Challenge 2013: Book 12 - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared

I heard it was funny, but somehow put off my the German cover. Then I read an excerpt of Jonas Jonasson's new book in my magazine, and got this book the very next day!

The Hard Facts:
Title: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared (yes, that's the title!)
Author: Jonas Jonasson
400 pages
Publisher: Hyperion, September 11, 2012
ISBN: 9781401324643

Find it at Barnes & Noble

The Story:
Allan Karlsson decides on his hundredth birthday that he is not old enough yet to celebrate it in the nursing home he lives at, and climbs out of his window. Trying to get as far away from the small town of Malkoeping, he heads for the local bus station, where he happens to get into the possession of a mysterious suitcase, which he spontaneously takes with him on the bus. He gets off in the middle of no-where, because that is how far his 50 kroner got him, and meets Julius, a petty criminal who lives all by himself in the old train station. They're sharing dinner and a couple of drinks when later that night the owner of the suitcase arrives to retrieve his possession. To cool his heated spirit, they park him in the cooling chamber, where they find him the next morning frozen stiff and quite dead. In order to escape whoever may follow the dead gang member to retrieve the suitcase, which they learned to contain 50 million kroner, they get moving on Julius' old handcar. The body is being stored in a shipping container headed for Egypt. n their lunch break at a hot dog stand, the two spontaneously hire the owner, Benny, as a driver and buy his old car to continue their journey. In the meantime, the search is on for Allan and the gang member; the police is quickly able to re-trace their steps, but are always just a little bit too late. During their journey, Allan tells his life story to his companions, of his time in a self-taught explosives-expert, his stay in a mental asylum, the time in Spain during the civil war, and his friendship with General Franco. As a gratitude for saving his life, Franco provides Allan with the funds to return to Sweden. Instead of boarding the ship to Sweden, he heads for America, where he helps solving the problem on how to build a nuclear bomb and befriends President Truman before heading for China on a mission to support the Kuomintang against Mao’s troops. Not appreciating how he is treated there, he decides to go back home to Sweden, but not without helping Mao’s bride to escape. He crosses the Himalaya by foot and ends up in Iran, where he is arrested. During his escape, he accidentally saves the life of Prime Minister Churchill and escapes to the Swedish embassy. A call to President Truman, who in turn  informs the new Swedish Prime Minister convinces the ambassador’s secretary to provide all formalities for his return to Sweden. Back in present-time, Allan, Julian, and Benny now not only run from the police who are looking for them in the disappearance of the gang member, but also from the other gang members, and end up at the remote farmhouse of Gunilla for the night. Benny falls in love with the “beautiful woman” and, as an almost-vet, helps her to heal her elephant Sonia’s leg. When Gunilla finds out that the police is searching for the three for murder, she is infuriated, but can be convinced to provide shelter for a few more days and then move on with them in a remodeled furniture truck that can accommodate Sonia. Just before they leave, the second member of the gang finds Allan and his friends, but before he can take use of his gun, he finds an untimely death under Sonia’s butt. After disposing of his body in the back of his car, which eventually ends up in a junk yard in Riga, the friends head off to stay with Benny’s brother, who can be convinced to forget their decade-long feud for a share of the 50 million kroner. On the way there, the friends are almost captured by the boss of the gang, but accidentally hit his car and decide, since Benny is an almost-doctor, to tend to his injuries on the way. Allan continues with his life story of meeting Albert Einstein’s mentally-disadvantaged half-brother Herbert, in Russia, where Allan ventured and involuntarily helps out Stalin with building a nuclear bomb as well. After ending up in a gulag, they manage to escape and flee into North Korea, where they meet both Kim Il Sung and Mao, who provide them with generous funds to thank him for having saved his wife. Yearning for some warm weather, the two of them end up in Bali where they spend their time sipping drinks at the beach. There, Herbert meets and marries Amanda, a lady of equal mental properties, who soon becomes governor of the island and later Indonesia’s ambassador to Paris. Her husband and Allan accompany her, where they get to witness a meeting between President Johnson and Charles de Gaulle before venturing back into Russia as a spy for the CIA. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union comes to an end, and Allan once again returns to Sweden where he buys and blows up a house successfully taking revenge on a fox who had killed his cat, and eventually ends up in the bleak nursing home. After the gang boss recovers from his injuries, he, too, befriends Allan, and once the police tracks them down, they all present a rather plausible story to divert any suspicion from them. And since Sweden is not too pleasant for some people with too much illegal money, the all, including Sonia the elephant, return to Bali, where Amanda now owns a large resort. Benny and Gunilla marry, and later, Allan and Amanda also find their happiness together.

