Random Things Tours: The Guests by Agnes Ravatn translated by Rosie Hedger

 ´Bit of fun, isn´t it, being someone else?´

Not all psychological novels should be packed with action. Some may just slowly explore a topic creating slowly the ambiance, only to sudden switch to a new direction that will also follow its own pathway to grow.

The Guests by multi-awarded Norwegian author Agnes Ravatn, translated into English by Rosie Hedger and published this month by Orenda Books, one of my favorite English-language publishing houses is a very fine work. 

An average couple, Kai and Karin, do accept a sudden offer from a school friend, Iris Vielden, now a successful actress and socialite, to spend one week in an elegant cabin of ´secluded majesty´ in the fjords. Iris, a manipulative nature that seemed to have left traumatic traces into Karin´s life, suddenly re-entered her existence. 

Karin, in her own words ´insecure and neurotic´, anxiously get losts into other people lives. She thinks about what should could have been. Well read, she is obsessively searching other people, including Iris. She wants to be someone else, forgetting and neglecting her own gifts. The book offers few good thoughts about what our lives are made of when influenced by our overinflated projections of rich and famous.  

While slowly getting used with her short episode of luxury at the cabin, she got to know her temporary neighbours, a couple of mid-age writers and alongside with Kai, she is playing an impersonating game. There is a game of comfort and comforting, that will not diminish her insecurities, just magnify her issues and obsessions. 

The story follows the psychological thread of lies, how they appear, their role and their nonchalant acceptance. It´s an anti-social game Karin is passionately playing. There are innocent lies, indeed, no one is harmed. It may make the life more bearable, but there is no jest into a life of lies. 

And we, as readers, are sometimes took over by the mirage of the story. We are made believe many possible ways and directions the story can lead to, but although we are left with a lesser promise, the intellectual exercise is much more worth than any spectacular twist that I was maybe expecting at the beginning of the story. 

The Guests is well written and prodigiously executed, like a fjord painting featuring small traces of life in their midst, silhouettes of human beings trying to play dare or truth with their own life, so insignificant at the huge and eternal scale of nature.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: Eye Spy by Tessa Buckley

 

Children, especially pre-teens, love a good detective story. They dream themselves to become detectives and good written stories with characters their age, courageous and ready for adventures, may also fuel their love for reading and books in general. However, there are not too many such novels addressing this specific age category.

Hence, my pleasure to introduce to my readers Tessa Buckley, the author of Eye Spy, a highly eventful midgrade detective novel, addressing 9 to 12-year olds. Fast-paced, packed with curious and unusual characters, with a story that in less than 200 pages is turning your mind around and around, as every couple of pages there is a new twist which may take the story in a completely unexpected, and sometimes very dangerous direction.

Siblings Donna and Alex Macintyre are decided to find out what happened with a missing dog. They have ten days to figure out but while they are working hard setting up lists of suspects - from the bag lady to the gang of bikers - Alex is revealed a secret that may endanger his sister. Caught between love for the truth and his love for his sister, he is under pressure to decide fast and move even faster.

Although I am not necessarily a target of the book, I enjoyed every single line of it, and even shared with my son my enthusiasm. I just hope that there will be more books like Eye Spy, so that once my little one will reach this age, he will keep himself busy in the company of such adventurous characters.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Journaling during Covid Times: The Light Room by Kate Zambreno

 

As challenging and excruciating Covid was for the everyday life, its potential as a source of inspiration for literary and artistic endeavours in general is still to be manifested. The experience of solitude, the forced inactivity - both physical and economically-oriented - due to the repeated lockdowns, are a good challenge for the writer, whose art of translating reality through words may be on high request. How other but through wording are we able to understand the world around us, particularly the unusual encounters with unusual circumstances.

The Light Room. On Art and Care by Kate Zambreno is for me, by far, one of the most stringent meditation on life and nature, family and ourselves prompted by Covid 19. I´ve listen to the book, read by the author herself, with her soothing yet inquiring voice, and it added on more authenticity to the memoir.

While going through different stages of the pandemic, Zambreno is nursing her youngest child, while adapting to the new work realities and the changes in her worldview as well. There is more focus on nature, as refute and source of education. She is constantly searching for new toys and learning methods on Montessori blogs - something I definitely miss from my child education, but one day I promise myself to pay more attention to it. 

But as usual when the memoir is at work, there are hidden places in the memorialistic journey that may be revealed, memories and people who brought them to life. The memories in her memoir are very much alive, happen in the present because, anyway, where else are those memories taking place when re-enacted. All is there, in the light room of our minds.

I really loved following Zambreno´s thoughts and I consider challenging putting into the same equation children care and education with environmental concerns. It may be obvious but theorizing this double take at the same time may take some time in reality.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Random Things Tours: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

 

Did you ever wonder what happens with spies when they retire? How can one spend a quiet, retired life, after being so many years on the forefront of secret missions and adrenaline-fuelled days in a row?

Take, for instance, the sweet Maggie Bird, the main character of the newest book by New York bestseller author Tess Gerritsen, Spy Coast. A former successful CIA operative, with a traumatic past of seeing her loved ones killed in missions, she is spending a quiet life, surrounded by nature and chicken cops in a small remote place in Maine. Everything seemed to come along together in a very quiet way, until...surprise...corpse is showing up near her home. Some may consider it an accident, but in a spy life, nothing really happens by accident. Thus, she is back to her old network of knowledgeable friends in order to find out who really is targetting her. Because, as Maggie well knows, she may be the next target.

The construction of the book is flawless, with so many actions and events which are not leaving you any time to breath. It´s a roller coaster of a book, packed with events and with an action that does not let you guess the next step. It is like we are invited to be part of a secret mission ourselves, following into the dangerous steps of our character. Gerritsen writing flows so naturally, allowing automony and freedom to the characters to develop.

Personally, I was also very much pleased by the character, a woman spy, an encounter I would be very happy to have in spy novels, still dominated by male protagonists. 

Spy Coast is an excellent novel, both in terms of writing,character building and the action. A perfect and thoughtful too reading recommended if you are looking for an eventful weekend read.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Memories from Fischerinsel

 

A few steps away from the touristic heart of Berlin - the Museuminsel and its high praised cultural attractions and the old Berlin testified by the old cobblestones of Nikolaiviertel - Fischerinsel does not mean more than a shield showing directions to visitors looking to discover places off-the-beaten path. Once upon a time, when Berlin was divided, Fischerinsel was part of the communist Germany, and the area of Fischerinsel used to belong to middle to high level establishment members and their families. 

One of them was the so-called ´man without a face´, the founder of Stasi, Markus Wolf. ´Without a face´ because the Western intelligence was not able to capture his picture, although according to journalist and author Andreas Ulrich, who penned Die Kinder von der Fischerinsel, Wolf was frequently walking in the area.

Die Kinder von der Fischerinsel is an effort to bring to life personal memories of former children growing up in the area. The author himself grew up there, as a son of a family who may have been lacking good party connections but who was resilient enough to request their right to a better housing solution. Thus, they landed in the area where among party and Stasi bureaucrats counted as neighbours various cultural and entertainment stars of the time.

Starting from one of his old school photo, Ulrich tried to reconnect with former school colleagues and friends, almost five decades later. The approach is both journalistic and personal, as besides finding out families stories at the time not relevant to their everyday life. Thus, he succeeds to present a diverse image of destinies and background, a microcosme that may resonate with the various personal stories shared at the level of the GDR as well.

It is an informative book, well written, with humour. A good example of nonfiction contemporary research for the German speaking realm,

Rating: 4.5 stars

Random Things Tours: The Trauma Effect by Zetta Thomelin

 

Our family history circumstances force us to carry inherited trauma and further transmit it to our children. The social, political and geopolitical mutations of the last two centuries - world wars, dislocation of population, mass killings - all over the world made possible a tremendous traumatic luggage. However, we can change the curse. Recent epigenetic studies showed at what extent the trauma and its effects can be diminished and even eliminated, with the proper guidance and a dramatic life change.

The Trauma Effect. Exploring and Resolving Inherited Trauma by author and therapist Zetta Thomelin is a case study in how to treat traumatic family episodes based on the author´s first hand experience. Written in a very empathic and direct style, this therapeutic memoir can be used as a guidance for anyone looking to heal their own inherited emotional luggage. It is as we are offered an open door into the process, from the very beginning when the trauma itself is identified as such. 

It is a very honest and interesting journey that I enjoyed reading that makes you consider your own personal relationship with your family histories and the best way to heal trauma. The approach is sytematic, covering a lot of details, using the extraordinary power of words and stories. It creates such a great effect on the reader, as it shares so many details that are useful to understand the trauma in its entirety: how it settles, how it manifests and particularly why.

The Trauma Effect is a very useful book for anyone looking to heal trauma, through understanding and an empathic approach. A recommended book for therapists and anyone interested in such aspects that are way too frequent in our everyday life.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Screenwriter by Amanda Reynolds

 ´I´ve spent my whole life being denied answers´.

Even if you don´t necessarily read the blurbs about a book, if you trust to continue reading after the opening lines, most probably you will not be wrong. Especially when it has to do with a thriller. This was the promise of The Screenwriter by Amanda Reynolds, an author I´ve featured before on my blog before.

As in the case of The Assistant, most of the action takes place among the posh and rich. Blythe and Dom Hopper, a former Hollywood actress and successful screenwriter looking to re-launch his career. They may dream about getting back to run the show, but Blythe will take control of her destiny and shoot her husband. 

Blythe will not stop here though as she wants her side of the story to be told and thus, is asking Marnie, also a ´once been´ to share her story to the world, while waiting for the judicial proceedings. Marnie may need to answer the request for a very simple reason: she may have some secrets co-shared with this family. Who is Blythe, anyway and why two days after Dom died, Marnie was received an email supposedly from the late screenwriter, promising her information about her estranged mother who abandoned her when she was just four?

Screenwriters getting caught into murderous entreprises is really an unique idea. Plus, the book has a high dosis of secrets of the darkest type that doesn´t let you put it down. Although the characters development is complex enough to keep the readers engaged, the story itself compliments the cast of characters. The plot is spectacular and plays very well the cat-and-mouse gamble of secrets, with moments of suspense stretched in between regular story episodes, which are the sparkles that one - me, for instance - needs for awakening his or her interest into the story.

Marnie, who is the one telling the story is bold, although a complete mess more than once. Blythe´s ambivalence as a former Oscar recipient may prompt us to put into question almost everything she is sharing and doing, which in the overall structure of the story creates a lot of ambiguity, a great ingredient for a crime story. The general tone of the story is empathic, particularly in relation with the ways in which women are treated in the entertainment world, in Hollywood and abroad. The book has women characters 

I really enjoyed reading The Screenwriter and would definitely keep reading Reynolds, as her stories are always more than a crime puzzle to solve.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

German Language Book Review: We know we could, and fall in unison by Yade Yasemin Önder

 

Made up of short stanzas told from the voice of a young Turkish-German girl, Wir wissen, wir könnten und fallen synchron - in my approximate translation We know we could, and fall in unison - by Yade Yasemin Önder is a story in process about finding oneself. 

At a certain extent, all stories do include a personal search; even when we are writing about someone else we are sharing through our mind and wordings. Thus, identity is made of different layers, and our character - who is the main storyteller, whose thoughts are the only source of information and reflection about the reality - is struggling with more than one identity issue. She has eating disorder and is trying to figure out the world of relationships with men, more or less young.

The memories are set into spontaneous timeline, following their own pattern of recognition and rememberance. The way in which the flow is set to develop in this book is taking similar turns, hence the feeling of time past that usually accompany the writing. The obsessive focus on describing certain circumstances - like the animals in the zoo, all of them - is like an obsessive effort to fix something, to say everything about something, to remember it all - and those who went through eating disorders may recognize the pattern.

I enjoy at a certain extent the reading and thinking about the book, but it does not have a aim going beyond what it really promise to achieve and this may also be a perfect setting for a story down the memory lane.

A special sidenote for the fantastic cover, both in terms of colours and the image content.

Rating: 3 stars

Corylus Books Blog Tour: The Dancer by Óskar Guðmundsson, translated by Quentin Bates

 

Childhood memories and the relationship we built with our parents at an early age shape at a great extent our behavior as adults. The way our parents treated us may influence our adult behavior towards other humans, including our own family. The Dancer by Óskar Guðmundsson, translated from Icelandic by Quentin Bates, is a terrific example in this respect. The book was published by Corylus Books, that recently published another book by this author. 

The start is terrifying, and practically elucidates the crime we are about to deal with in the book. It´s a big bet only an author that can rely on his fantastic writing skills may make. If you show to your readers the key of the crime, you need to put into motion fictional mechanisms able to keep them connected, and in this case, the connection is the complex story of psychological abuse and trauma. We, as humans, we have such a huge power to create beauty or to pervert it, including by the way in which we treat other humans. Human nature has such an unlimited potential for both cruelty and kindness, and The Dancer reminded me again and again of this cruel reality.

The ambiance as well as the smallest details of the crime - the preparation, the tools (especially the tools), the context - is described in the smallest details, so poignant that you may feel and imagine everything as you are part of the story yourself. 

It is one of the darkest stories I´ve read in a very long while, but written in a magistral way, and planned in a way that goes beyond imagination. It´s a dark side of life that we usually try to ignore, and preferably we only read about it.

A side note of appreciation for the inspired book cover, which in its simplicity resonates with the topic of the book and its approach.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Promo Blog Blitz: Zero Kill by M K Hill

Paperback or hardcover? When you really love to read, and you are interested in reading a specific title, you may actually do your best to get a hardcover, even it may cost more and may be pretty heavier than the paperback. In any case, when a paperback is issued, it may be a chance that the book reached a certain level of success thus the need to print the book in a more affordable version, as the peak of success was already reached by the hardcover version.

Today, is my great pleasure to announce my readers of crime and spy novels that Zero Kill by bestseller author MK Hill is published in paperback version. If you haven´t get the chance and the time to read this fast paced spectacular novel, the paperpack may be your last chance to an adrenaline fuelled reading adventure, which combines suspense and political intrigues at the highest level.

