Saturday, December 25, 2010

Memorable Reads in 2010

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

It is sad to know finishing this book means also parting with the Millennium Trilogy story. There won't be another book by Larsson, although they had that rumor of an unfinished book that is also one of the subjects of contention between his family and his friend. It was a wonderful reading experience with a story that approaches the end not on one angle but on different sides and everything happening at an exciting pace. I was so excited on the part of the courtroom drama, my legal background found their court procedures quite liberal compared to ours and the american legal procedure. But they are so stringent on the civil rights especially on the Right to Free Speech and throughout the 3 books this is one consistent subsumed backdrop. Hornets Nest digs deeper on the system of giving political asylum in Sweden and the handling of juveniles by the government, although Lisbeth's situation illustrated a failed management of a minor due to personalities, i appreciated that their government have that measure for the youth.  The law,  social,  enforcement and the media background were quite substantive and weren't just skimming the surface as thin backdrop.

The three sides that i meant were the police which was already on to the existence of Lisbeth's father, then the Millennium group of Mikhael, and Lisbeth's; the way the three sides of the story converged in the end was very climactic.  I'm going to miss Lisbeth's character, but i will just see her come alive in movies.



Leonardo's Swans  by Karen Essex

Essex weaved an intriguing historical fiction set in renaissance Italy regarding the lives of the D'Este sisters. She threaded love, power, politics and arts seamlessly. The story developed a realistic ambivalent relationship of Isabella and Beatrice D'Este amidst the power struggle existing in europe. It is amazing how fragile the alliances forged between ruling families despite the blood relations. Marriages during those times, were foremost for political alliances, wealth is secondary and love was never in the picture. If it happens - it is accidental. The D'Este sisters' lives took a different turn when they got married, Isabella the intelligent, beautiful one married someone else a month earlier than the offer of the future Duke of Milan, Federico Sporza, to the D'Este family, hence he married the younger, not so good looking Beatrice. The latter took a prominent position beside the rising power of her husband while Isabel lead a quieter life with his military husband. This lead to a competition between the two sisters and one arena the fought quietly at was the arts. Both wanted to be immortalized by paintings. Leonardo Da Vinci was under commission by the Duke of Milan, and the scheming started.  For the sisters, being painted by Leonardo meant not just the immortalization of the model's beauty but also the love of the Duke of Milan. While the political tides were changing in Italy, it also showed  a different side of a life of an artist, a master like Leonardo who depend on his sponsors for his art.. artistic talent at that time, although greatly appreciated, it is regarded in a different way as a means to live.

The story did not have an impressive or exciting ending, but it was fitting for the whole plot. However, the way the story unfolds can really hold your attention. Im looking forward to reading some of her books like Kleopatra and Stealing Athena.

The Knife of Never Letting Go  by Patrick Ness

This is a coming of age story in a dystopian setting. I was like panting while reading it, it's fast pace and it explored a different world about a place where everyone can hear what everyone is thinking. It's amazing how the author explores this possibility and how society is coping with it. Im reminded about Jose Saramago's Blindness, this also tackles the absence of sight, while Ness featured the imaginary world of everyone hearing their thoughts...the story was heart wrenching though. I will read the 2nd book of this trilogy - Chaos Walking. Highly recommended!

The Woman In White  by Wilkie Collins

At last i've finished this wonderful gothic mystery. Collins was able to hold my interest till the last page! I was chasing the mystery of the woman in white till the last chapters. Her mystery really binds the story. I admire the detailed expression of emotions, tenderness, frustrations that the author displayed, it really tugs the heart. On the other hand, the contests of wills, intellect and cunning kept my interest all throughout. Count Fosco is such a study! Marian is a strong and wise woman. Superb writing, sensitive language and great detective story in the 19th century!

Einstein's Dream by Alan Lightman

I finished reading Einstein's Dream by Alan Lightman. A fiction about Einstein's concept of time, i could say it is more of Einstein's imagination of time. Very thought provoking, the different concepts of time in one's life as presented in the book made me cherish my past and present. One is challenged to think what if a lifetime is only a day? Or a world of immortality. Or one lifetime but happening in 3 dimensions, each happening parallel with each other, quite confusing how to take it in. Then consider a place where time stands still or living in a world where you constantly have to dodge houses and buildings passing by, world fixated by speed and motion. I love those different windows of ideas presented by Alan Lightman, it challenge your imagination beyond the ticking of your clock :-)


A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The story reeled me in from the first sentence. It was lyrical, dark, haunting and so intriguing. Goolrick described very deep emotions felt by the main characters. A woman accepted an invitation to be the "mail order bride" of a man living in a remote area. The description of the place blends with the emotions being displayed by the characters. Im reminded of the phrase "it is the nature of a snake/animal"..referring to one that bites and cannot help it. What the wife did and what the husband did - loving her despite what happened, is captured in that phrase. I was rushing to finish it to find out what happens, sad but beautifully written. I love the ending.

Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock

 It took me a year before i get read this graphic and artsy book, but only a few minutes to finish it. It is pure talent to be able to tell a story using correspondence in postcards and letters. I find it delightful since i'm a letter writer and a postcard collector, yes i got thousands of it in my shelves from all over the world. However,the story left me hanging. I finished the book not sure how to interpret the ending and i felt disappointed at my inability until i realized that there are still book 2 and 3 :-). Well, now is the time to hunt for those..*smiles*

1984  by George Orwell


This popular book is about negative utopia, while reading this i felt so much despair and hopelessness absorbing the life of an outer Party member named Winston Smith. Oceania is a world in despair based on the assumption that human can be robbed of its own humanity, the feeling of love, integrity, etc. But remember this is Orwell writing in 1949 about what 1984 would be like. Well, the year had come and gone, did he attempt to be prophetic? or just giving us a warning. I believe both. But not in its entirety prophetic, only in some aspects that is happening today without us perceiving it.I struggled for weeks to finish this, but this book is something you don't just eat like french fries :-) or your mac and cheese (though i admit i had several mac and cheese books in between chapters). I appreciated how profound the message was in the book.

The Girl In Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

It was divided in different short stories each revolved around the painting of a girl in hyacinth blue. It was done in reverse chronology tracing it down to the time when it was painted. I read a similar way of story telling by Geraldine Brooks on her People of the Book which i really appreciate. I love this kind of story behind a painting, it is not just the visual display that is tackled but how that certain object of art touched, influenced the lives of it's possessor and what's the story behind the person/s in the painting? Isn't it interesting to know about the model in the painting.   The settings are also familiar Delft, Amsterdam, Den Hague, Utrech, etc ive been to these places and the museums too! Ive seen a Vermeer in one of the museums i visited there, i think it was the View of Delft. Such wonderful memories!