My opinion:
Glorious! Such a must-read. Do yourself the favor and get it for yourself or a loved one as a late holiday present, you won't regret it! Jonas Jonasson’s writing is witty, sarcastic, and refreshingly naïve. His characters are indeed characters, of a very unique kind. It is a joy to follow Allan through his life; his view on everything is always so positive, with an innate feeling for fairness leading his actions. He is notoriously uninterested in politics, which helps him get along with people, and people in power all over the world. One review called it the equally ingenious but polar opposite of the other Swedish star writer, Stieg Larsson, and it's definitely not an exaggeration. This book is definitely something for interested teenagers, as it also offers a quick and entertaining walk through 20th century world history, describing the big leaders of the world as what they truly are: just people.

Challenge 2013: Book 11 - The Thirteenth Tale

I admit, I have become a little desperate finding good books in the English section at the library. And with yet another move in our future, stocking up on books seems not like the best thing to do at that point. So I stumbeld upon this book. I have to admit, the cover was definitely a reason why I picked it up and spent several mornings and late afternoons on the bus with it.

The Hard Facts:

Title: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
432 pages
Publisher: Washington Square Press (October 9, 2007)
ISBN: 978-0743298032

Find it on Amazon

 The Story:
Margaret Lea, a young woman who has grown up in her father's antique book store among the tomes of centuries past, is contacted by the world-famous novelist, Vida Winter to write her biography. Margaret hesitantly follows the invitation to Vida's countryside home, drawn by the promise to be given the truth about her life, of which is next to nothing known to the public, and potentially learn about the thirteenth tale of her debut novel, which had been missing. Once arrived, Margaret is drawn in by the family story of Miss Winter, who reveals her birth name, Adeline March: the twins Adeline and Emmeline are born out of the incestuous relationship between the siblings Isabelle and Charlie. After Isabelle's hospitalization at a mental insitution and her untimely death, Charlie retreats to his study, barely to be seen by anyone. The twins are being raised by the aging house keeper and display peculiar behavior early on. Upon the recommendation of he village doctor, a governess is hired when the girls were teenagers, to try and mold them into functioning people by rules and structure. While Emmeline, who seems to be mentally retarded complies, Adeline, who displays feral behavior, rebels. As a last attempt to civilize the girls, the governess suggests an experiment of separating the twins to the doctor, who takes Adeline in. Both girls are devastated at their separation, but while Emmeline slowly adapts, Adeline has fallen into absolute lethargy. Eventually, the experiment fails and the twins are reunited as the governess suddenly disappears. The twins are now alone again; both the house keeper and the gardener, who have taken care of them since birth die, and Emmeline becomes pregnant by the gardener's assistant. Shortly after Emmeline gives birth to a little boy, their house, Anglefield, burns down. Adeline leaves the boy at the doorstep of a neighbor and disappears, taking care of Emmeline, who is badly burned. As the story unrevels, Vida's strength wanes. On her deathbed she confides in Margaret that there had been a secret third girl, the ghost of Anglefield house, the daughter of Charlie with a peasant girl, who was abandoned by her mother at the garden gate as a little child but found and nurtured back to health by the housekeeper and the gardener to live in the shadows unnoticed. Due to her striking similarity to Adeline, she assumes her role after their guardians' deaths to take care of the affairs. At the night of the fire, the girl without a name saves Emmeline's baby as Adeline tries to burn the boy in the fireplace out of jealousy. She manages to save Emmeline, who ran into the flames to rescue her son, just to realize that she has indeed saved Adeline with her face badly burned. Shortly after the end of the story, Vida Winter dies; Margaret decides to not publish the story but to leave it for the family of Emmeline's son, who she had met during her research. She does, however, find the long-lost thirteenth tale in a letter from Vida, which is the story of Charlie and her mother, of her childhood and how she was abandoned, written like a Cindarella story gone wrong.

My Opinion:
Well, every bookwork out there will definitely enjoy the description of the books, the bookstore, the libraries. It took me back to the hours I spent in so many libraries around the world. It reminded me of that lovely old-book store in downtown Manhattan (Kansas, that is) where Richard and I would spend whole afternoons treasure hunting. The story itself, even though it is laced with several side stories, is great to read. The backdrop is winter in England, so it would be best read during a late fall or winter storm with a hot cup of tea. However, for my taste, the author focuses too much on the "twin phenomenon", describing how Margarets dead twin (a side story) follows her constantly to look back at her from reflecting surfaces. It definitely creates a sometimes creepy mood. Overall, it was definitely an enjoyable read for a quiet winter weekend.

Challenge 2013: Book 10 - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I've mentioned this book at the A to Z Book Survey this week, and here's my review for October! I've waited for about 2 months until I finally received a little package from my work's library, and let me tell you, this book was well worth the wait (caution, spoiler alert)!


The Hard Facts:
Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
608 pages
Publisher: Vintage; Mti Edition (November 8, 2011)
ISBN: 978-0307949493

Find it on Amazon

 The Story:
Henrik Vanger, head of an old industrial family, is being tortured for decades by the killer of his niece Harriet by sending him the same birthday present his niece used to give him before her disappearance in 1966: a dried flower in a frame. 

Mikael Blomquist, renowned journalist and editor-in-chief of the independent magazine Millennium, is sentenced to 3 months in prison for libel after writing an article on the businessman Wennerstroem that lacks any kind of evidence. 

Lisbeth Salander, hacker, hermit, with serious emotional issues and a dark past is fighting against her new, sadistic legal guardian. 

The paths of these three very different people crosses after Lisbeth receives the assignment to research Mikael Blomquist for Henrik Vanger, who then invites the journalist to make the newly-convict an unlikely offer: to write his biography, and, as a secret side mission, to investigate the murder of his niece, which has never been solved; in return, he offers Mikael information to finish Wennerstroem once and for all. Mikael, who has to take a leave of absence from his magazine in order to avoid further damage after the disastrous article against the will of his partner (and occasional lover) Erika, decides to accept the offer and moves to a cottage at the Vanger estate. 
 He learns the details on the disappearance of Harriet Vanger several decades ago; her uncle is convinced that she was murdered, most likely by a member of the vast Vanger family, even though her body was never found. During his painstaking research under the cover of writing a biography, he meets several members of the Vanger clan who still live on the estate and stumbles into an affair with Cecilia, another one of Henrik’s nieces. However, all the clues Mikael finds are either inconclusive or soon lead him to a dead end. As he works, he notices slight oddities on his computer, and as Henrik informs him about the background search he had conducted on him, Mikael is set on Lisbeth’s trail through her employer. 
 As he confronts her, she is devastated about being recovered but agrees to work with him on the investigation of a series of Old Testament-inspired murders, that leads back to the Vanger family. Mikael also manages to locate a woman, who has taken a picture that helps him complete a scene of Harriet’s last day: she stares in panic at a young man hidden in the crowd at a parade. However, as Mikael and Lisbeth, who have also started an affair, learn more about the circumstances at the time of Harriets disappearance, strange things are happening. Someone breaks into the cottage the two of them live in, a few days later, the cat that roams the property is found skinned on the steps of the front door, and someone shoots at and wounds Mikael in the woods. They know that they are on the right track and intensify their efforts to identify the murderer of all these women and potentially even Harriet, even though by that time, Mikael and Lisbeth already have the strong suspicion that Harriet may not be dead after all, as they find another woman, who has astounding similarity with Harriet, on old family pictures. While researching the dates of the murders in the archives and comparing them to the Vanger family travel schedules, Lisbeth discovered that Harriets brother Martin is the killer, not his father as they had previously thought, and most likely the young man in the picture that sent Harriet into a panic the afternoon of her disappearance. 
 At the same time, Mikael, who also identified Martin as the most likely subject and tried to confront him, finds himself in Martin’s private torture chamber. Martin tells him that he had tortured and killed countless women in that chamber over the years, but that his most valued prize, Harriet, has slipped through his fingers. As Lisbeth sees all the missed calls from Mikael on her phone, she races to him and manages to save him from Martin, who flees and dies as his car crashes into an oncoming truck on the road. 
 With the new information, Mikael and Lisbeth focus on Harriet’s look-alike aunt, who lives in London and cut most ties to the family. As she refuses to talk to them, Lisbeth installs spyware and the two listen in on a phone call that is made to Australia. With this information, they manage to locate Harriet, who lives under an assumed name as the owner of a large corporate farm in Australia. Mikael goes and meets her, where she tells him the story of her abusive childhood and how she fled on the fateful day as her brother returned to kill her before she could confide in her uncle for help. She was also the one who kept sending the dried flowers to Henrik as a sign that she is still alive. 
 Uncle and niece are reunited and also decide to merge their companies as Harriet assumes the role of CEO of Vanger Corporations while her sons take over the agricultural company in Australia. Mikael returns as editor-in-chief to Millennium with an article that indeed breaks Wennerstroem, while a small woman in several disguises relieves him of several millions stored in banks in Switzerland. 
 Back in Sweden, Lisbeth is trying to clean up her apartment as she admits deeper feelings for Mikael to herself. She goes to buy a Christmas present for him as disguise to go and visit him again. However, as she is on her way to his apartment, she sees him leaving a nearby café with Erika, turns around and goes home after tossing the present.