Elsa Zero, ex spy, single mother is caught into a dangerous nest of secrets, which makes her a dangerous enemy and target for killers. Would she be able to escape and settle for a normal, safe life?

Zero Kill is an unexpected story, packed with events and dramatic turns, where violence and danger are the rules. I couldn´t put it down and I fully connected with the action and the characters. A paperback to really kill for. 

The book is published by Aries Fiction, a division of Head of Zeus.

Disclaimer: Many thanks to Rachel´s Random Resources for considering me for this Publication Day Promo 

The book can be purchased from this link: https://geni.us/ZKPBRRR

Rachel´s Random Resources: A Scandalous Match by Jane Dunn

 ´Property and good family never go amiss in a marriage (...)´.

We all need more love stories into our lives, but a good Regency novel is more than a story of love: it reveals old customs and traditionals ways of interaction in a time of change. Thus, a good Regency novel writer will automatically include details about the tensions inherent to the evolutions taking place within the society. 

I am very much interested in dating stories, nowadays and across centuries, particularly within insular, strictly religious and socially restrictive societies, therefore anything that may refer to this topic is of high interest for me. A Scandalous Match by bestseller writer and historian Jane Dunn is a love story set in the 19th century England, covering a lot of socially relevant topics about relationships and families

At a time when women are becoming independent and the distribution of wealth is reaching out to the once poor layers of society, love is slightly becoming more than just a transaction. Both men and women of good families - to be read priviledged - may decide to reevaluate their choices of a partner and simply follow the call of love. This is the story of Angelica Leigh, a charming actress of modest origin, and her priviledged admirer, a duke from a prestigious family. 

The story unfolds slowly, allowing the reader to get familiar with both the characters, their personalities as well as their social environment. It features as many characters as possible, including the big public, such an important actor for the London society at the time. However, despite the care for featuring so many external details and characters, the story follows its own logic and twists that create different circumstances for the characters to act. The interactions of the characters as well as their language has an authentic jest, thus giving a note of authenticity to the story.

A Scandalous Match is a dense story, appealing to both lovers of historical novels and romance, a historical journey of love against social rigors.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall

 

Meet Cole. One of the really good guys. Supportive of his wife, dedicated to family life, home when you need him. Not a drinker, not looking after other women. Then, suddenly, his perfect family picture is shed into pieces as his wife is leaving him. Heartbroken, he is becoming almost a hermit, not interested in connecting with anything outside work. And work saved him as he willingly accepts a job far away from the place where his family was destroyed.

Shortly into his new life, he meets Lennie, an artist that loves privacy. They are in love and start writing their story. 

But it looks like Cole is not meant to be happy as close to their neighbourhood two women participants at a walk protesting gender discrimination are disappeared and their case starts affecting their love story in the most unexpected ways. They may discover in shock that they not only not know each other, but trusting each other may be out of question.

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall is shocking, unexpected and sometimes scary too. Through a well written thriller story, it convenes so much women history and feminist topics. Creating this specific context for telling such stories is from the very beginning a very creative and efficient way, because through the topic it can easily attract a diverse readership, otherwise maybe not interested in such approaches.

The suspense comes mostly from what is left untold, where we, as readers, we are invited to be part of the investigation and guess the hidden ways of the characters.

One of the Good Guys is a surprising book from the beginning until the end, with twists that once revealed are about to shake your trust and knowledge in humans. And it is definitely much better to gather this experience through a book than by facing yourself in real life.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Book Review: Savage Tongues by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi

 Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi´s writing is a reminder of the ambiguity and materiality of words. Savage Tongues, more than Call Me Zebra, is an exploration of mostly what is left untouched by words: trauma, the pain we inflict to one another. 

It unfolds as a happening, which takes different turns and directions. There are bodies and their material connection with flesh, spaces and other bodies. There are bodies forcing other bodies to conform. There are political and geopolitical encounters through the bodies, memories and traumas left into the flesh. Only don´t expect a story with introduction, development and end.

Two decades after being physically and sexually abused by her older cousin Omar, while on vacation in the sunny Marbella, Iranian-American writer Arezu is back to retrace the traces of the abuse. She is accompanied by Ellie, an ex-Orthodox Jew, her best friend. They are born in a ´deranged whirlpool of geopolitical conflict´ - this may be my favorite expression of the year - thus exposed to many mini-traumas that comes with history and personal political and social encounters. There is a net that cannot be escaped, but talking about it, connecting through words and friendship may escape the narrative.

There is so much to think about after reading this book. It´s like a window open to a different code, which reads feelings and deciphers deep roots of our language(s): language of pain, of trauma, of historical neglect.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

 

Two failed marriage, an affair that broke it all. There is no romance or separation drama in Anne Enright´s The Forgotten Waltz. Set in Ireland during the bubbling years of Internet success, this was my first book by this author. 

