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I just finished my first book for 2010 and realised I didn’t post my read book of 2009. Although I didn’t read that much, I picked good ones. Not all, of course, that would be inhuman but still….I did good overall.
| year/month | author | stars | title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-02 | Pink & Ten Pas |  |
The adventures of Johnny Bunko |
| 2009-02 | Urasawa |  |
Monster – volume 5 |
| 2009-02 | Urasawa | |
Monster – volume 6 |
| 2009-02 | Urasawa | |
Monster – volume 7 |
| 2009-02 | Urasawa | |
Monster – volume 8 |
When you see the title you would think you’re in for a thriller/horror type of story, but you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s a very gripping and disturbing story about five teenage sisters who commit suicide. Heavy stuff? Not really. The way the story is told is very open and factual, even funny at times, by one of the boys (now men) who lived in the street and who were intrigued by the Lisbon girls and their lives.
In this book everything is hang up on one term: intertextuality.
Mrs. Dalloway is the subject/object that is the intermediate between three women, three, as it seems at first, totally different and incoherent lives. There is Virginia Woolf, who is writing Mrs Dalloway, struggling with her story. There is Laura Brown, who is reading Mrs Dalloway and Clarissa who is the late ‘90 version of Mrs Dalloway. Every woman has her own struggles and doubts. We, the readers, are given a look in their worlds, their emotions, thoughts and eventually their decisions.
Fanny Price, a young woman who is taken away from her family at the age of ten and brought up by her rich aunt and uncle. She learns manners, how to behave in certain circles. The only real friend in her ordeal is her cousin Edmund, who gives her paper and feather to write, and later on her uncle gives her a fair chance too, by giving her a lovely fire (and so warmth) in “her” library. I really haven’t got a clue what more to tell . It’s just a romantic story about a very dull young woman. All is well that ends well. But I’m not finished yet…
A very uncomplicated and amusing play. This play has everything a good classic play should have: characters with secrets, a situation that starts easy but spins out of control in no time, love interests, confusion of tongues, little fights, a moral and a happy ending.
The characters with secrets are John/Jack and Algernon. The love interests are Lane and Cecily. The situation is John wanting to marry Cecily, but she only wants to marry an Earnest. The confusion is in all the names the characters have. The fight is between Algernon and John. The moral is: be yourself and truthful and the happy ending…well, I think I don’t have to say anything about that.
A nice little story told in journal form. Cassandra is the one who is telling the story about her life and love(s).
She lives in a castle where also live: her strange father, stepmother Topaz, sister Rose, brother Thomas and help Stephen. When the family of which they rent the castle, comes to England (from the USA) the story really sets of. Two young men, Simon and Neil, belong to that family and steal the harts of Rose and Cassandra with whom Stephen is hopelessly in love.
Although the book is about football, football and football Hornby’s style of writing drew me to the book repeatedly. With his choice of words, his distinctive (English) humor he gets to me every time.
At times he is really funny, but at other times he can be serious about things happening in the (soccer-)world, like discrimination of players and deaths as a result of vandalism. This makes the book more than just an easy tribute to the game.
I enjoyed myself reading it.