My Opinion:
Ingenious. Captivating. Simply loved it! It is very graphic at some points, so please be warned. Some scenes stayed with me for a while, and I'm usually not too easily disturbed... But nevertheless, Stieg Larsson has created an extraordinary thriller with well-rounded characters, unexpected twists, and glimpses into the abyss of human psyche. What a pity that besides the Millennium trilogy, there will no more writing by Stieg Larssen, as he died before the trilogy was published.

Challenge 2013: Book 9 - Girl In Translation

After my intended book for this month fell through (longer line at the library), I accidentially came across this book. As I had nothing else planned (and since I've been an immigrant in the U.S. as well, even though the circumstances could not have been any more different), I thought why not give it a shot.

The Hard Facts:
Title: Girl In Translation
Author: Jean Kwok
320 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Trade; reprint edition (May 3, 2011)
ISBN: 1594485151

Find it on Amazon

The Story:
Kim Chang and her mother, who only recently recovered from tuberculosis, are brought to the U.S. by Mrs. Chang's sister, Paula, who years ago had married an Chinese American man. Back then, Kim's mother was supposed to marry the man from the U.S. herself, but opted for a love marriage with another Hong Kong Chinese and her younger sister ended up marrying the visitor from the U.S. After their arrival, Kim has to adopt the American name Kimberly and is deposited at a run-down, pest-ridden apartment in the Bronx, which are already set for tear-down. Kim is sent to a Middle School in a better neighborhood and her mom is given a job at her brother-in-law's sweatshop. The work is so hard that Kim has to go to the factory to help her mother finish up. Slowly, Kim learns English, she finds a friend at her school, and adjusts to the American lifestyle as much as her extreme poverty allows, always trying to hide her second identity from her friends. Once the language barrier is overcome, Kim shows extraordinary abilities in school, and is offered a full scholarship to a private high school. As Aunt Paula finds out, she is jealous but able to control herself, knowing Kim and her mother under her total control otherwise. During high school, Kim falls in love with a boy also working at the sweat shop, Matt. She sees boys from school, and as Matt starts dating another girl, Kim becomes more serious with another boy from high school, Curt, who she tutors as part of her tuition program. Towards the end of her time in high school, Kim realizes she wants to study to be a doctor at Yale and applies for a scholarship. One day, while Kim is at school, Matt shows up in tears, seeing her hand in hand with Curt. He runs off, but Kim follows him. He tells her that his mother, who had been the one holding the family together had died. Kim, who had known the woman well, is shocked and takes Matt home. There, they sleep together. From then on, they are a couple, enjoying a summer together. Suddenly, Kim finds out that she was accepted to Yale with a full scholarship as Aunt Paula presents the enrollment papers that were sent to her address. Kim calls her out on her jealousy and announces that she and her mother would be moving to a new apartment and also had another job in a jewelry company lined up. However, Matt is not excited about Kim's acceptance at Yale; he asks her to decline and build a life with him, while Kim asks him to come to Yale with her and start out new. However, she realizes that there won't be a compromise that makes both of them happy. She breaks up with Matt, and finds out she's pregnant. Kim panicks, seeing  the life she worked that hard for disappear. Her high school friend Curt offers to marry her to give her the financial freedom to study, but she declines, as she had already made up her mind to have an abortion.
Twelve years later, Kim is a noted pediatric surgeon. One day, Matt comes to her hospital to talk to her. They talked about their lives, and what could have been, if Kim had not had an abortion. Acknowledging the final closure of his relationship, Matt returns to his family, and Kim goes home to her mother - and 12-year old son, Jason.

My Opinion:
A strong book on a strong girl, who doesn't let anything get in her way in achieving her goals. It offers a glimps into the dark world of America, where men, women, and even children slave away for a far below living wage. But I love the message of education and determination being the way out of the slum. I liked the book!

Challenge 2013 - Book 8: Snow Wolf

I'm usually not too much into thrillers, but wanted to try something different, et voila!

The Hard Facts:
Title: Snow Wolf
Author: Glenn Meade
450 pages
Publisher: St. Martins Pr. , First Edition (May 1996)
ISBN: 978-0312144210