The story is told by Gina, the woman protagonist of the affair. Séan, the man she fell in love with, according to her own description of the feelings while she wanted desperately him in her life, is her sister´s neighbour. She assumes things about him and his family - as often happens in such double life situations - and until the end, he remains a voiceless character, although cold and too business oriented in both personal and professional life. 

Gina is successful, working in communications, with a beloved husband with whom she bought a house together. Séan is the attraction, attractive for her maybe because of his coldness and refuse to get involved. He had affairs in the past, maybe he is still having some. He has a daughter, Evie, the one who may have full access to him, in a way that Gina herself acknowledges, is completely forbidden to her. 

Both main characters do lack self-reflection and often it is difficult to get into their mindsets. Each chapter has a song name, which is a kind of ironic game of the author´s. The story pace sets in the end as a dance of two. The moves are clear, but no one knows where they are heading to next. Which is not necessarily in the advantage of the story, as sometimes there are many side details introduced that could be or not gather into the story later - especially down the memory lane when after the sudden death of her mother, Gina is lost in childhood memories.

There were definitely parts of The Forgotten Waltz that I´ve found attractive but for a relatively short story I would have enjoyed more brievity and some extra characters construction.I also enjoyed the particular Irish context and most probably will return to this author soon.

Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

There are authors whose voices are hard to forget. Etaf Rum is one of them, and her debut novel A Woman is No Man stayed with me for a very long time. When I´ve heard about her new book, Evil Eye, published last year, I couldn´t wait to read it. 

The wait was worth, as I was offered another beautiful companion, featuring complex strong women characters and complex family situation. Yara, the main character is a young American-Palestinian woman, married with young children, a teacher and an artist. Through the story, she is slowly taking agency of her life and destiny, trying to overcome family and generational trauma, through a different personal narrative.

The most important character in Evil Eye, Yara mid-30s, is going through a step-by-step process when she will decide to create her own story. She may be afraid to leave behind her 10-year relationship and start a more independent life as a divorcee. But living separated from her aims and personal achievement dreams - trips to foreign lands, create her art - is more frightening. With a therapist´s support, she will take the brave decision to start breaking up with the trauma her late mother lived with. A destiny where women voices are not heard and their desire of being someone, doing something of their own is labelled as ´too emotional´.

Yara´s character is very elaborated and so is also her relationship with her estranged husband. The dynamic between the two and the ways in which she realized her own wishes was my favorite part of the story, as it is followed with high sensibility and attention to the smallest details that may usually intervene in a couple.

I loved this book, as well as the topic and Evil Eye is eye opening both in terms of topic and its approach. I just hope that it will not take too long until Etag Rum will write a new book.

Rating: 5 stars

Short Stories Book Review: We Want What We Want by Alix Ohlin

 

In most of the stories collected between the covers of We Want What We Want by Alix Ohlin, the action starts abruptly. Sometimes you feel like being privy to situations you are not sure how they started. And once the story is gone, you may keep trying to figure out what exactly happened with the characters and their stories thereafter. 

It is a sense of emergency and a fast-speed pace of the story, but this is why you feel in most of the stories as being alive. From the life movie of many other people, you are offered a dense sequence. Then, the story is over and you are hopping to another reality.

There are life events featured, in most cases taking place in remote parts of the world. The characters are however well travelled, multicultural, sometimes with a zest of the life that once was. 

What surprises is the humanity of those stories. They are alive, not just abstract creations of a talented mind. They are us, inspiring, talking, doing nothing. This sensation of an unfolding story as a slice of life is unique to Alix Ohlin. 

This collection open up my appetite for discovering more short stories authors this year. As for now, my reading start was very good and I can´t wait to share more such reviews soon.

Rating: 5 stars

Random Things Tours: Halfway House by Helen FitzGerald

I am always pleased to keep in touch with writers whose works I´ve loved, and as a bookish rule for me, authors featured by Orenda Books do have my full trust. The author I got the chance to re-introduce to my readers this time is Helen FitzGerald, that I reviewed previously on my blog.

Halfway House has a completely different vibe and topic however, although requires the highest attention of the reader from the beginning until the end. Lou O´Dowd just ended up a relationship and is returning from far away Australia back to Edinburgh to start completely new. But sometimes, grass is not necessarily green on the other side, as Lou´s life is about to enter a very dangerous, life threatening even, stage. This happens once her life crosses pathways with two dangerous characters, out of parole killers: a paranoid cock dealer and a celebrity paedophile. Caught against her will in a dangerous game, she is able to show the strength

Although the book is relatively short, the story grows up slowly, allowing the reader to get to know in detail the characters, particularly Lou. Thus, we are little by little introduced into the world and mind of the main protagonists, a journey that will tremendously helping as the story dramatically turns into a dangerous area.

