Title : The Shadow of the Wind
Author : Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Synopsis :
Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax.
But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.
My Thoughts
I got this book from my sister, and at first I had no idea this book would be so exciting. This is the first book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon that I've read and so I had no clue as to how he would work the plot. I would definitely look for other books by him; I really liked this one. It was a bit of a thriller, a lot of mystery finding, spooky at times, some love stuff too..It kept me turning the pages and I got through it quite fast, so that means it really worked for me.
Title : Kafka On The Shore
Author : Haruki Murakami
Pages : 615
SynopsisJoining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world's toughest fifteen-year-old." He runs away from home, both to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, as Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. (A wonderfully endearing character, Nakata has never recovered from the effects of a mysterious World War II incident that left him unable to read or comprehend much, but did give him the power to speak with cats.) What follows is a kind of double odyssey, as Kafka and Nakata are drawn inexorably along their separate but somehow linked paths, groping to understand the roles fate has in store for them. Murakami likes to blur the boundary between the real and the surreal—we are treated to such oddities as fish raining from the sky; a forest-dwelling pair of Imperial Army soldiers who haven't aged since WWII; and a hilarious cameo by fried chicken king Colonel Sanders—but he also writes touchingly about love, loneliness and friendship. Occasionally, the writing drifts too far into metaphysical musings—mind-bending talk of parallel worlds, events occurring outside of time—and things swirl a bit at the end as the author tries, perhaps too hard, to make sense of things. But by this point, his readers, like his characters, will go just about anywhere Murakami wants them to, whether they "get" it or not.
My Thoughts
I took so long to read this book...mainly cause of the things that were happening around me during the last 3 months..moving house etc.. Anyway, the book turned out quite different than what I've ever read before. I'm not sure if I'm right in saying that it's a fantasy novel, but I thought it was the best description due to all the weird and unnatural things that happened in the book, like leeches falling from the sky, a world beyond the living, talking to cats, and stuff like that..I thought it was pretty freaky at times too..but quite original, just like a lot of the Japanese :-) I would definitely recommend it to those who like to try different story lines.
Title : Life of Pi
Author : Yann Martel
Pages : 336
Synopsis
Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."
My Thoughts
To me, this book was very different to what I've read before.. I think the main idea of the book is really interesting, it was a fun read. Imagine if what Pi experienced was true?!#@* The island with the Meerkats was quite horrifying and original too, I think...I will look for other books by Yann Martel..
Title : A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author : Khaled Hosseini
Synopsis :
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.
My Thoughts :
Compared to his first novel, "The Kite Runner", this one didn't really hit me as strongly. It was good, but too sad and frustrating for me. I got frustrated at the way things were in Afghanistan in those days and how the people suffered so much. Anyway, I wouldn't read it over again, even though it was really good.