Find it on Amazon

The Story:
In 1952, Anna Khorev escapes from a gulag and manages to flee over the Finnish border. Jake Massey, a CIA agent convinces the US ambassador to grant a visa to Anna to take her to safety in America against the will of the Communist regime in Russia. There, she is integrated until Jake Massey is introduced into a highly confidential plan of the US secret service: the assassination of Joseph Stalin. His team consists of one of the most skilled killers in the service of the CIA, several contacts on the way to Moscow, and Anna, who agrees to return to Moscow and support the mission with the promise that she will be able to get back her daughter, who was placed in an orphanage upon her and her husband’s arrest. However, Anna is still being followed by Russian agent, who plan to abduct and return her to Russia. While training for their mission in a remote cabin in January 1953, the situation escalates for the first time when the agents attack the camp and burn it down before being killed themselves. Jake Massey decides to start the operation immediately, without informing his superiors and Anna starts her journey back to Europe together with her partner, the killer Alex Slanski. They do not know that the plan was discovered by a second team of Russian agents; when it turns out, Jake’s superiors order him to stop the operation at all cost, even if it means killing the agents on the mission. Meanwhile, Anna and Alex are always a step ahead and travel via Estonia and Finland into Russia. Soon, Russian agents are on their heels and Yuri Lukin is reactivated as an agent to hunt the two down, knowing that his own life is endangered should he fail. Eventually, after Alex and Anna separate in Moscow, Anna is captured and questioned by Yuri, who tries to get all necessary information from her before his sadistic superiors are getting to her. However, Anna stays mum and the hunt for Alex continues, who, in the meantime, has found a safe place with a woman who is going to leave Moscow with Anna hidden in a train transporting furs for a French business man and honorary Russian citizen. In order to free Anna, Alex abducts Yuri’s pregnant wife; during the exchange, Yuri tries to shoot and kill Alex, however both he and Anna manage to escape and find cover at their safe house before planning their respective final missions: Alex to kill Stalin and Anna to free her daughter from the orphanage and once again flee from Russia. In the meantime, the pressure on Yuri to present a success in his mission increases, as his wife is yet again in danger, this time threatened by his own. In a showdown at the safe house, Jake Massey finds himself finally eye to eye with Alex and Anna again; however, he is shot and mortally wounded during the shooting. Alex and Anna leave, chased by Yuri, who has finally found the missing information from Alex’s file and learned why he was put on the case: Alex and he are brothers. After the violet death of both of their parents, Alex, Yuri, and their sister were taken to a orphanage for party-conform re-education, from which Alex escaped and fled into the west. As a macabre and sadistic twist, the highest party leaders determined that his brother should be the one taking Alex down, without even knowing it. Re-united, Alex and Yuri decide to cooperate on their final suicidal mission; however, Alex knocks out Yuri just before they reached Stalin’s country house and Alex enters the compound by himself, disguised as Yuri and with the dead US agent, Jake Massey on his back seat to present to Stalin. Yuri is shocked about his brother having left him, however, he manages to reach the train that is to transport his wife and the other women into safety to Finland. In the meantime, against all odds and expectations, Alex succeeds in his mission killing Stalin before shooting himself to not be captured by the KGB agents. In the wake of the ensuing tumults, the two US agents are removed from the villa and buried in unnamed graves at the cemetery of a nearby monastery to cover up the events. 

My opinion:

I read a little on Amazon what others thought about it, and there seemed to have been quite some (avoidable) factual mistakes. Even I wondered how a one-handed guy can so easily ride a motorcycle. But let's give Glenn Meade some literary freedom, won't we? To be honest, I really enjoyed reading this thriller, written from Anna Khorev's point of view, as the tells the story to Jake Massey's son, many decades after the events of 1953. It feels a little unrealistic at times, Meade seems to try a little too hard, and by editing properly and cutting out some bits and pieces here and there would have made the book even a little more cohesive and realistic. The afterword points at the mysterious circumstances of Stalin's death; even his relatives back then question the official cause of death. In general, this book is great for a rainy weekend (or two) with a hot cup of tea. Definitely recommend it, even if you're usually not too much into thrillers (I'm not).

Challenge 2013 - Book 5: The Jewel Of Medina

The book I actually wanted to review this month is actually very popular, therefore I had not been able to get it in the library yet. So bummed I went to find another book, stumbling upon this book, which has already caused major stirs before it has been even released. It's a fictional novel based on the early life of the third wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Aisha bint Abu Bakr.

The hard facts:
Title: The Jewel of Medina
Author: Sherry Jones
432 pages
Publisher: Beaufort Books, 1st edition (2008)
ISBN: 978-0825305184
 

