the shadow of the wind

by far one of the best books i have read in a long time. it is both thrilling and romantic. if you have any love for the written word at all, have ever been in love, or simply been captured by a story, you will be able to relate to this book.

i don't want to give to much away - so i won't say much. if you read spanish, i would read it in the original - the english is so lyrical, i can only imagine what the spanish would be like.

The Gilded Chamber

This tells the story of Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and saves the Jews (as in the Book of Esther in the Bible). It was a decently entertaining and quick read, though I didn't think it was fantastic. Good airplane reading. I didn't feel like the characters were developed enough for me to feel vested in what happened to them, nor did we get enough insight into why they acted the way they did. That said, the descriptions of the era and life in a harem were interesting, but not as good as I've read in other books. My opinion might be slightly biased however, because I had a book about Queen Esther a long time ago that I remember really liking, but I have no idea what happened to it and it was really old so I think it is out of print. Perhaps it has become better in my memory and that is why this book doesn't seem to measure up...

The Feast of the Goat

The Feast of the Goat, written by former Peruvian Presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, is a historical/political fiction novel based on the recent history of the Dominican Republic. The story is a fictional account of true events. The novel recreates the final days of General Rafael Trujillo's absolute regime. Vargas Llosa uses three interwoven story lines to reveal the political and social environment of the Dominican Republic in 1961 and today. Significant portions of the novel focus on Trujillo himself, examining his thoughts and opinions on himself and his cronies and his justifications of violence in the days before his assassination, and after 31 years of rule. Another story line introduces Urania Cabral, a contemporary Dominican-American woman living in New York who returns to Santo Domingo for the first time in thirty years to visit her ailing father. Urania reminisces on her life there in 1961, when she was just a girl and her father was President of the Senate under Trujillo, and the unspeakable horrors of Trujillo's regime. A third story line follows the four assassins, all of whom recall the events which have compelled them to take this step, as they wait to gun down Trujillo. The book continues through Trujillo's murder and the spree of torture and killings embarked on by Trujillo's surviving cronies. The author dedicates a large portion of the novel to the horrible fates of the assassins, people that the reader has come to know have already suffered unspeakable horrors. As always, Vargas Llosa's writing is beautiful. I enjoyed how he wove three perspectives together to create this story. The story itself is compelling, although horrible - and all the more horrible because it is true.

The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible is narrated, in alternating chapters, by the wife and four daughters of an evangelical minister who takes his family along on his mission to the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s. His wife, Orleanna Price, tells the story - in retrospective - of her husbands fanatic and bullying personality and his refusal to see the world or the people in it as they really are. Each of their four daughters are marked in different ways by their father's mission and by Africa itself. The author does an excellent job of differentiating the voices of these narrators, offering the reader five different experiences of the same events. The novel is set during the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected leader, and the CIA coup to install a replacement. By telling the story through the five female characters, Kingsolver traces the coming of age of each of her characters and, simultaneously, the coming of age of the Congo. The book is an easy read, much of it being narrated by children and adolescents. I appreciated the character development and enjoyed being a part of the different directions each character went with their lives as a result of a shared experience. I also found the historical and political backdrop of the Belgian Congo to be fascinating, and found myself seeking outside sources to learn more about the events alluded to in the novel.

thank you for smoking

one of the most witty, well written and sharp books i have read in ages. nick naylor's character brings intelligent sexiness back, and his dry sense of humor and quick thinking make for a great protagonist.

EVERYone should read this book. it took me all of 7 hours, so a very quick read. there is a plot, but it not as important as the tone of the novel and the message it is sending.

i don't want to give too much away, since that will be easy to do if i keep gushing, so you should all go out and get it right away. this is one of those few books that mixes social commentary, humor and a storyline very well. i got it from the library, but now am thinking of buying my own copy. can't wait to see the movie in oct...

Cold Mountain

A slow, sad read. I rushed through the ending to find out what happened, but missed much. If you were to pick up this book, be prepared for much detail and description, some warrented and some just a hinderance.

