by Herman Koch
A very enjoyable book that looks at 4 people out for dinner and how they react. Gradually we start to understand why they are there and the dark secret they all know about but aren't revealing to each other. It builds the tension very well and keeps you asking what you would do in their position.
I found the ending a bit implausible and so would mark it down for that 6/10
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Prague Cemetery
by Umberto Eco
This is a mad romp through the second half of the nineteenth century with a narrator, one Simomini and possibly a priest called Dalla Piccola. All the other characters in the book are, we are told, real characters from history and certainly many of them are.
We learn very early on that Simonini is in some sort of trouble and, having at some point met with Freud and obtained some cocaine for him, he has locked himself away and is using some Freudian technique to find out what has happened to him.
This allows us to discover Simonini's life story. His only love is food-and maybe money and he seems to hate everybody-the Germans, the Italians, the French, women, Jews(although he has never met any), Freemasons and Jesuits all come in for torrents of abuse in this book.
The story takes us to Italy and the wars of Garibaldi, to France and Germany in a rapid race through various historical episodes. I particularly liked Simonini's involvement in the Dreyfus affair. The book is at once very amusing and slightly disturbing with a great finale. As with other Umberto Eco books he can get bogged down in detail at times but this bbok-which I listened to as an audiobook was very enjoyable. 8/10
This is a mad romp through the second half of the nineteenth century with a narrator, one Simomini and possibly a priest called Dalla Piccola. All the other characters in the book are, we are told, real characters from history and certainly many of them are.
We learn very early on that Simonini is in some sort of trouble and, having at some point met with Freud and obtained some cocaine for him, he has locked himself away and is using some Freudian technique to find out what has happened to him.
This allows us to discover Simonini's life story. His only love is food-and maybe money and he seems to hate everybody-the Germans, the Italians, the French, women, Jews(although he has never met any), Freemasons and Jesuits all come in for torrents of abuse in this book.
The story takes us to Italy and the wars of Garibaldi, to France and Germany in a rapid race through various historical episodes. I particularly liked Simonini's involvement in the Dreyfus affair. The book is at once very amusing and slightly disturbing with a great finale. As with other Umberto Eco books he can get bogged down in detail at times but this bbok-which I listened to as an audiobook was very enjoyable. 8/10
Tales of the New Babylon
by Rupert Christiansen
This book looks at Paris in the years 1869 to 1875.
This is a fascinating time covering the fall of the second empire, the franco-prussian war, the four month seige of Paris and the time of the Commune followed by the birth of the Third Republic.
I bought the book as a reference book to dip into now and then but once I had read the first chapter-a fascinating mix of contemorary travel guides-I was hooked and found it hard to put down until I had finished. The style is very easy and draws heavily on first hand accounts including many foreign observers who were caught up in events of the seige and the commune. There is a very good bibliography and two picture sections. This is most definitely a book I would revisit. 8/10
This book looks at Paris in the years 1869 to 1875.
This is a fascinating time covering the fall of the second empire, the franco-prussian war, the four month seige of Paris and the time of the Commune followed by the birth of the Third Republic.
I bought the book as a reference book to dip into now and then but once I had read the first chapter-a fascinating mix of contemorary travel guides-I was hooked and found it hard to put down until I had finished. The style is very easy and draws heavily on first hand accounts including many foreign observers who were caught up in events of the seige and the commune. There is a very good bibliography and two picture sections. This is most definitely a book I would revisit. 8/10
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Snowdrops
by AD Miller
My second audiobook!
This book is the tale of a British lawyer in Russia in the early 21st century. Nick, the lawyer tells his story by writing to his fiancee about his time there and what went wrong and how it happened.
From early on you know something disastrous happened, and with the introduction of a stunning blonde and her supposed cousin, you know it must involve them.
It is a very compelling read, and whether or not based in reality, is not very flattering of the emergent Russian society. To the end I was still wanting to know what happened.
Having said that, I found some of Nick's decisions or ommissions a little unbelievable. But that aside I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend it for a holiday read. 7/10
My second audiobook!
This book is the tale of a British lawyer in Russia in the early 21st century. Nick, the lawyer tells his story by writing to his fiancee about his time there and what went wrong and how it happened.
From early on you know something disastrous happened, and with the introduction of a stunning blonde and her supposed cousin, you know it must involve them.
It is a very compelling read, and whether or not based in reality, is not very flattering of the emergent Russian society. To the end I was still wanting to know what happened.
Having said that, I found some of Nick's decisions or ommissions a little unbelievable. But that aside I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend it for a holiday read. 7/10
Where I Left my Soul
by Jerome Ferrari
This is a short novel translated from the French. It involves alternating reflections by two soldiers who have served in Indo China and Algeria together.
In reflections the main narrator, Capitaine Degorce traces his loss of innocence and moral compass, in what becomes a tragic story of the effect of one nations wars on the individual. It was intensely moving and demonstrates the near impossibility of holding firm values in a relativistic world. 9/10
This is a short novel translated from the French. It involves alternating reflections by two soldiers who have served in Indo China and Algeria together.
In reflections the main narrator, Capitaine Degorce traces his loss of innocence and moral compass, in what becomes a tragic story of the effect of one nations wars on the individual. It was intensely moving and demonstrates the near impossibility of holding firm values in a relativistic world. 9/10
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