Recent Reads
Title Author Type Rating (1-10) Date finished
Her Fearful Symmetry Audrey Niffenegger Fiction - 2010
The end of Mr. Y Scarlett Thomas Fantasy 6 2010
Pastwatch - The Redemption of Christopher Columbus Orson Scott Card Fiction 6 2010
World Withhout End Ken Follett Fiction (Audio Book) 10 2010
Transition Iain Banks Fiction 9 2010
Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett Fantasy 7 2010
Then We Came to the End Joshua Ferris Fiction - 2010
Interworld Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves Fantasy 9 2009
Lincoln's Dreams Connie Willis Science Fiction - 2009
Old Man's War John Scalzi Science Fiction 7 2009-10-15
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz Fiction 3 2009-10-05
The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons Science Fiction 5 2009-09-19
Camouflage Joe Haldeman Science Fiction 5 2009-08-30
The Little Book Selden Edwards Fiction 7 2009-08-14
Twilight Stephenie Meyer Fiction 7 2009-07-25
The Accidental Time Machine Joe Haldeman Science Fiction 9 2009-07-14
Billy Budd, Foretopman Herman Melville Fiction - 2009-07-10
House of Suns Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 8 2009-07-01
Morden i Buttle Annika Bryn Kriminalroman - 2009-06-14
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Haruki Murakami Fiction - 2009-06-08
Wintersmith Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2009-05-31
Anathem Neal Stephenson Science Fiction 9 2009-05-21
Nation Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2009-03-08
Livläkarens besök Per Olov Enquist Fiction - 2009-02-20
Matter Iain M. Banks Science Fiction 7 2009-02-15
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit Daniel Quinn Fiction 8 2009-01-25
Barking Tom Holt Fantasy 9 2009-01-10
The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell Non Fiction 8 2008-12-31
Odd Thomas Dean Koontz Fiction 7 2008-12-10
Hur man närmar sig ett träd Eva Dahlgren Biography 6 2008-11-09
Hyperion Dan Simmons Science Fiction 10 2008-10-31
The Road Cormac McCarthy Fiction 8 2008-10-22
Odyssey Jack McDevitt Science Fiction 5 2008-10-15
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister Gregory Maguire Fiction 4 2008-09-25
A Hat Full of Sky Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2008-08-24
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides Fiction 9 2008-08-10
The Player of Games Iain M. Banks Science Fiction 10 2008-07-25
The Prefect Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 9 2008-07-08
The Steep Approach to Garbadale Iain Banks Fiction 9 2008-06-25
M is for Magic Neil Gaiman Fiction 5 2008-06-01
Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt Non Fiction 8 2008-05-25
Making Money Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2008-05-08
Spook Country William Gibson Fiction 4 2008-04-20
Dance Dance Dance Haruki Murakami Fiction 7 2008-03-24
Accelerando Charles Stross Science Fiction 5 2008-03-01
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card Science Fiction (Audio Book) 10 2008-01-29
jPod Douglas Coupland Fiction 6 2008-01-25
First Among Sequels Jasper Fforde Fantasy 8 2008-01-10
The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett Fantasy 7 2007-12-31
Luftslottet som sprängdes Stieg Larsson Fiction 7 2007-12-25
The Vanished Man Jeffery Deaver Fiction 5 2007-12-11
Fienden inom oss Jan Guillou Fiction (Audio Book) 6 2007-11-30
Chindi Jack McDevitt Science Fiction 5 2007-11-18
Water for Elephants Sara Gruen Fiction 8 2007-10-26
Svålhålet Mikael Niemi Science Fiction (Audio Book) 7 2007-10-25
The Secret Rhonda Byrne Non-Fiction 2007-10-15
Madame Terror Jan Guillou Fiction (Audio Book) 7 2007-09-04
The Well of Stars Robert Reed Science Fiction 7 2007-08-25
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling Fiction 8 2007-08-16
Underdog Torbjörn Flygt Fiction 9 2007-08-06
Pushing Ice Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 7 2007-08-01
Flickan som lekte med elden Stieg Larsson Fiction 8 2007-07-20
Chart Throb Ben Elton Fiction 7 2007-07-10
Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami Fiction - 2007-07-02
Män som hatar kvinnor Stieg Larsson Fiction 8 2007-06-26
Judas Unchained Peter F. Hamilton Science Fiction 7 2007-06-14
The Alchemist Paulo Coelho Fiction - 2007-04-01
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer Fiction 9 2007-04-15
Bärnstenskikaren Philip Pullman Fantasy 9 2007-03-25
Hembiträdet Marie Hermanson Fiction 6 2007-03-12
Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami Fiction 10 2007-03-07
The Righteous Men Sam Bourne Fiction 3 2007-02-20
Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman Fantasy 8 2007-02-08
The Game Neil Strauss Non-Fiction 8 2007-01-25
The Fourth Bear Jasper Fforde Fantasy 8 2007-01-01
Den skarpa eggen Philip Pullman Fantasy 8 2006-12-21
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier Fiction 4 2006-12-11
Påven Johanna Donna Woolfolk Cross Fiction 7 2006-11-23
Passagen (Timeline) Michael Crichton Fiction 5 2006-10-25
Diamond Dogs, Tuquoise Days Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 7 2006-09-05
American Gods Neil Gaiman Fiction 8 2006-08-30
White Teeth Zadie Smith Fiction - 2006-07-30
Guldkompassen Philip Pullman Fiction 7 2006-07-20
Låt den rätte komma in John Ajvide Lindqvist Fiction 7 2006-06-30
The Flood Ian Rankin Fiction 4 2006-06-24
Wilt in Nowhere Tom Sharpe Fiction 6 2006-06-15
Neverwhere Neil Gaiman Fantasy 9 2006-06-11
Learning the World Ken MacLeod Science Fiction 6 2006-06-01
Thud! Terry Pratchett Fantasy 7 2006-05-24
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke Fiction 7 2006-05-01
Adam och Eva Arto Paasilinna Fiction 6 2006-03-23
Empress Orchid Anchee Min Fiction 4 2006-03-10
Making History Stephen Fry Fiction 7 2006-02-16
Deception Point Dan Brown Fiction 7 2006-01-28
Going Postal Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2006-01-12
Century Rain Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 7.5 2006-01-02
Ingen andra chans Harlan Coben Fiction 7.5 2005-12-11
En lycklig man Arto Paasilinna Fiction 7 2005-12-04
The History of Love Nicole Krauss Fiction 8 2005-11-29
The Constant Gardener John le Carre Fiction 6 2005-11-12
Kejsaren: Roms portar Conn Iggulden Fiction 5 2005-10-06
The Big Over Easy Jasper Fforde Fiction 6 2005-09-24
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince J.K. Rowling Fiction 8 2005-09-04
The Algebraist Iain M. Banks Science Fiction 7 2005-08-21
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami Fiction 5 2005-08-06
Absolution Gap Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 7 2005-07-06
Tjuvarnas marknad Jan Guillou Fiction - Audio book 6 2005-06-22
The time traveller's wife Audrey Niffenegger Fiction 9 2005-06-05
Pattern Recognition William Gibson Fiction 8 2005-05-20
Forever Pete Hamill Fiction 9 2005-05-05
Aiding and Abetting Muriel Spark Fiction - 2005-04-03
First Meetings in Ender's universe Orson Scott Card Science Fiction 8 2005-03-31
Fermats gåta Marc Blake Non Fiction 7 2005-03-28
Bigtime Marc Blake Fiction 6 2005-03-18
Affinity Sarah Waters Fiction 7 2005-03-03
Something Rotten Jasper Fforde Fantasy 9 2005-01-28
Foundation and Empire Isaac Asimov Science Fiction 4 2005-01-28
Digital Fortress Dan Brown Fiction 7 2005-01-22
Light M. John Harrison Science Fiction 5 2005-01-15
Transmission Hari Kunzru Fiction 8 2005-01-05
Svek Karin Alvtegen Fiction 7 2004-12-25
Porno Irvine Welsh Fiction - 2004-12-16
Bokhandlaren i Kabul Åsne Seierstad Social Sciences 7 2004-12-05
The curious incident of the dog in the night time Mark Haddon Fiction 5 2004-11-23
Monstrous Regiment Terry Pratchett Fantasy 7 2004-11-18
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Gregory Maguire Fiction 8 2004-11-02
Cosmonaut Keep Ken MacLeod Science Fiction 7 2004-10-10
Ett öga rött Jonas Hassen Khemiri Fiction 8 2004-09-28
Två nötcreme och en moviebox Filip Hammar och Fredrik Wikingsson Social history 6 2004-09-23
The Monk Downstairs Tim Farrington Fiction 5 2004-09-14
Down the Bright Way Robert Reed Science Fiction 6 2004-09-02
The Magician's Assistant Ann Patchett Fiction - 2004-08-24
Tears of the giraffe Alexander McCall Smith Fiction 7 2004-08-13
Redemption Ark Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 6,5 2004-08-08
Enligt Maria Magdalena Marianne Fredriksson Fiction 7 2004-07-05
The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold Fiction 5 2004-06-26
Mothership John Brosnan Science Fiction 7 2004-06-14
Carter Beats the Devil Glen David Gold Fiction 8.5 2004-06-03
Summerland Michael Chabon Fiction - 2004-05-14
Angels and Demons Dan Brown Fiction 8 2004-05-04
Strata Terry Pratchett Science Fiction 7 2004-04-27
Running with scissors Augusten Burroughs Memoir 7 2004-04-20
Pandora's Star Peter F. Hamilton Science Fiction 9 2004-04-14
The Piano Tuner Daniel Mason Fiction 10 2004-03-10
Jordens smartaste ord Fredrik Lindström Non Fiction 7 2004-03-01
Schild's Ladder Greg Egan Science Fiction 3 2004-02-22
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown Fiction 8 2004-02-10
Fingersmith Sarah Waters Fiction 7 2004-01-31
Koka makaroner Johan Nilsson Non fiction 7 2004-01-06
Night Watch Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2003-12-29
Burning City Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Fantasy 3 2003-12-19
Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About Mil Millington Fiction 4 2003-12-02
Chasm City Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 8 2003-11-21
The Well Of Lost Plots Jasper Fforde Fiction 8 2003-10-29
The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time Preston B. Nichols Non-Fiction 3 2003-10-22
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon Fiction 9 2003-10-21
Darwin's Radio Greg Bear Fiction 4 2003-09-15
Arvet efter Arn Jan Guillou Fiction 6 2003-08-30
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling Fiction 8 2003-08-10
Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction 9 2003-07-22
Nectar Lily Prior Fiction 5 2003-06-27
Marrow Robert Reed Science Fiction 9 2003-06-18
Mannen med oxhjärtat Inger Frimansson Fiction 3 2003-06-01
Midnight Voices John Saul Fiction 5 2003-05-26
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith Fiction 7 2003-05-17
The Summons John Grisham Fiction 6 2003-05-11
Nickel and Dimed - On (not) getting by in America Barbara Ehrenreich Non-Fiction 8 2003-05-08
Den vidunderliga kärlekens historia Carl-Johan Vallgren Fiction 8 2003-05-02
Before & After Matthew Thomas Science Fiction/Fantasy 7 2003-04-25
Lord Nevermore Agneta Pleijel Fiction 7 2003-04-10
Manifold: Space Stephen Baxter Science Fiction 6 2003-03-20
My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk Fiction - 2003-03-01
The Sweep of the Second Hand Dean Monti Fiction - 2003-02-15
Dead Air Iain Banks Fiction 7 2003-02-08
Prey Michael Crichton Fiction 8 2003-01-28
Stupid White Men Michael Moore Non-Fiction 8 2003-01-22
The Red Tent Anita Diamant Fiction 9 2003-01-13
Shadow of the Hegemon Orson Scott Card Science Fiction 6 2002-12-30
Bel Canto Ann Patchett Fiction 7 2002-12-24
The Christmas Mystery Jostein gaarder Fiction 3 2002-12-10
Life of Pi Yann Martel Fiction 10 2002
Utan eko Anne Holt Crime 6 2002
Brother Nature Robert Llewellyn Science Fiction 5 2002
Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Jeremy Nanby Non-fiction 8 2002
Calculating God Robert J. Sawyer Science Fiction 6 2002
Fughitive Pieces Ann Michaels Fiction 8 2002
The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde Fantasy 8 2002
Riket vid vägens slut Jan Guillou Fiction 6 2002
Tempelriddaren Jan Guillou Fiction 7 2002
Vägen till Jerusalem Jan Guillou Fiction 7 2002
Foundation Isaac Asimov Science Fiction 5 2002
Toujours Provence Peter Mayle Non-Fiction 7 2002
Populärmusik från Vittula Mikael Niemi Fiction 8 2002
The Mote in God's Eye Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Science Fiction 5 2002
En ovanligt torr sommar Peter Robinson Crime 6 2002
Archangel Sharon Shinn Science Fiction 4 2002
Vad gör alla superokända människor hela dagarna? Fredrik Lindström Fiction 6 2002
Lost in a Good Book Jasper Fforde Fantasy 9 2002
Död joker Anne Holt Fantasy 6 2002
Excession Iain M. Banks Science Fiction 10 2002
A Year in Provence Peter Mayle Non-Fiction 8 2002
Permutation city Greg Egan Science Fiction 4 2002
Thief of time Terry Pratchett Fantasy 8 2002
The Diamond Age Niel Stephenson Science Fiction 10 2002
Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris Non-Fiction 6 2002
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Synopsis
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger.
What I thought
I got this book because it had won a bunch off awards. It was good. I especially liked the first half that was full of discovery. But then it was kind of run-of-the-mill, fighting. Nothing new or interesting there. Not sure if I'm going to try his other books. Probably.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Synopsis
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister— dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.
What I thought
Nope. Despite all the raving reviews i did not like this book at all. There was not a single uplifting moment in the book. People were hurt, suffered and were sad through the whole book.
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Synopsis
In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. On the world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing--nothing anywhere in the universe--will ever be the same.
What I thought
I loved the first Hyperion book, and of course had to read the continuation. But it was just average. Things happened very slowly. If something heated up and was interesting, it was cut off, and we had to follow something else until that exciting thing was forgotten. and it got all a bit too metaphysical in the end. Nah, I'm done with the Hyperion universe.
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman
Synopsis
Two aliens have wandered Earth for centuries. The Changeling has survived by adapting the forms of many different organisms. The Chameleon destroys anything or anyone that threatens it.
Now, a sunken relic that holds the key to their origins calls to them to take them home--but the Chameleon has decided there's only room for one.
What I thought
This book was OK. I had expected more. I kind of just plodded along, without anything exceptional happening. When it all got interesting, it was over very quickly. All a bit disappointing.
The Little Book by Selden Edwards
Synopsis
Thirty years in the writing, Selden Edwards’s dazzling first novel is an irresistible triumph of the imagination. Wheeler Burden—banking heir, philosopher, student of history, legend’s son, rock idol, writer, lover, recluse, half-Jew, and Harvard baseball hero—one day finds himself wandering not in his hometown of San Francisco in 1988 but in a city and time he knows mysteriously well: Vienna, 1897. Before long, Wheeler acquires a mentor in Sigmund Freud, a bitter rival, a powerful crush on a luminous young woman, and encounters everyone from an eight-year-old Adolf Hitler to Mark Twain as well as the young members of his own family. Solving the riddle of Wheeler’s dislocation in time will ultimately reveal nothing short of one eccentric family’s unrivaled impact upon the course of human history.
What I thought
I really liked this book at the beginning. I enjoy reading about time travel! But after a while the book lost its momentum. It wasn't as interesting any more. And there were a bit too many strange coincidences for me. An average to good book.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Synopsis
Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.
What I thought
This is a hugely popular book, and I thought I had to read it to see what it was all about. Sure, it was an easy read, but the romance was probably lost on me and it's a pretty shallow book. When I think back on what actually happened in it, it's not that much. there's a lot of swooning, fast beating hearts and carrying in arms. I don't think I'll be reading the next one. Maybe see the movie, though.
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
Synopsis
Grad- school dropout Matt Fuller is toiling as a lowly research assistant at MIT when he inadvertently creates a time machine. With a dead-end job and a girlfriend who left him for another man, Matt has nothing to lose in taking a time-machine trip himself—or so he thinks.
What I thought
This book was a great, very fast read. I've always liked time travel stories. this one was fast with new things happening all the time. Maybe not too deep or with great character development, but a book with a great pace.
Billy Budd, Foretopman by Herman Melville
Synopsis
Billy Budd is among the greatest of Melville's works and, in its richness and ambiguity, among the most problematic. Outwardly a compelling narrative of events aboard a British man-of-war during the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars, Billy Budd, Sailor is a nautical recasting of the Fall, a parable of good and evil, a meditation on justice and political governance, and a searching portrait of three extraordinary men.
What I thought
This book came recommended by a friend. I had a hard time with the language and story. The story branched off all the time into uninteresting observations. And the language was just too intricate for me to follow easily.
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
Six million years ago, at the dawn of the star-faring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones, which she called shatterlings. She sent them out into the galaxy to observe and document the rise and fall of countless human empires. Since then, every two hundred thousand years, they gather to exchange news and memories of their travels.
Only this millennium there is no gathering. Someone is eliminating the Gentian line. And Campion and Purslane—two shatterlings who have fallen in love and shared forbidden experiences— must determine exactly who, or what, their enemy is, before they are wiped out of existence.
What I thought
I liked this book beacuse it had interesting ideas about how civilization spreads and how to deal with large time spans. The book was a bit slow at times and the end came very fast. Not as good as 'The Prefect' but still worth a read.
Morden i Buttle by Annika Bryn
Synopsis
Fem månader har gått sedan en nu död man avlossade en kula som gick in snett under mordutredare Margareta Davidssons vänstra bröst. Hon hade varit övertygad om att hon skulle dö, men överlevde, mot alla odds.
Detta är den indirekta anledningen till att hon en kall marsdag sitter i sin bil på kajen i Nynäshamn och väntar på Gotlandsfärjan. Hennes chef har tvingat henne till några veckors semester och av goda vänner får hon låna en stuga i den lilla byn Buttle på Gotland. I hamnen lägger hon märke till en ung kvinna och, som den polis hon är, kan hon inte undgå att reagera över flickans oroliga blickar mot en långtradare som väntar på kajen. Yrkesskada, tänker Margareta och försöker slå bort sina tankar. När hon sent på kvällen kommer till stugan i Buttle gör hon ett fruktansvärt fynd. En kvinna ligger död i skogsbrynet alldeles intill huset. Med ett hugg i hjärtat inser Margareta att det är flickan från båten.
What I thought
I wanted to read something in Swedish, and this came recommended. I just didn't like it. It was slow and ordinary. I did not care for the main character, and things were just not quite believable. When I realized I didn't really care about what was going to happen, I quit reading.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Synopsis
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Haruki Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a slew of critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and–even more important–on his writing.
Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and includes settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvellous lens of sport emerges a cornucopia of memories and insights: the eureka moment when
he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after the age of fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back.
By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running.
What I thought
Since this wasn't fiction, I guess it was no big surprise that I had a hard time with it. It just didn't grab me. Although about running, there was no focus in the book. It was like he just wrote about what came into his mind, and those things were a bit too neurotic for me. Didn't finish the book.
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
When the Spirit of Winter takes a fancy to Tiffany Aching, he wants her to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever. It will take the young witch's skill and cunning, as well as help from the legendary Granny Weatherwax and the irrepressible Wee Free Men, to survive until Spring. Because if Tiffany doesn't make it to Spring—
—Spring won't come.
What I thought
Classic Pratchett. Since it's for young readers, it's not as rich as it could have been. But still very much worth a read.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Synopsis
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.
Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.
Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
What I thought
I haven't read Stephenson in quite a while. And he used to be my favorite science fiction author! And this book was just as good as I rememberd him. The plot was excellent and very rich. The only thing stopping me from giving the book a 10 is that there was too much logical discussions going on that really just rehashed the same thing. But a very good book!
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
Alone on a desert island — everything and everyone he knows and loves has been washed away in a storm — Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s completely alone — or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird, and gives him a stick that can make fire.
Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, that all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot, until other survivors arrive to take refuge on the island. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things (including how to milk a pig, and why spitting in beer is a good thing), and start to forge a new nation.
Encompassing themes of death and nationhood, Terry Pratchett’s new novel is, as can be expected, extremely funny, witty and wise. Mau’s ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone’s lives!
What I thought
It was refreshing to read something by Terry Pratchett that was not a Discworld novel. This book is very much like Pratchett's later books. There's a person faced with difficulties, and you get to follow the thoughts and descicions of the main character. It's a very warm book, and you like and feel for the characters.
Livläkarens besök by Per Olov Enquist
Synopsis
"Den 5 april 1768 anställdes Johann Friedrich Struensee som den danske konungen Christian den sjundes livläkare, och avrättades fyra år senare."
Så inleds Livläkarens besök, en roman som skildrar en av de märkligaste och mest dramatiska episoderna i den nordiska historien. Det är den häpnadsväckande berättelsen om en ung tysk läkare, upplysningsman och idealist, som av den sinnessjuke konung Christian ges all makt, genomför en revolution, och krossas av den. Per Olov Enquists roman - hans första efter Kapten Nemos bibliotek - är också en stor och gripande kärleksroman, ett triangeldrama där aktörerna är den tyske livläkaren, den maktlöse envåldshärskaren och prinsessan som växer till kvinna.
Livläkarens besök rönte stora framgångar och belönades med Augustpriset för 1999 års svenska skönlitterära bok.
What I thought
I couldn't continue reading this book. I got to the part about where everyone is bullying and mentally breaking down the prince, and it was just too grisly and mean. I've always thought that some authors are sadists and get it out through their writing, and Per Olov Enquist must be one of them.
Matter by Iain M. Banks
Synopsis
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one man it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.
Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilizations throughout the greater galaxy.
Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy, however. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.
MATTER is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head.
What I thought
This book never really took off. I find everything Banks writes interesting to read, no matter the story, byt this was one of his weakest. I had expected a big crescendo when new world meets old, but it never happened. The interesting thing with the book is that it introduced more information about the Culture and the galaxy.
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn
Synopsis
Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Award's half-million-dollar first prize for this fascinating and odd book--not a novel by any conventional definition--which was written 13 years ago but could not find a publisher. The unnamed narrator is a disillusioned modern writer who answers a personal ad ("Teacher seeks pupil. . . . Apply in person.") and thereby meets a wise, learned gorilla named Ishmael that can communicate telepathically. The bulk of the book consists entirely of philosophical dialogues between gorilla and man, on the model of Plato's Republic. Through Ishmael, Quinn offers a wide-ranging if highly general examination of the history of our civilization, illuminating the assumptions and philosophies at the heart of many global problems. Despite some gross oversimplifications, Quinn's ideas are fairly convincing; it's hard not to agree that unrestrained population growth and an obsession with conquest and control of the environment are among the key issues of our times. Quinn also traces these problems back to the agricultural revolution and offers a provocative rereading of the biblical stories of Genesis. Though hardly any plot to speak of lies behind this long dialogue, Quinn's smooth style and his intriguing proposals should hold the attention of readers interested in the daunting dilemmas that beset our planet.
What I thought
It's hard to rate this book. As a novel it's pretty mediocre. But the ideas presented here are really thought provoking. It actually changed the way I'm thinking about our civilazation. So just for that, I think you should read it.
Barking by Tom Holt
Synopsis
Duncan's boss doesn't think he's cut out to be a lawyer. He isn't a pack animal. He lacks the killer instinct. But when his best friend from school barges his way back into Duncan's life, along with a full supporting cast of lawyers, ex-wives, zombies, and snow-white unicorns, it's not long before things become distinctly unsettling. Hairy, even.
What I thought
Wow, I've discovered a new favorite author! I've seen Tom Holt around, but always refrained from reading him. I think that was because I confused him with the comedian Tom Green, which I don't like. This book was great! I loved the twists and turns. I loved the dry humor. I will definitely try some more books from Tom Holt.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Synopsis
This celebrated New York Times bestseller now poised to reach an even wider audience in paperbackis a book that is changing the way North Americans think about selling products and disseminating ideas. Gladwells new afterword to this edition describes how readers can constructively apply the tipping point principle in their own lives and work. Widely hailed as an important work that offers not only a road map to business success but also a profoundly encouraging approach to solving social problems.
What I thought
This was a fabulous book. Being non fiction, it still managed to keep me interested the whole way through, which is not that common. I loved it for the new way it made you think about how we act and think. I also liked to read about the research experiments he bases his theories on. Well worth a read. In fact, I'll probably read the follow up, Blink, even though they say it's not quite as good.
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Synopsis
“The dead don't talk. I don't know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different.
A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
Today is August 14.
In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.
What I thought
I haven't read anything by Koontz since I was a teenager and thought I'd try one of his newer books. In the beginning I really liked this book. It did small, fun stuff with the language, and the story was interesting and novel. But it grew a bit tiring. It kind of just kept on. There was a twist at the end, but I had expected a bigger one. So a pretty good book, but I won't be reading any more Koontz.
Hur man närmar sig ett träd by Eva Dahlgren
Synopsis
Hur närmar man sig ett träd? Hur börjar man en föreställning? Hur skriver man en sång? En färdbok över hur man går till väga när man inte vet hur man ska gå till väga. En öppen och personlig berättelse om musikskapandet och livet - om den mödosamma vägen till en färdig skiva.
What I thought
I thought I'd read something in Swedish, and I had got this book from a friend. It's interesting in that you get some insight in Eva Dahlgren's life. And she has some interesting thoughts. But as is so often the case with me and non-fiction, I lost interest half-way through and didn't finish the book.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Synopsis
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, therewaits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. Thereare those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. Inthe Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backwardthrough time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, withthe entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage toHyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Eachcarries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate ofhumanity in his hands.
What I thought
I've been looking at this book for many years, but never read it because it just looked to corny. But oh, was I wrong. It's one of the best science fiction books I've read. The story is intricate and changes the whole time, the characters are deep and interesting. But what I liked best is that you got to know each character through their own tale, which most of the time was like a really good story on it's own. I'm going to read the second part as soon as possible.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Synopsis
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
What I thought
This was a really tough book to read. It is dark, really dark. But at the same time the love between the father and the son is just heart-wrenching. It is well written and never dull. But you read it with a knot in your stomache the whole time.
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Synopsis
To boost waning interest in interstellar travel, a mission is sent into deep space to learn the truth about "moonriders," the strange lights supposedly being seen in nearby systems. But Academy pilot Valentina Kouros and the team of the starship Salvator will soon discover that their odyssey is no mere public-relations ploy, for the moonriders are not a harmless phenomenon. They are very, very dangerous-in a way that no one could possibly have imagined.
What I thought
I wonder why I got this book. Amazon does not rate it high, and the previous book I read by McDevitt was not that good. Anyway, the book was just slow. And even though the author tried to infuse life in the characters, it was still a bit stale. I also wanted more aliens. As in the previous book the aliens were never really present. It's like he does not know how to make aliens alive, and therefore limits the story. No more McDevitt.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Synopsis
We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?
Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.
While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life.
God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!
Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.
What I thought
I previously read "Ugly" by the same author and enjoyed it. Amy read this book before me and also liked it. I did not. I had a hard time with the Cinderella story. I thought they never really touched that much, and when they did, it was too contrived. So I sat waiting for things to make sense. The story never grabbed me, and the book lacked a certain warmth. I also was not at all happy with the ending, which was abrupt, and then the author had to describe "this is what happened to everyone in the end".
A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
Eleven-year-old Tiffany Aching wants to be a real witch. But a real witch doesn't casually step out of her body, leaving it empty. Tiffany does - and there's something just waiting for a handy body to take over. Something ancient and horrible, which can't die. Now Tiffany's got to learn to be a real witch really quickly, with the help of arch-witch Mistress Weatherwax and the truly amazing Miss Level. Oh, yes. And the Nac Mac Feegle - the rowdlest, toughest, smelliest bunch of fairles ever to be thrown out of Fairyland for being drunk at two in the afternoon. They'll fight anything
What I thought
Terry Pratchett is always good. The books are always a joy to read with lots of humor and warm characters. I really like these new books about Tiffany. This novel felt a bit short, though. The 'enemy' was easily defeated and the plot not that thick. This might be because the book was written for young readers. I really enjoyed reading it, though!
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Synopsis
Spanning eight decades and chronicling the wild ride of a Greek-American family through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century, Jeffrey Eugenides? witty, exuberant novel on one level tells a traditional story about three generations of a fantastic, absurd, lovable immigrant family -- blessed and cursed with generous doses of tragedy and high comedy.
But there's a provocative twist. Cal, the narrator -- also Callie -- is a hermaphrodite. And the explanation for this takes us spooling back in time, through a breathtaking review of the twentieth century, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie?s grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set our narrator?s life in motion.
Middlesex is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It?s a brilliant exploration of divided people, divided families, divided cities and nations -- the connected halves that make up ourselves and our world. Justly acclaimed when it was released in Fall 2002, it announces the arrival of a major writer for our times.
What I thought
This book has been lying around for quite a while, and after reading it, I can't imagine why I didn't read it sooner. It was very, very good. It's not *that* much about being a hermaphrodite, but more about three generations of a family forced making a new life in the States. Actually, the book ended when I would have wanted to read more. Anyway, a very well written and engaging book.
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Synopsis
The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.
What I thought
I re-read this book. And it was just as good the second time as it was the first.
The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds.
His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that leaves nine hundred people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus. But then his investigation uncovers something even more potentially dangerous—a covert plot by an enigmatic entity seeking nothing less than total control of the Glitter Band...
What I thought
Very Good. Reynolds is back on track. Even though it's not galaxy spanning but just concerned with the Glitter Band, it's full of interesting things. It's actually the detective story that makes it more interesting than the science fiction itself.
The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks
Synopsis
Dark family secrets and a long-lost love affair lie at the heart of Iain Banks's fabulous new novel. The Wopuld family built its fortune on a board game called Empire! - now a hugely successful computer game. So successful, the American Spraint Corp wants to buy the firm out. Young renegade Alban, who has been evading the family clutches for years, is run to ground and persuded to attend the forthcoming family gathering - part birthday party, part Extraordinary General Meeting - convened by Win, Wopuld matriarch and most powerful member of the board, at Garbadale, the family's highland castle. Being drawn back into the bosom of the clan brings a disconcerting confrontation with Alban's past. What drove his mother to take her own life? And is he ready to see Sophie, his beautiful cousin and teenage love? Grandmother Win's revelations wll radically alter Alban's perspective for ever.
What I thought
Classic Banks. Likable and interesting characters and a story that keep developing in interesting ways. Most books are good in the beginning, slack off a bit in the middle and are good again at the end. This book was good stright through.
M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
Synopsis
In this collection of wonderful stories, which range between fantasy, humour, science fiction and a sprinkling of horror, the reader will relish the range and skill of Neil Gaiman's writing. Be prepared to laugh at the detective story about Humpty Dumpty's demise, spooked by the sinister jack-in-the-box who haunts the lives of the children who own it, and intrigued by the boy who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard in this collection of bite-sized narrative pleasures.
What I thought
I'm not a fan of short stories. Never the less, I thought that if they were written by Neil Gaiman, they would keep me interested. They didn't really. Never finished them all. That could also be due to having an Iain Banks book waiting.
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
Synopsis
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?
These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan.
What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.
Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
What I thought
Very interesting book. Although I'm not a big fan of non fiction, this kept me going the whole way through. The book made me think of the world in a different way, and that is always very fascinating.
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
It’s an offer you can’t refuse.
Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork’s Royal Mint and the bank next door?
It’s a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long.
The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There’s something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mintruns at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he’s about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead
Oh. And every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies.
Everywhere he looks he’s making enemies.
What he should be doing is . . . Making Money!
What I thought
Classic Pratchett. Good, interesting characters, never a dull moment and in interesting story that mirrors our own world.
Spook Country by William Gibson
Synopsis
Hollis Henry is a journalist on investigative assignment for a magazine called Node, which doesn't exist yet. Bobby Chombo is a producer working on cutting-edge art installations. In his day job, Bobby is a trouble-shooter for military navigation equipment. He refuses to sleep in the same place twice. He meets no one.
Hollis Henry has been told to find him.
What I thought
This was a really slow book. Nothing really happened. Towards the end it was somewhat interesting, but the end still managed to disappoint. The only good thing with the book was the inventive language.
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Synopsis
As he searches for a mysteriously vanished girlfriend, Haruki Murakami's protagonist plunges into a wind tunnel of sexual violence and metaphysical dread in which he collides with call girls; plays chaperone to a lovely teenaged psychic; and receives cryptic instructions from a shabby but oracular Sheep Man. Dance Dance Dance is a tense, poignant, and often hilarious ride through the cultural Cuisinart that is contemporary Japan, a place where everything that is not up for sale is up for grabs.
What I thought
I liked this book in the way where it's a nice read no matter what the story is about, it's so well written it's a joy just reading it. It stayed with me. As always Murakami's characters are great. But the story was a bit thin and strange. Where 'Kafka on the Shore' was strange in a way that benefited the story, the strangeness of 'Dance dance dance' was too weird sometimes. It wavered without aim sometimes. And there were a lot of questions not answered at the end of the book.
Accelerando by Charles Stross
Synopsis
The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.
Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter Amber, on the run from her domineering mother, seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Amber's son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all of humanity.
For something is systematically dismantling the nine planets of the solar system. Something beyond human comprehension. Something that has no use for biological life in any form...
What I thought
I felt like I should have really liked this book. It had a great plot and it just sizzled with ideas. But it was a hard read. Incomprehensible at times. I also lacked a connection with the main characters. In the end I just wanted the book to be over.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Synopsis
Winer of the Hugo and Nebula AwardsIn order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut-young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
What I thought
I love this book. I read it maybe 10 years ago and liked it just as much then. Then I was choosing an audio book to listen to in the car, and I just happened to stumble over it, and thought that I wanted to listen to something I knew was good instead of something new. The book is very emphatic, and you really feel with Ender. It revolves a lot about games and surviving, so the book is never dull. I have also read all the sequels, what makes Orson Scott Card such a great writer is that his main interest is in the characters. Read it!
jPod by Douglas Coupland
Synopsis
JPod is the brilliant and hilarious new novel from Douglas Coupland, a lethal joyride into today's new breed of technogeeks which updates his 1995 classic Microserfs for the age of Google.
It tells the story of Ethan Jarlewski and his five co-workers. Somewhere in the hierarchy it has been decided that those whose surnames being with 'J' will be bureaucratically marooned in JPod, a no-escape architectural limbo on the fringes of a massive Vancouver game design company. The six workers confined herein, daily confront the forces that define our era: global piracy, boneheaded marketing staff, people-smuggling, the rise of China, marijuana grow-ops, Jeff Probst, and the ashes of the 1990s financial tech dream.
JPod's universe is amoral and shameless. The characters are products of their era even as they're creating it. Everybody in Ethan's life inhabits a moral grey zone. Nobody is exempt, not even his seemingly straightlaced parents or Coupland himself.
Full of word games, visual jokes and sideways jabs, this book throws a sharp, pointed lawn dart into the heart of contemporary life.
What I thought
There's something with Douglas Coupland: I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. It was fresh and captured 'today' in a cool way. But somewhere along the way it got boring. And cold. Somehow he's a cold writer forgetting that warmness that makes you like a book.
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
Fourteen years after Thursday Next pegged out at Superhoop '88, her Jurisfiction job has been downgraded due to a potential conflict of interest, since her previous adventures are now themselves in print. Thursday's time is spent worrying about her teenage son Friday and tutoring new recruits. This being fiction, however, jeopardy is never far away. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinbach falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. Before this can be righted, Miss Marple dies in a narratively inexplicable car accident, bringing her series also to a close. Thursday, receiving a death-threat clearly intended for her written self, realises what is going on - there is a serial killer is loose in the Bookworld. Meanwhile, Goliath have perfected a 22-seater Prose Portal Luxury Coach, and plan on taking literary tourists on a holiday to the works of Jane Austen. Thursday alone realises the true intent of Goliath's unwanted incursions into fiction, but she can't fight all these battles on her own. She must team up with the one person she really can't get along with - the written Thursday Next, currently starring in The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco. But it's no time to be picky...
What I thought
I love Jasper Fforde's quirky universe where anything can happen. This book starts off a bit slow, but springs into it in the end, with a good plot twist to finish off everything.
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
'Crivens! Whut aboot us, yo daftie!'

There's trouble on the Aching farm - nightmares spreading down from the hills. And Tiffany Aching's little brother has been stolen away. To get him back, Tiffany has a weapon (a frying pan), her granny's magic book (well, Diseases of the Sheep) - and the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men, the fightin' thievin', tiny blue-skinned pictsies who were thrown out of Fairyland for being Drunk and Disorderly ...
What I thought
I had seen this book around, and thought it was a kids book. But then I received a gift certificate at Barnes & Noble, and ordered this one and "A Hat Full of Sky". And it was great! Pratchett's latest books have been very good when it comes to ideas. This one is based around dreams. But they are a bit thin in the story department. The story could be more elaborate. I do like the new characters in this one and am looking forward to the next.
Luftslottet som sprängdes by Stieg Larsson
Synopsis
Den tredje och avslutande delen i Millennium-serien tar vid där Flickan som lekte med elden slutade. Lisbeth Salander överlevde att bli levande begravd, men hennes problem är långt ifrån över. Starka krafter vill tysta henne en gång för alla. Samtidigt gräver Mikael Blomkvist i Salanders dolda förflutna och kommer snart sanningen på spåren. Han skriver på ett avslöjande reportage som kommer att rentvå Lisbeth Salander och skaka regeringen, Säpo och hela landet i dess grundvalar. Äntligen finns en chans för Lisbeth Salander att göra upp med sitt förflutna och en möjlighet för rättvisan - den verkliga - att segra.
What I thought
This book was a good read. Although, I was a bit disappointed that it just continued where the other left off, and didn't introduce any new "mystery". The first 300 pages where not very interesting. Bu the ending was very exciting.
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver
Synopsis
Forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme and his protégée Amelia Sachs are called in to work the high-profile investigation of a killer who seemingly disappeared into thin air just as the police closed in. As the homicidal illusionist baits them with grisly murders that grow more diabolical with each victim, Rhyme and Sachs must go behind the smoke and mirrors to prevent a horrific act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all...
What I thought
This book just kept going on and on and on. And not in a good way. Sure, unexpected plot twists are great. But they have to make sense. And when they have caught the killer and there are 50 pages left you wonder what will happen. That's when the author invents a personal problem for one of the detectives and we go off on a tangent. The book should have been great. It was interesting with all the magic stuff. But it just wasn't believable.
Fienden inom oss by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Klockan tre på morgonen gör säkerhetspolisen och terroristpolisen tillslag mot ett antal familjer i en Stockholmsförort. Ett femtiotal personer grips och transporteras bort. De gripna får ingen vetskap om vad de är misstänkta för. Men nästa dag exploderar nyheten att ”al-Qaida i Sverige” har oskadliggjorts och att landet räddats från den största katastrofen någonsin. Nio personer häktas som terrorister och därefter utbryter den stora tystnaden. Ingen vet vad som sker i polisutredningen. Polisintendent Eva Johnsén-Tanguy, som är förhörsexpert på Ekobrottsmyndigheten, får till sin förvåning ett helt nytt jobb, att leda förhören med de misstänkta terroristerna. Därmed förändras hennes liv, bland annat innebär det att vänskapen med journalisten Erik Ponti utsätts för svåra slitningar. I kriget mot terrorismen hamnar Eva Johnsén-Tanguy och Erik Ponti på helt olika sidor.
Jan Guillou gör i romanen Fienden inom oss upp med de lagar som sägs vara avsedda att skydda demokratin men som skadar den betydligt mer än terrorismen gör.
What I thought
This is the weakest book from Jan Guillou I've read. There's nothing really interesting to keep you going. No mysteries. It's like he wrote it just to make a point. It's a good point, but like always he drives it home a bit too much.
Chindi by Jack McDevitt
Synopsis
On her final active mission for the Academy, spaceship pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchinson ferries a group of wealthy UFO hobbyists to the site of a mysterious signal from distant space. After discovering only dead planets and unexpected danger, Hutch and her crew of amateurs finally encounter a vehicle that seems to promise a long-awaited first contact. The author of Deepsix relates the further adventures of a resourceful and determined woman who places her duty to those under her care before her personal ambitions. First-rate sf adventure and smooth, well-plotted storytelling make this a superior choice for sf collections.
What I thought
I really never got into this book. It was to "barren". There were no aliens, just dead civilizations. All characters except the main character were paper thin. And the explorers were just stupid. Oh, did we lose two people last time we did that? Nah, let's just do it again. Just not believable.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Synopsis
As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
What I thought
I started off really, really liking the book. It's one of those rare books that you just instantly like, even though not that much is happening. And it was a good book. Right through. My only criticism was that the cover promised secrets revealed at the end, and there was, but not as big a secret as I had expected. My guess was very much wilder than what actually transpired. Even so, a good book.
Svålhålet by Mikael Niemi
Synopsis
Svålhålet. Berättelser från rymden är en samling väldigt udda och överraskande historier, ett slags blandning av Peter Nilssons Rymdljus och Torgny Lindgrens skrönor med tillsats av Mikael Niemis omisskännliga munviga humor och klurighet. Och visst är det i hög grad vår samtid han skriver om, fast den ibland klätt sig i rymddräkt. Själv medger Mikael att han inspirerats både av Ray Bradbury och Douglas Adams Liftarens guide till galaxen.
What I thought
I've read "Populärmusik från Vittula" and loved it. Therefore this book was a bit of an odd-ball. It's science fiction, but SF that reeling all over the place. There's really no structure to the stories. But what I like about them is that they're crazy and insane. I have no idea how a mind can think of such weird stories and questions.
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Synopsis
Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.
In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life -- money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that's within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.
The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers -- men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible.
What I thought
Read it.
Madame Terror by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
När den ryska ubåten Kursk gick under i Barents hav på grund av ett amerikanskt misstag stod det klart för världens alla spionorganisationer att Ryssland hade utvecklat en överlägsen ubåtsteknologi. Palestinierna som alltid varit i tekniskt underläge och alltid beskrivits som terrorister insåg att tillgången till en rysk superubåt för första gången skulle ge dem ett teknologiskt övertag.
Uppdraget att genomföra den största terroristattacken i världens historia går till den kvinnliga brigadgeneralen Mouna Husseini. Hon inser direkt att problemen i motsättningen mellan rasistiska ryska officerare och högt utbildade palestinier är oöverstigliga. Och att projektet bara kan genomföras om man finner en fartygschef som för det första inte är rysk, som för det andra talar perfekt ryska och helst även är dekorerad med Röda stjärnan samt Rysslands finaste orden - Rysslands hjälte - och gärna med den palestinska Hederslegionen. Och därtill är äkta hög sjöofficer.
Den omöjliga kombinationen fanns i verkligheten och var en gammal vän till Mouna Husseini. Från det ögonblick viceamiral Carl Gustaf Gilbert Hamilton steg ombord på U1 Jerusalem förändrades allt. Huvudmotståndare i den politiska kamp som följde blev två enastående kvinnor, den kvinnliga brigadgeneralen Mouna Husseini och den amerikanska utrikesministern Condoleezza Rice. De blev vänner för livet. Och fiender.
What I thought
This audio book was great to listen to: Easy plot, easy language and constantly engaging. I mostly listened in the car to and from work. Not the deepest book (if you don't count when the submarine goes down into the depths :). The book was very pro-Palestinian, which was kind of OK. All the obstacles were too easily overcome. There were really never any set-backs. Other than that a good book!
The Well of Stars by Robert Reed
Synopsis
In The Well of Stars, Hugo award-nominated author Robert Reed has written a stunning sequel to his acclaimed novel Marrow. The Great Ship, so vast that it contains within its depths a planet that lay undiscovered for generations, has cruised through the universe for untold billions of years. After a disastrous exploration of the planet, Marrow, the Ship's captains face an increasingly restive population aboard their mammoth vessel.
And now, compounding the captains' troubles, the Ship is heading on an irreversible course straight for the Ink Well, a dark, opaque nebula. Washen and Pamir, the captains who saved Marrow from utter destruction, send Mere, whose uncanny ability to adapt to and understand other cultures makes her the only one for the job, to investigate the nebula before they plunge blindly in. While Mere is away, Pamir discovers in the Ink Well the presence of a god-like entity with powers so potentially destructive that it might destroy the ship and its millions.
Faced with an entity that might prevent the Ship from ever leaving the Ink Well, the Ship's only hope now rests in the ingenuity of the vast crew . . . and with Mere, who has not contacted them since she left the Ship…
With the excitement of epic science fiction adventure set against a universe full of wonders, the odyssey of the Ship and its captains will capture the hearts of science fiction readers.
What I thought
This book had a very interesting plot dealing with the origins of the universe and how species develop. It was a bit slow at times. And the plot was sometimes lost in describing other things. Also, my greatest annoyance came from that when it was most exciting and a crescendo was expected, the chapter abruptly ended, and the result of whatever it was had to be deducted from the subsequent chapters.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Synopsis
Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is coming to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with.
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectactular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as a mistress of storytelling, whose books will be read, reread and read again.
What I thought
I like the Harry Potter books. This one especially. It brings the series to a great conclusion. New enigmas and old ones are solved. Great action complimented by more information about people and their characters.
Underdog by Torbjörn Flygt
Synopsis
Det här är en berättelse om familjen Kraft: om Johan, hans begåvade och ensamma syster Monika och deras mamma Bodil, som sliter ut axlarna på Strumpfabriken tills fabriken blir överlödig. Underdog handlar om att växa upp under sjuttio- och åttiotalen med dåligt självförtroende och världens bästa morsa. om alla stenar som ligger i vägen och måste sparkas på, om längtan efter att kasta loss från sin bakgrund och hur förtvivlat svårt det är. Och så allt det andra: gympapåsarna, de frigjorda lärarkandidaterna, Bogdan och Cissi Piss, översittare och underdogs, Diamond Dogs, Ronnie Hellström Ett och Två. Om hur fort vi blev medelålders och inte längre känner igen oss.
What I thought
One of these "I recognize my youth" books. This one was very well crafted. Even though the main character was a bit older than I am, it described things from my youth very well. A very warm and engaging book.
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
As this spectacular, large-scale space opera opens, Janus, a moon of Saturn, now revealed as an alien artifact, has suddenly left orbit and headed for interstellar space. The Rockhopper, a comet miner commanded by Capt. Bella Lind, is the only spacecraft in the solar system positioned to catch the huge alien machine. Though a short exploration is all that's planned, the Rockhopper soon finds itself trapped in Janus's time- and distance-distorting slipstream. Determining that Janus is heading toward an even more gigantic artifact orbiting the star Spica, the comet miners settle down to form their own castaway civilization, a process marred by the bad blood between those who support Captain Lind and those who blame her for their fate. Janus soon proves itself to be an incredibly strange and ever changing environment. Eventually, the castaways reach the Spica artifact, encounter several very alien species and discover that their fate is even stranger than they could have imagined.
What I thought
Alastair Reynolds always deliver cool plots and interesting ideas. Somehow I always expect more from him than I get. Sure, the book was interesting. But it never climaxed. I was kind of waiting for *the* thing to happen the whole book.
Flickan som lekte med elden by Stieg Larsson
Synopsis
I uppföljaren till Män som hatar kvinnor är det Lisbeth Salander som står i centrum. En rad dramatiska händelser får Lisbeths mörka förflutna att göra sig påmint och när hon dras in i en mördarjakt där hon själv är villebråd bestämmer hon sig för att göra upp med det förgångna en gång för alla.
Samtidigt har Mikael Blomkvist på Millennium fått korn på hett nyhetsstoff. Två journalister, Dag och Mia, kan visa avslöjande fakta om en omfattande sexhandel mellan Östeuropa och Sverige. Många av de personer som utpekas har högt uppsatta positioner i samhället. När Dag och Mia blir brutalt mördade och misstankarna riktas mot Salander bestämmer sig Blomkvist för att driva sin egen utredning. Han upptäcker snart ett samband mellan morden och traffickingtemat. Den fruktade Zala, vars namn ständigt förekommer i utredningen, visar sig dessutom ha kopplingar till en viss Lisbeth Salander...
What I thought
The second book in the Millenium trilogy, and I liked it just as much as the first. Sure, Lisbeth is a bit too much like a super hero, and this book too revels a bit in violence. But there's no getting away from that the pace in the book is great and that it's a book I just wanted to continue reading.
Chart Throb by Ben Elton
Synopsis
Chart Throb is the ultimate pop quest. There are ninety five thousand hopefuls, three judges, just one winner. And that's Calvin Simms, the genius behind the show. Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Calvin and his fellow judges (the nation's favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex-factors themselves. Ben Elton, author of "Popcorn" and "Dead Famous" returns to blistering comic satire with a savagely hilarious deconstruction of the world of modern television talent shows. Chart Throb has one winner and a whole bunch of losers.
What I thought
This was an easy, fun read. Not that deep, but pretty satisfying never the less. The beauty of the book is that it's fast paced and deals with a subject that is very current.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Synopsis
This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event.
Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.
A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.
What I thought
Murakami again. I didn't know what to think of this book before I read it, since I didn't like the first one I read, and I absolutely loved the second. However, I did not particularly like this one. It was boring. Nothing really happened. This guy just fretted about his girlfriends. I guess sometimes too much character development can be bad :) So I gave it up half way through the book.
Män som hatar kvinnor by Stieg Larsson
Synopsis
Mikael Blomkvist, ekonomireporter, döms till fängelse för förtal av finansmannen Wennerström, och beslutar sig för att ta time-out från sitt jobb på tidskriften Millennium. I samma veva får han ett ovanligt uppdrag. Henrik Vanger, tidigare en av landets främsta industriledare, vill att Blomkvist ska skriva släkten Vangers historia. Men det visar sig snart bara vara en täckmantel för Blomkvists verkliga uppgift: att ta reda på vad som hänt Vangers unga släkting Harriet, som varit spårlöst försvunnen i snart fyrtio år. Till sin hjälp får han Lisbeth Salander, en ung strulig tjej, tatuerad och piercad, men också professionell hacker och med unika egenskaper som gör henne till en oslagbar researcher.
What I thought
I liked this book, and see why Stieg Larsson is so popular right now. It was a well crafted story with good twists and turns. The people were plausible with good background stories. What I didn't care for was that it described a bit too much violence and perversion, just for the sake of having it there, when it could just as well have been left out because it didn't add anything to the plot.
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Synopsis
Peter F. Hamilton’s superbly imagined, cunningly plotted interstellar adventures are conceived on a staggeringly epic scale and filled with fully realized human and alien characters as complex as they are engaging. No mere world builder, Hamilton creates entire universes–and he does so with irresistible flair and intelligence. His previous novel, the acclaimed Pandora’s Star, introduced the Intersolar Commonwealth, a star-spanning civilization of the twenty-fourth century. Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy.
The Prime are the Commonwealth’s worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Twenty-three planets have already fallen to the invaders, with casualties in the hundreds of millions. And no one knows when or where the genocidal Prime will strike next.
Nor are the Prime the only threat. For more than a hundred years, a shadowy cult, the Guardians of Selfhood, has warned that an alien with mind-control abilities impossible to detect or resist–the Starflyer–has secretly infiltrated the Commonwealth. Branded as terrorists, the Guardians and their leader, Bradley Johansson, have been hunted by relentless investigator Paula Myo. But now evidence suggests that the Guardians were right all along, and that the Starflyer has placed agents in vital posts throughout the Commonwealth–agents who are now sabotaging the war effort. Is the Starflyer an ally of the Prime, or has it orchestrated a fight to the death between the two species for its own advantage?
Caught between two deadly enemies, one a brutal invader striking from without, the other a remorseless cancer killing from within, the fractious Commonwealth must unite as never before.
This will be humanity’s finest hour–or its last gasp.
What I thought
This was one tomb of a boot, about 1300 pages. It would have been better if it was half that. It was good and pretty complex. It didn't impress me that much, but it was good enough to want to keep reading. The end was a little disappointing, with no real crescendo.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Synopsis
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been one of the most discussed, acclaimed, and debated novels in recent memory. And with good reasonas the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, "Jonathan Safran Foer has done something both masterful and absolutely necessary: he has written the first great novel about September 11." Foer confronts a subject few writers have dared approach, and what he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is on a mission to find the lock that matches a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. As he roams the five boroughs, Oskar encounters a motley assortment of people who are all survivors in their own way. His journey concludes in an emotional climax of truth, beauty, and heartbreak. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer once again demonstrates his ability to evoke and unravel the most personal and complex matters of the heart.
What I thought
I really liked this book. The first half was a complete 10, and if it would have continued like that it would probably have been one of the very best books I've ever read. It had imagination with loads of small small details, enough for ten books. It has a mystery and very lovable characters. It didn't quite hold out to the end. It kind of lost steam towards the end.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Synopsis
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world, and this tenth anniversary edition, with a new introduction from the author, will only increase that following. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
What I thought
So this is another classic that I didn't finish. Sure, it posed some pretty interesting questions and ponderings. But as a book, it was really boring. I started reading it because it was so short, but after 80 pages I just gave up for something better. I don't know about some of these classics: what am I missing? I thought that this book lacked invigoration and spunk, but obviously a huge following does not think so. Sure, it's a deep book, but without good writing, it just falls flat.
Bärnstenskikaren by Philip Pullman
Synopsis
Lyra lies sleeping in a cave near a rainbow, drugged into unconsciousness by her mother, Mrs Coulter, whose love for her daughter closely rivals her own ruthless ambition. Now, the latter threatens to overcome the former, as she strives to prevent the events which are dependent on the decisions Lyra is fated to make. Meanwhile, Will-scarred and traumatised after his last, fatal meeting with his father-seeks blindly for her, with only two of Lord Asriel's angels as companions on his dangerous search. The two are fated to meet once more, however, and begin their most treacherous journey. For Lyra owes a great debt, and she must repay it-she must rescue her friend from the Land of the Dead. Neither are prepared for the terrible sacrifice they must endure, or for the universal consequences of their actions. Lyra and Will must play their part in the war between the worlds and heaven...
What I thought
I have really enjoyed the Dark Materials trilogy. The last book is the best of them all. Loads of things are happening. The book has depth and ties in with recent physics and with religion too. It is well written and the characters have depth. The ending really touched me and it was some time since a book did that to me to that degree.
Hembiträdet by Marie Hermanson
Synopsis
Yvonne Gärstrand är en framgångsrik organisationskonsult som känner leda, såväl i jobbet som i sin familj. För att liva upp sig börjar hon ströva omkring i ett främmande villaområde, hon iakttar människorna där och fantiserar om deras liv.
Ett hus i synnerhet väcker hennes intresse, makarna Ekbergs. Hon får veta att de söker en hemhjälp, går dit på en anställningsintervju och får jobbet. Men när hon börjar sitt arbete märker hon snart att allt inte står rätt till.
Från att ha varit en utanförstående iakttagare dras Yvonne alltmer in i Bernhard Ekbergs liv. Hon invigs i hans mörka hemligheter och samtidigt börjar också hennes eget liv förvandlas på ett sätt hon inte kunnat ana.
What I thought
I liked reading this book because it was in Swedish (and therefore a fast read) and took place in Sweden. The story was a bit different, but at the same time a bit weak. It could have been more of a mystery and more of an investigation. Now the whole plot kind of just unraveled by one of the characters telling about it.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Synopsis
Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world’s great storytellers at the peak of his powers.
What I thought
This book is one of the very best ones I've ever read. I previously read "The wind-up bird chronicles" by the same author and didn't like it that much. But I've heard a lot of good about the author and thought I'd give him another chance. I love the characters and that they are so multi-faceted and likeable each in their own way. I have a hard time to put my finger on exactly what it is about the book that makes it so great, it's just one of those books that you can't let go and that will stay with you for a long time afterwards. The only thing I could have wished for is all mysteries to get solved, so you are not left guessing.
The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne
Synopsis
The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. . . .
A teenage computer prodigy is mortally strangled in Mumbai. A far-right extremist is killed in a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. A wealthy businessman is murdered in Thailand. A pimp in Brooklyn is found stabbed to death and mysteriously covered by a brown shroud. What connects the victims is an ancient prophecy that leads to the end of the world, and it's up to Will Monroe, a fledgling reporter at the New York Times, to stop it.
But Monroe's investigation quickly makes him some shadowy enemies, who kidnap his wife and hold her hostage in Crown Heights. Desperate to find the link between the killings and to save his wife, he enlists his college sweetheart, TC, an eccentric artist and Kabbalah expert. As the death toll rises, they follow a trail of clues that seems to lead inexorably to a set of ancient texts containing a prophecy that promises to save the world—or to destroy it.
What will happen when the one secret that has kept the world safe for thousands of years is revealed to all? In The Righteous Men, a blistering thriller filled with mystery, romance, and suspense, Sam Bourne takes readers deep into the hidden worlds of fundamentalist religion, mysticism, and biblical prophecies. This is a visionary tale that is as frightening as it is entertaining. Readers won't stop turning the pages until the very end.
What I thought
Such a bad book! The book cover claims it is better than the Da Vinci Code, with better character portraits. Even though the Da Vinci code might not have the per character portraits this book is worse! The writing is poor, the riddles are SMS messages that the main character tries to solve (and fails, constantly having to use other people), the pace is awful. There's no let's-find-out-more feeling, but after 300 pages we know nothing more at all, and then the whole plot comes in 10 pages. And the plot is weak. The main character can't do anything himself, but only relies on his friends. If he does anything, it's flying off his handle (banging fists in tables and such) and destroying something. Blah! Don't read.
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Synopsis
When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life. Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie. Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.
What I thought
This is a good book, but not as good as "American Goods" or "Neverwhere". It lacks that full speed ahead, a twinkle in the eye kind of atmosphere those books had. The first 100 pages are very slow. Then it picks up, and just keeps getting better and better. Well worth the read!
The Game by Neil Strauss
Synopsis
Hidden somewhere, in nearly every major city in the world, is an underground seduction lair. And in these lairs, men trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to charm women. This is not fiction. These men really exist. They live together in houses known as Projects. And Neil Strauss, the bestselling author, spent two years living among them, using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity. The result is one of the most explosive and controversial books of the year -- guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever. On his journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pick-up artist) to PUG (pick-up guru), Strauss not only shares scores of original seduction techniques but also has unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Heidi Fleiss, and Courtney Love. And then things really start to get strange -- and passions lead to betrayals lead to violence. The Game is the story of one man's transformation from frog to prince -- to prisoner in the most unforgettable book of the year.
What I thought
This was a fascinating book. It's hard to know it it's true or not, but it all seems pretty legit, when thinking about it. The first half was the best, where the main character learns more and more and gets more and more drawn into this new world of picking up women. The second half is more about the social aspects of living with a bunch of horny guys, and not that good.
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, convicted murderer and cake/biscuit - is loose on the streets of Reading. It isn't Jack Spratt's case. Despite the success of the Humpty Dumpty investigation, the well publicised failure to prevent Red Riding-Hood and her Gran being eaten once again plunges the Nursery Crime Division into controversy. Enforced non-involvement with the Gingerbreadman hunt looks to be frustrating until a chance encounter at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldy' Hatchett, star reporter for "The Daily Toad". The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. Are the unexplained explosions around the globe somehow related to missing nuclear scientist Angus McGuffin? Is cucumber-growing really that dangerous? Why are National Security involved? But most important of all: How could the bears' porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time?
What I thought
As always with Jasper fforde, this was a very good read. Just reading it is fun with all the allegories, references, twists, turns and clever ideas. the mystery itself was not that good. It was too unlogical, and the Aha! moment was missing from the end. that's also why I did not give the book a rating of 9.
Den skarpa eggen by Philip Pullman
Synopsis
Here is the highly anticipated second installment of Philip Pullman's epic fantasy trilogy, begun with the critically acclaimed The Golden Compass. Lyra and Will, her newfound friend, tumble separately into the strange tropical otherworld of Cittàgazze, "the city of magpies," where adults are curiously absent and children run wild. Here their lives become inextricably entwined when Lyra's alethiometer gives her a simple command: find Will's father. Their search is plagued with obstacles--some familiar and some horribly new and unfathomable--but it eventually brings them closer to Will's father and to the Subtle Knife, a deadly, magical, ancient tool that cuts windows between worlds. Through it all, Will and Lyra find themselves hurtling toward the center of a fierce battle against a force so awesome that leagues of mortals, witches, beasts, and spirits from every world are uniting in fear and anger against it. This breathtaking sequel will leave readers eager for the third and final volume of His Dark Materials.
What I thought
I liked this book just as much as I liked the previous one. Lots of things happening and many great characters. Plus there are several mysteries, some of which ties in with modern science. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Synopsis
"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again." So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past ther beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant -- the sinister Mrs. Danvers -- still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley.
What I thought
I ordered this book a long time ago from Amazon because it got outstanding reviews. I haven't read it for so long because when I received it, the cover looked like a cheesy love story. It's a classic though, written in 1938. I did not like it. I'm sure it creates a great atmosphere and that the characters are well thought out. But it was utterly boring. And I could not stand the main character.
Påven Johanna by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Synopsis
Om historien om Johanna är sann är den helt fantastisk. Om den är påhittad, är den fortfarande bland de bästa romaner jag har läst. N V Hon var en begåvad och orädd kvinna som förklädd till man lyckades överlista hela den katolska världen. Hon skaffade sig kunskap inom medeltida filosofi, religion och läkekonst. Hennes lysande begåvning förde henne på äventyrliga vägar till påvepalatset i Rom. Där drogs hon in i en virvel av politik, religion, kärlek och makt. En riskfylld tillvaro där livet ofta stod på spel. När ödet såg till att Johanna blev vald till påve hade det förgångna hunnit ifatt henne - och det mest förbjudna var ett faktum...
What I thought
A good book with great plot and interesting subject about a female pope. But somehow I didn't really get into it. Maybe because I read it in such small bits.
Passagen (Timeline) by Michael Crichton
Synopsis
In an Arizona desert a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival--six hundred years ago. . . .
What I thought
I picked this book up purely because it was Crichton. I hadn't heard of it, and I know why, because it was not that good. Bad language, stiff people portraits, to much action for action's sake.
Diamond Dogs, Tuquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
Astronomer Reynolds's two far-future space exploration novellas, set in his Revelation Space universe (Chasm City, etc.), confirm his mastery of noir SF. Antihero Richard Swift of "Diamond Dogs" joins Mephistophelian Roland Childe's expedition to scale the Blood Spire on the planet Golgotha. As they climb, they must solve increasingly intricate mathematical puzzles, replacing limbs and mental processes with cybernetic constructs as the Spire changes the rules of its lethal game. Naqi Okpik of "Turquoise Days" loses her sister Mina to the sentient ocean of the planet Turquoise. Naqi abandons her humanity, uniting with the ocean to find Mina and save their world from destruction. Spire and ocean are both artifacts of Revelation Space's alien Pattern Jugglers, who form a living gestaltinterstellar entity that in these brilliantly executed parables represents the vehicle for humanity's choice between self-immolation and evolution and the author's postulated solution to the riddle of Faustian man. Reynolds's allegory: if humans embrace science and technology so fervently that body and soul sacrifice themselves to overweening greed, humans will eventually perish in bitter suicide; instead, abandon selfish individuality, immerse the soul in the warm sea of homecoming where minds meet and meld into oneness, and survive, changed forever.
What I thought
Two novellas. The first one was not that good. I found it a bit disturbing, but maybe that was the point. It was too repetitive and I had expected more from the puzzles. The second one was pretty OK. But I like Reynold's full books best.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Synopsis
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book. Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.
What I thought
Wow, I love Neil Gaiman! The book is well crafted, has great characters and an inventive plot.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Synopsis
Zadie Smith’s dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith’s voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own. At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn’t quite match her name (Jamaican for “no problem”). Samad’s late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal’s every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith. Set against London’s racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.
What I thought
I didn't finish this book. I read about half before giving up. I just did not like any of the characters. They were just old mean men that didn't treat anybody with respect.
Guldkompassen by Philip Pullman
Synopsis
Hjältinnan är den intelligenta men något krångelbenägna 11-åringen Lyra Belacqua, som kanske till och med håller universums öde i sina händer. Allting börjar när hennes farbror, lord Asriel, återvänder till England med berättelser om mysterier och faror och upptäckten av ett ställe nära Nordpolen där man genom norrskenet kan ana en annan värld. Kanske är barriären mellan olika universa av någon anledning förtunnad här? Lyra är snart indragen i ett nervpirrande äventyr, vilket innefattar skumma vetenskapsmän som gör fruktansvärda experiment med kidnappade barn, den charmfulla, sköna och olycksbådande mrs Coulter (är det hon som kidnappar alla barnen?), intelligenta isbjörnar pansarbjörnar, strider mot legohärar i polarmörker, vänskapligt sinnade häxor och deras motsats, och så: "alethiometern", guldkompassen, en magisk sanningsmaskin. Lyra inser till slut att utgången av hennes äventyr kan innebära mer än liv eller död för henne själv.
What I thought
This was a present from a friend (thanks Mia!) and it's been in the bookshelf for a while. A pretty good book. Mostly because things are rapidly happening and the language flows well. Plus it's so fast to read in Swedish. I will probably get the next book in the trilogy.
Låt den rätte komma in by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Synopsis
Naturligtvis finns det inga vampyrer i Blackeberg. Bara en massa vanliga människor som stretar med sina vanliga liv. Eller...? Det är vinter 1981 i folkhemsförorten nordväst om Stockholm. Människorna strömmar på och av tunnelbanan, i källarförråden sniffar tonåringar lim och på kinakrogen hänger det gamla vanliga alkisgänget. Allt medan medierna fylls av sensationella rapporter om en rysk u-båt som gått på grund i Karlskrona. I ett av hyreshusen sitter tolvårige Oskar och läser skräcknoveller. Han drömmer om att bli en hämnare. Att äntligen slippa gå till skolan och förnedras av sina plågoandar. En dag har en pojke mördats på ett chockerande brutalt sätt i närbelägna Vällingby. Precis samtidigt har Oskar fantiserat om att döda mobbaren Jonny och han får ett ögonblick för sig att han har makt att få oerhörda saker att hända. Livet i Blackeberg ska snart förändras, människor dras in i en okänd och ond virvel. Men för Oskars del sker något viktigare. Han möter den första kärleken - en nyinflyttad flicka som heter Eli. Men det är något egendomligt med henne.
What I thought
I liked this book. It was well written and engaging. I liked that it took place in Stockholm and that it was from the time when I myself grew up. It's a horror book. It's mostly psychological, but with a horror book comes gore, and I would have liked a it less of it. And there were a bit too many pedophilic passages that I did not like either. Other than that it was a great read.
The Flood by Ian Rankin
Synopsis
In 1986, a small Scottish publishing firm released a first novel by a talented young writer. Only a few hundred copies were printed but it was a literary milestone nonetheless. The book was "The Flood". The author was Ian Rankin... Mary Miller had always been an outcast. As a young girl she had fallen into the hot burn - a torrent of warm chemical run-off from the local coal mine. Fished out white-haired and half-dead, sympathy for her quickly faded when the young man who pushed her in died in a mining accident just two days later. From then on she was regarded with a mixture of suspicion and fascination by her God-fearing community. Now, years later she is hardly less alone. She is the mother of a bastard son, Sandy, and caught up in a faltering affair with a local teacher. Sandy, meanwhile, has fallen in love with a strange homeless girl. The search for happiness isn't easy. Both mother and son must face a dark secret from their past, in the growing knowledge that their small dramas are being played out against a much larger canvas, glimpsed only in symbols and flickering images - of decay and regrowth, of fire and water - of the flood. "The Flood" is both a coming-of-age novel and an amazing portrait of a time and place. Proto-Rankin as it is, it's dark, atmospheric and powerful - a remarkable debut from a remarkable author.
What I thought
I just did not like this book. Nothing happened! And the things that happened were just mundane and uninteresting and sad. It's a book about growing up, but just not engaging at all.
Wilt in Nowhere by Tom Sharpe
Synopsis
In Tom Sharpe’s fourth uproarious Wilt novel, the indefatigable Henry Wilt embarks on the voyage of a lifetime — a cross-country trip through England, without map or compass, carrying little more than a backpack and the boots on his feet. A week later sees him drunk and unconscious in the back of an arsonist’s pickup truck. His trip goes even further downhill from there until he revives in the hospital, unable to figure out how he could possibly stand accused of arson, assassination and robbery. Meanwhile, Eva has taken the quads to visit Uncle Wally and Aunt Joan in Tennessee. With the four girls leaving their customary trail of insanity and destruction wherever they go, not to mention a mob of embittered drug enforcement agents, Eva’s journey has also spiralled out of control. Bitingly funny, Wilt in Nowhere pits Wilt against the intricacies of police persecution and the underbelly of Britain’s medical facilities, brilliantly exposing the farcical realities of small-town England and America.
What I thought
It was a pretty enjoyable book and a very fast read. It gave me some really good laughs. But I got more and more frustrated with it. It drew a lot of its jokes from hurting other people. And although that is OK for a while, a whole book of it is a bit too much. And it was not only "oh, my knee hurts", we're talking whole ruined lives here. And the disturbing thing was that just because the persons being submitted to it were not the nicest people, they were supposed to deserve it.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Synopsis
Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourish in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city -- a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...Richard Mayhew is a young businessman with a good heart and a dull job. When he stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations below the city. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.
What I thought
I loved this book. I expected nothing from it and maybe that was why. The characters are great, the plot excellent and the whole book is full of inventiveness and quirks to explore.
Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
Synopsis
Humanity has spread to every star within 500 light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life. The ancient starship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four hundred year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst. Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system's Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark. On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system's outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It's only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet's trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet's path. They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed.
What I thought
This book started out great. A good setup, and I wanted to know what was happening next. But it all got a bit boring. The first contact wasn't that inspiring, since you got to follow the aliens from the start, and understood them before the humans did. The humans were a bit like cardboard characters, without any depth. A bit of a blahah book.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch admits he may not be the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer -- he might not even be a spoon. But he's dogged and honest and he'll be damned if he lets anyone disturb his city's always-tentative peace -- and that includes a rabble-rousing dwarf from the sticks (or deep beneath them) who's been stirring up big trouble on the eve of the anniversary of one of Discworld's most infamous historical events. Centuries earlier, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, a horde of trolls met a division of dwarfs in bloody combat. Though nobody's quite sure why they fought or who actually won, hundreds of years on each species still bears the cultural scars, and one views the other with simmering animosity and distrust. Lately, an influential dwarf, Grag Hamcrusher, has been fomenting unrest among Ankh-Morpork's more diminutive citizens with incendiary speeches. And it doesn't help matters when the pint-size provocateur is discovered beaten to death ... with a troll club lying conveniently nearby. Vimes knows the well-being of his smoldering city depends on his ability to solve the Hamcrusher homicide without delay. (Vimes's secondmost-pressing responsibility, in fact, next to being home every evening at six sharp to read Where's My Cow? to Young Sam.) Whatever it takes to unstick this very sticky situation, Vimes will do it -- even tolerate having a vampire in the Watch. But there's more than one corpse waiting for him in the eerie, summoning darkness of the vast, labyrinthine mine network the dwarfs have been excavating in secret beneath Ankh-Morpork's streets. A deadly puzzle is pulling Sam Vimes deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear -- and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.
What I thought
Terry Pratchett again. Somehow you can never go wrong with one of his books. I love reading them. They are still pretty imaginative, but I seem to start to miss something. It's like they have gone from being a bit unpolished but funny and inventive to a bit duller but better "produced". This one was about the watch and Sam Wimes. Again. I'm starting to miss some new characters of his.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Synopsis
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.
What I thought
This was one tomb of a book! The first 400 pages were rather dull. Then it picked up for a while, to go back into dullness for a while to finish off really good. It's a book about magic where the magic is not the main concern. It's more the relationship between the main characters that seem in focus. All in all a fairly good read.
Adam och Eva by Arto Paasilinna
Synopsis
Småföretagaren Aatami Rymättylä har lösningen på hela världens energikris: en idealisk ackumulator i miniformat. Men för att kunna förverkliga idén behöver han pengar och det har han inga. Hjälpen kommer i form av juristen Eva Kontupohja, försupen men fullt kapabel och mer än villig att bistå med juridiska råd och finansiering av Adams Ackumulator AB. Adams resurssnåla uppfinning väcker delade känslor. Miljövännerna jublar och intressenter världen över vill köpa hans patent, medan de rika oljeländerna önskar livet ur honom ...
What I thought
I still haven't decided if I like Arto Paasilinna's writing or not. The book has something like slap stick over it. It's like nothing is taken seriously. From the language, the book takes place in the 50's, but from events it is from the 90's. This is very confusing. Plus, as I said about the previous book from the same author, everything just rumbles on with nothing to stop it. There are no hardships or unpolished edges.
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
Synopsis
From a master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes China"s last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of a country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When China is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this "absorbing companion piece to her novel Becoming Madame Mao" (New York Times), readers and reading groups will once again be transported by Min"s lavish evocation of the Forbidden City in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world.
What I thought
What a disappointment! I should have stopped reading this book. It was slow and it felt like it mainly concerned itself with describing the dresses, colors and decorations of the forbidden city. The main character also irritated me. She was too complacent and didn't really rise from her own merits, but mostly on circumstances. The fact that I didn't really care about how the book ended should tell you how good it was...
Making History by Stephen Fry
Synopsis
What if hitler had never been born? In Stephen Fry's most seriously ambitious novel to date, he creates a futuristic fantasy that becomes a thriller with a funny streak. Tackling one of history's darkest episodes, he poses the question: What if Hitler had never been born? An unquestionable improvement, no doubt. Michael Young, an earnest young history graduate student, has just finished his dissertation, an exploration into the roots of evil and the early life of Adolf Hitler. When he meets up with an aging German physicist, they concoct an idealistic experiment that involves time travel to prevent the conception of the Fhrer. It will change the course of history, but will it create a better world? With characteristic brilliance and wit, Fry presents a thought-provoking alternate history that is both trenchant and deeply affecting.
What I thought
I like time travel books. This was not an ordinary one, but still a nice read. A bit slow sometimes, but still with enough ingredients to keep me entertained.
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Synopsis
When a new NASA satellite detects evidence of an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory?a victory that has profound implications for U.S. space policy and the impending presidential election. With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Arctic to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable ? evidence of scientific trickery ? a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before Rachel can make her findings known, she realises, perhaps too late, that such knowledge puts her and Tolland in deadly jeopardy. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope for survival: to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all?
What I thought
Better than 'Digital Fortress' (although that is not that hard) and not as good as 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Daemons'. This is a pretty good book just because Dan Brown knows how to write a good story that keeps you in suspense. Something is always happening. People are described shallowly and some of the language is like a parody, with phrases from a 50's detective novel.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
Moist von Lipwig is a con artist...and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It's a tough decision. But he's got to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers' Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too. Maybe it'll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it's a death sentence either way. Or perhaps there's a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope...
What I thought
As always I liked this book from Terry Pratchett. You like the characters and there are lots of good laughs. The plot was a bit 'easy' though. Moist had everything working against him. But nothing really put up a fight. All his clever ideas just worked out fine. I felt that I wanted more resistance to make it more plausible and readable.
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
Twenty-third-century Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland overrun by rogue nanotechnology. When archaeologist Verity Auger, studying the relics of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Earth, is accused of reckless endangerment after a child in her care nearly dies, shadowy government forces within her department offer her an out in the form of a mission to retrieve information from somewhere where her knowledge of the mid-twentieth century will be useful. Not until she is well underway do they inpart that her destination is an ALS (anomalous large structure) at the end of a wormhole in which 1950s Earth, slightly changed, is preserved. At that other end of the wormhole, Wendell Floyd is a Parisian PI working a case that gets stranger and more dangerous as he and partner Custine uncover the evidence, which is precisely the information Verity must fetch. The threads come together in a race to save both Earths from extremists, in which Verity and Floyd frantically search for the significance and location of three metal spheres.
What I thought
As always I like reading Alastair Reynolds. This book was good, but not one of his best. It did have good tech-stuff and ideas, but the book lost me a bit in the second half. It started really good, with half SF and half hard boiled 1950's detective novel. But the second half lost the 1950's and instead concentrated on oh-will-they-make-it moments that did not bring the story forward. There are a lot of loose ends dangling in the end, and I can only hope there will be a follow up.
Ingen andra chans av Harlan Coben
Synopsis
När den första kulan träffade mig, tänkte jag på min dotter ... Och när Marc Seidman vaknar upp är han allvarligt skottskadad, hans fru dödad och deras sex månader gamla dotter Tara försvunnen- själv är han misstänkt för brottet. Tolv dagar tidigare levde han ett harmoniskt familjeliv utanför New York och arbetade som kirurg. Gör du inte som vi säger får du aldrig se din dotter igen. Du får ingen andra chans. När kidnapparna tar kontakt kopplas FBI in. Men utväxlingen misslyckas fullständigt. Tara är fortfarande borta. Ett och ett halvt år senare hör kidnapparna av sig igen. Den här gången litar inte Marc på FBI. Han bestämmer sig för att göra upp med kidnapparna på egen hand.
What I thought
A colleague that heard I liked the Dan Brown books recommended this book to me. And in many ways it is comparable to Dan Brown's books. It is fast paced and new things are happening all the time. There is no time to get bored. The language is normal, not particularly good, but not very bad either. Characters are a bit stale. But all in all a very good read.
En lycklig man av Arto Paasilinna
Synopsis
När brobyggnadsingenjör Akseli Jaatinen anländer till det lilla samhället Granbacka i uppdrag att bygga en stor betongbro, störs den rådande maktbalansen på orten. Som den hyggliga karl han är slår det väl ut med arbetsfolket, men med de styrande i kommunen skär det sig genast. Och när Jaatinen får följa med den hett eftertraktade kommunsekreteraren Irene Kopponen hem efter midsommardansen är det dags att sätta utbölingen på plats. Men Jaatinens hämnd blir ljuv.
What I thought
This book was like number 5 on Sweden's best selling books a month ago. Since I've been curious about the author and since it looked good, I decided to get it. It is a good book and I really enjoyed reading it. But it is a bit one-dimensional. The main character is too good at what he does or has too much luck. In the end it is all a bit too much. The main character is supposedly a nice guy, but (and this could be because the book is written in 1976) he still purports a lot of negative traits like thinking it's the women that should take care of cooking, cleaning etc. All in all a nice, quick read.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Synopsis
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands full-keeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wild-she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories
What I thought
Finally a book to like! The book has great characters with their own small quirks. It is well written and has an engaging story. The lives of the people, especially Leo, grab you. And the ending was great. Read it!
The Constant Gardener by John le Carre
Synopsis
Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carré's new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa's much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive. A master chronicler of the deceptions and betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, le Carré portrays, in The Constant Gardener, the dark side of unbridled capitalism. His eighteenth novel is also the profoundly moving story of a man whom tragedy elevates. Justin Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual bureaucrat, seemingly oblivious to his wife's cause, discovers his own resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love. The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time.
What I thought
This book came highly recommended by Amy. I just didn't get into it. It gets top marks for character development, but everything else is a bit slow. Not much is really happening. The story have kind of unfolded itself after half the book, and the rest is just, well, the main character's (slow) journey. I could have given the book a 7 if the ending would have been different; It didn't bring about anything new and it was way too depressing.
Kejsaren: Roms portar by Conn Iggulden
Synopsis
På ett gods utanför Rom växer två pojkar upp. Gajus är son till en nobel men inte speciellt framstående romare. Han och hans fosterbror Marcus är båda begåvade och de kostas på en avancerad fostran, bland annat i stridskonst under en legendarisk gladiator. Tillsammans förbereder de sig för ett liv som krigare och ledare och för alltid väver barndomen deras liv samman. Knappt vuxna hotas deras hem av ett slavuppror och de måste slåss för sina liv. Efter att ha förlorat sin familj flyr de till Rom. De hamnar mitt i en explosiv maktkamp som hotar republikens grundvalar. Gladiatorspel och intriger i senaten, krig i främmande länder och interna politiska konflikter är alla ingredienser i romanen Roms portar som berättar den otroliga historien om mannen som skulle bli den störste romaren av alla: Julius Caesar. Roms portar är första volymen i en historisk trilogi - Kejsaren - som blivit en stor succé både i USA och England.
What I thought
There are two good things about this book: That it deals with historical events about Caesar that I am interested in, and that it contains a lot of action. But the last thing is also its biggest problem. This book is fragmented and it feels like it is only moving from one action scene to the next. And they are way too gory. The language is bad, the character development awful. If it wasn't for the info on Caesar, I'd given this book a three.
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
'It looks like he died from injuries sustained during a fall...' Bestselling author Jasper Fforde begins an effervescent new series. It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Following the pathologist's careful reconstruction of Humpty's shell, Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his Sergeant Mary Mary are soon grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, the illegal Bearnaise sauce market, corporate politics and the cut and thrust world of international Chiropody. As Jack and Mary stumble around the streets of Reading in Jack's Lime Green Austin Allegro, the clues pile up, but Jack has his own problems to deal with. And on top of everything else, the JellyMan is coming to town...
What I Thought
Although all its good potential with weird plots, and even weirder characters, this book left me a bit detached. Sure, it was great with all the references to nursery characters and the ending was a real twister, changing the whole time. But I had still expected more.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Synopsis
'In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active. "It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge.' These dramatic words appeared in the final pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the midst of this battle of good and evil, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Voldemort's power and followers increasing day by day
What I Thought
As with all the previous books, I enjoyed this one very much. It is kind of following the same steps as the others. There is less time at Privet drive, but that just suited me fine, it has kind of been milked for what it has to offer already. A good story that is engaging the whole way. What I did not like is the ending. Without actually revealing what it is, it feels that that is not the way it would have happened, it was to quick and there would have been more of a fight.
The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
Synopsis
In a galaxy teeming with intelligent life-forms and dominated by the intensely hierarchical society known as the Mercatoria, the Ulubis system has been cut off from the rest of civilization for over a century as its citizens impatiently await the arrival of a starship carrying an artificial wormhole to replace one destroyed in a previous war. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer, an anthropologist who studies the Dwellers, the ancient, enigmatic species that inhabits gas giants throughout the galaxy, including Nasqueron in the Ulubis system. Fassin's research contains clues to the existence of a secret wormhole network, one operated by the Dwellers and free from the repressive control of the Mercatoria. Unfortunately, the monstrous ruler of a nearby star system has also learned of this discovery, as has the Mercatoria itself. Now two enormous battle fleets converge on Ulubis, and Fassin must undertake a quest deep into Nasqueron to uncover the Dwellers' secret.