The book follows Inman, a Civil War soldier who ran off from his hospital bed to his sweetheard Ada, whom he left behind on Cold Mountain, and Ada, a rich preacher's daugher, left fatherless and alone on a farm about which she knows nothing. Both struggle to survive and are held up and helped by different characters along the way. As the cast of this novel grew, I realized that this was less about plot than it was about the characters and their own development.

the writing was good but a bit slow at time. the destitution and the desperation of the characters comes across very well, and the author painted a detailed picture of the south in 1864 in vivid and heartbreaking colors.

this is a heavy read with a solid ending. i would reccomend, but on a rainy day, not at the beach.

shutter island

this psychological thriller by the same author of mystic river (dennis lehane)was an extremely quick and effective read. i tore through it and the end left me more than a little surprised.

the story follows two decectives investigating a disappearance on shutter island, which houses an old prison turned psych ward. as the detectives investigate further and further and as a violent storm apporaches and then explodes on the island, the reader and the main characters are not sure what really happened and who they should believe. soon, everyone is a suspect and the main character is not sure if he can even trust his own partner.

the beauty of the book and writing is that the author can manipulate the reader as easily as he does the characters. i just read and believed the author and main character blindly, never suspecting anything other than the facts presented to me. when the book finishes, however, i was not sure that anything that i read even happened as it was told.

i would be very curious of what you all thought of the book and the author's approach to the plot. if you do pick it up, it is a very quick read. i reccomend it for a rainy day or a long plane ride.

prep

This book was a quick and entertaining read that still manages to examine some serious societal issues. The main character, Lee, comes from an average family in the mid-west. At 13, she decides to apply to boarding school, and is accepted to Ault in MA. prep goes through all 4 years there and her evolution (or lack there of for some things in my opinion) during that time. As we can all imagine, at a private boarding school in New England there are lot of kids at this school whose families range from well-to-do to ridiculously wealthy, and most (or all) of those kids are white. There are some white kids on scholarship (like Lee), and most (or all) of the few minorities that are there are on scholarship. The book looks at class and race from Lee's point of view within this tiny sphere, and to some extent how that experience shapes her views later in life.

In an unusual experience, I wasn't all that wild about Lee as a person, but still really enjoyed the book. I found her persistent lack of self confidence a bit grating, mostly because I think that the other people were presented as friendly and as non-judgmental as any group of high-schoolers would be (clearly there were a few snobby people, but in general most of the characters seemed like normal people), so it's not like they were constantly making fun of her or ostracizing her. I really wanted to step into the book and tell her to get over herself. And get a therapist. But, she did have some good qualities and the other characters in the book weren't presented as good or bad either, they all had some good moments and some bad, which was a refreshing change.

I think that is one of the things that makes this book work as a book for adults even though it's a book about high school. The characters seem realistic since they're not good or evil, and the author does a good job of drawing you in to remember how high school could seem like the end all, be all of everything. All in all, a good read.

The Count of Monte Cristo

After owning this book for more than a year and never being able to get more than 50 pages into its 1500, I finally read it! And it was good! The style of writing definitely isn't the easiest to read, hence the many attempts before success, so you have to be in the right mindset before picking up this book.

It tells the story of Edmond Dantes, a young French sailor, who returns to France in 1815 after his latest voyage, ready to marry his sweetheart, Mercedes. Edmond has a promising career ahead of him, he is going to be made captain of his ship by the company that owns it. But, Edmond's success in life had created some enemies - Danglars works on the same ship as Edmond and doesn't want him to be captain, and Fernand, Mercedes' cousin, is in love with her and doesn't want her to marry Edmond. On the day of his wedding, Edmond is arrested for treason and sent to prison. The rest of the story tells how he becomes the Count of Monte Cristo and takes his revenge on the people who sent him to prison to serve their self-interests.

It was interesting to see Edmond's transformation into the Count of Monte Cristo, and to see the duality between his desire to take his revenge on those who deserved it, but at the same time not wanting to hurt Mercedes or some other characters that come along. The story is like a bit tangle of thread that seems like it must be many different threads, but once it's all undone, it turns out to be one long thread.

It has taken me almost as long to finish this post as it did to read the book…

Coming soon: Zorro by Isabel Allende