Vandaag twee boeken uitgelezen.

Disordered Minds / Minette Walters very good
Eerst Disordered Minds van Minette Walters. Leuk en spannend boek. Goede combinatie van thema's. Het verhaal speelt ten tijde van de inval in Irak en beschrijft goed de angst en het wantrouwen ten opzichte van alles en iedereen met een kleurtje. Vooral de scene waarin Jonathan ziek staat te zijn op een station; zwetend en zijn koffer tegen zich aan klemmend, is indrukwekkend en zet je wel aan het denken. Er wordt meteen gedacht dat hij een zelfmoordterrorist is die bedenkingen heeft over wat hij zal gaan doen. Dat idee zou je bij een blank persoon niet krijgen.


War and Peace / Leo Tolstoy excellent
Het tweede boek was War and Peace van Tolstoy. Eindelijk! Ik was er in November 2008 aan begonnen en heb er dus in horten en stoten ruim een jaar over gedaan ;-D Mooi boek. Goede mengeling van fictie met ware feiten over de Napoleontische Oorlogen.

Before You Know Kindness - Chris Bohjalian

Why did I choose this book?
I was looking for a book for my ABC-challenge and this writer was recommended to me on the LibraryThing site because of the other books I've read. So I went to the library to see if there were any of his books there, and I found this one.

About the author:
Chris Bohjalian is the bestselling author of nine novels, including Midwives (a Publishers Weekly Best Book and an Oprah's Book Club selection), The Buffalo Soldier, and Trans-Sister Radio, as well as Idyll Banter, a collection of his magzine essays and newspaper columns. His work has been translated into seventeen languages and published in twenty countries. He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter. See his website.


The Story:
Every summer the Seton family meet in their country house in New England. They play tennis, swim and they've started a vegetable garden. But they also have secrets. John is an animal rights activist, but his brother in law has started hunting. When the vegetable garden is ruined by deer, and Charlotte finds her uncles gun in the boot of his car she decides to shoot the deer, but instead shoots her own father. An accident that changes the lives of all the members of the family. But was it really just an accident?

Review:
What I liked most about the book is how the girls are struggling to come to a decision about wether to tell the truth or not. This is really too big a decision for a child of their age, but they feel they can only confide in each other. When both reach a different decision it seems like the end of their friendship.

Rating:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year Award
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
South Bank Show Book Award
longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Why did I choose this book?
It was recommended to my by a neighbour. He told me what it was about. And because I know some children with autism, I was intrigued.

About the author:
Mark Haddon (1962) is a very versitile person. He is an author of both adult and childrens books and poetry, illustrator and screenwriter. As a young man he has worked with autistic people.


The Story:
Christopher, a boy with Asperger's syndrome, finds his neighbours dog lying dead in the garden. It has been killed with a garden fork. Christopher tries to find out who has killed Wellington, but in the process he unearths some other nasty secrets which turn his whole world upside down and make him undertake the most terifying journey of his life.

Review:
One of those books that you just can't put down. I finished it in one day! This book really shows you what the world looks like when you look at it through the eyes of someone with autism. How confusing life is for someone who cannot distinguish the important bits from all the background noise, like 'normal' people do. What a scary place the world must be! And then a dog gets killed and there is family trouble, and Christopher has to make the most terifying journey of his lifetime; from Swindon to London, on his own. Christopher is a lovely boy who just does not understand the world he is living in, and in return is not understood by the world. This book will definitly help me to better understand the children with autism I know.

Ratings:

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Original title: La Sombra del Viento
translation: Lucia Graves

Why did I choose this book?
It's been on all the booklists for so long, has won so many prizes and has been translated into so many languages; it must be good. So I knew I had to read it sometime. But sometimes when a book is this popular I get a bit reluctant. I don't want to read what everybody else is reading, I want to read something special, something nobody else knows about. But in the end I succumb anyway!

About the author:
This book is written by the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Barcelona, 25 September 1964). He has written three novels for young adults before this novel, which was published in more than 40 countries and translated into more than 30 languages. It has won numerous awards.

The Story:
Daniel is taken to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books by his father. This is like an orphanage for all the books that nobody wants anymore. Daniel may pick one book and he chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. He is gripped by the story and wants to know more about the writer and any other books he has written. Then he finds out that over the years some mysterious person has been burning all the books by Julian Carax. His might be the last one left! With the help of Fermin he tries to unravel the mystery, layer by layer.

Review:
I loved it. It's as simple as that. The story sucked my right from the very first sentence. It is a book about literature, about love, mystery, tragedy, friendship, death and betrayal. The story is great, and you keep wondering what is going to happen next right till the very end. The characters are very divers, and you feel like you really get to know them. They seem like real persons.
What I really liked is how it tells about the passion for books. I loved the idea of a Cemetary of Forgotten Books. I would love to get lost in it!

Rating:

The Clerkenwell Tales - Peter Ackroyd

This story is situated in London in the 14th century. According to the introduction, the characters in this book are also to be found in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. But to my shame I have not yet read this book, although it has been sitting on the shelf for some years now. Maybe a good book to read for the letter C of my abc-challenge... Maybe.

Why did I choose this book?
I like historical novels. I mostely read books set in the time of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I. But this time I decided to go even further back in time. Looking at all the authors starting with A in the library, this book first struck me because of its cover with medieval type pictures on it. Then I read it was about 14th century London, about the King and the church and a conspiracy with large consequences, and I was sold.

About the autor:
Peter Ackroyd is an English writer born in 1949. He has always shown a great interest in London. He started his career as a writer of poetry, but later moved on to writing fiction. His book Chatterton was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987. He has also written non-fiction books for both adults and children and has been involved in television documentaries for the BBC.

The Story:
A nun, who has been born illegitimately under the convent of Clerkenwell, starts having visions about the downfall of King Richard II and of fire and death in London.
Then the sect of the Lollards sets about to bring fire and explosions to religious sites in London. What they don't know is that they are used by another group that wants to bring about the downfall of King Richard II and put Henry Bolingbroke on the throne.

Review:
Each chapter, like in the Canterbury Tales, is told from the perspective of a different person. This is a nice idea, although it does make things a bit complicated to follow, especially in the first few chapters.
I never really got into the story. All the time I was thinking; "when is it going to start?" Even when I was in the last few chapters. Some chapters were really good, making you think; this is it. But then the next chapter would be about something completely different and I would be thinking; "what has this got to do with the story?" There were a lot of characters, and it was hard to see the connection between some of them.
The story itself was rather complicated itself with one secret group of people infiltrating another secret group of people. The goal of the Lollards was rather obvious; to damage the Roman Catholic Church. But the goal of the other group was a bit confusing. They wanted to help Henry to the throne, but that seemed to be happening anyway. Richard has already abdicated before the plot is finished, so why go through all the trouble and risk of using the Lollards? I still don't understand.
What I did like about the book is that it paints a very good picture of medieval life. You can almost hear the sounds and smell the smells! There is a lot of detail about medieval costums; how people dressed, what medicines they used, how their churches were used, the way justice was served, etc. Which is nice, but at the same time diverts the attention from the main story.

Rating: