Author: Susan Wilson

Two characters telling their story: a man and a dog. The man, Adam March, is a wealthy executive that one day, after having a breakdown at work and slapping the secretary, is due to lose everything and is also forced to do community service in a homeless shelter – a world away from his reality. The dog is a cross of pit bull and rottweiler who is raised to fight and one day gets to escape and live in the streets for a while before being adopted (not voluntarily, at the beginning) by the man.

Although being a dog lover – and that was the main reason I read the book – I liked Adam’s story better than the dog’s, not because it can be weird to read a dog’s point of view, but because his thoughts were incoherent some times. For a dog who barely saw sunlight and had basically no contact with outside dogs other than his foes at the time of the fight, he had a lot to learn when he escaped, and even then, at one point when he realized he needed help, he said “…this being neither a fairy tale nor Disney…”. How could he possibly know what Disney is and/or represents?? This is just one example of things that for me didn’t make sense. On the other hand, I liked his persistent idea of considering himself as an independent dog, not a pet, and that he would leave at his will.

It’s a story of redemption, hope and second chances for both man and dog, and if it is not a great book, it is still enjoyable and entertaining.

Buy One Good Dog from: The Book Depository or Amazon.

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”…

And although it involves teenagers, which could turn out to be a very melodramatic and silly story, it is different because Hazel and Augustus are not common kids – they are very mature, realist and intelligent, so it is delightful to read their story.

The book is funny when it can be, but extremely sad when is has to be, and it does not only tells us about their relationship, but also the relationship with their parents and how they take and live with the disease.

Brilliant – a must-read!!!

Buy The Fault in Our Stars from: The Book Depository or Amazon.

Have just been informed by the author, Doug Johnstone, that his newest book, Hit & Run, will be Amazon’s Kindle Deal of the Day this Sunday, the 22nd of April.

I haven’t read the book as yet, but after reading his previous novel, Smokeheads, I put Hit & Run on my wishlist and will certainly grab the opportunity to buy it this Sunday (and review it here later on).

Don’t miss out the opportunity! Here is the link: Hit & Run

P.S.: I’m not sure if customers outside UK can buy the kindle edition with the discount, but it’s worth a try.

Cheers

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.

Author: Irvine Welsh

Another masterpiece, Glue has entered my list of favorite Irvine Welsh books, sharing the 1^st 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.

I never liked Terry very much, although it is hard to deny he’s such a character and the funniest one, and I always liked Carl from the beginning, probably because he is the “biggest friend”, always worried about the other guys and his family, and I think he was more innocent than the others during the early years. Billy and Gally are OK, but I didn’t connect much to them.

Not intending to create a big discussion, but one could say that, due to family history, the only ones who could probably succeed were indeed Billy and Carl, who had stable families, while nothing good could come up from Terry and Gally, who had absent fathers…I know that this cannot be made into rule, but it is something someone could say/consider.

But what amazed me most in Glue is how the author could put up such realistic characters, describing perfectly what was on their minds, and even their opinions about their closest friends. Irvine Welsh is a genius!!

It is funny and sarcastic book, but sad at the same time.

Alcohol and drug abuse, hooliganism, violence and sex are present (as usual), as well as common characters from other books that appear here and there, like Franco Begbie, Lexo and Spud – a reference to the Trainspotting story is mentioned too.

Brilliant book, one that you don’t want it to end, and then you feel sad when it does.

Buy Glue from: The Book Depository or Amazon.

I was curious but at the same time afraid I would be disappointed by the movie, as I usually find the books much better than the films, but with The Hunger Games, especially with all the advertisement and enormous expectation from fans all around the world, it would be a big mistake not to make a movie as faithful as possible to the book.

And it is pretty faithful. Minor things were left apart and the tension grows as the film progresses (as in the book), but in regards to the violence in the arena, in THAT they could not be so realistic and show everything, otherwise the movie would be rated “R 18+” (restricted).

But I liked the movie, it’s very good and not disappointing for those who already read the book

It’s been a while since my last post, and as we have some family visiting us, with whom we are doing a bit of traveling around Australia/New Zealand, don’t expect a new review until the beginning of April.