Find it on Amazon

The story:
Aisha, a little girl in Mecca is suddenly confined to the house by her parents. There, she has to await her wedding, expecting the groom to be her childhood friend. However, the 6-year old finds out on her wedding day that not her peer is her intended husband, but the Prophet Muhammad, 50-something at that time. She is in shock and wants to refuse, but then submits to her fate, expecting to be released from confinement and moving to her new husband’s home. However, her confinement continues until the age of nine, after the family has relocated to Medina to escape persecution in Mekka. Once she has moved to the house of the Prophet, she quickly assumes the role of head of ther Harim, the women’s household. She is being raised by her sister-wife, Sauda, and enjoys the attention of the Prophet. The years pass; several battles against their enemy, Abu Sufyan, the rich merchant who has expelled Muhammad and his followers from Mecca, take place for survival and control of the area. Muhammad marries several more women, some of them being war widows, others securing political alliances. Aisha is dealing with her jealousy towards these women, which is a frequent issue between herself and the Prophet. At some point, she decides to run away with her childhood friend to be free from the increasingly strict rules the wives of the Prophet are submitted to and become a Bedouin warrior. When she notices that her friend has different plans for their future than she does, she decides to return to Medina, where her welcome is rather cold from the masses. Under pressure from his comrades, the Prophet sends her back to her father’s house until he has a revelation of Aisha’s innocence. However, their relationship keeps experiencing its ups and downs as more women join the Harim and Aisha’s position is in danger. Eventually, after his mistress Maryam falls pregnant, the Prophet accuses Aisha of lying about her own pregnancy to gain attention. The Prophet retreats for prayer and meditation for guidance on the future; while he is withdrawn, Aisha tries to visit him in his refuge, trying to explain her situation to him an plead for forgiveness. On the way back, she has an accident and miscarries. However, due to another revelation, Muhammad forgives his wives for their constant quarrels and disharmony in the Harim. The wives reconcile and Aisha is confirmed in her position as head of the Harim. The book ends with Muhammad’s death and the beginning of the quarrels on the succession as head of the Umma, the community of the early Muslims.

My opinion:

As I mentioned, there was an enormous controversy about the release of this book. The first publisher retreated from the contract due to threats from fundamentalist groups. The author, however, managed to get the book released after all and the publishing rights sold to other countries. To really form an opinion on the controversy, I talked to a colleague of mine, who is a fairly liberal and low-key Muslim (believe me, only she can fast for Ramadan for a months and no-one even noticing, I admire her!). What I needed to understand was how offending a piece of writing about the Prophet and his wives would actually be. I came to understand that it is understood that even though he had a total of 13 wives, he had only had a marital relationship with his first wife; the ones who followed were mostly widows he married to be able to protect and support them or women who secured a political alliance. Thus, depicting the Prophet, who is considered a man without sin by Muslims, as a man who married women because of desire and had marital relations with all of them would indeed be offending to them. Furthermore I learned that according to Islam, the genre of "historical novel" is an issue because filling in gaps in history by fiction distorts the truth and should therefore not be practiced. I believe a "normal" Muslim would resort to simply ignore this book, as it is not even a very good or entertaining piece of writing; more radical ones may, as it has happened, turn to threats in order to prevent the book from being released.

 Let me add that even Islam scholars cannot agree on an opinion of the book; while some endorse it as a good insight in the life of the early Umma, others condemn it as blasphemy.

To sum it up: not really worth your time.

Challenge 2013 - Book 4: The Book With No Name

It's April, and I cheated. I finished my last book early and have read two in the meantime. This month, I would like to share a book with you, that I, as an unrepenting Quentin Tarentino fan, was very excited about. When I found the book in the library at my work, I was intrigued by the cover info on the author: unknown. All that is verified (or not?) about him (or her??) is that he's British and that he self-publishes his work initially by himself online. The book was further described as a mix of Quentin Tarentino and The Da Vinci Code; I'm in!

The hard facts:

Title: The Book With No Name
Author: unknown
448 pages

Publisher: Michael O'Mara (reprint April 2012)

ISBN: 978-1843175766

Find it on Amazon.com

 

 

The story:

 

After a massive massacre in small town Santa Mondega five years ago, things have mostly gone back to normal. Now, another full solar eclipse is due in this small US town, and the citizens are getting nervous. A federal detective for paranormal activities arrives in town and is paired with an otherwise retired cop, who no-one likes. A woman, who was severely injured during the last massacre awakes from her coma only to find her care-givers murdered gruesomly. A couple of monks are deployed from the secluded island of Hubal to retrieve the "Eye of the Moon", which has been stolen once again.

 

What ensues is massive bloodshed, especially after the killer from five years ago, Bourbon Kid, re-appears in town. While the corpses pile up, several parties are now haunting for the mysterious gem and a book without name and without an author seems to hold the key to the mystery. As the town prepares for the moon festival held during the eclipse, the dark forces are about to take over power, which ends in an epic show-down.

 

My opinion:

 

I LOVE it! It's so Tarantino-esque that I actually want to see Tarantino making a movie about it. I could be seen giggling while reading it and imagine the over-the.top scenes (yes, I enjoy really dark humor!). If you enjoyed "From Dusk Till Dawn", do yourself a favor and read this book. I am just reading the next book in the Bourbon Kid series, and hope that the author keeps up his work. I think you'll either love it or hate it. There's plenty of violence and bloodshed. There's morbid humor. It's not high literature, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Challenge 2013 - Book 3: The Private Papers Of Eastern Jewel

After a children's book and a psychological study, I thought to dip a little bit into the genre of biography.. Well, this "biography" had still a good portion of fiction in it.

