My Book Reviews

No hesitation to give 5 stars for this excellent novel. It is so rich, Kiran Desai shows me this world - even two worlds - that are totally different from anything that I know and have experienced. There are heartbreaking scenes and yet you can not escape the humour in this book. The characters are all driven by their - different - back grounds. There is confusion, misunderstanding, regrets. Above all this is a book about people even when it sometimes looks like fairy tales that go wrong. I enjoyed this book very much and I am certain I will read it again, if only to see that I didn't miss any of the gems in the story.

A very well written novel about a young woman who travels to a little village in Greece, trying to find her estranged husband. In fact she and him are having plans to have a divorce and already live separate lives, unknown to most people especially to his parents. This leaves a choice: telling about the separation or not. She discovers things about the man she did not know about, most of these stay unspoken of. All this gives her a uncomfortable feeling and lots of uncertainties. The central theme of the novel is "mixed emotions". We often will or can say that we have mixed emotions, often caused by our surroundings and the people in it. We all know people who will often ask you "What are you thinking of", expressing their uncertainty. And we all look at people in situations and think of different options of their feelings and intentions. A very entertaining book that gives enough food for thoughts. Five stars very deserved.

  The book is a frame narrative, rather cleverly constructed. The story is told by Ben Markovits, but is not necessarily a sort of autobiography. To me it looks like fiction. He tells the story of the writer Peter Sullivan who wrote a few books about Lord Byron. Ben Markovits tries to find more information about him while working on the last book (of 3). These books are published posthumously because Sullivan died. Markovits also tries to find information about the things Sullivan writes about Lord Byron. There is plenty of stuff to be found, but it is spread all over England and the USA, so he needs to travel a bit too. Also to visit places where Sullivan lived and worked. There seems to be a wanting to find similarities between Sullivan and Lord Byron and even himself. I did not know a lot about Lord Byron. He is mentioned in lessons in English literature in school, but it never is very explicit. So I accept what is stated in this book. The man was a romantic writer and philander...

  A sad but very good novel. It is the story about a Hindu family consisting of father, mother and two sons, who are twins, living on the island of Trinidad. The story is being told by the point of view of the father, one of the sons and a Roman Catholic priest. It shows a bit of common life on the island, family connections, expectations and disappointments. Very awful disappointments... 5 stars very much deserved!

An amazing selection of short stories situated in the Ukrain during the period just before the fall of the USSR and right after that. It shows the absurdity of bureaucracy on the highest level and the lack of any regulations after the fall of the USSR. I loved every one of the stories; they are all connected and give a great view of life in this period of time. Highly recommended by me. 5 stars well deserved.

An intriguing novel. I think a lot of people at least once had the experience of being accepted in a group of people because of a mistaken identity. There is the choice of clearing things up or to go along with the flow and not feeling great because of the gnawing feeling of being an imposter. Sometimes it feels like there is no choice. This novel describes that very well, just as it tells you how most people - when you get to know them better - are quite different from what they seem to be. Then it can rise the question: Who really is the imposter in this group? I loved reading this book and gave it 5 very deserved stars.

It's not an easy read. It's not long, but it took me a lot longer to finish this book than I normally do. It is quite poetic, consisting of snippets of text and bits that are a bit longer. It looks like there are quite a lot of different stories, but they do fit together. Like a very difficult jigsaw puzzle. Some bits are really gripping. At least I felt it like that. I loved the quote from Rainer Maria Rilke, a truly great but somehow forgotten writer. There was an explanation about the font that was used. I did like it, it made the reading a bit easier, I think. I gave it 4 stars.

A novel about relationships. Especially about the relationship between Connell and Marianne, but also the characters who surrounded them. The novel is situated in the west of Ireland in a small town and in Dublin. It is really about misunderstanding, misinterpreting, (false) expectations and there is always that nagging "What will they think of me". It's often sad and I felt upset a few times, had to put the book down for some time. But I finished it anyway and I think I got rewarded for that. I feel like this great novel deserved a stronger ending, yet I don't have an idea how that ending should have sounded. So maybe the writer is right how she did it. Fully deserved 5 stars.

A very impressive book that shows a lot that is wrong with the USA. The way Leila Mottley writes really drags you into the story. My world is totally different from the world of main character Kiara, but I felt involved. Almost like I wanted to help, shout at her "Don't go there!" or "Don't do it!" The misery and the impossibility to escape from it all is really awful. And yet, there was hope and there were even some pleasure and laughter in all that darkness. The story has a great flow and every character is carefully worked out and functioning to have it all glued together. I would recommend the book to everybody who loves to read a good book. This one is excellent. Five stars more than deserved.

A very entertaining novel. Number 6 in the Jackson Brodie series. Some characters that appeared in previous episodes return and this together with a Murder Mystery Weekend in an old stately home provides enough ingredients for a joyous, chaotic murder story. This and the previous Jackson Brodie books would be excellent for TV series. Until now only "Case Histories" made it that far. All in all I think this book fully deserves 5 Stars.

I love this book! It's a Jackson Brodie novel, but as always, there is a lot going on. Puzzle pieces almost seem not to connect, but Kate Atkinson does it again. I won't tell anything about the plot, you'll have to discover it all yourself. Amazing there is not a high quality TV series about Jackson Brodie yet. Five stars fully deserved!

