Lisa Kleypas has a free short story at her publisher's website!
If you want to check it out, follow the link (you'll have to suscribe to their newsletter).
http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312949822&m_type=4&m_contentid=16337
Happy reading!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Mystery of the disapearing cat, by Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton is one of the most prolific children's author, with close to 1000 published works. The most amazong thing is that a lot of her books are pretty good, specially when they're early in the series.
This book is the second in the "5 Find outers and dog" series, a charming collection of mysteries for children, solved by Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, Bets and Fatty's dog, Buster.
This time, a prize-winning cat has been stolen from the house next door, and the children's friend Luke is being accused of the theft.
They will do everything they can to solve the mystery before the town's odious policeman can imprison Luke.
World without end, by Ken Follet
This book is the sequel of "The Pillars of the Earth", although they can be read in any order. In "TPotE" we read how Kingsbridge cathedral was constructed, thanks to the work of Prior Philip, the builders Tom and Jack, and Lady Aliena.
Now it's 200 years after the cathedral was finished, and once again we return to the Kingsbridge village.
This time, the story revolves around 4 characters:
- Merthin: is the son of an impovireshed knight, and set as a carpenter's apprentice. His ambition is to build the highest tower in England, and to marry his childhood friend, Caris.
- Caris Wooler: the favorite daughter of the richest merchant in town, she's fiercely independant and inquisitive. She's interested in healing and in helping the village.
- Gwenda: Caris' poor friend, she was forced by her father to become a thief. Her life is hard and difficult and shows the injustices serfs were submitted to.
- Ralph: Merthin's younger brother, he becomes a knight in the service of the Earl of Shiring. His ambition is to regain his parent's social position. He's also a bully and the villain in the story.
The book is very similar to "TPofE". It also has several narrative lines, a bully who makes life difficult for all the rest of the characters, and a builder/carpenter who has to travel far away from his village. This time the prior is one of the bad guys, too arrogant and conservative to do what's best for the village, and capable of anything to get rid of his enemies.
However, this book is not so enjoyable as "TPotE". Ralph is not so bad as the other villain, and the story wasn't so compelling as the ther one. It read like a copy of the previous book, only with different names.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
New York Marathon
Today is the New York Marathon. I'm watching it on the TV, and some of the marathonists are like the Roadrunner.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Girl who played with fire, by Stieg Larsson
The second installment in Lisbeth Salander's trilogy is an incredible thriller. I was so hooked up I could hardly put it down. I found the story much more interesting that the first book, because this time it reveals bit by bit pieces of Lisbeth's background, and you get to know - and understand - why she's the way she is.
At the start of the book we learn that Lisbeth has spent the last year travelling the world, while Mikael Blomkvist is once more a famous and respected journalist, editor of the magazine Millenium. A freelancer comes to him with a surprising proposal: publish his story and his book about trafficking in Sweden. There's a ring that deals in russian prostitutes and the journalist has enough information to back his story. However, a shady character starts to pop out...
Lisbeth returns to Sweden, still not wanting to renew her relationship with Blomkvist. Her sudden reaperance shakes her former Advokat, who is obsessed with revenge, and sets in motion events that will turn Lisbeth in Sweden's Public Enemy Number 1, and the object of a cruel chase.
Can Lisbeth, the girl who played with gasoline, outwit her tormentors and have justice done?
At the start of the book we learn that Lisbeth has spent the last year travelling the world, while Mikael Blomkvist is once more a famous and respected journalist, editor of the magazine Millenium. A freelancer comes to him with a surprising proposal: publish his story and his book about trafficking in Sweden. There's a ring that deals in russian prostitutes and the journalist has enough information to back his story. However, a shady character starts to pop out...
Lisbeth returns to Sweden, still not wanting to renew her relationship with Blomkvist. Her sudden reaperance shakes her former Advokat, who is obsessed with revenge, and sets in motion events that will turn Lisbeth in Sweden's Public Enemy Number 1, and the object of a cruel chase.
Can Lisbeth, the girl who played with gasoline, outwit her tormentors and have justice done?
Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See
This month both my best friend and my mother in law went to China (different trips, obviously).
Both went to the same cities and saw the typical tourists attractions: the ancient china wall, Shanghai, Beijing, Pekin, and the city that used to be called Canton. My friend also went to the countryside and Hong Kong.
My friend told me how impressed she was with China, and how little we, in the occidental world, know about it. She also told me of the punishing working hours almost all chinese seem to follow. It seems that, though China went through a couple of revolutions and later opened its market to Occident, most of its people are still little better than slaves.
(This is my subjective opinion, I haven't been to China, haven't heard my mother in law's take on it, and I only know a little about China through the books of Pearl S. Buck, Anchee Min, Amy Tan and - of course - Lisa See).
It was purely coincidental that I read this book now, although I wanted to read it for a couple of months now. Like all the books of Lisa See that I've had the good luck to read, it's perfectly well researched and manages to discuss complicated issues while being entertaining and easy to read.
Here goes the story:
Pearl and May are 2 chinese sisters living in Shanghai in the 1930's. They were lucky enough to be born after the first revolution and had a quite modern upbringing at her parents house, a properous merchant. So, no footbinding for them. They even work as "beautiful girls" -models for posters- in the occidentalized Shanghai.
