell drop-dead gorgeous while being unbelievably talented at everything and Sean King handsome and infallible. This made the characters very hard to relate to though their sexual tension was well-written even if it was a little predictable. The evil mastermind behind the entire shenanigan was a poor, two dimensional version of a psychopath. In fact, the ending was a little random. Baldacci could have benefited from a shorter novel with less dramatization of characters and their traits. But the book wasn't terrible and the plot was quite intelligent so I give this book a 2.5 out of 5.
The Cellist of Sarajevo-Steven Galloway
The world Steven Galloway portrays seems unrealistic, a world out of a horrid fantasy novel. Unfortunately, the setting of the book is completely real. The book is set during the Siege of Sarajevo and centers around three characters: Arrow, Kenan, Dragan. Arrow is a female sniper who is struggling to justify her actions against the men who are shooting down the citizens of her city from the 'hills'. Kenan is trying to keep his sanity as he makes the dangerous to get water for his family and Dragan is a man trying to keep the memory of his formerly beautiful city alive, if even in his own mind. The basis of the book comes from a real man; a famous Sarajevan cellist who witnessed a mortar shell drop on a line of 22 people waiting for bread to feed their starving families. He then vowed to play Albinoni's Adagio in G everyday for 22 days in memory of the dead.
I loved this book. It was beautiful, lyrical and moved me to tears on occasion. Steven Galloway captures the struggle to maintain hope and the continuation of life even in unimaginable situations. Each character clings to the shreds of their humanity in a city that has been destroyed, heartlessly by cruel humans who are identified as only the 'men on the hills'. Through it all, they are connected through the cellist and his beautiful adagio. A definite five out of five for this one!
Information about the Siege of Sarajevo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo#Aftermath
Adagio in G:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4
I have read many books over my fifteen years, some of which have become my favourites. But I'll talk about them later. Today, I am reviewing two books that I read recently: Split Second by David Baldacci and The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Split Second-David Baldacci
"From Booklist
Baldacci's new thriller is sustained by the pulse-pounding suspense his fans have come to expect. Sean King is a former Secret Service agent whose career ended eight years ago when the political candidate he was protecting was assassinated. Now a lawyer, King has organized his life to forget his past, but it barges rudely in on him when he finds a colleague murdered in his office building. Further complicating his life are two women: Joan Dillinger, a former coworker and lover, and Michelle Maxwell, a Secret Service agent whose candidate, John Bruno, has just been kidnapped. Sean and Michelle start to suspect that their candidates' fates are connected and begin to investigate any ties the two may have to each other. It doesn't help that the police are on King's case, especially when yet another body turns up, this time in King's house. King and Maxwell turn their focus to Arnold Ramsey, the man who assassinated King's candidate, but it remains unclear if he was working alone. Meanwhile, the danger mounts, for neither King nor Maxwell can guess who the conspirators' next target is."
This was hardly a pulse-pounding, thrilling book. While the plot was well thought out and the characters were fairly interesting, the book moved at an unnecessarily slow pace. Baldacci over-glamorized his characters, making Michelle Maxwell drop-dead gorgeous while being unbelievably talented at everything and Sean King handsome and infallible. This made the characters very hard to relate to though their sexual tension was well-written even if it was a little predictable. The evil mastermind behind the entire shenanigan was a poor, two dimensional version of a psychopath. In fact, the ending was a little random. Baldacci could have benefited from a shorter novel with less dramatization of characters and their traits. But the book wasn't terrible and the plot was quite intelligent so I give this book a 2.5 out of 5.
The Cellist of Sarajevo-Steven Galloway
The world Steven Galloway portrays seems unrealistic, a world out of a horrid fantasy novel. Unfortunately, the setting of the book is completely real. The book is set during the Siege of Sarajevo and centers around three characters: Arrow, Kenan, Dragan. Arrow is a female sniper who is struggling to justify her actions against the men who are shooting down the citizens of her city from the 'hills'. Kenan is trying to keep his sanity as he makes the dangerous to get water for his family and Dragan is a man trying to keep the memory of his formerly beautiful city alive, if even in his own mind. The basis of the book comes from a real man; a famous Sarajevan cellist who witnessed a mortar shell drop on a line of 22 people waiting for bread to feed their starving families. He then vowed to play Albinoni's Adagio in G everyday for 22 days in memory of the dead.
I loved this book. It was beautiful, lyrical and moved me to tears on occasion. Steven Galloway captures the struggle to maintain hope and the continuation of life even in unimaginable situations. Each character clings to the shreds of their humanity in a city that has been destroyed, heartlessly by cruel humans who are identified as only the 'men on the hills'. Through it all, they are connected through the cellist and his beautiful adagio. A definite five out of five for this one!
Information about the Siege of Sarajevo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo#Aftermath
Adagio in G:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4
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