Monthly Archives: December 2011
Marabou Stork Nightmares
Author: Irvine Welsh
Roy Strang has been in coma for a couple of years now, and he will tell us the story in two main plots: the hunt of the predator-scavenger bird Marabou Stork in South Africa, a completely fictional tale he created in his mind to apparently go deeper into his refuge from the outside and real world; and the true story of his life, growing up in a public housing project in Edinburgh, then moving to South Africa for 18 months, and back to Scotland, all punctuated by a problematic family, abuse, bullying and violence – the two plots connected, or maybe “interrupted”, by his sense of the people in the hospital: the nurses and doctors who take care of him and his family, who often comes visiting.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Author: Mark Haddon
Different. That’s the first word that comes to my mind when I think about this book.
The story is told (in 1st person) by a 15 year old boy, Christopher, who is autist. He is great with Maths and logical things, but has trouble understanding people and emotions. He lives with his father and has a rat as a pet, called Toby. As for his mother, Christopher was told she died two years earlier, but that’s not exactly what has happened to her.
One day, Christopher finds the neighbor’s dog, Wellington, speared by a garden fork, and he soon becomes the first suspect and is even arrested for hitting a policeman. Released later on, he decides to investigate Wellington’s murder and ends up discovering a lot more than expected.
A Song of Ice and Fire – A Storm of Swords (book 3)
Author: George R.R. Martin
**CAUTION: IT DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE PREVIOUS BOOKS**
The longest book of the series until now (900+ pages), A Storm of Swords is by far the best of them, but also the most shocking. It doesn’t start from where the previous book finished, instead, it goes back some months earlier, so the 1st chapters overlap with the last ones from A Clash of Kings.
There are 10 main characters telling us the story: Catelyn, Sansa, Arya and Bran Stark; Jon Snow; Tyrion and Jaime Lannister; Davos Seaworth; Daenerys Targaryen and Samwell Tarly. The prologue is told by a man of the Night’s Watch and the epilogue by one of the hundred Freys.
A Song of Ice and Fire – A Clash of Kings (book 2)
Author: George R.R. Martin
**CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE 1ST BOOK**
A Clash of Kings starts from where A Game of Thrones ended, and it is as good as the 1st book.
9 characters tell us the story now: Catelyn, Sansa, Arya and Bran Stark; Jon Snow; Tyrion Lannister; Daenerys Targaryen; Theon Greyjoy and Davos Seaworth – the latter appearing for the 1st time in the series. The epilogue is told by the maester of Dragonstone.
A red comet, shining bright day and night in the skies of Westeros, is understood by many to be a sign of their own victory, or the beginning of a new era, and so on – everyone in Westeros has a different meaning for it – while a white raven coming from the Citadel brings the news that summer is coming to an end.
Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Kathy is the narrator of the book. In her early 30′s, she starts telling us the story of her childhood in a boarding school called Hailsham, in England. She introduces us to Tommy, a troubled but sweet boy who suffers bullying and for whom she develops strong feelings; and Ruth, a very outgoing girl with a strong character who becomes her very good friend (and Tommy’s girlfriend). At first, you may not know what they are or why they are there – isolated from the world – but even the students themselves don’t really know it, which will be revealed very soon.
The Fifth Witness
Author: Michael Connelly
It’s been a while since I last read a Michael Connelly’s book (Scarecrow was the last one, I guess), and I’m glad I chose to read The Fifth Witness.
The story is about Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer (did you just picture Matthew McConaughey in your mind?), who’s now getting in the mortgage foreclosures business, as even the criminals don’t have enough money to pay for their lawyers in the current crisis in the USA.
Bloodlines Series – Bloodlines (book 1)
Author: Richelle Mead
The Bloodlines Series consists of 6 books, with only the 1st one published to this date. It’s called “spin-off series”, as it will use the same characters and universe of Vampire Academy series – the difference being that now it’s not Rose Hathaway telling the story, but some of her friends.
Bloodlines is told by Sydney Sage, the Alchemist.
The Alchemists are humans who know about the vampire world and are in charge of getting rid of Strigoi bodies and any mess they are involved in, in order to protect human race from knowing about vampires. They have a great knowledge of chemistry and potions, and despite working with Moroi, they do not like vampires and dhampirs at all.
A Song of Ice and Fire – A Game of Thrones (book 1)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Following my previous post about A Song of Ice and Fire, in A Game of Thrones we get to know the Starks very well, as most part of what is happening in Westeros revolves around them. We are introduced to Eddard (Ned) Stark, his wife Catelyn, their 5 children – Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon, and also Ned’s bastard son, Jon Snow – not to mention the direwolf puppies that each of the kids get in the beginning of the book. As for the story in the Eastern continent, we are presented to Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, the last of their bloodline.