Emotionally Weird is one of the weirdest books I ever read. The construction is even weirder than Eyeless in Gaza by Aldous Huxley. In Dutch this would have caused to mention the so-called Droste-effect. In the book there are multiple stories in a story in yet another story in another story. It does work but it leads to the reader having to check in already read bits who these people are, because there a so many of them. I won't even try to explain what it is all about, but can say that nothing is what it seems to be. I give the book 4 stars, because I think it is over-complicated.

  Third book in the series about Jackson Brodie. Another very captivating book, loaded with action and combined with great humour. (At least in my opinion.) I will not ruin future readers joy by telling anything about the plot(s). What I love is that you get offered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. You can try and imagine what really matters, but Kate Atkinson often will surprise you with where the story is going. Five stars fully deserved. I might read it again!

  I knew Kate Atkinson could write. I loved a God in Ruins, Life after Life and many more that I read. I saw "The Case Histories", the Jackson Brodie series on TV. This is the first one of the series that I read. It's really amazing how Kate Atkinson manages to insert humor even when there are gruesome matters going on in the book. I have always moaned that in a book the POV should always be with the main person. In this book there are many POVs. And it is not disturbing at all, it adds to the jigsaw puzzle that is being filled in while you read on. Or maybe you could say that there are many main characters. I will not disclose any of the content of the book; of course I don't want to be a destroyer of other reader's fun. Five stars is fully deserved! I got a few more Jackson Brodie novels in the house. Really looking forward to read them!

This book should be read by every Dutch person and people with Dutch roots. It is a gripping story in two ways. It is the translation of a Dutch novel. Yet it made to the shortlist for the Booker Prize, the most prestigious prize a writer can win in the UK. Quite an achievement. For me it ripped open some old scars. Remembering the regular arguments with my father. He would announce how proud he was to be Dutch and I presented him some cold facts. Facts that are not very nice for the Dutch. It always ended with him telling me that I was a snotty young man and that I should shut up. He would hide behind his newspaper. The newspaper that I nicknamed "The Liar" and had been forbidden to be printed in the period 1945 until 1949. And I would storm out of the living room, upset that he was not listening to me. I always fell for this trap and he knew it. Seemed to enjoy it. Anyway, it is a great book that left me in tatters. I expect to need some time before I pick up a new book. Th...

Burnet is very good and clever writer. Like all of his books I think this novel should at least get 5 stars. I think the best about it, is how you get into Inspector George Gorski's way of thinking. Always very aware of his own behaviour and how this should affect other people's thoughts about him. And this 3rd Gorski book gives us again an insight in the lives of the good people of the fictional town of St.Louis, near Mulhouse in Alsace. It is a special part of France, caused by the many times it has been changed hands. The region has been German a few times, but nowadays it is French. I don't want to spoil the fun for other readers, so I will not give away anything of the plot. But...it deserves a lot of readers!

The contents of this book play out in the time after Snowblind. Again it is a pity that there are several little mistakes in the text. You would expect any editor to have seen these. It takes away my wish to give the book 5 stars. There is a red thread in the books: the relationship between main character Ari Thor and his fiance Kristin. It causes Ari Thor to do certain things in a certain way. I will not give away any of the things that happen in the book. Like all human behaviour has it's origin in specific causes according to the books. Action and reaction. That is why the writer lets us read about the thinking of all the characters that make their appearance. There is logic in this and he does it consistently. All in all this was - again - an easy and pleasant read. I certainly will read more books in this series.

A nice entertaining crime novel placed in northern Iceland. The sleuth Ari Thor has everything to be a happy man in Reykjavik, yet he decided to become a police man in a very isolated town. He loses contact with his fiance, becomes lonely and obsessed with the isolation because of snow, snow and snow. The town in which nothing ever happens gets quite some things happening and delivers plenty of work to Ari Thor and his colleagues. It amazed me that in this translation that is not the first print were some mistakes. The editor must have missed them repeatedly. The word "in" three times in a row is a bit much, forgetting the little word "as" makes sentences a bit weird. And forgetting to mark a new paragraph makes it a bit hard to grasp. Forced me to read a bit twice. Bat all in all this was a pleasant yarn, a nice story. I intend to read the whole series. 4 stars are very much deserved.

An excellent book to read if you want to understand how modern China has become what it is now and how it is functioning. Of course I knew a bit about China, like we all do, but the history for me was no more than snippets. This book gives you the full picture, the complete history. The starting point of 1850 of this book is well chosen. From being the poor, very populated country that was kicked around by the more powerful countries of these days things have changed beyond recognition. The path from The Dowager Empress to Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and finally Xi Jinping has been painful for the country and caused a lot of victims. Especially Mao Zedong who officially should be named the biggest crook in history all over the world. A life in China was never very valuable, but Mao took this principle to the limit. Like all dictators things were double: there is the wish to let the heritage of the rule continue and pick a strong person who can take over, but...

The story is well known by British people. For me it was new. I am still learning a lot about English history, lifestyle and more. Even after living over here more than 12 years I can not pretend I know it all. The tale is well written, I can imagine it all happening in front of my eyes in a TV series about the Tudors. Because of the fact that it is well written I give it 5 stars!