The hard facts:

Title: The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel
Author: Maureen Lindley
288 pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (2009)

ISBN: 1596917032

Find it on Amazon.com

 The Story:

After 8-year old Eastern Jewel, 14th daughter of a Chinese prince is caught watching her father's liason with a young servant girl, she is being banished to her father's extended family to Japan. Being neglected by the women of the house there, the rebellious girl seeks the approval from her brothers and adopted father. Due to the sexual abuse in her adolescence she soon learns about the power she can have over men using not only her wits but also her body. After she is being married off to a Mongolian prince and escapes from him within a week at the age of nineteen, she finds her way via Tokyo to Shanghai. There, she finds her way via several lovers into the Japanese secret service. She plays a major part in the Chinese Emperor's escape to Mandshuria and the Japanese taking control in Shanghai. However, during a mission in Beijing, the Chinese regain power; she is abandoned by her adopted country as well as her lovers and friends. After she is handed over to the new ruling police by her bodyguards, she is imprisoned and condemned to death for high treason. While waiting for her execution, an old friend offers to pay a poor family to exchange their dying daughter for Eastern Jewel and rescue her. The book ends as she, contemplating the offer and the consequences on the rest of her life, goes to sleep to make a decision whether to accept the offer and live or decline it and face execution by the sword. 

My opinion:

While the story is entertaining enough, I agree with some other readers that Maureen Lindley tries to fill too many different literary category and doesn't succeed in any. The storyline is entertaining enough for early-morning and after-work bus rides, but doesn't capture like "The Memoires of a Geisha". The descriptions leave to be desired and the characters are often only one-dimensional. While I felt sympathy for Eastern Jewel's desperate search for love and acceptance, her decisions are sometimes a little too random and not necessarily relatable. All in all an entertaining-enough read if you don't mind frequent mild graphic/adult content.

Challenge 2013 - Book 2: Borderliners

I have recently written about my all-time favorite book, "Smilla's Sense of Snow" by Peter Høeg. Since I did not read this book as part of the Book Challenge 2013, I am now presenting another novel by this author. I have always wanted to read more of his books, just to find out whether "Smilla" was an ingenius incident or if Peter Høeg was just an exceptional author. At my work's employees' library I came across "Borderliners" and went for it.

The hard facts:
Title: Borderliners
Author: Peter Høeg
277 pages

Publisher: Picador (2007)

ISBN: 978-0312427115

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The Story:
Peter, an orphan and, at twelve years old, petty criminal, who has spent his childhood at different state institutions, is sent to attend Biehl's private school in Kopenhagen after an incident at his last home. There, he meets two other students, Katharina and August, who, like himself, seem not to fit into this rather expensive private school. At Biehl's, time dictates everything and all students are under constant supervision. Personal contacts are frowned upon and suppressed. Nevertheless, Peter manages to exchange letters with Katharina, who lost her parents through cancer and suicide. August, they learned, is also an orphan, who shot his abusive parents. The more they observe their environment at school and special treatment through therapists and isolation, the more they suspect an ulterior motive. Peter and Katharina are caught twice exchanging information and they are put under even closer supervision. After their third exchange has been noticed, they are separated completely and Peter is set to be sent away from school. During a desperate attempt to flee with August, who is held at the infirmary of the school and has refused to eat for weeks, August is killed by his attempt to set the school on fire. Peter is removed and loses all contact with Katharina, who most likely dies soon after. Peter manages to get adopted by extorting a letter of recommendation from Mr. Biehl, the founder and principal of the school. As an adult, he again takes up the investigation on what had happened at Biehl's private school that took the lives of two of his closest friends in life.

My opinion:
Time is the central motif in this book. I have to admit, it is much different from "Smilla", more philosophical and less story. During the first 50 pages or so I contemplated to quit and take on another book, but felt as if I had come too far to give up. And soon after, the book truly sucked me in. Not in the way "Smilla" did, but the remaining 200 pages just flew by. It offered a lot of theories to meditate on, circling around "time". I can definitely recommend this book for any book club, since it offers plenty of topics to discuss. It is definitely not meant for easy and casual entertainment.

Disclaimer: This review reflects my own opinion only. I found the book in the remains of Richard's library and was not compensated by Amazon.com, Scholastic, Inc., the author, or any other party. I would gladly review books sent to me. If you are interested in having me write a review for you, please refer to my Sponsorship/Disclosure-section for information.

