Category Archives: 5 stars
The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Hazel Grace Lancaster is 16. At 13, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer that also kind of spread to her lungs. Suffering from depression, she is taken to Support Group, where she meets Augustus Waters, 17, who lost one leg due to osteosarcoma (bone cancer), but has been in remission for more than a year now, and who is there mostly to accompany his friend Isaac, with eye cancer.
Hazel Grace and Augustus quickly become close after she recommends him reading her favorite book “An Imperial Affliction”, which ends mid-sentence and leaves her (and now Augustus) with lots of questions. Through an institution that helps kids make their one wish come true, they fly to Amsterdam to meet the author and try to discover what happened to the characters of the book.
This is a heartbreaking love story, one that you know you should not hope for a happy ending, and still you pray for a miracle to happen. But as they say all the time in the book, “the world is not a wish-granting factory”…
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Miracle in the Andes: 72 days on the mountain and my long trek home
Author: Nando Parrado
The same story as Alive, told not from a 3rd person’s point of view, but from the perspective of a survivor, who was there the whole time struggling to keep alive.
The narrative is very powerful and passionate, taking us again to those 72 days in the Andes Mountains and, while Alive was a detailed recollection of the facts through extensive interviews with the survivors, this book focuses on Nando Parrado’s own experience, thoughts and feelings. It’s a story that shows us how love, faith and hope cannot be lost even in the most difficult and darkest moments.
Amazing book, capable of making you cry while reading it.
Buy Miracle in the Andes from: The Book Depository or Amazon.
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Glue
Author: Irvine Welsh
Another masterpiece, Glue has entered my list of favorite Irvine Welsh books, sharing the 1st place with Filth 
It is the story of 4 guys throughout the years: from the 70’s, when we have a glimpse of them kids through their parent’s eyes, until 2002, when the book ends and they are reaching their 40’s.
Andrew Galloway (Gally), Terry Lawson (Juice Terry), Carl Ewart (N-Sign) and Billy Birrel (Business Birrel) are 4 “schemies” from Edinburgh, each of them with his own personality, problems, dilemmas and interests, but all sharing a bond of friendship that, if diminished by the years and their life projects, could not be extinguished after all. Read the rest of this entry
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Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Author: Piers Paul Read
This is a true story, and I believe you all have already heard about it. It is a tragedy, but also a demonstration of faith and hope.
4 decades ago, a chartered flight carrying a Uruguayan Rugby team and their friends/families, flying from Montevideo – Uruguay to Santiago – Chile, crashed in the Andes Mountains due to bad weather and the pilots’ error. The plane split in two, with the tail and 7 people landing far from its body. From the 45 people aboard, 33 survived the crash. This was the 13th of October 1972.
The next day, 8 more people had died from cold or injuries. The only doctor aboard had died in the crash, so two of the guys who were studying Medicine were left to try their best to treat injuries and keep people alive, even though there were no medical supplies available.
On the 11th day in the mountains, through a small radio, they discovered that the search for them had been cancelled.
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The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Set in Germany during World War II, this could be another book amongst millions that explore the war period with a dramatic story on top. Huge mistake. The Book Thief is simply a masterpiece and should be in the bookshelves of every person in the world. So what makes it so special?
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The Shadow of the Wind
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
I’m not someone who sheds tears for a book, at least not very easily, and only a few books have made me cry – The Shadow of the Wind is one of them.
Daniel Sempere is taken by his father to a secret place called Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library full of old and rare titles, where he must choose a book (or perhaps be chosen by one), and take care and protect it for the rest of his life. He picks up “The Shadow of the Wind”, written by Julián Carax.
Filth
Author: Irvine Welsh
Filth is, by far, my favorite Irvine Welsh’s novel. It is hilarious, depressive, revolting and disgusting, but a page-turner all the same.
Detective-Sargeant Bruce Robertson is a corrupt and sociopath “polis”, cocaine addicted, who hates everyone and plays these foul games of his with people (especially his workmates) to see them disgraced and out of his way – “how does it make you feel?” is a common question is his mind.
He is designated to investigate and solve the murder of a young black guy, which, by the way, happens in the prologue but doesn’t develop too much along the book, as the main plot is about Bruce and his sick behavior.
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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.
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.