However, their destiny takes a turn for the worse when her father loses his fortune and sells them as wifes to chinese men living in America.
The girls manage to be left behind in Shanghai, but then war erups and they're forced to flee for their lifes. Their only escape is to go to America and to their husbands, but when they thought they had found a safe heaven, they only discover prejudice and captivity in the traditional chinatown. Each one would have to use her wits to survive and find happines in their constricted society, facing racism and witch hunts. And even though they're sisters and best friends, they're also rivals. A secret binds them, and if it is discovered, it will shatter their lifes.
I loved this book. It's fast paced and well ploted. Each sister has her own distinct personality - Pearl is a Dragon, May a Sheep - but none of them is a perfect heroine. Each one has her faults and her virtues, but they loved each other fiercely and it shows in the book.
The book also deals with a lot of complicated issues: starting with the occidentalization of Shanghai, the appaling way Immigration treated the chinese, and the communists witch hunts that were directed at the chinese community in America after Mao's rise to power, among other things.
Both went to the same cities and saw the typical tourists attractions: the ancient china wall, Shanghai, Beijing, Pekin, and the city that used to be called Canton. My friend also went to the countryside and Hong Kong.
My friend told me how impressed she was with China, and how little we, in the occidental world, know about it. She also told me of the punishing working hours almost all chinese seem to follow. It seems that, though China went through a couple of revolutions and later opened its market to Occident, most of its people are still little better than slaves.
(This is my subjective opinion, I haven't been to China, haven't heard my mother in law's take on it, and I only know a little about China through the books of Pearl S. Buck, Anchee Min, Amy Tan and - of course - Lisa See).
It was purely coincidental that I read this book now, although I wanted to read it for a couple of months now. Like all the books of Lisa See that I've had the good luck to read, it's perfectly well researched and manages to discuss complicated issues while being entertaining and easy to read.
Here goes the story:
Pearl and May are 2 chinese sisters living in Shanghai in the 1930's. They were lucky enough to be born after the first revolution and had a quite modern upbringing at her parents house, a properous merchant. So, no footbinding for them. They even work as "beautiful girls" -models for posters- in the occidentalized Shanghai.
However, their destiny takes a turn for the worse when her father loses his fortune and sells them as wifes to chinese men living in America.
The girls manage to be left behind in Shanghai, but then war erups and they're forced to flee for their lifes. Their only escape is to go to America and to their husbands, but when they thought they had found a safe heaven, they only discover prejudice and captivity in the traditional chinatown. Each one would have to use her wits to survive and find happines in their constricted society, facing racism and witch hunts. And even though they're sisters and best friends, they're also rivals. A secret binds them, and if it is discovered, it will shatter their lifes.
I loved this book. It's fast paced and well ploted. Each sister has her own distinct personality - Pearl is a Dragon, May a Sheep - but none of them is a perfect heroine. Each one has her faults and her virtues, but they loved each other fiercely and it shows in the book.
The book also deals with a lot of complicated issues: starting with the occidentalization of Shanghai, the appaling way Immigration treated the chinese, and the communists witch hunts that were directed at the chinese community in America after Mao's rise to power, among other things.
Mini Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella
I was waiting impatiently to read this book, but now I have to confess I feel kind of dissapointed. Have you ever feel that a series goes on and on far too long? After a number of books the formula starts to repeat itself, and you have the sensation you already read this very same plot.
This was what happened with Mini-Shopaholic.
The plot will be familiar to any fan of the Shopaholic Series:
Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) now has a 2 year old daughter, Minnie, who is a little shopaholic in training and impossible to control... at least for Becky. They're still living at her parent's house (after 2 years) because the hunt for a new house has yield disaster after disaster. There's also an economic crisis, but Becky decides to throw her husband the most fab secret birthday party (Shopaholic ties the knot, anyone?), while she develops a new selling technique at the store where she's a personal shopper.
Minnie's antics are cute, and it's obvious that she's a little spoiled because Becky can't set her boundaries. Their interaction is the only thing that fresh and funny.
Obviously, Becky gets in a mess while organizing Luke's party, she fights with her friends and family, and is only rescued at the last moment by a most inconceivable ally.
Typical ending follows.
I've become tired of Becky's antics and immaturity. I mean, she was funny in the first book, but now?
Not so much.
This was what happened with Mini-Shopaholic.
The plot will be familiar to any fan of the Shopaholic Series:
Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) now has a 2 year old daughter, Minnie, who is a little shopaholic in training and impossible to control... at least for Becky. They're still living at her parent's house (after 2 years) because the hunt for a new house has yield disaster after disaster. There's also an economic crisis, but Becky decides to throw her husband the most fab secret birthday party (Shopaholic ties the knot, anyone?), while she develops a new selling technique at the store where she's a personal shopper.
Minnie's antics are cute, and it's obvious that she's a little spoiled because Becky can't set her boundaries. Their interaction is the only thing that fresh and funny.
Obviously, Becky gets in a mess while organizing Luke's party, she fights with her friends and family, and is only rescued at the last moment by a most inconceivable ally.
Typical ending follows.
I've become tired of Becky's antics and immaturity. I mean, she was funny in the first book, but now?
Not so much.
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