Meanwhile, here is what is happening nowadays:

- I’ve just started reading Glue (Irvine Welsh), and I’m loving it, although I have to confess I’m having a hard time reading it because of the Edinburgh dialect – which I like it, by the way, but I was just not used to it anymore.

- In regards to A Dance with Dragons (George R.R. Martin), I want to read it as soon as possible to know what’s going to happen, but at the same time I don’t want to read it until I know when the next book is coming, so I won’t be left in the limbo for a long time. Difficult decision, but I guess in the end I’ll surrender to my curiosity.

- There are some books on my “Upcoming Reviews” list that I’ve decided not to review it anymore. Would be easier just to erase them, but because maybe someone was hoping to read something about them, I think it’s fair to mention my decision and just give the ratings before I delete them:

Keeping the Dead (Tess Gerritsen) =

Vanish (Tess Gerritsen) =

The Woods (Harlan Coben) =

- My mother is putting together a list of what’s in my bookshelf back in Brazil. Old books, I reckon, but very good ones – and I intend to review them later on.

And that’s it for now. See you soon!

Author: Doug Johnstone

“Four friends. One weekend. Gallons of whisky. What could go wrong?”

Well, I guess everything, especially when you have a narcissistic guy in the group and lunatic cops around.

The term “smokehead” has nothing to do with pot or drugs or anything on this genre. It is how fans of the Islay Malt are called, Islay being a big producer of whisky off the Scottish coast, and where the story of the book is set. These four long time friends, great appreciators of whisky, travel to the island for the weekend, where one of them is planning to show them around and maybe convince the rich (jerk) one to invest some money to start his own distillery, but things go terribly wrong and the weekend turns into a nightmare.

Although there are some cliches in the dialogues sometimes, it’s a very easy reading and a page-turner book – I was able to finish it in less than a day. The story has its surprises and some very disgusting situations too, which I could never imagine myself into it.

One thing that I really liked about the book is that the center of the story revolves around whisky. I don’t like whisky, but I found it very interesting to read about, and here is a passage of the book that I found funny:

“Jack Daniel’s wasn’t even a proper bourbon, made in the wrong American state using the wrong techniques and tasting like a mouthful of iron filings”(Adam)

In regards to the characters, four friends with very different personalities, and a girl that, thank God, watched enough TV to know how to act in a distressful situation – otherwise the guys would be completely lost!

Nice book, read it!

Buy Smokeheads from: The Book Depository or Amazon.

Author: Tess Gerritsen

While attending a pathologist’s conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Dr. Maura Isles impulsively (and due to personal problems back home with her lover-priest Daniel Brophy) goes on a road trip with her new friends. Caught up by a huge snow storm, they get stranded in the middle of nowhere, a place called Kingdom Come, where it seems all residents left abruptly for some mysterious reason.

When she doesn’t turn up in Boston, Jane Rizzoli, together with her husband Gabriel Dean and tormented soul Daniel Brophy, fly to Wyoming to search for her.

This book is told in a different perspective compared to the previous Rizzoli&Isles ones – although in the end the mystery of the missing residents of Kingdom Come is solved on the autopsy table, the whole story centers on Maura’s unfortunate and unlucky trip, spiced up by religious fanaticism, chemical waste disposal, paedophilia and mass suicide. The end has a twist, and you will be surprised by who is responsible for everything that happened.

It is a page-turner, and I read it in one day!

Now, one thing that I want to add: the whole thing reminded me a lot of those hundreds of American movies where people go camping in some deserted place, or make a wrong turn, get lost and disappear from the face of the earth, especially when there’s no telephone signal there and – what a surprise – they decided to tell no one where they were going to…hell, I guess after watching only a couple of movies like this you should have a pretty good picture of what to do or not when you are in this situation, but worse, you almost certainly know that things won’t have a happy ending for you or your friends (because someone has to survive to tell the tale)…hahaha.

And I think Maura will never ever again make a reckless decision without planning it in advance for weeks or even months!

P.S.: The Killing Place and Ice Cold are the same book.

Buy The Killing Place from: The Book Depository or Amazon.