What I Thought
I enjoyed reading this book, as I always do with Iain Banks. It was not one of his best, though. Although it was engaging and full of new things, it was still a bit slow. I also miss the teeming energy that the Culture novels have.
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Synopsis
In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.
What I Thought
Amy had praised the book, as had the reviews. I just did not like it. It was too weird. Strange things happened without any explanation and people behaved in weird ways. It was all just too much for me. It is strange, because I love science fiction and occasionally fantasy, but this book was different, even though it was supernatural at times. I will try one more book by the author (Norwegian Wood) and see if I like that one better.
Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
Mankind has endured centuries of horrific plague and a particularly brutal interstellar war ...but there is still no time for peace and quiet. Stirred from aeons of sleep, the Inhibitors - ancient alien killing machines - have begun the process of ridding the galaxy of its latest emergent intelligence: mankind. As a ragtag bag of refugees fleeing the first wave of the cull head towards an apparently insignificant moon light-years away, they discover an avenging angel, a girl born in ice. She has the power to lead mankind to safety, and the ability to draw down their darkest enemy. And on a planet where vast travelling cathedrals crawl towards the treacherous fissure known as Absolution Gap, an unsettling truth becomes apparent: to beat one enemy, it may be necessary to forge an alliance with something much, much worse ...With his first novel Reynolds laid the foundations of a galaxy-spanning future for mankind; with each novel he takes us further into that galaxy, revealing another aspect of a future that has few boundaries. This is the creation of a uniquely talented writer who is making a massive impact on world SF.
What I Thought
I both really liked and was disappointed with this book. I liked it because Alastair Reynolds writing is very engaging and he had some cool new things in the book. I did not like it because it felt too long. There was too little happening in too many pages. And the really interesting parts feel too short or cut off. I had expected more of the closing book in this trilogy.
Tjuvarnas marknad by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Huvudstaden drabbas av en rad ovanliga men mästerliga inbrott. De synnerligen initierade tjuvarna stjäl endast extremt värdefulla föremål. Det dröjer dock innan man inser att detta är en brottsserie med samma gärningsmän. Men till slut tillsätts en polisutredning bestående av erfarna och kunniga poliser som till sin förvåning plötsligt finner sig ingå i jakten på något så ointressant som vanliga tjuvar. Och någon utredning hade inte ens kommit till stånd om det inte vore för de enorma värden den nya överklassen förgyllt sina bostäder med. Medan polisen mödosamt arbetar med att förhöra och kartlägga, säkra tekniska bevis och samla dokumentation pågår i en annan del av staden en helt annan tillvaro med en helt annan vardag. Företagsledaren Henric Gundell lever ett bekymmerslöst liv bakom stängda dörrar i en diskret direktionskorridor. Han är visserligen välutbildad och vid det här laget en erfaren ledare med många beundrade och framgångsrika år bakom sig, men hans tillvaro har mer och mer kommit att handla om troféer. Både i ordets rätta bemärkelse - av honom själv nedlagda djur - och i form av diverse mer ljusskygga byten, några hundratals miljoner i bonus hit och några hundratals miljoner i pension dit … Till sin förvåning hamnar emellertid också han till slut uthängd på Tjuvarnas marknad.
What I Thought
This is the first audio book I've listened to. I mainly listened to it while running; and look: My times improved! Anyway, it's a pretty good book for that purpose: No frills or hard language. A straight plot. Enjoyable. I guess the most fun came from Guillou's scorn of the rich and their offspring. You can really feel his hate. It gets a bit too much sometimes though.
The time traveller's wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Synopsis
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant. An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.
What I Thought
I loved this book. Very well written and engaging. But what I liked most was the timetravelling and the problems that follow. Although this is not science fiction, it still gives the book that unpredictability I love with SF.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Synopsis
In a post-9/11 world, the present is as unpredictable as any future... Paid to predict the hottest trends, Cayce Pollard is in London to evaluate the redesign of a famous corporate logo when she's offered a different assignment: find the creator of the obscure, enigmatic video clips being uploaded to the Internet-footage that is generating massive underground buzz worldwide. Still haunted by the memory of her missing father-a Cold War security guru who disappeared in downtown Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001-Cayce is soon traveling through parallel universes of marketing, globalization, and terror, heading always for the still point where the three converge. From London to Tokyo to Moscow, she follows the implications of a secret as disturbing-and compelling-as the twenty-first century promises to be.
What I Thought
I really liked this book. It had a good pace and I just wanted to keep on reading. It is not quite science fiction, but still different enough to keep my SF side entertained.
Forever by Pete Hamill
Synopsis
This widely praised bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains...forever. Through the eyes of young Cormac O'Connor--granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan--we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know all the city's buried secrets--the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope.
What I Thought
Wow. This is one of those books that even though nothing really interesting is happening in it at the moment, it is still interesting to read because it is written so well and the author has made you that interested in the characters. This is the book that will be my first recommendation for a while when people ask me if I can recommend anything.
Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark
Synopsis
In Aiding and Abetting, the doyenne of literary satire has written a wickedly amusing and subversive novel around the true-crime case of one of England's most notorious uppercrust scoundrels and the "aiders and abetters" who kept him on the loose. When Lord Lucan walks into psychiatrist Hildegard Wolf's Paris office, there is one problem: she already has a patient who says he's Lucan, the fugitive murderer who bludgeoned his children's nanny in a botched attempt to kill his wife. As Dr. Wolf sets about deciding which of her patients, if either, is the real Lucan, she finds herself in a fierce battle of wills and an exciting chase across Europe. For someone is deceiving someone, and it may be the good doctor, who, despite her unorthodox therapeutic method (she talks mainly about her own life), has a sinister past, too. Exhibiting Muriel Spark's boundless imagination and biting wit, Aiding and Abetting is a brisk, clever, and deliciously entertaining tale by one of Britain's greatest living novelists.
What I Thought
I couldn't finish this book. It just annoyed me. The language was bad (described as 'direct' on the cover, the characters stuck up and the dialogue was painful.
First Meetings in Ender's universe by Orson Scott Card
Synopsis
Welcome to the Enderverse. When "Ender's Game" was first published as a novella twenty-five years ago few would have predicted that it would become one of the most successful ventures in publishing history. Expanded into a novel in 1985, Ender's Game won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Never out of print and translated into dozens of languages, it is the rare work of fiction that can truly be said to have transcended a genre. Ender's Game and its sequels have won dozens of prestigious awards and are as popular today among teens and young readers as adults. First Meetings is a collection of three novellas-plus the original "Ender's Game"-that journey into the origins and the destiny of one Ender Wiggin. "The Polish Boy" begins in the wake between the first two Bugger Wars when the Hegemony is desperate to recruit brilliant military commanders to repel the alien invasion. In John Paul Wiggin-the future father of Ender -they believe they may have found their man. Or boy. In "Teacher's Pestv-a novella written especially for this collection-a brilliant but insufferably arrogant John Paul Wiggin, now an American university student, matches wits with an equally brilliant graduate student named Theresa Brown. It is many years since the end of the Bugger Wars in "The Investment Counselor." Ender's reputation as a hero and savior has suffered a horrible reversal. Banished from Earth and slandered as a mass murderer, twenty-year-old Andrew Wiggin wanders incognito from planet to planet as a fugitive. Until a blackmailing tax inspector compromises his identity and threatens to expose Ender the Xenocide. Also reprinted here is the original landmark novella, "Ender's Game," which first appeared in 1977.
What I Thought
I usually can't stand short stories, but these four I loved. I have read the novel that is based on one of the stories, and it is one of the best science fiction books I've ever read. So there you go. The other three put that story more into perspective.
Fermats gåta by Marc Blake
Synopsis
The story of the solving of a puzzle that has confounded mathematicians since the 17th century. The solution of Fermat's Last Theorem is the most important mathematical development of the 20th century. In 1963, a schoolboy browsing in his local library stumbled across the world's greatest mathematical problem: Fermat's Last Theorem, a puzzle that every child can understand but which has baffled mathematicians for over 300 years. Aged just ten, Andrew Wiles dreamed that he would crack it. Wiles's lifelong obsession with a seemingly simple challenge set by a long-dead Frenchman is an emotional tale of sacrifice and extraordinary determination. In the end, Wiles was forced to work in secrecy and isolation for seven years, harnessing all the power of modern maths to achieve his childhood dream. Many before him had tried and failed, including a 18-century philanderer who was killed in a duel. An 18-century Frenchwoman made a major breakthrough in solving the riddle, but she had to attend maths lectures at the Ecole Polytechnique disguised as a man since women were forbidden entry to the school.
What I Thought
I usually have a really hard time getting through non fiction. But this book was really interesting. I guess it helped that it was about math, and that it was sprinkled with curious facts. But what really made it a good read is all the quirky personalities you get to know from the world of math. And the ending was actually exciting, even though you already knew what was going to happen in the end.
Bigtime by Marc Blake
Synopsis
Andy Crowe was dumped this morning, now he's stuck with a sick car and his arch-rival. Meanwhile, three villains are about to pull off a daring robbery. Take a service station on a rain-washed motorway, add a councillor, some feisty pensioners and a road-bound deity, and it's a recipe for disaster.
What I Thought
I thought this book would be funnier than it was. Maybe that's why I thought it was a middle of the road read. Nothing really stuck out. It was good for the moment, but didn't inspire me to read anything else Marc Blake has written.
Affinity by Sarah Waters
Synopsis
An upper-class woman, recovering from a suicide attempt, visits the women's ward of Millbank prison as part of her rehabilitation. There she meets Selina, an enigmatic spiritualist-and becomes drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina's freedom, and her own.
What I Thought
I really like the way Sarah Waters weave a story. Even though not that much is happening, it is still very interesting to read. The atmosphere is great and the people very interesting. I had expected more though. That is because her other book, Fingersmith, had one of the best stories I've read recently, where the whole intrigue changed totally half way through. This book is more ordinary, and the ending was a bit of a disappointment.
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellman in Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark's pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full- time job and Thursday decides it is definitely time to get her husband Landen back, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen's eradication, The Goliath Corporation- formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion- have pledged to right the wrong. But returning to SpecOps isn't a snap. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon's patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly faster if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don't win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that's not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care? Find out in this totally original, action-packed romp, sure to be another escapist thrill for Jasper Fforde's growing legion of fans.
What I Thought
I like Jasper Fforde a lot. Here he is back to his old self after the last book that was the weakest of the four he has written so far. This one is full of strange things and quirks. The story twists and turns and never gets dull. A splendid read.
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Synopsis
Although small and seemingly helpless, the Foundation had managed to survive against the greed of its neighboring warlords. But could it stand against the mighty power of the Empire, who had created a mutant man with the strength of a dozen battlefleets...?
What I Thought
So this is a classic. If you like science fiction, you are supposed to have read this book and to have liked it. I did not. Although it is written in 1953, it does a good job of surviving, mainly because things are pretty vague. But they still store information on tapes... Since the book is taking place over a long time, it fails to make you interested in the people. It got a bit better towards the end, but it was still very predictable and stale.
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
Synopsis
When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant, beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage--not by guns or bombs -- but by a code so complex that if released would cripple U.S. intelligence. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves.
What I Thought
Dan Brown is always Dan Brown. There is never a dull moment and the mysteries are very good. But the language is plain and the persons very one dimensional. A good read, but I can't help getting stuck on phrases that are incredibly corny.
Light by M. John Harrison
Synopsis
It's 1999, and British scientist Michael Kearney and his American partner, Brian Tate, are studying laboratory quantum physics; unbeknownst to them, they'll become the fathers of interplanetary travel. Kearney nervously holds a pair of predictive dice he's stolen from a frightening specter called the Shrander, whom he keeps at bay by committing random murders. Four hundred years in the future, K-ship captain Seria Mau Genlicher has gravely erred in splicing herself with a hijacked spacecraft called the White Cat-and now she wants out. There's also Ed Chianese, a burned-out interstellar surfer now spending his life within a reality simulation machine. His problem? Monetary debt to the nasty Cray sisters. As Kearney continues to narrowly evade the Shrander, he discovers that company CEO Gordon Meadows has sold the lab to Sony. All three story lines converge and find heavenly closure at the cosmological wonder known as the Kefahuchi Tract, a wormhole with alien origins bordered by a vast, astral "beach" where time and space are braided and interchangeable. This is space opera for the intelligentsia, as Harrison (Things That Never Happen) tweaks aspects of astrophysics, fantasy and humanism to hum right along with the blinking holograms in a welcome and long overdue return.
What I Thought
I had very high expectations on this book. It is covered with good reviews from all the science fiction magazines to the science fiction authors I love. But it was a disappointment. It was a bit too hard to follow. Things you have no clue what they are are introduced as if you should. And they are later explained several chapters away. But mostly I didn't like the characters. There is the serial killer that just continues to murder, the ship captain that kills her passengers etc. I suppose the reader is supposed to feel sorry for them and their tough lives and childhoods. It did not work with me.
Transmission by Hari Kunzru
Synopsis
In a networked world, anything can change in an instant, and sometimes everything does… Transmission, Hari Kunzru's new novel of love and lunacy, immigration and immunity, introduces a daydreaming Indian computer geek whose luxurious fantasies about life in America are shaken when he accepts a California job offer. Lonely and naïve, Arjun Mehta bides his time as a lowly assistant virus tester, pining away for his free-spirited colleague Christine. Despite building digital creatures in a feeble attempt to enhance his job security, Arjun gets laid-off like so many of his Silicon Valley peers. In an act of desperation to keep his job, he releases a mischievous but destructive virus around the globe that has major unintended consequences. As world order unravels, so does Arjun's sanity, in a rollicking cataclysm that reaches Bollywood and, not so coincidentally, the glamorous star of Arjun's favorite Indian movie.
What I Thought
I liked this book! Maybe it was because it deals with computers a bit. but I think it was ecause the characters were very human. It was a book where I considered not reading the paper in the morning but instead read the book. The only thing I did not like was the ending, which could have tied together more loose ends and explained more. I have been thinking about my rating system. This book was a very good read. But the language was very normal. So it cannot really get a rating of more than 8.
Svek by Karin Alvtegen
Synopsis
Eva och Henrik har levt tillsammans i femton år och har sonen Axel ihop. Deras äktenskap har sedan länge gått i stå och plötsligt inser Eva att Henrik har en annan kvinna. När han förnekar sin otrohet upplever Eva hans lögner som ett oförlåtligt svek och i vrede och desperation bestämmer hon sig för att hämnas. Samtidigt vakar Jonas vid en sjukhusbädd. I över två år har hans flickvän legat i koma efter en olycka. Alla dessa dagar har Jonas skött och älskat henne som om ingenting har hänt, men nu börjar hans tärande längtan efter närhet bli alltmer plågsam. Och han börjar bli besviken på Anna som vägrar vakna. Hon sviker honom ännu en gång. Både Jonas och Evas agerande är konsekvenser av andras handlingar och av en slump korsas deras vägar.
What I Thought
This book was a pleasant surprise. Amy had gotten it as a present. And I just needed something to read, and had nothing good at home. It was an easy read (it was in Swedish :), and the characters were engaging and fun to read about. I also liked how it highlights the daily life and problems people face.
Porno by Irvine Welsh
Synopsis
The Trainspotting lads are back...and in worse shape than ever. In the last gasp of youth, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson is back in Edinburgh. He taps into one last great scam: directing and producing a porn film. To make it work, he needs bedfellows: the lovely Nikki Fuller-Smith, a student with ambition, ego, and troubles to rival his own; old pal Mark Renton; and a motley crew that includes the neighborhood's favorite ex-beverage salesman, "Juice" Terry. In the world of Porno, however, even the cons are conned. Sick Boy and Renton jockey for top dog. The out-of-jail and in-for-revenge Begbie is on the loose. But it's the hapless, drug-addled Spud who may be spreading the most trouble. Porno is a novel about the Trainspotting crew ten years further down the line: still scheming, still scamming, still fighting for the first-class seats as the train careens at high velocity with derailment looming around the next corner.
What I Thought
I liked Trainspotting, so I thought I'd try this book. 111 pages into it I had to give up. It was mildly entertaining but what got me was that every other chapter was written in a Scottish accent - phonetically. Totally incomprehensible. Well, every page took twice as long to decipher as a normal page. I just didn' get any flow in the reading. So I finally gave it up when Amy asked me why I was torturing myself.
Bokhandlaren i Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
Synopsis
Våren efter talibanernas fall i Afghanistan tillbringade den norska journalisten Åsne Seierstad hos familjen Khan i Kabul. "Jag togs emot med öppna armar och trivdes bra i de afghanska klänningar som jag snart fick låna. Mina dagar var som familjens dagar, jag vaknade i gryningen av barnens skrik och männens befallningar. Sedan köade jag till badrummet, eller smög in när alla var klara. Resten av dagen var jag antingen hemma med kvinnorna, besökte släktingar och gick i basaren eller var med Sultan och sönerna i bokhandeln, på stan eller på resor. På kvällen åt jag middag tillsammans med familjen och drack grönt te tills det var dags att lägga sig." Bokhandlaren i Kabul är Åsne Seierstads skildring av en familj som söker sin plats i det nya Afghanistan, i kampen mellan det moderna och det traditionella. Det är berättelsen om ett land där dammet från ruinerna ligger tjockt, men också om en gryende vår och om ett folks försök att befria sig från en historia fylld av krig och förtryck - i hopp om ett bättre liv.
What I Thought
Oh, this book made me angry! I had no idea that the Afghan society was so incredibly patriarchal. Women are worth nothing. Their word not worth anything. They can not show their faces in public. Marriages are arranged. The (male) head of the family's word is law. The list just goes on. Nobody seems happy except maybe the top males, but even they seem to be preoccupied with others not getting the upper hand on them. I can definitely see why the bookshop keeper wanted to sue the author: He does not come across in any good light what so ever. I liked the book, though. You really get engaged in some of the person's life stories, and wish for them to break free. Unfortunately, this is not a book with a happy ending.
The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon
Synopsis
Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions. Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour's dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer, and turns to his favourite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As Christopher tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers into the workings of Christopher's mind
What I Thought
Somehow I did not like this book as much as the critics who raved about it (notable book etc etc). I didn't think it was funny, and sometimes it was embarrassing. I did however like the main person, and you really ache for him. A year ago I read 'Speed of dark', which also was about an autistic person. And I guess I compared with that book too much.
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
War has come to Discworld. again. And, to no one's great surprise, the conflict centers around the small, insufferably arrogant, strictly fundamentalist duchy of Borogravia, which has long prided itself on its ability to beat up on its neighbors. This time, however, it's Borogravia that's getting its long-overdue comeuppance, which has left the country severely drained of young men. Ever since her brother Paul marched off to battle a year ago, Polly Perks has been running The Duchess, her family's inn -- even though the revered national deity, Nuggan, has decreed that female ownership of a business is an Abomination. To keep The Duchess in the family, Polly must find her missing sibling. So she cuts off her hair, dons masculine garb, and sets out to join him in this man's army. Polly is afraid that someone will see through her disguise; a fear that proves groundless when the legendary Sergeant Jackrum accepts her without question. Or perhaps the sergeant is too desperate to discriminate -- which would explain why a vampire, a troll, a zombie, a religious fanatic, and two uncommonly close 'friends' are also eagerly welcomed into the fighting fold. Soon, Polly finds herself wondering about the myriad peculiarities of her new brothers-in-arms. It would appear that Polly 'Ozzer' Perks is not the only grunt with a secret.
What I Thought
I really like reading Terry Pratchett. He is one of my absolute favorite authors. While this book is good, I guess I had expected more. Pratchett's books have just gotten better and better lately, so I expected this one to beat the last. But it re-iterated too much, drawing out the last ounce from every situation. And sometimes it was a bit slow. I did like the theme of how women manages in a man's world, however.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Synopsis
When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.
What I Thought
This is a great book. It is well written, it deals with interesting existential issues and it is set in an environment you already know of, Oz. I could have given this book a better rating, if I just had gotten more into it. This has happened a few times: Logically I know that the book is great, but somehow it doesn't really grip me as much as I thought it should.
Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
Synopsis
Matt Cairns is a 21st-century outlaw Programmer who takes on the shady jobs no one else will touch. Against his better judgment, he accepts an assignment to crack the Marshall Titov, a top-secret orbital station operated by the European Space Agency. But what Matt will discover there will propel him on an extraordinary and quite unexpected journey. Gregor Cairns is an exobiology student and descendant of one of Terra Nova's first families. Hopelessly infatuated with a lovely young trader's daughter, he is unaware that his research partner, Elizabeth, has fallen in love with him. Together, Gregor and Elizabeth confront the great work his family began three centuries earlier-to rediscover the secret of interstellar travel. Ranging from a gritty near-future Earth to a distant alien world, Cosmonaut Keep is contemporary science fiction at its highest level, a visionary epic filled with daring individuals seeking a place for themselves in a vast, complex, and enigmatic universe.