Book Challenge 2013: Smilla's Sense Of Snow

I am not counting this book for the "One Book A Month"-challenge for a couple of reason: First, I can barely make it through a winter season without reading this book. I've read it the first time when I was 14 or 15, and it has sucked me right in. One year, I believe it was 10th or 11th grade I managed to get this book on the reading-list for German class, to the dislike of my class-mates. Ok, I will not go into further detail but continue to present my favorite book:

The hard facts:

Title: Smilla's Sense Of Now
Author: Peter Høeg
512 pages
Publisher: Picador (2012)
ISBN: 978-1250002556

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The Story:

Jesaja, a little Inuit boy falls down a warehouse building; his motherly friend Smilla doesn’t believe in an accident and starts investigating on her own. She teams up with another of Jesaja’s adult friends, the “Mechanic” Peter Foejl. The deeper Smilla digs, the less sense everything makes: why is the Cryolite Company of Denmark paying a pension to Jesaja’s widow mother? Under which circumstances did his father die during an expedition to Greenland to explore cryolite mines? Why was Jesaja picked up for medical exams every month? How are the Inuit linguist Andreas Fine Licht, the physicians Johannes Loyen and Toerk Hvid, and a decoder named Katja Claussen involved in Jesaja’s death? After being threatened with prison and nearly arrested, Smilla escapes and manages to sign on the Kronos, an icebreaker bound for an unknown mission to Greenland. There, Smilla faces a hostile crew and more secrets on the boat deck. When the ship stops at an oil rig platform to re-fuel and Smilla tries to escape the ship, a fourth passenger enters the Kronos: the Mechanic. Returning on board, Smilla sneaks on the boat deck and learns about the Kronos’ destination: the barren Island Gela Alta. There, the Mechanic discovers her and arranges for her detainment for her own safety the next day. However, Smilla escapes and learns about the true mission of the passengers on board, among them Toerk Hvid and Katja Claussen: a third exploration to the Gela Alta glacier, which contains a mysterious meteoroid; two previous expeditions had been unsuccessful due to lethal accidents during the survey of the glacier and the cavern containing the meteoroid. The puzzle pieces finally fall into place as Smilla tries to prevent the recovery of the rock.
 

My opinion:

Sorry, I just can’t get myself to reveal the grand finale. As mentioned above, this book is my absolute favorite! Usually, I don’t read books more than once, but this one I have read more often than I remember; in English, in German, I would even like to learn Danish just to read this book in its original version. More often than not, “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” is on my reading list for long, cold winter days and nights; I believe I couldn’t read it during the summer since the cold outside just increases the mood in the book. Peter Høeg just manages to draw you in; while oftentimes, I read books by merely scanning the pages, I have to truly read “Smilla” carefully in order to not be lost in the detail. But still, this book does not contain any boring sections or holes in the story line but increases the suspense by each page, ending it in a bang after some 500+ pages that pass way too fast.

Challenge 2013: Book 1: The Secret of NIMH

Yes, people, I am totally serious! I know, it's a children's book, but I am determined to read books that are part of an American childhood (e.g. Richard's) before the kids are old enough to read them together with them. So, here are:

The hard facts:

Title: The Secret of NIMH (hardcover title: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH)
Autor: Robert C. O'Brien
249 pages
(C) 1971 by Robert C. O'Brien
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 0-590-41708-8

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The story:

The mouse widow Mrs. Frisby needs her winter home moved since she cannot move to the summer home yet due to her youngest son's illness. A family friend, Mr. Ages, refers her to the wise owl for advice, who, in turn, sends her to the rats for help. First, the guard at the entrance of the rats' burrow is sending her away until once again her name opens the doors for her. There, she encounters many wondrous things and meets the rats Justin and Nicodemus, who tell her the story of their rat community, which also includes the story of her late husband, Jonathan. The rats were subject to experiments to a lab called "NIMH", which left them extremely intelligent and extended their life span considerably. But their new awareness also showed them that they don't want to live like rats any longer, stealing from everyone around them, but they wanted to live autonomously depending on the skills and knowledge they have acquire. At the end, Mrs. Frisby's home is moved in a perilous campaign and the rats leave for their new home in the valley.

My opinion:

Folks, I am in love! I really, really LOVED this book! It is written sensible and in a way both young and young-at-heart readers can enjoy it. As an adult, I figured out very early on what "NIMH" would be, but for younger kids, this may add another pinch of suspense. The book teaches the importance of self-reliance, curiosity, and independence. I can't wait to read it with the girls!!



Disclaimer: This review reflects my own opinion only. I found the book in the remains of Richard's library and was not compensated by Amazon.com, Scholastic, Inc., the author, or any other party. I would gladly review books sent to me. If you are interested in having me write a review for you, please refer to my Sponsorship/Disclosure-section for information.