Halfway House is optioned for the screen and although I rarely watch movies AND read the book they are based on, I can´t wait to watch it. It is not the first time when her stories are turned into movies, as it seems she has already a great track record in this respect. The story already has a cinematic strength, with strong images and convening equally strong feelings. 

As for me, without a doubt would be interested in reading even more books by this author. Right now though, Halfway House will most likely haunt me for a little while. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Travel Book Recommendation: From the Baltic to the Balkans by Stuart McMillan

 ´In many ways, travel wasa release for me. Ittook me away from a life that had gone a little ´´off plan´´.

2,000 km, mostly by train from Lithuania to Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and finally Croatia. Passionate about sports and their material memories - such as the former Olympic Village in Sarajevo - From the Baltic to the Balkans by Stuart McMillan is an informative dense journey in a part of the world where people may travel but not necessarily see the people and history.

I´ve personally been in almost the places featured in the book - except Bosnia and Herzegovina which is on my ´bucket list´ - some of them more than once - like Hungary - and I was pleased to discover features of sights that I know with the eyes and the mind. The chapter about Budapest for instance was so well written that I could see the places I used to know unfolding in the front of my eyes. 

The stops of the journey are mostly the popular ones: Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Belgrad, Budapest, Vilnius but was interesting to notice the new angles - there were a few - and the personal observations and local feeling about places and people. 

For anyone planning some consistent travel in those parts of the world, From the Baltic to the Balkans is a good start as it also includes some information about planning and useful observations about money, price differences and some tasty local foods. It also has some sport references which make the book unique in terms of information, especially for sports fans and travellers and some tips regarding the best viewpoints from where you can try to shoot almost as beautiful panorama pictures as the author´s displays in the book (I´ve read the book on Kindle and the quality was not so great though).

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Book Tour: Where the f*** is Blönduós? by Emma Strandberg

 

Often those days, people travel - the world, or just a specific destination - to heal a broken heart. Or to enjoy life at its fullest. Or to cope with the loss of someone they love. After surviving aterrifying burglary, Scotland-born Sweden-based author and traveler Emma Strandberg took the decision of going to a place her mother went 50 years ago: a remote part of Northern Iceland, definitely out of the usual travel beaten path for this country.

One may definitely ask Where the f*** is Blönduós? Before reading this collection of short stanzas, featuring her experience of 21 weeks in the wilderness I may answer that this place may be f***** awesome. Iceland, a ´holy place´ of her childhood, reveals to her not only through nature, but also as a challenging place where she can conquer and overcome her fears. It´s the place to learn some new skills, discover people, maybe knitting too. 

The big problem with many travel books nowadays is that their authors rarely do have time to go beyond the usual narrative of the touristic recommendations. There is nothing wrong with it and I also enjoy reading about places to go, eat and any other kinds of to-do-lists. But somehow, one can do more than that, and this book may help you to see travel from a completely different perspective, less as a way to accumulate predictable experiences within a short amount of time, and more as a way to experience a lifestyle and understand places and its inhabitants. How else one can learn about funny traditions as Réttir, for instance?

Emma Strandberg during her travels

As I am very much passionate about Iceland and Nordic countries, literarily and linguistically, I enjoyed this slice of Iceland, and would definitely keep this book in mind when thinking about planning a trip there - some good insights about planning are also included, especially if you may be tempted spending some time in a ´self-supporting tent´ as well. Definitely, would check some more writing by Strandberg too. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: A Story to Strangle For by E.V.Hunter

 ´The deeper we delve into this case, the wilder it gets´.

I love books featuring communications experts and journalists, because it resonates so much with my own professional experiences. I know for sure that a book, especially a murder mystery, casting such professionals guarantees a lot of intellectual challenges and fun. 

With still a couple of months ahead to be spent in semi-darkness and cold, and few days into the New Year after long vacations, what can be better than getting back to the reading corner with a cosy mystery. A Story to Strangle For by E.V. Hunter kept me busy the last Monday morning for few intellectually eventful hours and it was exactly what I needed to start the week right.

Going through a rough personal and professional episode, Alexi Ellis is decided to get back her reputation and start anew. But as in life, it´s sometimes harder than expected. She has a plan which on paper looks perfect: organising a writing course for journalists. An idea that may save her reputation and take her beloved Hopegood Hall in Lambourn. However, disaster struck again, as one of the participants is found dead, and the only one that saw this person for the last time is no other than poor Alexi. Thus, finding the culprit as soon as possible is more than a matter of reputation: it may involve saving her freedom as well.

Alexi Ellis is the kind of characters I would love to meet in real life too. Creative, bold, courageous, acting perfectly under duress and first and foremost a journalist. The ways in which she leads the investigations is smart, and got completely caught off guard until the end, although I was offered enough hints to have a guess or two.