What I Thought
It is now two weeks since I finished the book. And I had a hard time remembering what the book was about. Still, though, I remember that I liked it. And since it is the first in a series, I will most probably read the rest.
Ett öga rött by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Synopsis
Halim har genomskådat allt. Han har genomskådat Integrationsplanen. Han har genomskådat varför de intellektuella liknar halta kameler. Tyvärr har han också genomskådat sin pappa, som har övergett Kampen och som i stället bara talar om vikten av att tala bra svenska. Men Halim har en egen plan: han ska bli Sveriges mäktigaste revolutionsblatte. En tankesultan, som knäcker koderna och får de snyggaste gussarna. Ett öga rött är en rolig och sorglig berättelse om en ensam ung man, som vänder ut och in på både hjärnan och språket för att hitta sig själv och sin plats i världen.
What I Thought
I first thought I'd have a really hard time reading this book. It is written in immigrant-Swedish with incorrect Swedish and jumbled word order, and it took a couple of pages to get into the rhythm. I loved this book. It gives you a glimpse into the mind of an immigrant teenager in Sweden and how he perceives the world. It is interesting, engaging and the persons are very human. Read it!
Två nötcreme och en moviebox by Filip Hammar och Fredrik Wikingsson
Synopsis
Du minns "DDR-Sverige"? Televerket-Sverige? Ett Sverige där det blinkade uppe i tv:ns högra hörn när ett nytt program började i "den andra kanalen"? Två nötcreme och en moviebox är en humoristisk tillbakablick på ett Sverige som i dag känns uråldrigt, sett genom ögonen på två 70-talister som hävdar att deras uppväxt sammanföll med övergången från ett slags DDR-land till något mer världsvant. Nostalgiskt skimrande anekdoter om "bortkomna Stenmarksfarsor", grupprunkningsstunder efter gympan, "Rör inte min kompis"-knappar och Luciavakor blandas med subjektiva teorier om varför 70-talisterna blev som de blev. Den riktar sig således precis lika mycket till de tilltufsade 70-talisterna som till deras föräldrar, som här får en unik inblick i vad som egentligen pågick i deras avkommors medvetanden när hela familjen satt andäktig framför Razzel på lördagskvällarna.
What I Thought
It was great to read about and re-live the 80's. There were a lot of things I had forgotten (Vira Blåtira!) that were nice to smile at again. The book concentrated too much on the authors' time in grade 7-9, though, and therefore felt a bit constricted. It also lacked in depth. Not that I necessarily had expected any depth, but a lot of their reasoning seems to want to be more than it is. Overall a quick, sometimes fun read.
The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington
Synopsis
Rebecca Martin is a single mother with an apartment to rent and a sense that she has used up her illusions. I had the romantic thing with my first husband, thank you very much, she tells a hapless suitor. I'm thirty-eight years old, and I've got a daughter learning to read and a job I don't quite like. I don't need the violin music. But when the new tenant in her in-law apartment turns out to be Michael Christopher, on the lam after twenty years in a monastery and smack dab in the middle of a dark night of the soul, Rebecca begins to suspect that she is not as thoroughly disillusioned as she had thought. Her daughter, Mary Martha, is delighted with the new arrival, as is Rebecca's mother, Phoebe, a rollicking widow making a new life for herself among the spiritual eccentrics of the coastal town of Bolinas. Even Rebecca's best friend, Bonnie, once a confirmed cynic in matters of the heart, urges Rebecca on. But none of them, Rebecca feels, understands how complicated and dangerous love actually is. As her unlikely friendship with the ex-monk grows toward something deeper, and Michael wrestles with his despair while adjusting to a second career flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, Rebecca struggles with her own temptation to hope. But it is not until she is brought up short by the realities of life and death that she begins to glimpse the real mystery of love, and the unfathomable depths of faith.
What I Thought
It is hard to say why I continued to read and actually liked this book better than 'The Magician's Assistant', that I never finished. Well, this book was very well written, and flows very well, and the characters are very interesting and you get interested in them from the start. It is basically a girl-meets-boy tale. But instead of head over heels infatuation, we get a more guarded variant. I was however annoyed with her. She over analyzed everything and did not really enjoy it. She kept saying to him that it won't be easy etc. She expected him to be a prince in all aspects and did not allow for any faults. All in all an average book.
Down the Bright Way by Robert Reed
Synopsis
In the deepness of space there are millions of worlds like our own - and each with its own humanity. They are linked by the Bright, an ancient pathway between the stars created by an ancient, godlike race known only as the Makers. Now humanity travels the Bright, uniting its worlds to a common desiny. But the Bright can also be travelled by those bent on destruction - those who have chosen a different path, whose sole purpose is conquest.
What I Thought
This was a pretty ordinary science fiction book. It has a good background story, is well told and never really getting boring. The characters are bland. The person I thought would be the strong one ended up sitting in a corner. Some minor technological things don't make sense. But my biggest problem is that there are two major riddles, things you want to know i this book. And neither get answered.
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
Synopsis
When Parsifal, Sabine's husband of more than 20 years and the magician of the title, suddenly dies, she begins to discover how she's glimpsed him only through smoke and mirrors. He has managed to keep hidden the existence of a family in Nebraska--his mother, two sisters, and two nephews. Sabine approaches them hungrily, as if they are a bridge to her beloved husband and a key to the mysteries he left behind.
What I Thought
I never finished this book. I had read 'Bel Canto' from the same author, and loved it. So last summer I bought this book in a great bookstore in New Mexico. The book is very well written. And it is pretty engaging. But I guess it wasn't what I thought it would be. I had expected mysteries and magic. What I got was feelings and misery. Which can be fine, but not when there isn't anything else to weight it up.
Tears of the giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
Synopsis
'The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency', published in 1998, introduced the world to the one and only Precious Ramotswe - the engaging and sassy owner of Botswana's only detective agency. 'Tears of the Giraffe', McCall Smith's latest novel, takes us further into this world as we follow Mma Ramotswe into more daring situations ... Among her cases this time are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids, and the challenge to resolve a mother's pain for her son who is long lost on the African plains. Indeed, Mma Ramotswe's own impending marriage to the most gentlemanly of men, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, the promotion of Mma's secretary to the dizzy heights of Assistant Detective, and the arrival of new members to the Matekoni family, all brew up the most humorous and charmingly entertaining of tales.
What I Thought
This is a feel good book. I am a bit torn about the books in this series. I enjoy reading them, and they are an easy, great read. But at the same time it feels like they lack something I can't put my finger on. I will however read the following books in the series.
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
The Inhibitors are back and Humanity is doomed! Many, many millennia ago, the Inhibitors seeded the universe with machines designed to detect intelligent life - and then to suppress it. But after hundreds of millions of years, the machines started to fail and intelligent cultures started to emerge. Then Dr Dan Sylveste and the crew of Infinity discovered what had happened to the long-vanished Amarantin race ... and awakened the Inhibitors. On Yellowstone, where no one is quite who they appear, the Inquisitor and the planet's Most Wanted War Criminal are watching as the Inhibitors turn a small group of planets into raw materials. Whatever they are building with those materials is not going to be good for Humanity.
What I Thought
I must confess that this book was a disappointment. The previous books from Alastair Reynolds have been really good. But this one was pretty ordinary. Nothing new was introduced. But what really bothered me, was that a lot of times things did not make sense. People did not react in plausible ways and things did not happen in believable ways.
Enligt Maria Magdalena by Marianne Fredriksson
Synopsis
En dag letade jag efter en uppgift i Nag Hammadi Library och råkade slå upp de fragment som finns kvar av Maria Magdalenas evangelium. Där redogör hon för vad Jesus sagt i personliga samtal till henne. Bland annat: "Forma inga levnadsregler om detta som jag har uppenbarat för er. Skriv inga lagar så som lagskrivarna gör." Och det slog mig: Här kanske fanns en med öron att höra, ögon att se och förstånd att begripa. Den lärjunge som Jesus älskade mest. Och en kvinna utan makt att påverka. Så föddes min Maria Magdalena - Marianne Fredriksson. Maria Magdalena var den främsta av Jesus kvinnliga lärjungar. Hon finns omnämnd i de fyra evangelierna och var en av många kvinnor som fanns i Jesus närhet. I Marianne Fredrikssons tionde roman lämnar hon myten och träder fram som en levande kvinna med ett intressant öde, ett förflutet och en framtid och ger oss också en kvinnlig aspekt på kristendomen.
What I Thought
I liked this book because it gave a different view on Jesus and the people around him. It made me think and question. The book is a quick and easy read. Sometimes it lacked in focus and oomph, but mostly it was a joy to read.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Synopsis
When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death, and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swingset.) With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief--her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor--and begin the difficult process of healing.
What I Thought
This book came recommended, it looked good after reading the backside, and it is a bestseller. But I didn't like it. There is just too much misery. Everybody wallows in it. And everything is moving painfully slowly ahead. I thought the book would have a different take on life after death. But it almost exclusively concerns itself with life on earth for the ones left behind.
Mothership by John Brosnan
Synopsis
Shrewd, devious, cunning and a born liar - but as a Court Jester, Jad's a disaster. So when he's sent off with the warlord's son, Prince Kender, on a spying mission, he's hoping that his less desirable traits will actually save his life. Since the Day of Wonder, when all the electric lights stopped working, there have been rumours of unrest in the neighbouring domains ... and no one has seen hide nor hair of any of the Elite, the ruthless technocrat class that have ruled Urba for centuries. What most of the inhabitants don't realise is that their world of Urba is actually a giant spacecraft, an ark built more than a thousand years ago to save as much of the Earth's population as possible before the sun went nova. The Elite were originally the ship's crew, and as a social experiment, the ship's population were forced to live a pseudo-mediaeval life ... and as the centuries passed, the Elite became decadent, corrupt and cruel and the truth about Urba became hidden. And now Jad and his courageous - if thick - Prince are about to find out what happened to the Elite - and what's happening to the people of Urba ...
What I Thought
This book is like a Grisham for science fiction. It means that it is a fast read with a lot of things happening. While very enjoyable, it does not really delve deeply into the characters. And sometimes just to get the plot going, things are happening a bit too smoothly and easily. But it was well worth the read, and I really liked Brosnan's humor. I will probably pick up his previous trilogy to see how it is.
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
Synopsis
Glen David Gold's literary debut dazzled critics and fans from coast to coast. The response to Glen David Gold's debut novel, Carter Beats the Devil was extraordinary. He hypnotized us with his portrait of a 1920s magic-obsessed America and of Charles Carter -- a.k.a. Carter the Great -- a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeded even that of the great Houdini. Filled with historical references that evoke the excesses and exuberance of Roaring Twenties pre-Depression America, Carter Beats the Devil is a complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical and sometimes dangerous world, where illusion is everything.
What I Thought
This was a really good book. It is well told, captures you with a great story and people and is imaginative. It also captures the ambience of the 1920's. I read the book a bit chopped up, some short minutes here and some there. If I'd been able to read it more continuously, I think the book would have been even better and more kept together. It contained a lot of references to things that happened earlier in the book, and I had some problems with remembering everything. Otherwise I think I'd given the book a 9.
Summerland by Michael Chabon
Synopsis
A BookSense 76 pick, and best-seller from coast to coast-Summerland is part fantasy, part adventure, part baseball, but most of all it's the story of a young boy, Ethan Feld-a lousy, but lovable little-leaguer who finds himself playing in the most important baseball game ever. Not only the game, but the fate of the world rests on his shoulders.
What I Thought
I loved 'The amazing adventured of Kavalier and Clay' by Michael Chabon. So I had high hopes for this book. I was disappointed. I just never got into the book. I was not interested in what was going to happen next or what the end would be like. And small things about the story telling annoyed me, like the author was writing it for kids. After 150 pages i gave up.
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Synopsis
An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target. World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth...the long-forgotten Illuminati lair.
What I Thought
After reading The Da Vinci Code, I was looking forward to this book. and it was a good read; Fast-paced, plot twists and never a dull moment. Sure, it's not 'fine' literature, the attempts at describing romance are laughable and the language is nothing to write home about. But that is forgotten when it is all hidden in a very good story.
Strata by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
The Company builds planets. Kin Arad is a high-ranking official of the Company. After twenty-one decades of living, and with the help of memory surgery, she is at the top of her profession. Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized plesiosaur in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard which reads 'End Nuclear Testing Now', doesn't dismay the woman who built a mountain range in the shape of her initials during her own high-spirited youth. But then came a discovery of something which did intrigue Kin Arad. A flat earth was something new ...
What I Thought
This is one of Terry Pratchett's first works, pre-dating the discworld. It is a bit unpolished and does not flow as well as his later books. But you recognized his way of writing. Something that surprised me was that his usual wittiness was missing. It is a good book, with a lot of funny ideas, but that quirky wittiness was not really there. It is a good book, though, and I enjoyed it very much.
Running with scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Synopsis
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor's bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock-therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.
What I Thought
I didn't really like this book until I had read a lot of it. It could have been hilarious, but the fact that all the insanity was for real, made it a bit too dark for me. But this book can be very funny, and I sat with a huge smile reading some passages. And after a while, I really liked the main characters. So the book became very warm and interesting.
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton
Synopsis
In AD 2329, humanity has colonised over four hundred planets, all of them interlinked by wormholes. With Earth at its centre, the Intersolar Commonwealth now occupies a sphere of space approximately four hundred light years across. When an astronomer on the outermost world of Gralmond, observes a star 2000 light years distant - and then a neighbouring one - vanish, it is time for the Commonwealth to discover what happened to them. For what if their disappearance indicates some kind of galactic conflict? Since a conventional wormhole cannot be used to reach these vanished stars, for the first time humans need to build a faster-than-light starship, the Second Chance. But it arrives to find each 'vanished' star encased in a giant force field -- and within one of them resides a massive alien civilisation.
What I Thought
This was my first encounter with Peter F. Hamilton, and it was a good one. I really like this kind of hardcore science fiction with a lot of new concepts and 'alienry'. The book was a bit talkative, describing everything in minute detail. Take that away and the book might have been 600 pages instead of 900. People portraits were good ...and detailed. I guess. But I still felt a bit detached from most characters. And it was a very male world, where male ideals still reigned. That was a bit hard for me to take. People I did not think were worth admiration, the author apparently did. But all in all a very good read.
The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
Synopsis
In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches its protagonist into a world of seductive loveliness and nightmarish intrigue. And as he follows Drake's journey, Mason dazzles readers with his erudition, moves them with his vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in the unbreakable spell of his storytelling.
What I Thought
This is one of those books you just want to continue and continue. It's also one of those books, where the actual story does not seem so important, because the weave the telling is making is so mesmerizing. The story is very good, though. It is a very warm book. And Burma is described so you get a very good idea of what it looked like. Read it!
Jordens smartaste ord by Fredrik Lindström
Synopsis
Fredrik Lindströms författardebut, Världens dåligaste språk, blev en bästsäljare och något av en bibel för dem som vill använda och utveckla språket istället för att agera språkpolis mot sin omgivning. Jordens smartaste ord är den naturliga fortsättningen: här tas allehanda språkfenomen upp som namn och smeknamn, fula ord och svordomar, språkmyter, nya ord och svensk mentalitet. Än en gång bjuder Lindström på kunskap och språkfilosofi i sin mest underhållande form.
What I Thought
This was a cozy book about the Swedish language. I always love reading about anecdotes and etymology. Sometimes the book goes a bit too much into detail. Like when names and where they come from are described. Even though he is not really sure, a lot of names are gone through. Half would have been enough. But all in all, it was well written, engaging and fun book.
Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan
Synopsis
Twenty thousand years into the future, an experiment in quantum physics has had a catastrophic result, creating an enormous, rapidly expanding vacuum that devours everything it comes in contact with. Now humans must confront this deadly expansion. Tchicaya, aboard a starship trawling the border of the vacuum, has allied himself with the Yielders -- those determined to study the vacuum while allowing it to grow unchecked. But when his fiery first love, Mariama, reenters his life on the side of the Preservationists -- those working to halt and destroy the vacuum -- Tchicaya finds himself struggling with an inner turmoil he has known since childhood. However, in the center of the vacuum, something is developing that neither Tchicaya and the Yielders nor Mariama and the Preservationists could ever have imagined possible: life.
What I Thought
Sooo boring. It all sounded interesting, but Greg Egan manages to kill all excitement. This is partly due to too much physics explained and partly because the characters are like paper figures. It's like he wanted to write a physics book but wrapped it up in a novel. And the physics isn't even real, it's just his imagination. I should have trusted my intuition and dropped the book before 100 pages were read.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Synopsis
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can deipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive hysterical truth -- will be lost forever.
What I Thought
This is a really good book. It is fast paced and its twists and turns are very unpredictable and interesting. It is a fast read, and one of those books you don't want to put down. I loved the riddles and references to Da Vinci. Although it talked a lot of the symbology in Da Vinci's works, there weren't as many hidden meanings as the book cover tries to make you believe. The most interesting part was about how women have been shunted from history by the church the past two millennia. How the church have devalued women. I would really like to read more about that.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Synopsis
Fingersmith is the third slice of engrossing lesbian Victoriana from Sarah Waters. Although lighter and more melodramatic in tone than its predecessor, Affinity, this hypnotic suspense novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets, orphans, grim prisons, lunatic asylums, "laughing villains", and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad." Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. Waters's penchant for byzantine plotting can get a bit exhausting, but even at its densest moments--and remember, this is smoggy London circa 1862--it remains mesmerizing. A damning critique of Victorian moral and sexual hypocrisy, a gripping melodrama, and a love story to boot, this book ingeniously reworks some truly classic themes
What I Thought
I liked this book. The twists are very well made, and I kept reading just to see what would happen next. Waters uses a bit too many words though. If the book had been more to the point and not considered itself describing everything in tiniest detail, this would have been an excellent read.
Koka makaroner by Johan Nilsson
Synopsis
Boken Koka makaroner är skriven av göteborgaren Johan Nilsson under de sex månader som han var pappaledig med sin son Elon. I korta eller lite längre situationsbilder får vi följa den här nya lilla familjen under cirka ett år. Boken är inte kronologisk, snarare filosofisk. Vi får ur en nybliven pappas perspektiv vara med om förlossning, stunden då de magiska första orden uttalas och höstpromenader längs vägar där andra föräldrar (bara mammor) också går med sina barnvagnar. Johan beskriver t.ex. hur han kokar kaffe och försöker gå på toaletten, en vardagssituation som med en klängande unge (som försöker få ner handen i toalettstolen) inte alltid är så lätt.
What I Thought
I really read this book at the right time (thanks Mia!). I thought the book would contain small funny anecdotes about how it is being a father. It turned out it was more serious than that. He reflects on the ups and downs of his relationship with his son and wife. It is a very good book and an easy read. It made me think a lot about my own forthcoming role.
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
Sam Vimes, running hero of the Guards sequence, finds himself cast back in time to the Ankh-Morpork of his youth--a much nastier city, with an actively deranged Patrician and a sadistic secret police--and finding himself filling in for Keel, the tough honest copper who teaches the young Vimes everything he knows. And, more worryingly, who dies heroically in the insurrection Vimes knows to be imminent. With a psychopath from his own time rising in the vile ranks of the Cable Street Unmentionables complicating things, Vimes has to ensure that history takes its course so that he will have the right future to go back to, and to keep his younger self alive
What I Thought
Terry Pratchett is always Terry Pratchett. And this book does not really let you down. I think that the Disc world books just get better and better. This one is not quite as good as the last ones though. Do not get me wrong - I loved it. But it lacked some certain something.
Burning City by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Synopsis
Set in the world of Niven's popular The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports readers to an enchanted ancient city that often bears a provocative resemblance to our own modem society. Here Yagen-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of fire, holds sway, alternately protecting and destroying the city's denizens. In Tep's Town, nothing can burn indoors and no fire can start: by accident -- except when the Burning comes upon the city. Then the people, possessed by Yagen-Atep, set their own town ablaze in a riotous orgy of destruction that often comes without warning. Whandall Placehold has lived with the Burning all his life. Fighting his way to adulthood in the mean-but-magical streets of the city's most blighted neighborhoods, Whandall alone dreams of escaping the god's wrath to find a new and better life. But his best hope for freedom may lie with Morth of Atlantis, the enigmatic sorcerer who killed his father!
What I Thought
This book looked like it would be very good reading on the cover. But it was not. I did not like the main character. The book failed at developing the interesting themes. And it just did just not go anywhere.
Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington
Synopsis
Pel Dalton's life is uneventful. He spends his days bluffing through an IT job in the university library, pillow-fighting with his two sons and finding new things to argue about with Ursula, his German girlfriend. But all this is about to change. When his boss suddenly disappears, and Pel steps reluctantly into his shoes, his life begins to spiral out of control. Stolen money, missing colleagues, ominous calls from Hong Kong, and something nasty beneath the university foundations are only the beginning of Pel's problems. Faced with embarrassing PTA meetings and a fridge that really needs defrosting, Pel is about to learn that sometimes the things that drive you crazy can be the only things that keep you sane.
What I Thought
I picked up this book because I had enjoyed the website of the author, www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com. The website is very witty. So is the book. But it feels more like a stand up comedy act than a book. The dialogue is funny and witty. However, the arguments with the girlfriend makes you think that they are each other's worst enemies. On the web page, you can see that he still loves his real girlfriend, but that the word fighting is only a charade. The book is not as good in getting that across. And the book isn't really about anything. Sure, there is some mafia connections and illegal stuff, but nothing really comes from it. It is not developed.
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
The main narrative stars trained killer Tanner Mirabel, a man hell-bent on revenge, who stalks his enemy Reivich from the world Sky's Edge across a 15-year interstellar gap to the gaudy, poisoned melting pot of Chasm City. Flashbacks reveal the violent events and worse repercussions that so badly twisted Mirabel and others. Virus-induced dreams provide a third story line from inside the head of legendary traitor-messiah Sky Haussmann, who long ago shaped the original colonisation of Sky's Edge and whose real story never got into the history books.
What I Thought
I really liked this book. It is science fiction at its (almost) best. It is packed with detail, about technology and about people. It is interesting that the main story concerns the identity of the main character. A lot of science fiction novels seem to be written for the sake of the technology involved. But here the story is about a person and what he discovers about himself. The reason I did not give it a higher rating is mainly that the book could have been more engaging and a bit better told. But all in all this is a fantastic book.
The Well Of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
It's almost impossible to summarise the amazing adventures in which the beguiling (and confused) Ms Next becomes involved, but after she leaves Swindon (and her life inside an unpublished book called Caversham Heights), she becomes involved in the inauguration of a golden age of fictional narrative. But this turns out to be a very dangerous experience, and she finds herself having strange encounters with Dickens' Miss Havisham (even more eccentric than she was in Great Expectations) and enduring an unsettling journey into the world of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. But who is the villain laying waste to her memories? And will she come to terms with the fact that her husband Landen exists only in her mind?
What I Thought
I did expect a lot from this book. 'The Eyre Affair' and 'Lost In A Good Book' from the same author are among my all time favorites. Although this book is the weakest of the three, it is still very good. The characters are still hilarious and very human. The plot is twisting and turning and you never really know what to expect. And the book is full of jokes and an imagination at full power. This book was weaker because it did not take the overall story of the three books any longer. It did not really have the full force of the last two books. But I cannot wait until next year when the fourth book will be out!
The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time by Preston B. Nichols
Synopsis
The Montauk Project chronicles the most amazing research project in recorded history. After the Philadelphia experiment of 1943, forty years of massive research ensued, culminating in bizarre experiments at Montauk Point (on Long Island, NY) that tapped the powers of creation and actually manipulated time itself. A first hand account by Preston Nichols, this book gives a fascinating account of the research along with an intriguing personal story. Now, for the first time ever, the basic theory and practical application of time travel is explained.
What I Thought
The book says you can read it as science fiction but that it is presented as non-fiction. It does not work as science fiction. It doesn't really have a storyline and it is very, very poorly written. The story is erratic and is hard to follow. Important concepts are not explained while the author goes into great detail about unimportant ones. As non-fiction it could have been very interesting. I read it because I wanted to know more about the concept of time and experiments done in the area. Unfortunately, I think I approached it incorrectly. I was looking for a scientifical explanation, while the book has no hard facts or evidence at all. Everything written in it has to be taken at face value. The author totally lost me when he started talking about aliens helping out constructing devices and people making solid objects (including buildings) materialize by using a brain scanner.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Synopsis
It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun.
What I Thought
This is an amazing book. It is one of those rare reads where I was hooked from the start. There is not a single dull page, Chabon fills them all with great and interesting detail.
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Synopsis
Bear draws on state-of-the-art biological and anthropological research to give us an ingeniously plotted thriller that questions everything we believe about human origins and destiny -- as civilization confronts the next terrifying step in evolution. A mass grave in Russia that conceals the mummified remains of two women, both with child -- and the conspiracy to keep it secret... a major discovery high in the Alps: the preserved bodies of a prehistoric family -- the newborn infant possessing disturbing characteristics... a mysterious disease that strikes only pregnant women, resulting in miscarriage. Three disparate facts that will converge into one science-shattering truth. Molecular biologist Kaye Lang, a specialist in retroviruses, believes that ancient diseases encoded in the DNA of humans can again come to life. But her theory soon becomes chilling reality. For Christopher Dicken -- a 'virus hunter' at the Epidemic Intelligence Service -- has pursued an elusive flu-like disease that strikes down expectant mothers and their offspring. The shocking link: something that has slept in our genes for millions of years is waking up. Now, as the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dicken and Lang, along with anthropologist Mitch Rafelson, must race against time to assemble the pieces of a puzzle only they are equipped to solve. An evolutionary puzzle that will determine the future of the human race... if a future exists at all.
What I Thought
Another book that looked like it would be a great read. At least if you believed the quotes from reviews. It turned out to be wrong. First of all the book is crammed with scientific fact. Crammed. It obscures the story completely. It is like Bear was not interested in telling a story, but wanted to show off his theories. Secondly, I never really got into the characters. There is nothing that really tells them apart. Except for the four-five major characters, I had a really hard time telling the others apart. Since I am pretty bad at remembering names, it shows that the characters must have been pretty bland for their traits not to stand out and be remembered. The story sounded very promising, but Bear manages to botch it, not even succeeding in making me want to know what is going to happen. And the ending was not worth it either, anticlimax.
Arvet efter Arn by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Ingrud Ylva blev en legend redan i sin livstid vid mitten av 1200-talet. Hon var en av flera starka änkor som styrde riket efter de blodiga segrarna mot Danmark. Om henne sades att hon var trollkunnig och att så länge hon höll sitt huvud högt skulle intet ont drabba folkungaätten. Med järnvilja fostrade hon sina söner i en skoningslös tid där den starkares rätt var den enda lag som gällde. Att just en av hennes söner till slut skulle segra i maktkampen kunde inte ha förvånat någon. Men med en hänsynslöshet som till och med skrämde hans samtid krossade Birger Magnusson maffiaväldet för all framtid. Och de lagar han stiftade om hemfrid, kyrkofrid och kvinnofrid blev rikets norm för 600 år framåt. Historien känner honom som Birger jarl, Stockholms grundare och Sveriges skapare. Men sagan om Birger är mycket större än så. Arn Magnusson må ha varit ett helgon. Det var sannerligen inte Birger. Men han var en segrare som inte vek undan för moraliska eller praktiska hinder på sin väg från yngling i Västra Götaland till riksbyggare. Arvet efter Arn är en vacker och blodig riddarsaga där marken skälver under dundrande hästhovar och skummet yr om korsfararnas fartygsbogar på väg österut. Det är också berättelsen om förlorad kärlek som en del av maktens höga pris.
What I Thought
I mostly picked up this book because I have read the previous three (and because I got it for free). The book contains all the 'heroic' acts, fighting and shuffling for power as the previous books did. It still gets a bit boring. Guillou doesn't add anything new and it all feels a bit old. It is interesting to read about how Sweden came about, though. The only question is how accurate this book is about that.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Synopsis
As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or will it?
What I Thought
Harry Potter is always Harry Potter. It is full of magic and it is never dull. There is always something new happening. J.K. Rowling knows how to tell a good story. It is true however what people have said about it: It is a dark book. Too dark for my taste. It wouldn't have hurt to liven it up a bit. As it is now, Harry is always in a foul mood and most of the people around Harry, Ron and Hermione are evil and mean. This book also lacked in aim. In the previous books there has always been a riddle or something building up. This book didn't really have that. It was more a story about Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. All in all, it is a good book, well worth the read.
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Synopsis
This distant-past/far-future, hard sci-fi tour de force probes a galaxy-wide enigma: why does spacefaring humanity encounter so few remnants of intelligent life? Excavating the 900,000-year-old Amarantin civilization on its home world, Resurgam, archaeologist Dan Sylveste discovers evidence of a splinter cult that abandoned Resurgam for the stars but returned, only to be swallowed up by a mysterious cataclysm that destroyed all the Amarantins. Aboard the Nostalgia for Infinity, a vast light-hugger ship in interstellar space, the ominous Triumvirate of cyborg starfarers seeks Sylveste to heal its captain, afflicted by the deadly Melding Plague, which turns once-humans into their own semisentient spaceships. In Chasm City on the slum-ridden world of Yellowstone, assassin Ana Khouri joins the Nostalgia's crew intent on killing Sylveste.
What I Thought
Excellent book! One of these books that contain so much that you are just blown away. As hard science fiction goes, Alastair Reynolds is not far behind my favorite author, Iain Banks. The only reason I did not give this book a rating of 10 is that character portraits could have been a tad better.
Nectar by Lily Prior
Synopsis
Ramona Drottoveo is a haughty, unsightly albino woman whose sole asset is her intoxicating and magical aroma. She works as a chambermaid at a luxurious Italian country estate where men desire her and she readily satiates their lust. In an act of defiance, she marries the one man who resisted her, the quiet beekeeper. But when he catches her with another man on their wedding day, he kills himself. When the beekeeper's body disappears and strange events befall the estate, the townspeople blame Ramona and her lover. Exiled, they end up in Naples, where Ramona continues to use her sexually charged aroma to get what she wants.
What I Thought
This book should have been good: It had an excellent idea to build on and was told in a funny way. But I did not really like it. I did not like the main character (which I guess you were not supposed to). And the story was too fleeting for my taste. Still, I recommend this book, because it is a quick and different read.
Marrow by Robert Reed
Synopsis
Set on an ancient starship as big as Jupiter, Marrow is epic hard science fiction with a millennia spanning plot. A near immortal, genetically re-engineered humanity is the first to reach the derelict ship, approaching from the emptiness of intergalactic space. Taking command, the captains set the ship on a half-million year long galactic cruise, opening the vessel to thousands of races and playing host.
What I Thought
This book has great imagination and a lot of details. That combined with pretty good character portraits makes this a great book. Reed is writing in the same category as Iain M. Banks, although Banks is better. This was my first read of Reed (no pun intended) and I will definitely try some more of his books.
Mannen med oxhjärtat by Inger Frimansson
Synopsis
Brandmannen Stefan Almgren har i panik slitit av sig masken i en rökfylld lokal - hans liv går inte att rädda. Det är något konstigt med hans död och när flera olyckor drabbar brandmännen på Östermalms brandstation i Stockholm, börjar de misstänka ett samband mellan händelserna. Men hur ser sambandet ut?
What I Thought
This book should really have gotten a rating of '-'. I should have stopped reading it when I had the chance. The story is really bad, nothing is happening and you can't see where it's going at all. The persons are stale. There are hardly any nice persons in this book, nobody to identify with. And don't even get me started about the ending...
Midnight Voices by John Saul
Synopsis
The sudden, tragic death of her husband leaves Caroline Evans alone in New York City to raise her children with little money and even less hope. When she meets and marries handsome, successful Anthony Fleming, the charismatic man of her dreams, she believes her life is destined for happiness. She and her children move into her new husband's spacious apartment in the legendary Rockwell on Central Park West. Despite her son's instinctive misgivings about the building and its residents, Caroline dismisses the odd behavior of her neighbors as pleasant eccentricities. But after her daughter begins to experience horrifying nightmares and a startling secret emerges, Caroline realizes that the magnificence of her new home masks a secret of unimaginable horror. . . .
What I Thought
Blaha. A pretty ordinary horror story. Due to the easy language and a story that flows pretty well, it wasn't the really bad read it could have been. But it didn't give me much either. It's like watching Big Brother or something on TV: Mildly enjoyable, but there are so many better things to watch. And it's horror. It made me remember why I stopped reading Stephen King. Does he make up the things so they can be as disgusting as possible? The book uses stereotypes heavily, making it feel too rigid and not plausible. It had some nice and exciting hide-and-seek moments in the end, but overall a poor read.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Synopsis
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to "help people with problems in their lives." Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing 11-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
What I Thought
I warmly recommend this book. It is a quick read and very engaging. I liked that is was set in Africa, not something many books we buy in the western world are. I loved that the main character was a voluptuous woman making her very beautiful by her culture's standards. The detective mysteries are short but very imaginative. They are solved with cunning and a bit of luck. The only reason I did not give this book a rating of 8, is that it is a bit fragmented, the cases are not that well kept together.
The Summons by John Grisham
Synopsis
An intelligent, low-key thriller, The Summons continues John Grisham's exploration of the common decencies of a strain of American commercial story-telling in literature and film that we often link to the work of Frank Capra or O Henry. He is not afraid of parable or of setting up situations that are at once archetypal and attractively specific. This is a tale of two brothers--one is righteous, more or less, and one is not--and a question of their inheritance. Ancient Mississippi judge Atlee summons his two sons to his deathbed, but dies before he can explain himself, leaving Ray, who arrives on time unlike his drunkard brother Forest with the difficult problem of the three million dollars in used notes which are lying around the house in shoe-boxes. Ray worries about his father's posthumous reputation, about the Inland Revenue Service and about how quickly Forrest could drink himself to death with unlimited funds.
What I Thought
This was a disappointment. Although the book is a very quick read, nothing much seems to be happening in it. Sure, the ending has a twist, but up until then, there is really not that much of a plot.
Nickel and Dimed - On (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Synopsis
Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet. As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.
What I Thought
This is another of those books that make me angry. It shows how people are followers and rule abiders. Sheep, not thinking themselves, or having given up thinking they can change anything. People live under the poorest circumstances, but nobody cares to help them. This is a quick and good read. As well as showing the problems for poor workers in the States, it is a funny read when Barbara struggles with her jobs.
Den vidunderliga kärlekens historia by Carl-Johan Vallgren
Synopsis
1813 föds ett missbildat monster på en bordell i tyska Bayern. Barnets ben är korta som på en dvärg, armarna är outvecklade, ryggen är pälsklädd, ansiktet är helt deformerat och tungan är tudelad. Han saknar öron och är både döv och stum. Han får namnet Hercule Barfuss (= barfota). Samma natt på samma bordell föds Hercules motpol - en flicka lika vacker som han är ful. Hercule och Henriette växer upp tillsammans och de kommer att älska varandra förutsättningslöst, trots att de är så olika. När onda krafter skiljer dem åt inleds den riktiga berättelsen. Hercule söker Europa runt efter sin älskade Henriette och han råkar ut för många äventyr, träffar vänner och gör sig ovänner. Som kompensation för sin dövhet har Hercule fått den skrämmande gåvan att han kan läsa andra människors tankar. Han upptäcker så småningom att han även har makten att påverka dessa tankar. Han får nytta av denna kraft att styra andra, både människor och djur, till sin egen favör när det som tidigare var en kärlekshistoria blir en berättelse om hämnd.
What I Thought
This book incorporates a lot of what I want from a book: Great character portraits, a very different story, great pace and a vivid imagination with some supernatural events thrown in. This is a really good book.
Before & After by Matthew Thomas
Synopsis
A dark, deadpan millennial tale. 'The sheep shall be the first sign. Those that frolic and hop will detonate with great concussions, The strongest glues will not hold them, their suffering will go unheeded, Until the Great Triangles depart' From the Lost Centuries of Nostradamus: Quatrain v11.5 So it begins: the end of the world. The Apocalypse is at hand, afoot, in your face -- wherever -- it's going to affect you, mentally and physically. Ask Colin the sheep about it and he'd probably say 'BOOOM!' which isn't very helpful but then he has just exploded. Ask Professor Michael D. Nostrus, history teacher at a redbrick university and formerly the sometimes-vaguely-accurate prophet Nostradamus, and he might give you a piece of advice along the lines of: hole up in a Welsh farmhouse with an attractive young woman and read books like THE SAS SURVIVAL GUIDE: KILL SQUIRRELS THE WAY THE PROFESSIONALS DO. Some people think he's mad...Professor Michael D. Nostrus knows better. After all, he's had 500 years to work out what to do...
What I Thought
I like this book. It is totally crazy and you have no idea what is going to happen next. It is a bit like the Jasper Fforde books I recently discovered. Things just roll on and it is never boring because so many strange things are happening. I will definitely read more from Matthew Thomas.
Lord Nevermore by Agneta Pleijel
Synopsis
I Lord Nevermore huserar Stanislaw - Stas - och Bronislaw - Bronio - och Bronios hustru Ellie Rose. Stas är konstnär, galen och/eller genial; Bron är vetenskapsman, antropolog; och Ellie är socialist och vill bli advokat eller journalist. Lord Nevermore är därmed berättelsen om känslorna, tankarna, spelen, relationerna mellan tre människor under första hälften av nittonhundratalet, i flera olika delar av världen.
What I Thought
In a way this was an amazing book. All the little ideas and stories she weaves into the book are amazing. But that is also the book's problem, there are too many unstructured thoughts that leave me a bit behind. They do not take the story forwards.
Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter
Synopsis
The year is 2020 and the Japanese have colonized the moon. The 60-year-old Malenfant is called there by a young scientist named Nemoto who has discovered something in the asteroid belt that can only mean humans are not alone in the universe. The aliens seem robotic in nature and appear to be building something in Earth's backyard. The Gaijin, as they are called by humans, don't respond to communication efforts so an unmanned ship is launched to investigate. In the meantime, Malenfant decides answers are only possible by mounting an expedition to Alpha Centauri, which may be where the Gaijin come from.
What I Thought
The book started off well. Baxter builds up a mystery and you want to keep reading to see what is going to happen next. After a while it lost its direction. I couldn't really see where he wanted to take the book. The book is indeed full of great imagination and he builds a great intrigue around the whole universe. But there's something missing, it got too grand and he forgets the people.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Synopsis
Meshing the tropes of the tavern storyteller with the recent fashion for historical mysteries (… la The Name of the Rose and An Instance of the Fingerpost), Pamuk's novel could cause a sensation here, just as it did in his native Turkey. Set in the 16th century, at the tipping point when the Ottoman Empire was being transformed from the world's most feared superpower into an imperial backwater, Pamuk's story works on three levels. As a murder mystery, it asks who killed a gilder named Elegant, employed by an atelier of miniaturists, and then Enishte, the man who was funding the atelier? On another level, this is a story of ideas. In coffeehouses frequented by poets and artists, the backwash from the European Renaissance is starting to call into question fundamental principle of Islamic culture. Enishte, in particular, has become enamored of the perspectival method favored by Venetian painters, and wants his artists to achieve a comparable representation of reality, rather than abiding by traditional rules of representation. Pamuk not only immerses us in this debate; he makes the pictures of dogs, Satan, gold coins, etc., "talk", imitating the shadow-play method of traveling storytellers. His own ability to draw stunning pictures makes Istanbul as grimly vivid as Raskolnikov's St. Petersburg. On the third level, this is a love story. Black, a clerk and Enishte's nephew, must win Enishte's beautiful daughter, the widowed Shekure. The book's jeweled prose and alluring digressions, nesting stories within stories, make one want to say of Pamuk what one of the characters says of the head of the miniaturists' coterie, Osman: "...God had blessed him with an enchanting artistic gift and the intellect of a jinn."
What I Thought
Another book I couldn't finish. I don't know what's up with me, I hardly ever give up on a book, and now this is the second one in a row. Well, I tried, I did read almost half of it. It never grabbed me, it didn't take me anywhere. I feel I should have liked it, it had great language and amazing ambiances. Still, I didn't experience any joy in reading it.
The Sweep of the Second Hand by Dean Monti
Synopsis
In this comic debut, Malcolm Cicchio loses one minute of sleep with each passing night; at that rate, he figures that his heart will explode in 16 months. The manager of a failing art film theater, he has recently split up with Lena, his girlfriend of seven years, who is set to marry a successful cardiologist. He feels that he might as well have loser tattooed on his forehead. And then the babes seemingly start falling from the sky. First he meets Anne, who answers the phone at an emergency switchboard and admits that her favorite movie is Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries. This is reason enough to schedule a two-day film festival, to which he invites Soren Sonderby, a Swedish actor who claims to have had the limp-on part of a leper in Bergman's Seventh Seal. Then there's Darlene, the singer with the Circadian Rhythm Section, who wrangles an invitation to play Lena's wedding the same weekend as the film festival with Malcolm in tow. That string of days serves as the book's culmination when everything may or may not come together for Malcolm in the middle.
What I Thought
I never finished this book. The main character just drove me crazy. He was such a loser that I just cringed reading about him and his escapades. Some critic compared the author to Woody Allen, and that should have been my cue to leaving this book on the shelf. I told myself to give the book 100 pages. I actually gave it over 150, but I still just don't like this book.
