Book Review: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

For the latest book club pick, and as a tribute to the late Terry Pratchett, we decided to read on the Discworld novels. We looked online and found a listing of the best ones, which included The Color of Magic, Mort, Going Postal, and, the one we selected, The Wee Free Men. It's a fairly short book.

Read on for my full review.

Book Review: Afterparty by Daryl Gregory

This was the latest book pick in our Santiago book club. It was quite an interesting one coming right after I finished Legion: Skin Deep, for reasons I'll explain below. It is a near-future story where pharmaceutical companies, religious groups, pretty much anyone really, can print out the drugs they want to use, or invent new ones to get the effects they want. The problem starts when a company invents a drug that makes you see God and despite stopping work on it, the drug somehow ends up in the streets.

Book Review: The Fear Index by Robert Harris

The Fear Index by Robert Harris was the latest book selected in our Santiago book club. This is a thriller and a very fast read. Different from what we've read recently, hence the selection.

Here is the Goodreads blurb:
Meet Alex Hoffmann: among the secretive inner circle of the ultra-rich, he is something of a legend.
Based in Geneva, he has developed a revolutionary system that has the power to manipulate financial markets. Generating billions of dollars, it is a system that thrives on panic - and feeds on fear.
And then, in the early hours of one morning, while he lies asleep, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside home.
So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts - with increasing desperation - to discover who is trying to destroy him - before it's too late ...

And now for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This is the latest book we've read for the book club here in Santiago. It is very different from everything else I've read and reviewed here mainly because it is a straight up autobiography. As such, I will not review it in the same fashion as other books and instead give my overall impression as I briefly summarize it.

The book details the life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born Ayaan Hirsi Magan in Muslim Somalia and how she ends up with a political career in the Netherlands. It's a book of a painful life as she struggles through cultural and religious oppression and achieves her freedom, a freedom that costs her dearly and places her life in mortal danger. It is not a light, easy book and will instead force you to think about some potentially controversial subjects.

Now, on to the review.

Book Review: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This was the latest book selected as part of the book club. It is the type of book that I never would have picked up in a thousand years. I was hesitant to start the book as pretty much when we picked it, it was described as a "candy" and "girl" book. This is what I get by being in a book club dominated by women! Still, I promised I would give it a shot and ended up finding things I liked in it. So while it wasn't the best for me, at least I don't feel like I wasted my time.

Read on for my full review.

Book Review: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov is the latest book selected for our Santiago Book Club. The Amazon blurb is quite brief: Set in Moscow of the 1920's, this satirical novel recounts the dealings a writer and his mistress have with Satan.

Read on for my full review.

Book Review: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa

The latest selection our book club is Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (La tia Julia y el escribidor) by Mario Vargas Llosa. There's been a desire to read (English-translated) Latin American authors and this is one of the more popular ones. It reminded me of my days in high school where I had to read all manner of books for my Spanish class including works by Enrique Laguerre, Gabriel Garcia Marques, and many others. I know read mainly for entertainment and choose to do so in the genre of speculative fiction. I will endeavor to provide more fine science fiction and fantasy selections for our book club!

Read on for my full review.

Book Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This upcoming month's book club pick was Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I hesitated to start it as it did not sound appealing at all. However, once I did I was quickly sucked in by the story. Despite being nonfiction and a memoir of her travels along the Pacific Crest Trail, it reflects elements of Joseph Campbell's monomyth, perhaps most commonly known as "the hero's journey." This lends the story a broader appeal and was one of the main reasons why I quickly dug right in despite the initial hesitation.

Read on for the full review.

Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the first part of The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Despite being a trilogy, the first book stands on its own and can be read without the others. This is my second read through it thanks to selection by our local book club. I sure hope they like it better than my last recommendation!

Without further ado, let's jump right in to my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

For our latest book club meeting, we read Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Corelli's Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn't so bad--at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of "Heil Hitler" with his own "Heil Puccini", and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches. 

Read on for my full, spoiler-free review.

Book Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling is a novel by a "Robert Galbraith," who turns out to be none other than J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. I don't know the reason why she choose a pseudonym, but it could be to distance herself from the hype and popularity of the Harry Potter franchise. Her name is now so firmly etched with that series that it can cause problems when writing anything other than that. Although I haven't read her other work, The Casual Vacancy, from what I understand a lot of people are surprised to read it and realize it wasn't another Harry Potter book. She certainly isn't the only author that has pseudonyms, though, so it's a common thing.

The Cuckoo's Calling is a fairly standard detective story about an investigation of a famous celebrities' death. The main character, detective Cormoran Strike, has to seek out witnesses and suspects to see if he can piece together the events of that confusing evening. Was it suicide or murder? And if murder, then who is the culprit?

Book Review: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas, is a story of several families and friends in Australia. Everyone is gathering for a friendly BBQ when one of the characters slaps a young child that is not his own. All hell breaks loose as lines are drawn and friends turn to enemies.

I had read many negative reviews of the book prior to starting it, which made me very hesitant. It appears that you either love it or hate it. Below, I try to organize my thoughts as I try to make sense as to whether I liked it or not.

Book Review: Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is a story about a young, stammer teenager in a sleepy village in England. The story recounts a year in his life (1982-1983). While bigger things are happening in the outside world (such as the Falkland War), the story is told from the point of view of the teenager and you can imagine how this colors it. He's more preoccupied with his friends, his school, and his cliques than with the bigger picture. That makes for an interesting read, as I describe below.

Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Shadow of the Wind (La Sombra del Viento) is a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and forms part of a series called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (El Cementerio de los Libros Olvidados), though this book is so well contained that I have no idea what the other books in the series are about. I read this as part of the book club I'm part of and so it is straight fiction. The novel was originally written in Spanish, but I read it in English since I read faster there plus it was significantly cheaper. I did wonder at some of the language, but I don't think too much was lost in translation.

The Shadow of the Wind revolves around the story of a young boy, Daniel, who receives a rare copy of a book with the same title. He is fascinated with the story and wants to learn more about the author- Julian Carax. However, he quickly realizes that someone has been systematically burning all of Carax works and this person has caught word that Daniel holds one of the last copies. Who is this mysterious person and why does he or she want to destroy these books? Just who was Carax that he should receive such attention? These questions drive Daniel as he searches for the truth in the streets of Barcelona.

Read on for my (spoiler-free) review.

Book Review: The City & The City by China Mieville

The City & The City is a detective novel by China Mieville. I'm a fan of Mieville for his intricate language, the worlds he creates, and the unique place that Setting has in his stories. I had already read this book several years ago when it won the 2012 Hugo award for best novel (tied to Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl). However, I recently recommended it to the book club I'm in and was happy to see it accepted as this month's pick. Interestingly enough, there is a set of discussion questions at the end of the book for any reading groups. I've only seen that in a few books, but it's a great way to encourage deeper discussions.

So what's the book about? It's a police procedural, anti-fantasy story where a dead body is found in one city, but the murder appears to have taken in another city. However, while these two cities are in exactly the same place, they are in completely separate countries and people from one cannot see, hear, or interact with those of the other. As the investigation proceeds, we learn both rumors and facts about that which lurks in the gaps between the city and the city.

Read on for my (spoiler-free) review.

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This is quite different from the sorts of books I read. It's not even remotely science fiction or fantasy. I've read it as part of a book club I'm joining here in Chile. It's a suspense novel about a marriage of a sociopath and a narcissist and it has gone horribly wrong. It may not be what I'm used to, but I actually enjoyed it!

Here's my review.