E.V.Hunter succeeded to manage a complex story which take diverse turns, covering a very big variety of subjects, including abuse and trauma, abusive relationship, criminal behavior. The whole setting is very wild, as it seems that everyone and their pets do hide something from the rest of the world. An intricate net of secrets that in crime novels as in real life it may cost lives and reputations.

A Story to Strangle For is a standalone, but it is part of the fourth in the Hopgood Hall Murder Mysteries Series, which is a good news, because it seems I may have some good mysteries waiting for me for the next dark cold weeks to come.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: Beirut Station - Two Lives of a Spy by Paul Vidich

 

I am enchanted by novels set in the Middle East, but as I may know a thing or two about this region, that I dearly love, I am trying to keep myself on high alert about misinterpretations and sensationalism. After all, there is enough going on in the region on a daily basis, so no need to be creative when writing a book set there; only add some puzzle pieces and put them together. Everyday life itself enfolds as a challenge, without further embelishments.

Being already familiar with Paul Vidich spy novels - I also have a weakness for spy novels set during the Cold War - , I didn´t think twice when embarked on the reading adventure announced by Beirut Station. Two Lives of a Spy. 

In the vein of the classical spy novels, the plot is more focused on creating both ambiance and feature the inner turmoil of the characters, instead of superficially pumping action into the very fast forwarding story. Set in 2006, during the Second Lebanon War, it follows the join (by operative diplomatic reasons, otherwise very much differring in approach and tempo) operation CIA-Mossad aimed at weakening the Hizbollah influence in the region, until it is not too late. 

The Lebanon episode comes for some of the operatives part of a wider regional experience, which includes Iraq as well. The time of the novel is set in the second part of the last Bush administration.

Old spies - more than once enemies - from old, colder times, meet the second generation of spies: Analise, from a family with own connections within the agency, however having her own personal development, fluent in Arabic and versed in new technologies. Also, with a different sense of emergency and danger, which makes her both an asset and a liability, particularly if added to an old pack of spy wolves.

As in the case of Vidich´s previous book, he carefully creates the ambiance, with detailed descriptions immersing the reader completely into the realm of the book.

I definitely enjoyed the book and the cast, but I couldn´t stop thinking that hopefully one day, the Middle East, especially Lebanon, will be able to write for itself a completely different narrative. Less adventurous, nevertheless inhabited by people deserving a normal and risk-free everyday life.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Book Review: The List by Yomi Adegoke

I recognize a real bestseller based on the length of the waiting time to receive the book reservation from a library. For the most expected and much talked about debut The List by British journalist Yomi Adegoke I had to wait at least two months, which is a big amount of time, given that in general my reservations arrive within maximum two weeks.

Inspired by the torments of the online world and having as main character a successful power Ghanaian-Nigerian couple, Ola and Michael, the book has a provocative story while raising many questions about reliability of social media information but also about responsible male behavior.

Almost one month before their wedding, the couple is faced with a terrific revelation: the attractive Michael might be an abuser. An anonymous list released on Twitter (currently X) includes him among a long cast of men, with a high social profile. For Ola, ´(...) everything about her life had changed in an instant´.  She wants to believe Michael whom she dearly loves, but as an author of articles about abusive males, she may know a bit more about such cases - ´She had dedicated the best part of a decade to rallying against patriarchy, rape culture and toxic masculinity´. The trust, so hard to maintain nowadays, is slowly eroded as she further hires a detective to track Michael. As for him, he is faced with difficult professional challenges, as the publication of the anonymous list coincides with his first day at a new work, where his credibility may affect his employer.

Given the relevance of the topic and the ingenous story construction - which develops in point-counterpoint pace, which gives to the story a certain cinematic appeal; hopefully there may be a movie inspired by the book soon - I hardly wanted to do anything else than reading the book. I was curious to find out what will happen with the characters and if and if yes, at what extent, Michael was really guilty. 

There is a cultivated ambiguity that clarifies only in the last part of the story which builds up the appeal of the story. Through the decisions of the characters, we are challenged to judge - The List is an excellent choice for book clubs as well, as it invites to unique points of view - the characters and their circumstances. 

I largely enjoyed the story, although some characters were relatively flawed characters and was keen to find out more about them. I was also slightly irritated by seeing quite often ´kissing her teeth´ mentioned to more than one character, thus it was more than an individual tic.

The List approaches a delicate topic with humour, inviting to a higher debate about online responsibility and accepted behaviors in post #MeToo media world. Although some takes may be debatable, the discussion is open and may lead to interesting conclusions.

PS: The cover is hilarious.

