| Friday, Jul. 25, 2003 Alice Borchardt, “The Silverwolf”, historical novel (and for chicks!) set in medieval Rome. Our heroine Regeane does not only have terrible relatives that mistreat her, they also want to marry her off to some barbarian she has never met. But that’s not the smallest of her problems, being a werewolf and trying to keep that a secret does not help the situation….Written by the sister of Anne Rice, pretty trashy, but once I got past that it was a pretty entertaining read. Ideal when you feel low on brain power. There’s two more books out there with the same characters, I might give them a try…. Judy Budnitz, “If I Told You Once”, now that is a totally different kettle of fish. Great book! The story of 4 generations of women. Ilana leaves her village in Eastern Europe to find a country with golden streets, where she can decide her own destiny. The story continues with her daughter, grand daughter and great granddaughter and their lives in America. At first glance a book about immigrants and how to come to grips with life in a new country, it’s a great study in how each new generation has a different perception of things. Ilana tells many folk tales from the “old country”, we meet harpies, dybuks and dreams that blend into reality. We move on to tenements in America, full of immigrants that talk in many different languages, to World War II and eventually the present day. On the way we keep coming across more strange stories, from the street cleaners that take away all the things you leave outside, even if it’s people, to mermaids and babys the size of jumbo shrimps…. This is why I love to read. A totally wacked story with images that you could not possibly catch on film. For this you need imagination. Good one! Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2003 J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, I did it in one week only, hehe…passed it over already to one of the many people that have circling around me relentlessly since I bought the book …(Ji, who wanted to rest after having played golf all afternoon in the blazing heat, immediately read the first chapter)….anyway, read some re-views before I read the book and they were all largely negative, telling how she is not as good anymore as in the previous installments. Granted, I thought the second half of the book lost a bit of momentum, but all in all I had a really good time, for three nights in a row I read till 2 in the morning. I mean, were else do you get chased by dementors in the first chapter already (Ji thought so, too)? So, go J.K.! Can’t wait to see what happens in Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts. Friday, Jul. 04, 2003 Jonathan Kellerman, “The Butcher’s Theater”, the “100-pages-rule” kicked in: it took me forever to read the first hundered pages and on page 109 I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to go on reading the story. Sorry, back on the shelf. I liked all his books with Alex Delaware, so perhaps not having him in this book put me off. The story did just not appeal to me, I was bored. Set in Jerusalem, a girl is found in a ditch, brutally murdered and mutilated. A team of detectives sets out to find the killer. And then nothing much happens. Well, can’t like them all… Ian McEwan, “First Love, Last Rites”, a collection of short stories, mainly about teenagers and little kids experiencing first love and sex. Very interesting stories, but also very bizarre. Not for the faint-hearted. Nothing gets spelled out explicitly, you have to come up with your own solutions to many of the stories, so when I finished the book, I went somewhat “Ahem, oooookay, do I feel stupid or what?” If you are into the somewhat quirky, try it…. Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2003 Jonathan Kellerman, “Dr. Death”, good realiable crime busting. Alex Delaware is on the prowl again with his mate Milo. Not many surprises, but reliable suspense. A satisfying read, as always. Doesn’t matter, which of his books you pick up, so far I have never been dissapointed. Oh, plot, right…..Euthanasia….from the book I gather you guys on the other side of the big pond are not quite as far with that subject as we are over here in Europe. “Dr. Death” provides a service to people that want to move on to greener pastures. And then someone provides that service to him, although he did not want to leave yet. So who might it have been? That’s for you to find out…. Monday, Jun. 09, 2003 Linda Fairstein, “Cold Hit” – I gave up. After about 200 pages and half of the book I tossed it. I really liked “Likely to Die”, “Final Jeopardy” was not bad, but this time it just did not grab my attention. I am not sure why. Too much preaching. The storyline did not interest me – gallery owner gets killed. After half of the book nothing much had happened besides some interviews of likely suspects – husband, lovers, very suspect looking, therefore probably innocent business partner, without many revelations. I kept drifting off, putting the book down, picking it up 2 days later and then having pretty much forgotton what the previous chapter had been all about. Nope. |
| Books, books and books......... |
| The last 10 books I read: Judy Budnitz - If I Told You Once Alice Borchardt - The Silverwolf J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Jonathan Kellerman - The Butcher's Theater Ian McEwan - Firt Love, Last Rites Jonathan Kellerman - Dr. Death Linda Fairstein - Cold Hit Tom Clancy - Red Rabbit Stephen Kerr - Esau Stephen Hunter - Point of Impact |
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| ...in June & July 2003 |