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Bookshelf
The following are books which recently took a cozy spot in my bookshelf. I allowed my humble self, with all due respect for the authors, to review some of them. Click on any of the categories to go on.
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Fiction
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Le Moine et le Venerable by Christian Jacq (1985)
Ladislas' review (2011): A novel based on the true story of the "Aneherbe", a special SS unit during the second World War which had as a mission to study esoteric phenomena. In this particular case, two Frenchmen, a high ranking Freemason with core masonic secrets and a Benedictin monk with healing powers, are both held prisoner with the ultimate aim of getting their powers and secrets. The top SS in charge, seeing how mentaly strong the two individuals are, decides to lock them up in the same cell and putting them against each other. The rest is composed of mind games, distrust, bluffs, violence, and secrets reunions worshipping both God and the Great Architect of the Universe. The author most definitely has a special talent for keeping the reader hooked and the story-line is fascinating from start to end. The phsycology of the various characters is very well analyzed and hence spices up his rather clear style. Overall, this is a great book on an underrated subject. |
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (2005)
Ladislas' review (2009): This is the sort of title which makes a book stand out in the shop and raises the customer's curiosity. Like so many others, I picked it up wondering who in the world could have any interest in the subject. At this point, my expectation were shattered. It turned out the book was actually a novel (a genre that I usually stay clear of) based on a rather appealing storyline. Evil Ukrainian gold-digger finds naïve Western man to seduce, marry, get passport and eventually half of his assets. Chaotic family of naïve Englishman suddenly unite against the threat from the East, but naïve Western man is too obsessed with his own sexuality to see the looming catastrophe. At this point, cat fights, family feuds, manipulation and deceit become common currency – an open war between the family and the immigrant. Having been a passive observer, on multiple occasions, of such gold-digger manipulations, I believed this novel would ring back some fun memories. I was not disappointed. Mrs. Lewycka, an academic by the way, proves to be a fantastic storyteller with memorable humor. From beginning to end, one cannot suppress the wide smile on the reader's enlightened face.
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Rigged – The true story of a wall street novice who changed the world of oil forever by Ben Mezrich (2008)
Ladislas' review (2009): The local bookstore in the tiny Gulf of Thailand island was quickly running out of potable non-fiction books in comprehensible languages (Norwegian anyone?). Thus, I had to settle for the unimaginable: a fiction. To try to make this catastrophe a little milder, I chose a fiction “based on a true story”, whatever this means. The “hero” (is this how one calls a main character in a fiction?) is a young Italian American from Brooklyn who managed to study at Oxford and Harvard Business School. He then manages to get onto the board of the New York Mercantile exchange at the age of 25 thanks to his network. The main theme of the book being his travels between NYC and Dubai, where he helped create the Dubai Mercantile exchange. So far so good, an interesting little story in a book with, I must admit, a quite enticing cover. However, this is where the praise stops. The author being a columnist for “Stuff” magazine and “Flush” magazine as well, I didn't expect too much. However, he proved to be utterly pathetic. First of all, the work was littered with swearwords at places that really didn't need them. Finally, even though the list could extend for pages, I believe that this point will let me rest my case and stop wasting my precious time on the beach with this trash, the author's book being centered around stock exchanges, names Berlin, Germany, as one of the world's largest stock exchanges. So much for “based on a true story”... |
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