Rating: 4 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: Enemies to Lovers by Portia MacIntosh

Lara and Sonny are former university colleagues, nowadays forced to compete each other as work colleagues. Kind of enemies, in fact. Journalists working for gendered magazines of the same media company, their pathways often cross, often with sparkling effects. Not the good kind of sparkles, anyway. 

For the sake of their job though, they are forced to play the couple, as they are sent on assignment in an exotic unnamed destination, with a clear mission: to gather gossips about a famous couple, short-term residents on Eden ´the world´s best couples´ therapy and wellness retreat´. A posh retreat that looks sometimes as a sadistic prison, with dietary restrictions and useless ridiculous exercises. As they are becoming friends with the other couples on the island, Lara and Sonny are becoming more and more aware of the toxic game of the journalism practiced by their magazines. And there is more than an awakening they are getting through, as at the end of the way, they may turn from fierce enemies to...(not) surprisingly lovers.

Enemies to Lovers by romcom author Portia MacIntosh is both romantic and hilarious, not shy from creating characters as human as anyone of us: making mistakes, trying to change, fighting unsuccessfully against their ego bigger than life. Told by Lara, the story is not lacking some surprising twists, that may help us change the perspective on many of the characters. Indirectly, it is also a critique towards the yellow world of the British boulevard media, keen to destroy destinies for the sake of the audiences.

I enjoy following the story, and given the high degree of relatability of the characters, would have been more than curious to see what happened with Sonny and Lara after their return from Eden. A good sign that the story was able to convene empathy and a juicy slice of everyday life. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Cheers to a New Year - Thoughts at the Beginning of 2024

For a very long time I avoid New Year´s Resolutions - I may better fancy Revolutions as I randomly mispelled the word in the first draft of this post. I am mostly inclined to open up to the wonder of the every day, and enjoy their 24 hours of blessing again and again. It works with coping with life, definitely.

But, when talking about books, some library loans may get expired or some downloaded versions may be no more available. Or some events happening in real life may be highly traumatic, as it happened to me the last year, when the first months of the year took place under the sign of mourning. Reading lists may not always work with real life encounters, but books as such are always helpful. I may be very unsure about many things in life, except that reading is life saving.

The last year was extremely successful in terms of reaching my reading goals - hello 250 books on Goodreads - and taking part to excellent book tours and sharing different types of bookish content on at least three online blogs. Although most of the books were written in or translate into English, special features of French and German-language books were a constant presence. No matter what and when, I built my safety belt made of words, in as many as possible languages. 

What I plan for 2024? One of the most important things I do want to do this year is, not surprisingly, reading: discovering new authors in new languages, new styles and, definitely, as much poetry as possible. I want to continue discovering new short story authors. I do have a modest - as for now - plan of reading as many books as possible in original languages, more than German and French, with some good Spanish, Italian and Portuguese titles waiting for me, as well as Romanian - in the last days of 2023 I purchased online a couple of books I hope to have time to read them slowly - and Hungarian - I don´t know exactly how to start but I wish I can read and review at least 3 books in this beloved language in the coming months. 

At the same time, another serious plan for the next 12 months, and hopefully for more, is never giving up from learning new languages - I promised myself for a long time to learn Turkish and my time has finally come - and improving some old ones - like Arabic who was very much neglected. Hope to be able to share some of my my language learning progress soon, as my other language-related activities. as my language learning portfolio is also expanding slowly - in addition to French and German that I am teaching constantly.

Geographically, I hope that in the next 12 months will be able to share more interesting fresh voices outside the classical, mostly Western-oriented realm. I am curious to expand my knowledge in literary terms, and sharing with my readers the fantastic literary talents less known only due to less favorized geographies. 

In terms of topics, I may be tempted to give more chances to fantasy fiction and even have a good taste of some science fiction, but will take some time until will delve into some titles. 

Another dream of mine this year is to shorten my shelves lists on various versions of NetGalley and Edelweiss. I am blessed to use this ARC approval system for around eight years and I feel ungrateful for not being able to properly share my reviews. More reading discipline comes into question, and I am right now trying to set up different lists and incentives to follow a certain reading plan, altough it may be easier to say than do.

As in the previous years, I am planning to continue my book tours, featuring beautiful titles and authors, with a special focus on crime and thrillers of the highest calibre. I don´t have any notworthy book festival planned (yet) and no bookish travel in the making, but would definitely take the chance if occurs. 

One of the areas that would be more than happy to develop this year is writing. Except blog posts, learning content and some random articles for random clients, I´ve hardly wrote anything last year. I will take a chance - or two - on writing this year, and hopefully I will find the time and inspiration to explore some writing projects in the making for half a decade at least.

As for now, getting ready to spend a quiently 2nd of January evening, busy with finishing some books and spending one hour doing some Portuguese language exercises. Time flies fast, so I better use wisely every single minute.

See you soon, one book review at a time!