Dead Air by Iain Banks
Synopsis
Iain Banks' daring new novel opens in a loft apartment in the East End, in a former factory due to be knocked down in a few days. Ken Nott is a devoutly contrarian vaguely left wing radio shock-jock living in London. After a wedding breakfast people start dropping fruits from a balcony on to a deserted carpark ten storeys below, then they start dropping other things; an old TV that doesn't work, a blown loudspeaker, beanbags, other unwanted furniture... Then they get carried away and start dropping things that are still working, while wrecking the rest of the apartment. But mobile phones start ringing and they're told to turn on a TV, because a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Centre.
What I Thought
I had high expectations for this book. I always have for an Iain Banks book. Dead Air isn't really up to par with what he can do though. It's too loosely kept together, you can't really see where it's going. The first three hundred pages where good, but not excellent. Really only worth a rating 6. But I gave it the 7 rating for the last 100 pages, where the book takes off and is incredibly exciting. A good read, but I would recommend Iain Banks' The Business instead, if you haven't already read it.
Prey by Michael Crichton
Synopsis
High-tech whistle-blower Jack Forman used to specialize in programming computers to solve problems by mimicking the behavior of efficient wild animals--swarming bees or hunting hyena packs, for example. Now he is unemployed and is finally starting to enjoy his new role as stay-at-home dad. All would be domestic bliss if it were not for Jack's suspicions that his wife, who is been behaving strangely and working long hours at the top-secret research labs of Xymos Technology, is having an affair. When he is called in to help with her hush-hush project, it seems like the perfect opportunity to see what his wife's been doing, but Jack quickly finds there is a lot more going on in the lab than an illicit affair. Within hours of his arrival at the remote testing center, Jack discovers his wifes firm has created self-replicating nanotechnology--a literal swarm of microscopic machines. Originally meant to serve as a military eye in the sky, the swarm has now escaped into the environment and is seemingly intent on killing the scientists trapped in the facility. The reader realizes early, however, that Jack, his wife, and fellow scientists have more to fear from the hidden dangers within the lab than from the predators without.
What I Thought
A very good read. There was something exiting happening all the time. I actually could not put it down, but why only a rating of 8 then? Well, the book has a great pace, but it is a bit dry. Sure, you like the main character, but other people and scenes are described very crisply and matter-of-factly.
Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
Synopsis
Michael Moore talks about the 2000 election, greedy companies and the state of USA.
What I Thought
It is amazing what people do for greed. It is amazing what people do for a company they do not even own. This is a book with loads of small, great tidbits. One minute you are laughing and the other you are angry as hell because of egoistic and greedy politicians, companies and people. I generally do not like non-fiction books, but this one is great. Read it!
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Synopsis
The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.
What I Thought
This is a book about people. Even though there are loads of them, you get to know everyone with their personalities and quirks. You grow to love the main character and want to continue to read because you wonder what will happen to her.
Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
Synopsis
While Ender heads off to a faraway planet, Bean and the other brilliant children who helped Ender save the earth from alien invaders have become war heroes and have finally been sent home to live with their parents. While the children try to fit back in with the family and friends they have not known for nearly a decade, someone is worried about their safety. Peter Wiggins, Ender's brother, has foreseen that the talented children are in danger of being killed or kidnapped. His fears are quickly realized, and only Bean manages to escape. Bean knows he must save the others and protect humanity from a new evil that has arisen, an evil from his past. But just as he played second to Ender during the Bugger war, Bean must again step into the shadow of another, the one who will be Hegemon.
What I Thought
I like the Ender books, and have read all of them. The last two, Ender's Shadow and this one, Shadow of the Hegemon do not keep up the quality of the previous ones. Somehow I do not get into the characters, which is surprising, since Card has done so well before. The book did not really keep up the pace, and there were not enough interesting events taken place to keep your attention.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Synopsis
In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry. Among the hostages are not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes, wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks into months.
What I Thought
This is one of those books that just feels right when you read it, like if you were reading about your friends. You slowly get to know and love the people involved. The setting could be violent, but this is a book with almost only warmth.
The Christmas Mystery by Jostein gaarder
Synopsis
When Joachim opens the first window on his advent calendar, his excitement mounts as the countdown to Christmas Day begins. But soon he notices that strange things are happening behind the little windows, and everyday something mysterious and new appears. Meanwhile Elisabeth and the angel Ephiriel are on their own very special journey, and it is only when the last window on Joachim's calendar is opened that the true magic and wonder of Christmas is revealed.
What I Thought
I suspect this book originally was written for kids. The language is poor and very uncomplicated. Something that annoyed me was all the repetitions of phrases that were used a lot. The story is fragmented and does not deliver the promised mystery at all.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Synopsis
Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting religions the way a dog attracts fleas. Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts do not burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature.
What I Thought
Wow! One of the best books I have ever read. This is an amazing weave of thoughts about and from different religions and of small side stories. The story and the main character just grip you from the start. The plot is masterfully crafted, giving you small bits of information that are used later in the story. A must read!
Utan eko by Anne Holt
Synopsis
Efter att ha försökt hämta sig från sorgen efter sin livskamrat Cecilies död, återvänder kriminalkommissarie Hanne Wilhelmsen till Oslo. Där möts hon av en mordutredning på väg att haverera. Polisen tycks maktlös i jakten på kändiskocken Brede Zieglers mördare. Snart upptäcker Hanne Wilhelmsen att det finns många som haft anledning att ta livet av Brede.
What I Thought
This is a pretty ordinary Anne Holt: Well written, intriguing story.
Brother Nature by Robert Llewellyn
Synopsis
Nina Nash is thirty-three when she decides the time has finally come to sort out her annoying little brother. Little brother Jason is thirty now and a failed dot.commer; Nina, who works for a high tech research company, is going to work out at last what makes Jason tick. She's going to stick a microchip under his skin and, literally, read his emotions on her computer screen. The experiment is more successful than Nina ever could have hoped. And the results of the experiment more astonishing...
What I Thought
I bought it because of the promised woman-man clashes. There were really none of them, but only bickering between a sister and her brother. The plot was not believable at all and the people did not behave in a real way either.
Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Nanby
Synopsis
Whilst living amongst Peruvian Indians, anthropologist Jeremy Narby learned of their phenomenal knowledge of plants and biochemical interactions, gained under the influence of the hallucinogen ayahuasca. Despite his initial scepticism, Narby found himself engaged in an increasingly obsessive quest. He researched cutting-edge scholarship in subjects as diverse as molecular biology, shamanism, neurology and mythology, which led him inexorably to the conclusion that the Indians' claims were literally true: to a consciousness prepared with drugs, biochemical knowledge could indeed be transmitted, through DNA itself.
What I Thought
I am a man of science and have really always believed in everything science tells us. This book takes a far out idea that the science community will not acknowledge and backs it up with so much evidence, that you don not really have any other alternative but believing him. This book really made me wonder what more is out there.
Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer
Synopsis
The book starts out like the setup for some punny science fiction joke: An alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn't come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer (named Hollus) asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho. A shocked Jericho finds that not only does life exist on other planets, but that every civilization in the galaxy has experienced extinction events at precisely the same time. Armed with that disconcerting information (and a little help from a grand unifying theory), the alien informs Jericho, almost dismissively, that "the primary goal of modern science is to discover why God has behaved as he has and to determine his methods."
What I Thought
The book had very interesting discussions about if the universe is designed or made from evolution, about if there is a god and if there is, what she is doing today. It does not work as fiction, though, there was not much of a plot. It would have been very interesting as non-fiction but as fiction I expected something else.
Fughitive Pieces by Ann Michaels
Synopsis
This is the story of Jakob Beer, a Polish Jew, translator, and poet who, as a child, witnessed his family's slaughter at the hands of the Nazis. Beer himself was found and smuggled out of Poland by Athos Roussos, a Greek archaeologist who carried him back to Greece and kept him there in precarious safety. After the war they emigrated together to Canada. Jakob's story is told through diaries discovered by Ben, a young man whose parents are Holocaust survivors and who is a vessel for their memories just as Jakob is the bearer of his own.
What I Thought
Oh wow, that language, so beautiful! I hated the first 100 pages though: No plot what so ever. But the language is the most amazingly beautiful I have seen in fiction. If the plot had been a bit stronger, I would have given it a 10
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
With "real" characters who can stop time or travel back and forth in it, hear their own names (the names here are really terrific!) from 1000 yards away, appear in duplicate before themselves to give advice, travel inside books, and change the outcome of history, the reader journeys through Fforde's looking glass into a different and far more literary universe than the one we know. Thursday Next, a SpecOp-27 in the Literary Detective Division of Special Operations, is looking for Acheron Hades, who has stolen the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and killed one of the characters in it, thereby changing the story forever. Thursday and the Literatecs are trying to prevent him from getting inside Jane Eyre and committing further murders.
What I Thought
Fforde has become one of my favorite authors. He is very witty and the plot spirals and twists in on itself. Hilarious read.
Riket vid vägens slut by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Den tredje och avslutande delen i berättelsen om Arn Magnusson och Cecilia Algotsdotter och Sveriges tillkomst i slutet av 1100-talet. Efter tjugo års botgöringstjänst återvänder Arn till Västra Götaland. Med sig hem för han kunskap och invandrare som blir förutsättningen för en helt ny tid, och som av det lilla bondelandet Västra Götaland skapar det nya Sverige.
What I Thought
Last book about Arn. The weakest of the three. It did however pique my interest in Swedish history, so I will probably read the latest book in the series, the one about Birger Jarl.
Tempelriddaren by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Den andra delen i Jan Guillous magnifika trilogi från korstågstiden. Tempelriddaren är den spännande fortsättningen på Vägen till Jerusalem. Arn är 27 år och redan en ärrad veteran bland korsfararna i Det heliga landet. Mycket har han hunnit lära sig under de tio år som gått sedan han red bort från Arnäs i Västergötland för sin tjugoåriga botgöringstjänst i Palestina. Den trosvissa övertygelse om uppdragets rättfärdighet som den 17-årige rekryten hade vid sin ankomst till korsfararriket har fått sig många törnar. Och nu, som borgherre i garnisonen i Gaza och med uppdraget att upprätthålla lag och ordning i trakten, får han allt oftare erfara att han har mera besvär med de nyanlända korsfararna som antingen styrs av överdrivet kristet nit eller alltför ohöljd plundringslust än med landets luttrade urinvånare. Hemma i Sverige har under tiden Cecilia, Arns ungdomskärlek som till straff för deras älskog sattes i det stränga Gudhems kloster, fött deras barn, en gosse som växer upp hos Arns farbror Birger Brosa. Cecilia ber om undret att Arn måtte komma åter, och även Birger som manövrerar slugt i de svenska maktstriderna hoppas på Arns återkomst.
What I Thought
Pretty ordinary Guillou. I like his books. They are not deep or have very good language, but they are a good read. The plot drives these books forward and make them worth reading.
Vägen till Jerusalem by Jan Guillou
Synopsis
Nådens år 1150 föds Arn Magnusson på Arnäs gård, belägen vid Vänerns strand några mil nordost om Skara. Han är son till Sigrid och Magnus, båda av urgamla stormannaätter och befryndade med både norska och svenska kungaätter. Detta är berättelsen om hur Arn, sedan han blivit mo-derlös, tas om hand av cisterciensermunkarna vid Varn-hems kloster och av dem får den yppersta av sin tids andliga och världsliga bildning. Av den väldige broder Guilbert de Beaune lär han sig också hantera båge och svärd som en riddare utan fruktan och tadel. Ty cisterciensermunkarna har förstått att Arn nog inte är ämnad att bli en klosterbroder utan skulle kunna göra mera nytta som en Kristi stridsman och trons försvarare i Det heliga landet.
What I Thought
Pretty ordinary Guillou. I like his books. They are not deep or have very good language, but they are a good read. The plot drives these books forward and make them worth reading.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Synopsis
Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him?
What I Thought
I know this is a classic. It was still a bit boring. I did not feel the continuity he was obviously trying to show. I have the two following books in this trilogy, and I have not decided yet if I will read them. I will probably try one more.
Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle
Synopsis
Despite having already made a spectacle of himself in front of the locals, Peter Mayle tries to settle into the relaxed Provencal way of doing things. However, he finds that there is still much to divert him from his endeavours to lead the quiet life. An urgent call from London requesting truffles leads Mayle to a shady rendezvous at the side of a dusty road; the discovery of antique gold coins at the bottom of the garden turns into a night-time treasure hunt; the prospect of forest fires has him nervously looking over his shoulder; and he even tracks down a man whose ambition is to make toads sing the &qout;Marseillaise".
What I Thought
A really warm and funny book. It makes you want to leave and move to Provence. This one was not as good as One Year in Provence, but still very much worth a read.
Populärmusik från Vittula by Mikael Niemi
Synopsis
Mikael och hans tystlåtna kompis Niila växer upp i det barnrika kvarter i Pajalas utkant som i folkmun kallas Vittulajänkkä, förkortat Vittula, och i översättning betyder Fittmyren, så kallat "som ett slags rå hyllning till den kvinnliga fruktsamheten". Det är 60- och 70-tal, vägarna asfalteras, småjordbruken läggs ned, rockmusiken gör sin entré.
What I Thought
Just a good read. It was hilarious to read about growing up in northern Sweden. It is like the book has collected all the good stories people might tell each other sitting round a fire with the wind howling outside.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Synopsis
In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched. In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years.
What I Thought
This book had a pretty intresting idea for a plot. I like these first encounter story lines. But the book didn't live up to what it promised. .
En ovanligt torr sommar by Peter Robinson
Synopsis
During a blistering summer, drought has depleted Thornfield Reservoir, uncovering the remains of a small village called Hobb's End, hidden from view for over 40 years. A young boy finds a human skeleton, and DCI Alan Banks sets out to uncover the murky past.
What I Thought
Pretty ordinary detective story.
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Synopsis
Next in line to become archangel in the angel-led dominion of Samaria, Gabriel must lead the next chorale praising the god Jovah, which means he needs a wife--fast--to sing beside him. Guided by the local oracle and the light emanating from the Kiss of the Gods (a homing device in his wrist), he finds his Jovah-selected fiancee in a common Edori slave girl named Rachel. The marriage proves, however, anything but romantic. Far from rejoicing in the sudden freedom that her marriage brings, Rachel quickly becomes a thorn in Gabriel's side, using her newfound influence to help her downtrodden Edori brethren.
What I Thought
The main character just annoyed me. One of these books where you know what is going to happen, and you get frustrated because it is taking so long.
Vad gör alla superokända människor hela dagarna? by Fredrik Lindström
Synopsis
Johan och Camilla har inte något förhållande. De ses bara en eller två kvällar i veckan, lagar en pasta, tittar på en hyrvideo och smäller på varandra. Så har de hållit på i över ett år och bägge trivs bra med det... --- Johan vill så gärna få knulla lite. Det är därför han försöker lära sig varenda liten pusselbit i tjejers beteende. Han köper till och med olika tjejtidningar och gör långa listor på saker som tjejer gillar och vad de tänder på och inte tänder på. Renlighet, inte för mycket after shave, inte boxershorts utan tajta kalsonger, titta i ögonen, vara rufsig i håret... --- Max och Klara har fastnat i parmiddagshelvetet. Nästan varje helg sitter de med några av hans eller hennes vänner och leker vuxna och vantrivs, men det är svårt att ta sig ur det. För när man en gång har börjat går det knappt att sluta...
What I Thought
Good idea for a book. Easy read. A bit too shallow, though.
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Synopsis
Thursday Next, literary detective and newlywed is back to embark on an adventure that begins, quite literally on her own doorstep. It seems that Landen, her husband of four weeks, actually drowned in an accident when he was two years old. Someone, somewhere, sometime, is responsible. The sinister Goliath Corporation wants its operative Jack Schitt out of the poem in which Thursday trapped him, and it will do almost anything to achieve this - but bribing the ChronoGuard? Is that possible? Having barely caught her breath after The Eyre Affair, Thursday must battle corrupt politicians, try to save the world from extinction, and help the Neanderthals to species self-determination. Mastadon migrations, journeys into Just William, a chance meeting with the Flopsy Bunnies, and violent life-and-death struggles in the summer sales are all part of a greater plan. But whose? and why?
What I Thought
Ahhh, my first read from Jasper Fforde. I was immediately hooked. It was hilarious. He is a master with the plot, weaving a complicated net. There is so much happening and it is so funny, you just have to read on.
Död joker by Anne Holt
Synopsis
En man hittas i sitt hus, chockad, med ansikte och kläder fläckade av blod. Framför honom ligger en halshuggen kvinna - hans fru. Gråtande bedyrar han sin oskuld. Kriminalkommissarie Hanne Wilhelmsen får som ansvar att utreda mordet. Till skillnad från sin kollega, Billy T, är Hanne övertygad om att maken till den döda kvinnan är oskyldig. Men så kommer det fram uppgifter som tyder på att änkemannen är inblandad i en pedofilhärva. Kanske talar han inte sanning, trots allt? Samtidigt drar sig Hanne allt längre ifrån sin sambo Cecilie. Hon kommer hem sent på kvällarna och går tidigt på morgnarna, så Cecilie inte får en chans att tala med henne. Hanne orkar inte med att diskutera utredningar på hemmaplan. Det hon inte vet är att Cecilie bär på en hemsk hemlighet.
What I Thought
This is a pretty ordinary Anne Holt: Well written, intriguing story.
Excession by Iain M. Banks
Synopsis
More than two millennia ago the appearance--and disappearance--of a star older than the universe caused quite a stir. Now the mystery is back, and the key to solving it lies in the mind of the person who witnessed the first disturbance 2,500 years ago. But she's dead, and getting her to cooperate may not be altogether easy.
What I Thought
Iain Banks finest science fiction. Full of tiny details, great people (and machine) portraits. One of the two best science fiction books I have read.
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Synopsis
Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only image doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious 200-year-old farmhouse in the Luberon and began a new life. In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomique delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthly pleasures of provencal life are conjured up in this portrait.
What I Thought
Very funny. You love the people in the little village in Provence and want to have a life there yourself.
Permutation city by Greg Egan
Synopsis
The good news is that you have just awakened into Eternal Life. You are going to live forever. Immortality is a reality. A medical miracle? Not exactly. The bad news is that you are a scrap of electronic code. The world you see around you, the you that is seeing it, has been digitized, scanned, and downloaded into a virtual reality program. You are a Copy that knows it is a copy. The good news is that there is a way out. By law, every Copy has the option of terminating itself, and waking up to normal flesh-and-blood life again. The bail-out is on the utilities menu. You pull it down... The bad news is that it doesn't work. Someone has blocked the bail-out option. And you know who did it. You did. The other you. The real you. The one that wants to keep you here forever.
What I Thought
Boring book that did not fulfill the outline on the back of the book.
Thief of time by Terry Pratchett
Synopsis
In Thief of Time in the great stinking metropolis of Ankh Morpork, an obsessed clockmaker receives an unusual commission from an excessively beautiful woman whose feet do not touch the ground; strict school-teacher Susan finds herself summoned by her grandfather, Death, to do him a favour; the monks who manage the even distribution of Time find themselves with a recalcitrant novice; and dairyman Ronnie Soak muses on his glory days, when he was the Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse, the one who left before they got famous
What I Thought
Terry Pratchett is always Terry Pratchett. And he just keeps getting better and better.
The Diamond Age by Niel Stephenson
Synopsis
John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change.
What I Thought
The portrait of the little girl that grows up really took me in. Loads of technical details and imagination. One of the two best science fiction books I have read.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Synopsis
Sedaris's caustic gift has not deserted him in his fourth book, which mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France. Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate. The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the Gallic language. In the essay "Jesus Shaves," he and his classmates from many nations try to convey the concept of Easter to a Moroccan Muslim. "It is a party for the little boy of God," says one. "Then he be die one day on two... morsels of... lumber," says another. Sedaris muses on the disputes between his Protestant mother and his father, a Greek Orthodox guy whose Easter fell on a different day. Other essays explicate his deep kinship with his eccentric mom and absurd alienation from his IBM-exec dad: "To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests." Every glimpse we get of Sedaris's family and acquaintances delivers laughs and insights. He thwarts his North Carolina speech therapist ("for whom the word pen had two syllables") by cleverly avoiding all words with s sounds, which reveal the lisp she sought to correct. His midget guitar teacher, Mister Mancini, is unaware that Sedaris doesn't share his obsession with breasts, and sings "Light My Fire" all wrong--"as if he were a Webelo scout demanding a match." As a remarkably unqualified teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sedaris had his class watch soap operas and assign "guessays" on what would happen in the next day's episode.
What I Thought
I love David Sedaris on the radio. His books are still good, but they do not captivate me as his spoken stories do.